With a soft groan, Megumin opened her eyes. Not only was she in a hospital bed, but both of her arms were also wrapped in casts. She was alone in the room, unable to move her arms or even wiggle a finger. Like a flash, she remembered Gaara's sand arms crushing them. A harsh, quick gasp escaped her lips.

Naruto's words echoed through her mind. "I will save you."

She scooted herself out of the bed, needing to know where he was, but she was unable to open the door. She hit her head against the door as she cringed and shut her eyes, trying not to cry.

Defeated, she slowly walked back and sat in the bed, hoping to calm down. She inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it through her nose. The sun rose and shined lines of lights past the window blinds. With a quick glance to the outside, she saw the village was, at least from what she saw, still intact.

The nurse hurried in. "I heard a noise! Are you okay?"

"I guess."

"Are you hungry?"

She looked down at her hospital gown, expecting her empty stomach to growl. "How long have I been out?"

"The attack was two days ago, and it's noon right now. I'll be back with some food, one moment please."

She looked at her arms. The right one ached, but the left one… it had the sensation of numbness but also had pain that pierced through it. Megumin heard the microwave go off and a moment later, the nurse came back in with a tray. She laid the hamburger meat and rice on the small table and sat on the guest chair.

She looked at her arms, wrapped around by the heavy, white casts. It was obvious. She couldn't eat by herself anymore. The nurse used her chopsticks to feed her small bites of food at a time, where she would then chew and swallow with a downcasted expression on her face.

"You've had quite a lot of visitors while you were asleep."

She looked at her arms. "Sasuke and Naruto?"

The nurse pushed more food into her mouth. "Naruto was in the room next to you but recovered the following morning. He only left just an hour ago to get ready for the Hokage's funeral.

She looked at her arms. "What?"

"Right… during the attack, the Third Hokage was-"

She looked at her arms. "He was killed?"

"I'm… afraid so."

She looked at her arms. "How bad are my arms?"

The nurse broke off some of the meat and dipped it in some of its brown sauce. "The doctor will come to talk to you when he's in."

She looked at her arms. When the nurse tried to feed her the meat, Megumin didn't open her mouth.

"...Where's Sasuke?"

"...You need to eat to regain your strength."

She looked at the nurse. "Where's Sasuke? Is he here in the hospital, too?"

"No."

"Then where is he?"

"During the attack, he had gone missing."

She looked at her arms. Much like a statue, Megumin sat still for a long moment before she laid down in the bed. "I'm done eating."

"Right," the nurse said as she took the food and left the room.

Megumin stared at the ceiling for a long while before she looked at her arms and tears seeped out of her eyes and wet her cheeks. Everything had gone so wrong.

As the day went by, she watched the rays of light move from one side of the room to another, from dusk to dawn almost. Even when the doctor talked to her, she kept her eyes on the light.

Without the use of her arms, there wasn't much she could do. Sure, she could read a book but that didn't stop the embarrassment of not being able to fully use the restroom without some sort of assistance. She wasn't a toddler, but it sure felt like it.

No, she much rather lay there.

The nurse knocked on the door. "Megumin, you have a visitor."

She opened the door and in came a tray of food held by Naruto. The black funeral clothes he wore were proper with his sour expression, much like his black clothes. He must've come right after the funeral.

"Hey," he said, in a low voice as he placed the tray on the table.

She looked at his blue, hopeful eyes, and nodded her head. "Hey," she said, her voice breaking as she teared up. "The doctor just left the room."

"What did he say?"

"After a few days, I'll be able to use my right arm, and expect a full recovery in about a month, and my ribs should heal before then."

"That's awesome! You'll be back on your feet in no time!"

She looked at her left arm. "But… my left arm… is completely shattered."

"But, it'll get better, right?"

"No. He said it'll be like this forever, that I should consider amputation instead of having a useless arm. It is so messed up, I can't even wiggle my fingers. It's like someone used an explosion spell on just my arm."

All the breath Naruto had in his lungs was expelled from his body. He clenched his clothes. "I-" He shook his head. "I refuse to believe there's nothing we can do! I'll go talk to Kakashi, he'll know!"

"Naruto, wait." He turned back around. "Can you… feed me first?"

He made a soft grin. "Oh, right."

As he fed her little pieces of food, he kept chuckling to himself. She gave him an irritated look. "What's so funny? Don't make me use my explosion spell, and kill us both."

"When you were tied up to the post during our bell test with Kakashi, you wouldn't let me feed you. Guess some things do change."

With a soft growl, she chomped at the hand that fed her. "If I wasn't crippled, there'd be no way I'd let you feed me. In fact, I'd obliterate you right here!"

"Oh, shut it!"

He forced a piece of meat into her mouth, shutting her up. She glared at him as she chewed the food and swallowed, but clenched her blanket and looked out the window.

"So… what's the situation with Sasuke?"

"...I was told Orochimaru took him."

Megumin threw a worried glance. "And? Who's going after him?"

With a downpoured expression, Naruto looked to the corner of the room. "I don't know. Everyone is repairing the village. They're trying to not send any ninjas out." He gripped the chopsticks. "If I knew where he was, I'd go save him by myself."

Megumin blinked and showed a soft smile. "You? All by yourself?" She frowned and looked at her arms. "You did beat Gaara, so maybe I can believe that."

"You should have seen me! I-"

Without a knock, Jiraiya barged in. "Hey kid, get your stuff ready, we gotta go!"

"Huh?! But I have to tell Megumin about-"

"Megumin, hold tight, okay?"

"How dare you! Was that a joke?" Megumin held up her right, casted arm. "I can't hold anything!"

"You'll be able to once we're back! I know a certain lady, after all," Jiraiya said. "The best medical ninja in the world."

Jiraiya walked out of the room. Naruto rushed to the door and knocked over the chair. "I'll go pack right now!"

"Wait!" Megumin yelled. He stopped in his tracks and looked back to Megumin, who met his curious gaze. "I… my staff, could you get it for me?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "If you promise you won't use it."

With an exasperated sigh, she smiled at him. "Does it look like I can use anything at all?" He scooted herself out of the bed and stood in front of him. A year ago, they were the same height… Now, he was at least half a foot taller.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I never do anything stupid!"

"Everything you do is stupid!"

The nurse sprinted into the room. "Could you two please keep it down?" She said in a snark whisper. "This is a hospital."

"We're so sorry," they both said as they bowed.

2

A few weeks have passed since Naruto and Jiraiya went on their search for the mystery woman and just a few days since she's been released from the hospital. Though functional, her right arm was bandaged, but her left arm remained in the cast.

She peered through the windows of the flower shop and at the Hokage Rock. Even after a week, there were still signs of the attack all around the village. Broken walls, shattered houses, and debris all around.

"Don't worry. Pretty soon the village will be back to normal," Ino said. She was assigned by her jonin to help Megumin around.

To keep herself occupied, Megumin helped Ino at her family's flower shop. It had been busy due to the Hokage's death and people bought him flowers for his grave, but today it seemed to have calmed down.

If Ino put a seldom amount of water in the water pot, Megumin didn't have too much trouble watering the flowers.

Megumin shunned her head down. Since the day she learned the explosion spell, she used the spell each and every day. That was until she woke up in the hospital. It ate her up inside, but the doctor told her if she casted explosion, it would kill her.

She gripped the watering pot hard. Megumin looked at Ino, who cut leaves off an overgrown plant. "Ino, I… I need help! I need to let it out!"

Ino froze, furrowed her eyebrows, and slightly gaped her mouth. "W-what? Let what out?"

Megumin made a soft groan before she raised the empty watering pot. "There's too much tension inside! If I don't do something about all this, I'm going to go crazy!"

Ino's eyes grew wider. "Huh?" All of the sudden, Megumin went limp, unable to stand up. Ino hurried to help her to her feet. "Megumin, what's wrong? What are you talking about?!"

"I need help, I can't climax alone! Not like this!"

"What the-" Ino let Megumin go and she fell to the floor. With a cringe and knitted eyebrows, she looked around and scratched her head. "Look, Megumin… I can't help with that. I've never even-"

"We don't have to tell anyone… even if it kills me, I need to do it at least once per day!"

Ino put her hand over her shocked, opened mouth before she blushed and looked away. "I… I didn't think you were that kind of girl."

"We can do it outside of the village, where no one can hear us," Megumin said.

"Where no one can hear us?" Ino shook her head for no.

"And that way, my explosion spell won't damage the village any."

Ino darted her attention back to Megumin and tilted her head before she smacked her face upon realization. "Oh, brother… That's not a good idea. I'm supposed to be your assistant. You're not going to do something stupid like that on my watch."

Megumin groaned. "Just kill me then."

Ino sighed and helped her up. "How about some tea? That might calm your nerves."

"...Okay."

At least she didn't need help drinking some tea, anymore. As they sat behind the counter, Megumin sipped the warm tea and smelled the steam.

"What's your deal with the explosion spell?" Ino asked. "From what I heard, it's something different from your explosion release."

"From where I'm from, we learn magic or spells by getting experience. I put all my points into the explosion spell and just that, it's the only spell I know and the only one I need!"

"...Wouldn't it be better to know other spells?"

She pursed her lips and looked away. "Yes… but, I refuse! Explosion magic is the only magic for me! People just don't know how great it is!"

"You're… kinda weird."

She sighed and looked at her shoes. "So I've been told."

Ino smiled and cuffed her hand to yell to the back of the shop. "Hey, mom, I'm going out!"

"Huh? You're going somewhere?"

"We're going to the sauna!"

Megumin followed Ino to the bathhouse, the same one Naruto and her trained by and Jiraiya peeped into. It was only due to him being outside of the village she would even step into the steam room.

"This is exactly what you needed," Ino said. "Just a stress-relieving bath."

Megumin sat at the edge of the water and dipped her feet and legs in the steamed-up water while Ino sat in the water. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail and let the ends drip into the water as she turned around and rested her chin on her arms.

"Where do you think Sasuke is?"

She didn't exactly know herself, just that Orochimaru abducted him. "Hopefully he's somewhere… safe."

Ino glanced at Megumin. "Did you have a crush on him?"

Megumin grasped the end of her towel and looked away. "I mean, a little, I guess…"

Ino made a soft nod of her head. "Most girls do. I used to."

"Not anymore?"

"No. Sure, he's cute and fun to try and flirt with, and he had that mystery about him, but I barely even knew him." With a sad expression, she looked down. "Even after all the years in the same class."

"...Why did no one talk to Naruto?"

Ino scratched her head. "That's… a hard question. Even before he became annoying, no one seemed to like him. It was only recently that I learned the reason. When I was a kid, my mom told me to stay away from him, so I did."

"What about now?"

She grinned. "Everyone was wrong about him, though they're right about one thing. He's certainly unpredictable. Even has my admiration," she smiled and rubbed her face. "Especially after our fight."

Megumin sucked in her cheek. "I didn't see the fight."

Ino rolled her eyes and huffed out some air. "Well… I had learned a jutsu just for his shadow clones, the Mind-Body Disturbance Technique which makes someone attack their comrade, but the twerp used it against me, transforming into me along with all his clones."

"Sounds like something he would do. Honestly, he probably got the idea from his fight with Shikamaru."

"Right, but whatever, I'm over it. He's come a long way."

"I-" Megumin looked at her arm. "He beat Gaara, and saved me."

"I still can't believe that," Ino said.

After Ino walked Megumin to her apartment, they waved goodbye and she pushed the key into her door. Before she entered her apartment, she glanced at Naruto's door. She wondered how long he would be gone.

Of all the things that were hard to do, dressing and the act of showering were near impossible. In the mirror, she looked at herself before she used her mouth to pull her arm's bandages off. Her arm was purple from the bruises she had acquired. As she turned on the shower, her hand shook like a scared child's.

Another almost impossible challenge was food. Lately, she's settled for instant ramen, but even then, she would sometimes drop the pot of boiling water on the floor due to her usable arm not having the strength. Instead, she used a ladle to get the hot water into the cup. She looked at the steam as the instant ramen cooked, imagining Naruto's smile as he rubbed his hands together before he ate a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen.

After she ate, she went to bed. Some nights were sleepless. Either from the pain in her arm, or the nightmares of the sand monster making her scream awake. Even now, she could hear his raspy, coarse voice screaming her name.

"My purpose is to kill, to kill is to make me feel alive, and killing someone who can cause me such pain will make me feel more alive than ever! MEGUMIN!"

She wondered if he would come back to try and finish the job. Naruto didn't even have a chance to tell her how he defeated him. She opened her eyes, unable to sleep, noticing someone standing in the dark corner. Gaara. She let out a scream as she sat up, but he disappeared. After she caught her breath, she wiped her tears away.

Tap tap.

At the window were soft taps. She opened the curtains to the window.

"Megumin, we need to talk," Kakashi said through the window.

She closed the curtains. "That's worse than Gaara."

The window opened and Kakashi pushed the blinds out of the way. "Now, now, I'm just here to talk, no need to get all scared."

"How can I not after what you did to me?! I still can't hear out of my left ear properly!" She rolled her eyes. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"It's Sasuke," Kakashi raised his hands. "He escaped and was heading here, but was captured by another village."

Megumin's eyes widened with hope. "I'll go with you. I… I can still use one of my arms. And we can also get Ino and Shikamaru and-"

"It has to be just us. A covert mission. In and out, real easy. No one can know but this mission."

Megumin nodded. "I'll blow up that village sky high! Which one is it?"

"Iwagakure, so it'll be a long journey, for sure. I'll give you some time to get your stuff together before we head out. We must make haste. I'll wait for you at the village entrance. Make sure no one sees you leave."

Megumin furrowed her eyebrows. "'Make haste?' Okay, I'll hurry."

After he closed the window, she began to get her backpack together. She filled it with food pills and explosion tags while she filled her mind with doubt. She wondered why Kakashi would come for her. With her arms, she was nothing but a liability, and even if she did survive her explosion spell, he'd have to carry her. She put on her backpack, but with a sad look, she placed the backpack back down and walked to the front gate.

She walked through the gate and whispered out for Kakashi. "Hey, sensei? Where are you?"

Within the forest came a bright light, like a fire. An explosion blasted her off the ground. She was too weak to get up and unable to keep her eyes open. In between her opening and closing her eyes, she saw a red hooded person with a metal mask underneath. On their shoulder was a headband with the symbol of two stone monuments.

As the man was about to grab her, someone threw a bright lantern on the ground and he froze in place, like a statue trying to move.

"You're not laying a finger on her," someone said. Several meters away, Shikamaru struck a hand seal pose, and his shadow stretched to the opponent. "I was trying to see what was up with Naruto when I saw Kakashi, who is away on a secret mission. What a drag, though… didn't expect this."

"...I see. The Shadow Possession Jutsu. Tell me, does it also stop breathing?"

"Huh? Obviously not if you're still talking, moron."

Through the vertical slots of the man's mask, Megumin saw a bright light-generating.

"Look away, Shikamaru!"

"Shit!" Shikamaru looked to the side, which made the red hooded man look to the side, also. "He can still attack?! Megumin, can you move?"

"Yeah," she said, getting up slowly.

The man roared as his mask lit up once more. This time, he made it bright enough to disintegrate the shadow possession jutsu. At that moment, he stomped on the lantern, which stopped the light and got rid of the shadows. However, Megumin already made it away from him.

"This isn't good," Shikamaru said as he rubbed his neck. "I only had the upper hand because I caught him by surprise. My jutsu is practically useless in the dark. I need shadows, not darkness. Here under the trees, the shadows from the moonlight aren't good enough."

Behind them came running Ino, Choji, and also Kiba. "Hey, who is this guy?!" Kiba asked.

"Dynamic entry!" Rock Lee said, coming out of nowhere and kicking the man in the mask. However, the opponent didn't even budge, instead, he grabbed Lee's ankle and threw him back.

Lee spun backward and landed on his feet, drifting a little back before he stood up and got into a defensive pose. "If you mess with one of us, you mess with us all!"

"Then, I'll just destroy all of you." The man clapped his hands together and took a long, deep breath, inhaling all the air he could. Fire spewed out of his mask as he held the oxygen within himself.

"Watch out!" Megumin picked up her staff and aimed it at the man. No time for a glamorous explosion, instead a quick one to save her friends.

"Megumin, don't!" Ino yelled.

"Explosion!" It was too late. Through the pain, she shot the explosion spell and blasted right at the man. She made a crater where he once stood.

"He escaped," Shikamaru said.

"Megumin, you idiot!" Ino said. Megumin crouched down to the floor, trying to breathe and not cry. "Why would you do that?"

"He was going to blow you all up, I had to stop him," she said, barely able to breathe. "My body… It hurts…"

Ino rubbed her back. Everyone else crouched around her.

"Hey, you're going to be okay," Kiba said.

"Yes! There is no way this is your end!" Rock Lee added.

"Ino, it might be best if she comes home with you," Shikamaru said.

"She's such an idiot," Ino said.

"Well, she does spend most of her time with Naruto," Shikamaru said. "I'm sure he'd risk his life for us, too."

3

Another month had gone by. Megumin stayed at Ino's for several weeks until her right arm regained most of her feeling. The bruises had faded but so have her muscles. It'll take time to get it back. One day at a time, step by step.

Though still a challenge, showers were much easier. She washed and dressed in her underwear, though her bra took some finesse. At this point, she's gotten quite used to it.

As she towel-dried her hair, she exited the bathroom, finding Naruto standing in the kitchen with wide eyes and a strand of steaming ramen in his mouth. As she dropped the towel, he dropped the ramen.

"Pervert!" Megumin yelled as she ran back into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Wh- you're the one in your underwear!"

"It's my apartment! I'll be nude if I want! Get out, now!"

"Wait, Megumin, we brought her back! The old hag that'll heal your arm!"

As she leaned on the door, she smiled, realizing how much he missed him. It had been a little over a month since he first left the village. She cracked the door open. "Can you hand me a shirt?"

After she pulled the shirt on, she left the bathroom, too. "I was… beginning to think you left me, too. Did you know Ino doesn't ever shut up?"

He cackled. "I did, actually."

Megumin hugged her face into his chest.

"Megumin?"

"Just, shut up."

Arc 2. Lots of big changes from canon. Some are more subtle than others.