Naruto sat in a black space.
"Kurama?"
No answer.
"Shika? Yoru-san?"
No answer.
She needed to get out of the dark.
She could see a tiny red light and ran towards it as fast as she could. The closer she got, the more the temperature increased, and an overwhelming hate hit her like a brick wall. She fell to her knees gasping. Was this what Kurama meant? She could faintly see through the red, hate-filled haze, and stared in shock.
Orochimaru's eyes widened as the crimson aura around Naruto grew blindingly bright, before turning into a dark, bloody red. Small strips of skin peeled off, disintegrating in the bubbling chakra. The Uzumaki looked absolutely feral, and came at him aggressively, sharp nails grating against flesh and bone. Orochimaru growled, blood running down his arm. He shed his skin, and the two engaged in a furious battle.
Naruto watched all of this as her skin prickled from the pain she could feel her body going through. She needed to regain control and get to Shikamaru.
"...it!...ut! Re...Cont...! Hurr...!" Faint whispers. Naruto tried to cling to them, to understand them, but they slipped away. She fell, staring into the red haze. She couldn't get out.
"DAMMIT KIT! GET TO THE NARA!"
Naruto jolted up as Kurama's voice boomed through the black void. Her eyes widened. She had given up.
That was not her ninja way.
She charged at the red haze, forcing her way through the hate, fighting for control. After a few minutes, she managed to regain control, and the crimson chakra disappeared. She noticed that Orochimaru looked really torn up, and was glaring at her viscously.
"This isn't over." The Sannin snarled, and fled.
Naruto assessed her reserves. She didn't have enough to flash to Shikamaru unless she was closer. So she took to the trees, her mind going numb as she blocked out the pain. She was missing most of her skin, her bone was poking through her left arm, and her right shoulder was dislocated. She was bruising all over, and blood dripped down her face. She was dangerously close to passing out, but used all of her willpower to stay conscious.
As she neared the tower, she finally decided she was close enough to flash to Shikamaru. She gathered her dangerously low reserves, and disappeared. She touched down in front of a half-naked Shikamaru. No one else was in the room. Shikamaru looked worried, and when he heard the sound of someone falling, he turned around.
"Naruto!"
Naruto panted heavily. "S-Shika. I made it back. I told you."
Shikamaru tenderly lifted Naruto up and laid her on the crisp white sheets of the bed. They were soon stained red, blood still oozing from Naruto's injuries. "You Baka! I told Yoru over an hour ago to call you! What happened?"
Naruto smiled weakly. "There were some complications. Now, help me patch up?"
Shikamaru nodded. "Just tell me what to do."
Naruto had him help her stand, and she rammed her shoulder into the doorway, popping it back in place. "OW!" She yelped. She turned to Shikamaru apologetically. "I need you to push this bone here," She gestured to the bone sticking out of her arm. "Back in place so Kurama can heal it."
Shikamaru nodded, looking more worried than disgusted. "Does that hurt?"
"Yes, and I am probably going to scream when we push it back in, but don't stop."
Shikamaru clenched his jaw and nodded. Naruto braced herself, and nodded, telling Shikamaru to start.
A shrill and quickly cut off scream escaped Naruto as the bone slid back in. She panted harshly, sweat beading her brow, and felt an itch under her skin as a sliver of Kurama's chakra entered her sensitive coils and raced to heal the bone and the shoulder. Her ribs had healed on the way back, and now she just had a bunch of cuts and was definitely going to bruise.
"Thank yo-mph!"
Her eyes widened as Shikamaru kissed her. She closed her eyes, arms wrapping around his neck.
Soon the kiss turned into a hug, and both of them ended up on the floor, clutching each other's forearms, foreheads pressed gently together.
"Don't make me worry like that again."
"I won't."
Shikamaru showed Naruto to the shower and she washed the blood from her red-blonde hair, cleaning the rest of her wounds.
"Kurama?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you. Sleep for a while. These scratches will heal well without your help."
"Mmhmm... ZzZzZz"
Night Furball.
Naruto ended up borrowing Shikamaru's spare clothes, and flashed to the waiting area, where Sasuke and Sakura were waiting. Sakura was pacing, and Sasuke's crimson gaze watched the door with hidden worry.
"Hey guys."
"Naruto-chan!" Sakura threw her arms around the blond, crying. "You're okay! Shikamaru dragged us away, and knocked us out when we tried to go back!"
"Good. If you had gone back, we'd be dead. I almost died."
Sakura searched Naruto for injuries. She had a lot of bandages and a patch on her forehead, but she looked fine. "How are you okay right now then?"
"I wasn't. I have an extremely high regeneration bloodline." It was true, she was an Uzumaki. She gestured to all of her former injuries, and was this time engulfed in a group hug.
"Let's open the scrolls now." She said as they parted. She opened them and threw them. She stepped back as a large puff of smoke appeared and Iruka-sensei told them about the whole heaven and earth thing.
"Okay sensei. Is Jiji here?"
"No, he won't be here until the end of the fourth day."
"I need to talk to him about something that happened in the forest. Tell him a Snake got in and tied with the Fox. "
Iruka paled. He had been a Hunter-nin, he knew how to decode a verbal message. Not to mention anyone who knew of Kyuubi could have deciphered it. "R-right. Go get settled, I'll come get you when he arrives."
Naruto nodded, and she and her teammates were shown to a room. She put down her meager weapons, having used most against Orochimaru.
She laid down, and instantly passed out.
"-ru. Naru! Wake up."
Naruto shot up, ready to run at a moment's notice. She had had that dream again. She looked over and saw Shikamaru.
"Hey."
"We need to talk, before everything gets hectic again."
She blinked. "About what?"
Shikamaru blushed slightly. "U-us."
Naruto was confused. "What about us?"
"T-the kisses... are we..?" He flushed.
Naruto blushed too. "Oh. Um... W-well..." She clenched her eyes shut. "I-I like you! So..." She opened her eyes and looked at the ground.
"I like you too."
Her head shot up, and she leapt at Shikamaru, hugging him tightly. "I really, really like you Shikamaru." She whispered into his neck.
Shikamaru just hugged her tighter.
"So is it official?" The two jumped apart, blushing heavily. Sakura and Ino stood in the doorway, grinning like the cats that split the canary /Minna-chan asks you roll with the botched comparison/
The two just blushed harder, nodding shyly. The two squealed. "You two are so cute together!"
Naruto flashed to her bed, burrowing under the covers, blush still prominent from the little nose that poked out.
Shikamaru just faced the corner, blushing to the tips of his ears.
The two gossip girls left, likely to tell the rest of the rookies.
Naruto groaned, embarrassed.
Iruka stood in the doorway, bemused. He knew this would happen sooner or later, but his little students were funny. "Naruto. Hokage-sama requests your presence. Shikamaru can tag along. Hinari is there-"
The two genin were in front of him and staring him down faster than he could blink.
"C'mon Iruka-sensei!" Naruto chirped.
Iruka smiled and led the two to an office where the Hokage was waiting.