A/N: I want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter and everyone that added this story to their favorites and follows.
Am I in a memory? Or have I finally woken up?
Naruto rubbed her eyes and darted her eyes around the hospital room. It doesn't look anything like the hospital rooms in Konoha, so maybe she finally woken up? A quick glance to the television screen blaring to life, along with a couple of empty beds confirmed her suspicions that maybe she was in a hospital bed in Japan.
The whole room seemed empty except for a large blond-haired man sitting on the chair right beside her bed. Wait, a large blond-haired man? Blue eyes grew large as Naruto's mouth dropped open at the sight of a relaxed All Might sitting right beside her bed. Okay, this had to be a dream. She pinched her skin, fingernails digging deep till a small mark formed.
Right, this was not a dream.
"You are not dreaming, Young Uzumaki." The number one hero straightened his back, shuffled himself around till he sat properly. No humor leaked through his eyes nor could Naruto hear the usual goofy tone in her teacher's voice. It was like he decided to drop that humorous mask around her, like he was not in the mood to act like his usual teaching self.
Naruto tilted her head. "What are you doing here, All Might-sensei?"
"Checking up on you, Young Uzumaki."
That made sense.
The blond-haired girl ran her hand through her hair, detangling the tangles in her hair as her eyes focused on the television screen. Students attacked in USJ: several students injured and Pro-Hero Eraserhead has been injured. That was the banner running through the news channel as several reporters discussed about Yuuei High and their security.
'Where were the heroes? One of the students decided to run recklessly against the villain and nearly got themselves killed.'
Were they talking about her? Or were they talking about anyone else? Naruto chewed on her bottom lip as concern rolled over her in her stomach. How did these people know of the attack? The thoughts swirled around her head, almost forcing the blond-haired teen to kneel down and cradle her head.
'It isn't like Yuuei High would know this would have happened!'
She balled her hands into a fist. They couldn't blame the school for what happened, how would anyone know about the attack? She balled her hands against her blankets as another set of blue eyes focused upon her.
'But Yuuei High has one of the best security systems in the country!'
Her teeth grinded together as several deep breath were breathed in and out. Did anyone realize it could be easy to break into a building if they knew a weak spot? Every security system had a glitch, a weak area that could be taken advantage of.
"How long have I been unconscious?" she turned to her teacher as her hand reached out to the bedside table, where a single remote lay. Pressing the button, the television screen turned blank and Naruto relaxed against the hospital bed.
"Two days," All Might grimaced. "You were in surgery for a whole day because of the wound sustained to your stomach."
Naruto lifted up the blanket, hand reaching down to her stomach and balked at the feeling of the small, delicate stitches to her stomach. Right, these people didn't do healing jutsu and so it was only natural that they decided to operate on her. None of them even know she had the Kyuubi, so they didn't consider to wait to see if the monster would heal her.
"How is Aizawa-sensei? Is he…" Her throat tightened as her stomach rolled around at the idea of her precious teacher dying. Bile rose up to her throat, burning it to the point that it actually felt like she swallowed a bunch of fire in her mouth.
All Might smiled. "He's fine, Young Uzumaki but he won't be allowed to leave his bed until tomorrow."
A sigh of relief escaped from Naruto's lips as her shoulder relaxed. Tears began leaking out of her eyes, droplets hitting the white blanket and the girl furiously rubbed her eyes. All Might's eyes softened, looking almost fatherly but the girl turned her body away from him.
She cleared her throat. "And how about the others? Are they fine?"
"Everyone is alive and well," Naruto smiled and her teacher regarded her. "No one else was badly injured."
The chair shuffled out, pushed back and blue eyes grew large as the Number One Hero dropped to his knees, head touching the ground as his hands made an apology sign. All smiles faded from Naruto's lips as her lips parted slightly at the display and her eyebrows rising to meet her hairline.
"Young Uzumaki, I'm sorry." Grief and regret laced in her teacher's tone as he lifted his head to meet her bright blue eyes. Sorry? But why was he sorry? Lines formed around Naruto's forehead as her eyebrows knitted together. She tilted her head, trying to make sense of what the number one hero seemed to be apologizing to her about.
"Why are you sorry?"
"If I had arrived there just a little bit earlier then none of this would have happened."
Oh, her teacher was apologizing for not saving her and the others. Naruto regarded her teacher, throat tightening as her hands shoved away from the blanket. Before all those weird memories being played out, she probably would think he was doing this for attention. She would have thought that he didn't care about her.
And a part of her did think like that, but Naruto had been wrong about a lot of things. So maybe she should try to do this trust thing that Aizawa-sensei claimed that she had a problem with. She gulped down her lump. God, this was actually going to be difficult for her.
"It wasn't like you knew this would happen," Naruto swung her legs around and pushed herself up from the bed. Her lips curled into a smile, stretched large, and her thumb lifted up as her other four other fingers curled into a closed fist. "And I'm alive, All Might-sensei so everything turned out fine!"
All Might shook his head. "This doesn't mean what happened was acceptable. I failed you and your classmates as both a teacher and a hero."
Naruto tilted her head, blue eyes focused on the trembling man. A sigh escaped from her lips as the blond-haired girl knelt down to her teacher. Small hands patted her teacher's large back as Naruto allowed herself to smile slightly at her teacher. The desire to please him, to lie to him about his actions were great but she had always been lying.
Her memories showed her this.
"Look All Might, you didn't know we were going to be attacked." She nodded. "And I'm going to be honest: your teaching kinda sucks."
Her teacher slumped lower and Naruto felt her lips twitched at the man's actions. She felt a rare flicker of amusement, the little bubbles of joy she only gets whenever someone acted silly or like a dork. She patted the man as the door to the room slid open.
"But All Might-sensei, you are a terrific hero so you don't need to beat yourself up about it."
All Might lifted up, eyes blinking as Naruto offered him the tiniest glimpse of her smile. It would be a while before she could fully trust people, maybe she would never trust but Naruto would try to open herself up to people.
"I see that you're feeling better, Uzumaki-san."
The doctor did not offer either her or All Might a smile, only shooting an exasperated look at her. Naruto sighed, rubbed the back of her neck and dragged her body back to the bed, while All Might lifted himself up from the ground.
Naruto laid on the bed, pulled her blankets till it covered her neck as the doctor took the clipboard standing on the end of her bed. He clicked his pen, eyes focused on her, and his lips pursed into a thin line almost looking like he sucked a bad lemon.
"Uzumaki-san, how do you feel?"
"Fine." The doctor nodded, scribbled down a couple of notes before taking a seat on the other empty chair right beside her bed. He put down his pen, clasped his hands together and inhaled. Naruto felt almost a sense of dread at the sight of resignation in his eyes.
"Uzumak-san, I need you to fill in the details of your Guardian so that we can proceed with signing you out and having you take a couple of tests."
Naruto frowned. "Test? What test?"
"Uzumaki-san," the man tugged his collar and avoided looking at Naruto's eyes. "I noticed you have a lightening scar on your chest. I want to make sure that you don't have any lingering side effects from your wound."
Naruto shook her head. "I have already got it tested two years ago and the results said I'm fine."
Tsunade might be the Hokage but the woman made her undergo a series of test to make sure that the chidori hadn't messed her up. Naruto shuddered and sweated. The woman had taken time off her busy schedule (more likely she found excuse not to do her paperwork) and did the check-ups personally.
"We still need your Guardian to come here and sign you out," the doctor sighed. "It is standard practice for any minors."
Well she was already planning to call Ero-Sennin, so this was just a much needed excuse to bring him here without telling him that she missed him and that she was a selfish idiot.
~X~
What number did that side character say?
Bakugou stuffed his hands into his pockets, eyes flickering around the various rooms surrounding the corridor. Most of the doors seemed wide open, showing various patients struggling either to walk or making their way to their rooms. Only one door seemed ajar, barely glimpsing a blond-haired girl standing on the floor.
Why did he decide to come again? Right, Shitty Hair and Deku goaded him into coming here. Bakugou clicked his tongue as he dragged his feet to the room as Whiskers bit her thumb, blood dripping to the side of her thumb as her hands made a couple of weird signals.
It didn't look anything like the hand signals Whiskers used for her clones. Bakugou hovered against the door, eyebrows knitted together as a cloud of smoke appeared. Red eyes grew large when a rather large, dark orange toad, wearing a purple jacket appeared.
"Gamakichi! You've gotten huge!"
The dark, orange toad snorted as Uzumaki gawked at the toad. Bakugou could only blink as his brain tried to process the sight of a rather large toad sitting on the hospital floor. There was nothing about its appearance that implied it was an animal with a Quirk; it looked exactly like a toad. Even animals with Quirks had features implying that they weren't completely normal.
"It's been nearly three years since you summoned me, Naruto!" The toad barked. "Of course I'm going to get big! Ya change too: you are no longer a midget or fat."
Naruto gritted her teeth as Bakugou tried to picture his slender classmate looking fat. His lips twitched as his blond-haired classmate folded her arms against her chest, lips curled into like a pout. A sight that made Bakugou gawked because… Whiskers never made those kind of expressions.
"I was never fat, Gamakichi and I ain't a midget!"
The toad regarded her. "Coulda fool me."
"I was going through puberty!" Naruto tugged her hair as the toad just stared at her like she was an idiot.
Bakugou tugged his shirt collar, his ears flushing a bright shade of red as Uzumaki and Gamakichi argued over whether or not Uzumaki had been fat as a little kid. Probably a good idea for him to leave because nothing in the world would make him want to listen to this shit. He shuddered. The amount of talks that the middle school gave them was enough, listening to Uzumaki talk about it was a whole different story.
"So why did ya decide to summon me, Naruto!"
Bakugou stopped and swirled his head around at the door. His gaze sharpened as he returned back to the door. He leaned against the wall as his ears perked up to hear what was happening. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, held his breath and focused his eyes on the wall, occasionally peaking at the ajar door.
"I need you to send a message to Ero-Sennin," Whiskers tied her hair up into a ponytail and sighed. "The stupid hospital won't let me get out of the room unless I've a damn guardian."
Gamakichi blinked. "What did ya do this time for you to land yourself in a hospital?"
Whiskers laughed nervously as her hand rubbed the back of her neck and blue eyes avoided the toad's eyes. A smile played on her lips, but it was not her usual fake smile. It was the type of smile a kid would give when they did something that they knew they should not have done.
"So how's Gamabunta? Is he still grumpy?"
"Don't try to change the topic to my father, Naruto!" The blond-haired girl slumped her shoulders as the toad flickered its eyes around the room. Bakugou shifted away when the toad's eyes neared to the doors. His brain tried to process the information being poured out into the open.
This time implied that Whiskers had done reckless stunts before, and her reckless stunts had also landed her inside a hospital. He scowled. Why did he even give a shit? Whiskers and him were at best classmates, and at their worst: enemies. This type of information shouldn't even matter to him, but Whiskers did save their asses by defeating that villain.
"I might have gotten into a little fight," Uzumaki said, poking her fingers together and blue eyes closed as she waited for something; probably a scolding from the huge toad.
Bakugou snorted.
A little fight was just putting it lightly.
"Did ya hear that?" Something shuffled as wet sounds hit the hospital door. Bakugou leaned closer to the next room and placed his hand on the other door's knob, as the toad searched around to find the source of the sound. Yellow eyes darted out of the door, shifting to the right and landed on Bakugou.
Bakugou kept his eyes focused on the door, shoulders straightened and more sweat building around his hands before finally relaxing when the toad returned back to the room.
That was really close. The blond-haired teen shifted closer to Uzumaki's room and pressed his ears against the door, trying to make sense of the muffled voices inside the room. He scowled, before stuffing his hands into his pocket and made his way to the reception.
He would just wait for Shitty Hair.
What can a girl watch?
Naruto poked her tongue against her cheek as the television screen flipped through the various channels being offered to them. Some of the movie channels were showing those old romance movies, which was a genre that always made her want to hurl. The other movies just didn't call out to her, and the news channels seemed intent on talking shit about Yuuei.
She slumped her shoulders and eyed the magazines sitting on the bed stand. Was she so bored that she would be willing to sink herself into one of those magazines? Reading one of Ero-Sennin scripts would be better than this. Naruto furiously shook her head at the thought as her hand reached out to the magazine.
The doorframe slid opened as a yellow eyes peaked through the door. Naruto knitted her eyebrows when the door opened fully to show her classmates carrying gift baskets, flowers, cards and even a tiny plush frog. Smiles decorated most of their faces as few of the girls teared up at the sight of her.
What the hell was happening?
"You're finally awake!" Ashido charged straight towards her and wrapped her thin arms around her. Naruto stiffened, hands patting the girl awkwardly as some of her classmates dropped their presents around the shelves and bedside. "You scared the shit out of us!"
"What did the doctor say? Are you going to be fine?" Yaoyorozu took the empty seat right beside her and folded her arms on her lap. Her eyebrows knitted together, lips pressed into a frown while Todoroki hovered beside her.
"Well she looks fine," Jirou commented as her eyes took in the lack of bruises and scratches decorating Naruto's face.
"You need anything, Uzumaki?"
"I brought some watermelon!" Kaminari raised his arm to reveal a rather large watermelon stuffed into an empty grocery bag. Everyone hovered around her bed, voices becoming into one rather large voice as they continued to question her about her desires.
Her throat tightened and burned at the various looks of concern being thrown towards her. Uraraka gestured for her to move away from her pillow, offering her a smile as she fluffed her pillow for her. Tsuyu handed her a glass of water as Naruto's thoughts swirled at the actions of her classmates. What the hell was happening? The last time someone cared about her like this, had been Hinata.
God, she never thanked Hinata for being worried for her and apologizing for her shitty actions.
"We thought you weren't going to make it!" Hagakure admitted as Iida began to chop the watermelon. "You were bleeding and everything. The doctors weren't even sure that you were going to pull through."
"Sorry." Naruto balled her hands into a fist as her heart clenched at the level of concern being thrown at her direction. Her classmates stopped their chattering, their eyes fixated on her and each one of them glanced at each other as if maybe the other person had the answer on what to do.
"You could have died because of your reckless action, Uzumaki."
Naruto blinked and looked up as a pair of mismatch eyes focused on her. Todoroki's voice was calm and cool, almost making it seem like he wasn't concern or fazed by her actions. But his hands seemed to be balled into a tight fist as he schooled himself into a calm expression.
She felt her lips twitched into a frown. Todoroki seemed to be really worried because he never do these kind of actions. Their classmates flickered their eyes between them, looking rather curious to what she was about to say to his comment.
But what could she say?
"I'm sorry." Todoroki nodded as his gaze dipped onto the blanket covering her stomach. The temperature of the room dropped and her classmates shivered from the cold. Naruto felt goosebumps on her arms but felt no desire to rub her arms, only to focus on her concern friend.
It was weird to know that even someone as stoic as Todoroki could worry about her.
"Todoroki was really worried to see you hurt," Uraraka commented quietly, her voice barely loud enough for Naruto to hear. Blue eyes grew large as she swirled her head at her friend. Her lips twitched into a small smile. So the Pretty Boy was so worried about her that even the other members of their class could see it. She guessed that was nice.
That maybe Todoroki wasn't completely emotionless; not that he ever was. The boy really did have a temper if the argument in her apartment was of any indicator.
Naruto shook her head and stared at her classmates. Watermelon slices shuffled around between them until the final watermelon slice reached towards her. She looked down at her watermelon slice, lips wobbling as her brain finally processed what was happening right now.
"Why did you guys come here?" Naruto finally choked out. "Aren't you guys scared after seeing what I did to that villain in USJ?"
All smiles dropped as her classmates glanced at each other, their eyes refusing to meet her own blue eyes. Naruto nibbled her bottom lip, focusing her attention on Todoroki. The boy stared right back at her, no fear shining through his eyes or anything. Even though no words were spoken, she smiled.
Todoroki looked away.
"It was really scary," Izuku admitted.
Uraraka nodded and beamed at her. "But we kinda understand you lost control because you saw Aizawa-sensei get really hurt. You aren't usually that scary."
"Scary? I thought it was kinda cool!" Sero waved his hands and tried to imitate her glare. "Did you see how you pummel that villain? That was awesome!"
"It was manly!" Kirishima pumped his fist into the air. "You might have been injured but you still kept fighting against that villain!"
More and more compliments floated around the air as Naruto's head buzzed with the knowledge that her classmates found her actions to be more awesome, than scary. Her lips curled into a large smile as her throat tightened at the various words being thrown towards her. She looked away when a pair of mismatch eyes and red eyes stared at her.
She swallowed down the tight lump formed as her brain tried to figure out the words to express her feelings towards them.
"You saved us, Uzumaki!" Her classmates declared. "Now let us take care of you until visiting hours are over!"
Tears leaked out of her eyes but Naruto furiously rubbed her eyes.
They might have touched her heart and showed her that they weren't scared of her, but Naruto would never allow herself to cry in front of them.
She didn't trust herself to stop crying.
"Hey, Jiraiya! You got a message from Naruto!"
Jiraiya lowered his telescope, a small scowl played on his lips at the interruption of his spying. Just a few more minutes and inspiration would have been in his reach. Who cared if…wait did the toad just say Naruto? Black eyes grew large as Jiraiya swirled his head to Gamakichi.
The Toad Sannin lowered his telescope, placed it right beside him as the toad just stared at him, not looking one bit pleased about the lack of answer. He could only gawked as his brain tried to process what was just said to him.
Finally, Jiraiya choked out. "Naruto? She summoned you?"
"Ya while I was in the middle of lunch!" Gamakichi complained. Jiraiya waved his hand, crossed his legs and flickered his eyes from the telescope to the toad. As tempting as it was to continue his research, it was more of a concern to know that Naruto summoned Gamakichi.
"How is she?"
The toad shifted to the side. "Not well if you ask me, she landed herself in the hospital."
Dread swelled up in Jiraiya's chest and he dropped the telescope from his hand. He balled his hands into a fist, teeth grinding together as he stared at the toad. How did Naruto land herself in the hospital? It took a lot of hits for his godchild to get hurt. What did she do to herself? Oh god, did she crack? He knew he should have stayed behind to be certain she wouldn't do anything reckless.
But she seemed to have gotten better when they reached Japan and it seemed like a good idea to leave her. Well he didn't want to leave her but Naruto left him no choice. He pressed his fingers against his forehead. The girl thought everything he was doing was because of obligation.
That nothing he did was because he cared for her.
Birds chirped as Jiraiya looked up at the sky. Why was he thinking of the negative? If Naruto summoned a toad then it meant that she was probably getting better. Maybe not completely better but it was an improvement from before.
Maybe she would understand the reason Tsunade exiled her now, because Naruto never saw the bigger picture. The council didn't even try to see the bigger picture when it came to his goddaughter. He grimaced. If they had just allowed him to do what he wanted then Naruto would have never begged him to take her away.
He always had a soft spot for the little girl and it didn't help that they had a while before the Akatsuki made their move. Just another three and half years before the Akatsuki would make their move against the Jinchuuriki if his spy was correct. He grimaced and rubbed his chin.
Japan was safe and it was a mystical land to the shinobi, a land of dreams and fairy tales, so no one would think Naruto was there. It had been a good idea to just let her recover mentally and emotionally from what happened at the time, so Jiraiya didn't put much of an argument when Naruto begged him.
The wind tickled his hair and Jiraiya looked out at the walls of hot spring. Even if Japan was safe, Jiraiya couldn't take the risk that someone from Akatsuki might figure out that Naruto was there. At her current level, his goddaughter isn't strong enough against them. He pressed his lips into a thin line. They needed to start her training soon, but it would do them no good if her heart wasn't in it.
He shook his head and inhaled a deep breath. "Did she tell you how she landed herself in the hospital?"
Gamakichi looked at him like he was an idiot. "She got herself into a fight but if ya ask her: it was a little fight."
Little was definitely an understatement when it came to Naruto. Jiraiya shook his head as more worry swelled inside his chest. How did she get herself into a fight? No, the better question was how bad her injury had to be for her to be in the hospital? Last time it had been the chidori. What was it this time? His stomach rolled over.
Maybe he should have placed a toad to keep an eye on Naruto.
"What's the message?" Jiraiya took a couple of deep breaths and focused his eyes on Gamakichi. Giggles from the hot spring drifted into his ear and his hands itched to take the telescope. Later. He could do his research later, even if his mind burned to know what was happening inside there.
"Can you come back?" Jiraiya blinked and Gamakichi nodded. "The stupid doctors won't discharge me unless I have a Guardian to sign me out: those were her exact words."
Jiraiya grinned and laughed as Gamakichi stared at him with confusion. Tears leaked out of his eyes as Gamakichi frowned, not understanding one bit about how funny those words were.
"What's so funny?"
Jiraiya rubbed the tears out of his eyes. "Naruto doesn't want to admit that she misses me, because I know that girl and Naruto could have just signed herself out by making a henge of me. The brat misses me but she's just too stubborn to admit it."
Gamakichi hummed as his eyes widened in realization. "She's still stubborn."
"And is there anything else that was added to the message?"
Gamakichi frowned and then nodded. "Ya! She wants you to train her."
Jiraiya frowned, regarding the toad with a tilted head and realized something must have happened for his godchild to decide to go back to training. Something must have happened for his goddaughter to snap out of her weird state, because Jiraiya never thought he would hear those words again.
He nodded.
If Naruto wanted to be trained then Jiraiya would put her through a world of hell. He would make sure that the girl would surpass her father. But after he scold her for her reckless stunt.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter.