Hey all

I had time and insperation to do another Chapter before i went to bed, so now im very tired and going to sleep :P

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Naruto awoke laying in a dark tunnel.

'Great, just great, i get knocked out and instead of sweet oblivion for a while, I get a ticket to see his resident Kitsune.' Naruto sighed as he got to his feet, he wasn't injured here, and now that the battle was over, he realised how badly hurt he had been, he wasn't looking forwards to waking up, that was for sure.

If he hadn't underestimated his enemy he wouldn't have been injured that badly, one of the general rules of the Shinobi was 'be prepared for anything', the rule that he ignored in that battle and paid for.

But there was something else on his mind, why the hell was he here?

"Were off to see the Wizard..." he mumbled the phrase from an old story that Iruka-Sensei had read to the class, one of the few lessons he had actually bothered to pay attention.

Sure they were all a little old for it, or thought they were, but Iruka had thought it would be nice.

Well, he doubted he would be able to get out of there on his own, so he set off down the tunnel at a slow walk, he remembered thinking on his first visit years ago that his stomach was a lot less Ramen-y than he thought it would be.

He finally got to the end of the tunnel and the familiar sight of the Kyuubi's prison came into sight, large red eyes glared at him from inside.

"Oi! Fox! why am I here? I didn't ask to come!" Naruto yelled at the Demon, waving his fist, he wasn't actually angry, more like confused.

"Stop waving that thing around or I'll bite it off whelp, show some respect!" the Kyuubi's roar came out like a strong wind, buffeting Naruto's clothes around him "Your here because I wanted to teach you a lesson!"

When the Kyuubi stopped talking a slightly dazed looking Naruto's eye twitched slightly.

"Oh yea? what can you do Kyuubi? talk at me?" when Naruto stuck his tongue out, the Fox chuckled darkly.

"Heh, you have spunk kid, and a delightful skill for mayhem, but that's not why i brought you here." the Demon grinned, showing off his impressive teeth "Iv healed your life threatening wounds, but I think its time you learnt that you cant keep abusing your body like you usually do."

"L-life -t-threatening?!" Naruto gulped, he hadn't realised how badly that attack had injured him.

"Stupid Boy! whatever happened out their caused you internal bleeding! what, you expect to walk out of everything you put my container through unharmed?!" the Fox growled in annoyance "As punishment and until you prove to me you are capable of being careful I refuse to heal any none lethal wounds."

Naruto's jaw dropped, uh oh, this was bad "You cant do that! this is my body your living in here!"

"Hn, yes and no matter how i loath it i have no desire to die, that's why I give you use of my Chakra, but if you don't start being more careful in battles i will die because there is only so much I can heal us from!" this time the Kyuubi roared this time actually knocking Naruto back a few yards "So until you prove you can keep yourself uninjured you will have to heal like everyone else!"

"B-but..." Naruto was stopped by the Kyuubi's smirk.

"Its not Permanent, so Deal with it." the Kyuubi grinned nastily "Time to wake up boy."

Naruto had one last thought before Kyuubi faded from sight, the Demon fox chuckling.

This was gunna HURT.

---

"Troublesome..." with his trademark line Nara Shikamaru lead the Group of Chuunin's, the Hokage, and the unconscious Naruto through the forests of the Fire Country, though they were still a days walk from Konoha.

If Naruto hadn't been injured they could have been back in a few hours.

Naruto lay on a make shift pallet carried by Lee and Neji, but the two didn't say a word about carrying their friend, he was a good friend to both of them, and if they could help him in any way they would do it.

Hinata had been walking next to Naruto the whole time holding his right hand, her shyness temporarily forgotten.

But despite being a full days walk from the Hidden Village they all felt worn, the battle no matter how easily won had drained enough that their walk had made them sluggish and tired.

Shikamaru sighed, there was nothing for it "All right everyone, lets make a camp, we all need rest."

The walk hadn't been all that bad for Shikamaru, his two foe's had fallen quickly and without too much trouble, and the long walk had given him time to admire the stars.

And think.

But the subjects were troublesome, at least he could count on the others to distract him for a while.

Before long they had found a large clearing and made camp, a small fire burning brightly in the middle and traps everywhere, courtesy of Shikamaru.

Chouji wasted no time in getting his snacks out, Lee in trying to Woo Sakura, Neji in his brooding, Kiba going to sleep with Akamaru and Hinata and Tsunade sitting by Naruto lost in their thoughts.

But before long most of them were asleep, Hinata and Tsunade still sat by Naruto and a few feet away Shikamaru had invited Neji to a game of Go.

Shikamaru being his usual self was winning with his usual bored look, Neji had a faint scowl on his face, Tsunade watching in vague interest.

Hinata was almost falling asleep next to Naruto.

Within half an hour the rest of them had turned in, the fire had been refuelled and only Tsunade was still awake.

She sat with her thoughts and a glass of sake from her bottle, mostly on her mind was how one of Fire Countries biggest criminals was now gone thanks to Naruto.

Ryo Tendo had been a Missing Nin for over two decades, he had killed countless Hunter Nin, quite a few of them from Konoha, in his years terrorizing and raiding in Fire and the surrounding countries.

He had gathered his band of Missing Nin's around seventeen years ago, they had the security of numbers and had been able to make enough profit to get by as Mercenaries, they must have heard the Konoha Hokage was travelling just after they left the sand.

Damn spies were everywhere, the idea of a Hokage's ransom must have been too good to pass up.

'Id better get some sleep myself...' Tsunade sighed as she found a comfortable spot to curl up in, as she surveyed the camp one last time she had to restrain herself from laughing.

Hinata who had been sleeping a few feet from Naruto had obviously gone for the nearest source of heat, which turned out to be Naruto, and they were currently curled up, her head on his chest, his arm around her and their legs intertwined.

With a gentle smile the Hokage lay down and went to sleep.

---

As Naruto awakened he had to hold back a cry of pain, instead he hissed between clenched teeth.

The first thing he became aware of was he hurt all over, the second was that there was a warm and soft weight on his chest, thankfully not on his broken ribs, and that he had his arm and legs wrapped around something warm and living.

Looking down carefully he could just make out the features of Hinata, and though he didn't get why he couldn't help but smile a little.

Looking around the camp a little, noticing everyone was safe, he couldn't help but notice how heavy his eyelids were, even though he still hurt his tired mind didn't seem to care all that much.

He knew he should separate himself from Hinata, he knew how embarrassed she would be with him in the morning when she found he had held her in her sleep.

But there were two reasons he couldn't bring himself to.

One was it actually felt nice having someone next to him, it would be worth any embarrassment.

And second he literally couldn't, his body was so stiff and bruised he could barley move, he didn't have the strength to move.

Slowly he fell back asleep, listening to Hinata breath and enjoying the feeling of closeness with another person, he knew he wouldn't get another chance, so why regret it?

If anyone had looked they would have seen the two seen both smiling.

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End of Chapter 2

Yaaaawn

G'night all.....