Edit: Sorry! I accidentally typed blue instead of brunette with Shizune and I mispelled CHouji's last name! I'll try not to let it happen again. Thanks to everyone who noticed!

Six: Friendship and Recovery

zero0000: Kishimoto-san, my eternal rival!

Kishimoto-san: Please stop talking like Gai. Everyday I regret ever creating that bushy-browed, spandex-wearing, overemotional bastard.

zero0000: I challenge you for the rights of Naruto! If I fail I will eat six hundred jars of olives and do ten thousand laps around Tokyo in a furious display of youthfulness!

Kishimoto-san: Eh?

zero0000: Damn it! Your response is so hip!

"I need some help!"

The Hokage's aide turned and her eyes widened in shock. A woman carrying a beat up and bloody Uzumaki Naruto on her back was standing in front of the hospital emergency room. "Please," she pleaded. "help him."

Shizune called for nurses as she lay the unconscious genin on a gurney. Whipping her hands into lightning quick seals, she conjured a small healing jutsu. Nothing fancy, just enough to keep the wounds from getting infected. The woman who brought him in stared at his battered body, fearing the worst.

Shizune gave her a sincere smile. "Don't worry, we can take it from here," she assured her. "Drunken men," she stammered. "Drunken men were beating him up in a dark alley. They wouldn't stop hurting him." The medic nin grimaced. This again. The Uzumaki boy probably got brought to the hospital more often for incidents like that than actual ninja missions. The Godaime will not be happy about this…

"Can you help him?" Shizune snapped out of her reverie.

"Don't worry about it, miss. We'll get Naruto up and running in no time."

Leading the gurney into the operating room, Shizune and several medic nins quickly used medic jutsus to stabilize the genin's wounds while Yukio looked on from the doorway. Otherwise, they would have just called on Tsunade's help and healed the boy enough that he would be able to recover on his own. But as the Hokage was currently available, the medic nins made do with high level stabilization jutsus instead.

Once the wounds were no longer bleeding, Shizune called for a needle and thread and began stitching the wounds closed. He was in a bad condition indeed. Quickly moving the needle through the biggest wounds, the medic nin bound the incisions, closing them with the practiced dexterity of a field medic. Naruto's demon chakra was taking its time with the healing process, and she couldn't afford to wait any longer.

Yukio bit her lip nervously. She had no knowledge about shinobi type medicine so she couldn't comprehend just what the brunette was doing. Deciding that it was too early to begin panicking (The lady doctor's sure to know what she's doing), she went out of the emergency room and took a walk around the hospital.

She found herself back in the hospital waiting room. Having nothing else better to do, Yukio sat down on one of the overstuffed couches and picked up a copy of Shinobi Unlimited. Distracted, she couldn't even read a whole page before she was setting the magazine down again. Her eyelids started drooping. Carrying a twelve-year-old genin (much less one with the eating habits of one Uzumaki Naruto) across six blocks while on the run was tiring work. Slowly, Asakura Yukio found herself descending into a deep sleep…

Waking up in front of a huge cage with seal tags carved all over the bars. A white mist of intensely cold fog shimmered in the white chakra erupting from the body of the caged demon. She often saw this in her dreams from before and it held no surprises for her. A pair of mismatched eyes, each the size of her fist, stared down at her from within the darkened enclosure. One blue, one green. A menacing growl erupted from the cage.

What is it now brat?

Yukio knelt down on the icy floors and bowed formally. "I would like to give you my thanks for assisting me a while ago, Tsume-sama. I would not be here safe without your aid." The giant figure snorted.

Stupid human. All you need to realize is that I'm keeping you alive to keep me alive.

"Still I would like to thank you all the same. I owe you my life, Tsume-sama."

Brat. Wake up why don't you?

"Miss?"

Yukio was startled awake. The blue-haired medic nin was staring at her in the face as she held a clipboard in her hand. Once she was satisfied that Naruto's friend was awake enough, Shizune straightened up and introduced herself. Yukio did the same and asked about Naruto's state of being.

"Well," Shizune pursed her lips. "Naruto-kun's a mess, but he'll live. He's been through more than this pitiful thing and it'll take more than that to keep that boy down." Yukio heaved a sigh of relief.

"Still, he might not have lived if you didn't hurry him here." The other woman flushed red at Shizune's praise.

"I didn't do anything anyone else wouldn't have," Yukio stammered. "Besides, Naruto-kun's been really nice to me ever since I came to Konoha. He even helped me find some work." The medic nin smiled in understanding.

"I take it you work in the Ichiraku?"

"Why yes. How'd you know?"

Shizune pointed a finger at the Intensive Care Unit. "In there is the Ichiraku Ramen Restaurant's best customer in decades," she explained. "If he's gonna get you a job it has to be at the Ichiraku." Yukio raised a sleeve to her lips and giggled.

"Naruto-kun certainly loves his ramen."

"That he does, Yukio-san."

"Ano…"

"Yes?"

Yukio poked her fingers together. "Do you think he'd mind if I got him some ramen tomorrow? I might take the day off." Shizune laughed at that. "Trust me when I say that what you're planning may be one of the most appreciated gestures of kindness he'll ever get," the medic nin managed. "I'll be willing to bet that old man Ichiraku and his daughter would even be there with you. Wouldn't want to lose their best customer, would they?"

Yukio shook her head in amusement. Even with all the people crowding in the little restaurant, Naruto almost always manages to eat more than the rest of them combined.

Except for when that Akamichi boy shows up of course.

"Visiting hours are at eight tomorrow," Shizune said. "He'll love someone bringing him ramen early in the morning. He hardly ever gets visitors." Yukio looked at her in shock.

"Do you mean to say that this happens often?" The medic waved a dismissive hand.

"Goodness no! He's a shinobi. Constant hospitalizations come with the territory."

"Oh I see. I'll see you then, Shizune-san."

Yukio bowed low and departed form the hospital. Shizune collapsed in a chair. Shinobi did get hospitalized on occasion, but not as much as young Naruto. If only the people of Konoha stopped relating him to the demon of twelve years ago, the world would be a happier place for the boy.

But sometimes you don't get what you wish for.

Making a note on her clipboard to inform the Hokage about Naruto's condition, Shizune got up to make her rounds.

A/N: Another chapter done! Expect the next one to be a lot fluffier!