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McAwzome: No Riku is not joining the Akatsuki. Also the Executioners Blade is off the table. I'm not having Riku go grave robbing for your twisted fantasies haha.
Naruto's head felt like several explosive tags went off next to it. 'Oh wait that's exactly what happened.' He moved slightly and gritted his teeth in pain. He looked under the blanket to see that, even with Kurama's enhanced healing, he was still missing pieces of skin. Some were bad enough that people could still see bits of bone under the exposed muscle. Although, given that had only been two days he thought he was healing quite nicely. When he tried to sit up again he felt someone put a gentle hand on his chest, holding him still. When he looked at the hand, even through two almost closed eyes, he could make out the green glow and could feel the soothing feeling of his wife's chakra. He then noticed, and felt, another hand move up to cover his eyes; still emitting the healing chakra.
"Why must you always push yourself?" Yup that was definitely Sakura. He could tell by the annoyed (yet loving) tone that he knew all too well. He smiled weakly before he went to answer.
"Well" he stopped, shocked at how raspy his voice sounded. He opened his now healed eyes and tried to look for a glass of water. Hotaru opened the door to find his father staring at his water. Hotaru's happy feelings quickly faded as he realized he was in for another long walk to the lobby. He handed his glass over with a sigh and left to get another. When Naruto was done guzzling down the water he tried again.
"Well I wouldn't be your loveable idiot if I didn't." He flashed a smile big enough to melt any retort and she just smiled as her eyes began to water.
"I was so worried Naruto! When the Kyuubi wasn't able to heal you all the way I thought you were in serious trouble. I've been doing what I can to heal you but I can't keep this up. I'm so low on chakra that I'm starting to see doubles!" Naruto's deep blue eyes never left her emerald ones as he pulled her into his embrace. He knew the past two days had to have been long ones for her and he couldn't do anything about that. He could, however, make it up to her now.
Hotaru heard his mom's quiet sobs as she finally broke down. He smiled and left to find Riku and Misaku, determined to let his parents have their moment. His smile quickly faded when he remembered the last 'moment' he heard them having. With that thought sending a shudder through him, he raced off to find his friends.
"You know Sakura I've noticed something." Naruto's face was quite serious when he looked at her.
"What is it?" Sakura said with a slight sniffle.
"You have been crying quite a bit recently."
"Naruto!" He heard the growl and knew that if he wasn't hurt, he would've been in a world of pain right now.
'Thank god for injuries!"
The Reaper slowly stretched out to make sure everything had been re-attached correctly. When he was satisfied that nothing would come off he bwgan to try and stand up.
"No, no, no, no, don't do that my Lord!" The panicked medic ninja held out his hands to stop him.
"And why not?" The Reaper was irritated at the man but decided to give him a chance to explain his actions.
"Your limbs have only just been re-attached to your body. Even with the accelerated healing of medical ninjutsu, you will still need a week of rest before you continue on with your campaign." The Reaper nodded quietly before he gave a flick of his wrist, dismissing the pesky doctor.
"Well Naruto Uzumaki, it seems you have a little bit before you can meet these 'new toys'" He threw a casual glance towards the corner of the room. Two people stood there that he hoped would crush Naruto to the point of total surrender.
Rykuga sat up feeling extremely fatigued and in a good deal of pain. He tried to check the state of his body but found his chakra was too low. He silently cursed his luck as he realized where he was: the bottom of a canyon. By the way his body felt he would guess he probably hit every jagged rock on the way down.
'I can not allow him to get away! This is my one chance to kill that bastard and finally prove that I am the stronger one!' Rykuga never took the time to evaluate his thoughts or plans. Instead he began to feebly drag his way to the cliff side and began the grueling task of climbing, without chakra, to the top.
Rykuga was determined to be part of this final battle!
Riku glared at Hotaru, both boys slightly out of breath, and continued to formulate a strategy to beat his best friend.
'Misaku is somewhere in the woods behind me, hopefully preparing for her next attack. I have already worn away some of Hotaru's stamina and chakra but considering both are like his father's were at his age, I don't think that makes a difference. The only thing I can do is to keep up the attack and hope Misaku jumps in on time.' He began to form hand signs for a Fireball jutsu but was stopped by Hotaru's hand. He blinked a few times before his Sharingan caught the currents of air swirling around him.
"Wind Armor huh?" Hotaru just nodded his head slightly before he cocked his fist back and sent Riku flying, only slightly enhancing the already wind-enhanced punch. Riku smashed through a tree before he was able to find his footing and launch himself back at Hotaru. Hotaru noticed his friend's Sharingan began to change shape.
"Pulling out the Mangekyou huh. Well bring it on!" He sped towards Riku and channeled a massive amount of wind chakra around his right hand. Riku's skeletal system of Susanoo formed and pulled back it's right hand. They both collided as Misaku tried in vain to stop the collision. A cracking sound resonated through the air and Misaku nervously waited to see the results. A strong gust of wind picked up and blew the dust away. The sight before Misaku shocked her. Hotaru stood slightly shaking his right hand as he held his left out to help Riku up.
Riku just stared at him, disbelief written all over his face. "How?"
Hotaru chuckled as he answered, "When you train with someone long enough, you tend to learn their strengths and weaknesses. In your case, you focused all of your energy into the right fist thus causing the rest of your Susanoo to weaken. All I had to do was duck underneath your hit and deliver the punch to your Susanoo's weakened ribs. For a future reference: try not to focus too much on one thing. It's something that my mom and dad always taught me."
Riku began to laugh as he took his friend's hand. Misaku let out the breath she had been involuntarily holding in as she watched them laughing. She relaxed her hands and canceled her jutsu as she went down to greet the two boys.
"Well that was an intense end to an intense practice. What do you guys say to some ramen, my treat!" Misaku's question was met with the cheers and excited whoops of the two boys as they all raced to their favorite ramen shop.
2 days later
Naruto walked out of the hospital with his family. No matter how many times Sakura had seen it, the Nine-tail's healing power was always incredible to her. 2 days ago he had still had major 3rd degree burns that should have taken several months to scar over. Instead two days later, between her and Kurama's abilities, he didn't even have a scar to show that the encounter ever happened. But thanks to the paper bombs destroying their house, they now had to find another place to stay until the Hokage Mansion was repaired. Thankfully Yamato was kind enough to create a temporary house for them on the outskirts of town. Naruto offered to come back to work but the Council insisted they could handle it and that he needed time to recover still. Naruto tried to argue but was easily outvoted. So now he had the rest of the week off to spend with his family.
They spent most of the day just wandering the town, looking for things to do. They had eaten at a sushi shop along the way and, much to Sakura's annoyance, Naruto and Hotaru started an impromptu eating competition. In the end, Naruto came in first by 5 plates with Hotaru coming in a close second. All of the other competitors had been absolutely destroyed, never standing a chance. Surprisingly, the shop owner covered the bill saying that he was just glad to see the Hokage was alive and safe. They had received the same welcoming words at each place they went. It drove Naruto nuts, not being able to pay for things; it made him feel weird, but the shop owners insisted that it was 'on the house' or 'already taken care of'. Naruto thanked each one of the personally, not knowing what else to do to pay them back.
The exhausted family finally found their way to their temporary house, just wanting to fall over sleeping. Naruto damn near kicked down the door and almost had a heart attack when he saw his friends there, waiting for him. Turns out they had decided to throw a "Glad your ok" party for Naruto. He was nearly moved to tears at how kind everyone had been. Most of the time he was too busy with paper work and the other duties required of the Hokage so seeing how kind everyone was to him really moved him. He turned around to see Sakura give a little "Surprise Naruto" and a big hug. He quickly wrapped his arms around Sakura and kissed her. He pulled his son into the embrace before turning around, family in his arms, and addressed his guests.
"Thank you everyone. You don't know how much this means to me. I don't want to keep you waiting long but I need to say one thing: Thank you. From the bottom of my heart thank you for being there with me every step of the way." For the rest of the night Naruto wasn't the Seventh Hokage, he was just Naruto.
Ohnoki was not having a party. In fact it was quite the opposite as he gazed out over the advancing army. He broke out into a cold sweat when he seen almost another 30,000 mercenaries had joined the Reaper's ranks. He had sent a messenger back to basically plead with the daimyo to send his samurai forces. Now it was just up to the shinobi of Iwa to hold their own. They could only hope that his messenger hawk reached the Hokage in time. For now they would have to face the coming horde themselves.
AN: The big battle is about to begin! With only 3 nations (technically 2 if you count Sand and Leaf as 1) to stand against the Reaper. Please leave a review of your favorite part and/or any suggestions. Enjoy!
