Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am making no profit from this story, it is only for entertainment.
Just a reminder of a few warnings attached to this story and they apply to the whole story although they won't be present in every chapter: explicit language, past abuse, disability, chronic illness, canon-typical violence, and implied sexual content. If any of these make you uncomfortable, then please read at your own discretion. If there are any more warnings you think I've missed, please let me know and I can add them.
Chapter Summary: In which Team 7 go extreme camping and Naruto gets the sniffles
Chapter 15: Capture the Flag
The late afternoon sun shone over them as Naruto and his team ran north-west of Kumo. They'd been running since the second stage began that morning and Naruto still had no idea how they were supposed to find sixteen measly flags in the middle of Lightning Country. He had sensed at least three Kumo teams running in the same direction at the start but they were too far away to feel for the moment.
Probably waiting to jump them at the worst time. Couldn't make this hellish exam any easier for them, after all.
"Aka-chan, anyone around?"
"Nah, we're good," he replied, stopping beside Hana.
Kazuya turned to them.
"Okay, so although we pass as individuals we're gonna pass as a team too, right?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and lightly punched him in the arm.
"Duh, Pinku-baka. We pass as a team or not at all."
"So this means we need to find three flags," Hana chimed in, frowning. "What are the chances of finding three in one direction?"
"Pretty much zero," Kazuya shrugged. "We might get one but the others could all be south or east or something."
"Okay, so we find one," Naruto nodded. "How do we get the other two?"
"They said that we have to hand in a flag to pass, right? Not that it had to be a flag we found. Just that we had to physically hand in a flag."
Naruto considered Kazuya's words.
"We could have had a better chance of finding flags if we split up," Hana pointed out.
"Yeah, but also greater chance of being ambushed," Kazuya frowned. "Everyone is gunning for us. We're the only Konoha team and the youngest; we've pretty much got a bounty on our heads."
"We're gonna get ambushed anyway," Naruto spoke up. "We might as well use it against them."
"I'm with Aka-chan. We find a flag in the first day and then go back to Kumo. We ambush anyone who approaches the village outskirts for their flags, then we hand them in together."
Naruto nodded along to Kazuya's plan, pulling a scroll from his pocket and checking the label before summoning three water bottles and handing them to his teammates, keeping one for himself.
"So we still need to find a flag."
Naruto swallowed the cool liquid and store the bottle away, retying his hair back. The search continued.
Naruto groaned as he hit a branch out of his way. The light was dying and there was still no sign of a flag anywhere. He could feel Hana and her dogs scouting just in front and Kazuya not far behind him. He coughed harshly to clear his throat. The air was definitely thinner here than it was back home.
"Fucking finally!"
He broke through the foliage and spotted Hana in the middle of a clearing, grinning as she stared up the face of a cliff. He followed her gaze until he saw the flash of red against the expanse of grey.
"We got one?"
Kazuya came up behind them and covered his eyes to look up.
"Looks like it," Hana nodded.
"Thank fuck," Kazuya slumped his shoulder, dropping his hand. "I know we said we would spend the first day finding a flag but I didn't mean the whole first day. This is literally the edge of the fifty mile perimeter they set us."
"It's going to take us all night to get back to Kumo to set up an ambush for tomorrow," Hana groaned, her grin falling at the thought.
"Yup," sighed Kazuya. "Seriously, who planned this exam? They did not think it through."
"We found one." Naruto patted his teammates' shoulders. "Let's take a moment to be happy about that before we get grumpy again."
He paused.
"I will say that we are not wasting tomorrow looking around like today."
"Oh yeah," Kazuya laughed. "No way are we spending two more days hiking around pointlessly like this. Camp out outside Kumo, target whoever comes near us, get their flags and get back to the village."
"I second that," Hana chimed in.
Naruto tore his gaze away and turned as chakra signatures came bursting into range.
"We got incoming!"
"Shit! Okay, Naruto, go up and get that flag. Hana and I will hold them off. There is no way we are giving up that flag."
Naruto took off running.
He applied chakra to his feet and darted up the cliff face, the signatures reaching the edge of the bushes. He didn't dare look back as the ring of kunai reached him; one enemy broke off and began to follow him up the cliff.
Out of the corner of his eye, a Kumo-nin appeared with a sharp smirk. Naruto rolled to the side as shuriken clanged off of where he had just been. The Kumo-nin appeared beside him and Naruto ducked under his fist, jabbing his own into the man's gut. A fist came down on his back and a cough escaped his lungs; he allowed the punch to drive him to the rock face and he rolled backwards, kicking his feet up into the Kumo-nin's face as he rolled. He felt his foot connect and as he hauled himself upright, he watched the Kumo-nin bear his bloody teeth at him. The man growled and a kunai popped into his hand.
"You are not making it out of this exam alive, child."
"You're pretty old to be taking this exam," Naruto sneered back. "You must suck if you're taking it at the same time as me."
The man launched a barrage of kunai and Naruto ducked and weaved, throwing a mental thanks to Genma-sensei for those many paint-covered mornings spent dodging. The man appeared in front of him and Naruto jumped back as pain lanced up his right arm, a slash through the sleeve.
He formed a one-handed bird seal as blood ran down between his fingers.
"Fūton: Daitoppa!"
He blew the chakra-infused air at the other shinobi; the man sunk his feet into the cliff's surface to stop himself from being blown off but this opened up an opportunity for Naruto. He closed his mouth and darted forward, throwing a kunai up the cliff before slamming a kick into the side of the man's head. As the man pulled out another kunai to stab him in the gut, slower than earlier through his daze, Naruto had already finished his hand seals.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu!"
He appeared directly above the other shinobi as the kunai he threw earlier clanged against the man's own. Naruto let gravity take him and he landed with two feet in the middle of the man's chest.
The Kumo-nin's feet cracked out of the cliff face and Naruto slapped his right hand against the cliff to catch himself. He watched the man fall; it wasn't that far since they had only made it about a quarter of the way up the cliff. He shook it off as he felt the man's chakra flicker when he hit the ground and continued climbing. He finally reached the red flag halfway up the cliff and stored it in one of his pocket seals. He paused, taking a moment to breathe. Maybe he shouldn't have used a fūton jutsu considering.
He shook the thought from his head and rushed back down to find his teammates brushing themselves off in the middle of the decimated clearing. Naruto recognised the cause of the massive holes in both the ground and the cliff face as Hana's clan techniques and the bushes were still burning from whatever katon jutsu Kazuya had thrown around.
A groan reached him and Naruto went to drag the unconscious Kumo-nin he had kicked off the cliff to be tied up with the others. Kazuya came over and whistled as he took in the damage.
"What'd he ever do to you, Aka-chan?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and dropped the man next to his teammates. Comparing the three, his did look the most injured. He could probably convince Kazuya to patch up that gash on his head and push the bone back in his leg before he tied him up. Whatever was under the blood covering his feet would most likely be fine.
"He started it."
"Yeah, okay." Kazuya threw him a dubious look before kneeling to apply first aid. "I can do enough that he won't die. No point in killing our competitors if we don't have to."
Hana jogged over.
"Did you get it?"
Naruto unsealed the flag and waved it around with a grin before sealing it back into his pocket.
"Okay, I declare that they won't die," Kazuya rose to his feet. "I've also searched them and tied them up so they won't be hunting us down for revenge anytime soon. They don't have a flag. Now let's see that arm."
Naruto looked down at the slumped older team as Kazuya passed his glowing green hand over the cut. The man he had fought probably had about on a decade on him; what would it feel like to lose to someone half his age?
In Konoha, he found it hard to connect to other genin teams; he barely knew anyone from the academy and that didn't change after graduation. He was so busy with training and raising Rio; he just couldn't connect to kids considering he didn't feel like one himself. It was like his body didn't match his mental age. He felt this rift now; he probably would never be able to understand this Kumo-nin. He and his team were different and would always be from the general shinobi populace.
"Hey."
Naruto looked up.
"They'll be fine," Kazuya smiled. "We, however, have got to go all the way back to Kumo tonight. We also need to plan out our first ambush while avoiding all the teams that are potentially hiding in wait to do the exact same thing to us."
"We barely slept getting here." Hana sat and put her head on her knees. "We hardly slept last night and now we're not going to sleep for at least the next two days."
"We have plenty soldier pills," Naruto offered weakly.
Hana answered him with a dead-eyed stare.
"We knew it would be tough," Kazuya sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, I know." Hana shook her head and stood. "Sorry, I'm just tired."
"We're right there with you," Kazuya offered a fist bump which Hana gently bumped back.
"We've been on worse missions," Naruto grinned, shoving his fist to join the others. "Remember the Land of Rivers?"
A collective shudder ran through the genin at his words.
"This has nothing on the Land of Rivers," Kazuya shivered.
A groan reached them from the tied up Kumo-nins and Hana reached over to punch the stirring shinobi back out.
"We should head out," she smiled at her team. "We need put out those fires first, though."
Naruto sighed and nodded at Hana's words, heading over to deal with them.
"This exam is rigged."
"Of course it's rigged. Sixteen flags in such a huge area, the Kumo-nin probably got maps or were told before the exams where they would be or something. We'll need to set up our traps pretty soon; the exam ends tomorrow."
"We got to find the little Konoha team too. Easy pickings; did you see them in the first stage? The redhead doesn't even come up to my elbow."
"They're not going to have a flag though."
"Yeah, but whoever takes them out is going to have bragging rights going into the third stage. Iwa alone is foaming at the mouth to kill them off."
"Huh, good point."
"Are you sure you heard something?"
"Yeah, it was an animal or something but it will still make a good dinner tonight."
The Kusa team entered a clearing only ten miles outside of Kumo, the second day's afternoon sun reflecting off their coned straw hats. Black turtlenecks under beige coats, tied together with thick purple rope around their waists; the trio laughed over the last comment. They failed to notice the ring of seals that surrounded them.
There was a moment of silence before a torrent of water hit the Kusa team straight on. They barely had a moment to cough and splutter the water back up before one overheard a voice from their left.
"Kazuya, now!"
She squinted through the water to see several points around them light up. As the seals sparked, she didn't even have time to curse as lightning hit her. A thousand hot needles burst across her skin and her legs gave out. She was almost grateful she lost consciousness.
Naruto took a final bite of his ration bar, throwing the packaging into the open fire in front of him. No matter how many of these he ate they never tasted any better. Wiping his hands on his trousers, he took out his hair tie and ran a hand through the red locks. It was getting pretty long now; it reached the middle of his back but he should probably get a trim after the exams.
They had settled in a rocky nook surrounded by bushes. It was safe enough for a small fire and although they lost the advantage of higher ground, Naruto would detect anyone coming early enough that it wouldn't matter.
The ambush had worked perfectly. His lightning seals had zapped everything in the zone and Kazuya had even managed to trigger the seals himself. His homemade custom seals normally only worked for him. His one and only suiton jutsu had made it extra effective and he was now glad that Genma-sensei had spent that week drilling it into his brain. It may have originally been so he could put out the fires from Kazuya and Hana's katon training but it definitely came in handy. It had even been worth losing three bottles worth of water.
It hadn't even been the intended use for those seals. Really, they were supposed to be used individually; slap them on an opponent, channel some chakra and they got a nasty electric shock. It had taken a while to figure out how to stop the seal from zapping him too on activation. They had been trying to think up ambush ideas that had the least amount of enemy contact and fūinjutsu had been the obvious choice. He hadn't even considered using them to make essentially an electrified cage until Kazuya had suggested it.
Leading the Kusa team into their trap had been even easier with him keeping track of them with his sensing abilities and the Haimaru brothers leading them in.
Kazuya clapped his hands.
"Okay," he grinned. "So we have two flags now so we're right on track."
"To point out the obvious, tomorrow is going to be a bloodbath." Hana fed bits of jerky to the Haimaru brothers, their canine faces looking very pleased with themselves. "That Kusa team had the same idea we did; every other team is going to be back here tomorrow."
"We can probably count on inter-team fighting by tomorrow though," Kazuya nodded. "Since we pass by individual, not by team, there's sure to be some that break down."
"So we get a flag as quickly as possible then high-tail it for the gate."
"Pretty much," Kazuya shrugged. "We might not have the same chance as we did today for set-up; we have no idea how many teams are left."
"So fast ambush, minimal preparation," Naruto stretched his arms out. "Means we can keep moving quickly."
"If possible, we can try and prioritise either single competitors or those running for the gate. With the first, we outnumber them so minimal risk and we can cut down some competition. With the second, they are the most like to have a flag so we can get this over with."
Naruto shared a looked with Hana before they both turned to stare at Kazuya. Their teammate proceeded to frown intently into the fire until he noticed the silence.
"What?"
"Are you sure you aren't related to the Nara?" asked Hana, amused.
"It would fit," Naruto shrugged, suppressing his own smile.
Kazuya rolled his eyes.
"Like I keep telling you, not everyone who has half a brain in Konoha is related to the Nara clan."
"Don't put yourself down like that," Naruto smirked. "You have at least three quarters of a brain in there."
Hana's laughter joined his as Kazuya pelted them both with twigs from their wood pile. Naruto stood and shooed the pair of them, scraping some dirt over the small fire to put it out.
"I'm on watch so get some sleep," he grinned. "You both need it."
He loved his team. He didn't know who else could make him laugh in the middle of such a shit situation. His teammates' smiles immediately dropped.
"Wait Aka-chan, you can't stay up. You need sleep too."
"More than us even," Hana added. "We know you woke up early before the exam to write those seals into our pockets. That's if you even went to sleep."
"So you guys are able to sense enemies incoming from over three hundred metres away now?"
"We can use other skills," Hana scowled. "I'll smell or hear them coming."
"Let's face it," Naruto sighed. "I'm the most reliable warning system we have and we'd be idiots if we didn't use me. You guys can handle the bulk of the attacks tomorrow while I hang back, but for tonight this makes the most sense."
He unsealed a bag of soldier pills from his pocket and shook them.
"Have some faith. One of these will keep me going until this part of the exam ends tomorrow."
His teammates were obviously unhappy but as Naruto settled himself against a rock, he knew they would have to agree with him. Kazuya may be their brains and Hana their brawn but Naruto knew what he contributed to this team. He had learned over his genin career that his sensing and fūinjutsu were more unique than he had ever thought; never mind in combination. There was no one like him not only in Konoha but in any of the villages they had visited on missions.
It didn't change much. He was still Rio's big brother, still Team 7's weakest member, still the youngest genin. It did help him in times like this; there were things only he could do. He could help his team and he would. Soon enough, he could hear the soft breathing of his teammates and Naruto smiled softly. They were exhausted. They needed this. His eyes throbbed in time with his head and he rested his head back against the cool stone.
Just one night. One more night. Then he could sleep.
Raising the bag, he stared at the soldier pills and took one out. He sealed the others back up. What he hadn't told his teammates was he had already taken one two days ago. He had been getting even less sleep than they thought but he had managed to hide it well. These exams were so important; he couldn't be the one to let the team down.
Yakushi-sensei had agreed not to tell Genma-sensei purely on the basis that it looked like it was just a cold. It had started up last week; just a cough, a few sneezes, a headache or two. Nothing major; definitely not worth cancelling these exams over. Everyone got colds and while yes, he was very tired and his breathing was not where it should be he was keeping up. They were so close to the end of the second stage.
He popped the bitter pill into his mouth and brought out a water bottle to wash it down. He knew that no one was really supposed to take two within a three day period, but at the end of three days he would crash. That was tomorrow. He couldn't afford to crash in the middle of tomorrow. This one would keep him going just a bit longer.
The quiet night wore on as Naruto stared up at the stars, wide awake as the pill kicked in. It couldn't have been far from daybreak when he felt them.
"Kazuya, Hana, wake up," he shook their shoulders gently.
The older genin groaned and stirred. Naruto shook them harder.
"We have two incoming from the south, two hundred metres."
Hana's eyes snapped open and she sprang up. Kazuya was slower to rise but Naruto could see a plan forming in his tired pink eyes.
"Two?"
"Two."
"Okay, Hana hide. Naruto and I will go back to looking like we're asleep. They're moving slowly?"
"Yeah." Naruto cocked his head to the side. "I think they're going for stealth; probably would work with any other team."
"Hana, your clan techniques. The moment they come into view, can you unleash your Gatsūga?"
"Bit of an overkill, Kazuya," Naruto raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"No, he's right," said Hana thoughtfully. "Hit them both at the same time, it's over before it's even started. You don't have to do a thing which at this stage is a bonus."
Naruto joined Kazuya on the ground and took up a sleeping position. It was at the opposite point of where the enemy would emerge from so they should avoid being hit by Hana. Naruto closed his eyes and tried to feel out the chakra. It wasn't Kumo or Kusa, it was more... earthy? Soil? It was the same taste in his mouth as when he did all those gardening D-ranks.
"So Konoha was around here?"
"Apparently. It's worth checking out on our way back to the gate."
Whispers reached him and his rolled his eyes behind his closed lids. How bad did the genin in this exam think they were? They were the youngest but still. Bushes rustled gently.
"Gatsūga!"
Two short screams were cut out abruptly with wet crunches and dull thuds. Naruto opened his eyes and sat up. Hana and her dogs were stood over the mangled bodies of the genin and her blood-covered face was in a deep scowl. She tossed over a headband.
Naruto looked down and the pieces clicked. Kazuya peered over his shoulder.
"Iwa."
"Well, we knew they were after us."
"Hey, guys."
The boy looked up to see the scowl gone and a bright grin in its place. Hana twirled the pair of flags between her fingers.
"Looks like we don't have to ambush anyone tomorrow after all."
Naruto's own face broke out into a grin as he leapt up and glomped Hana into a hug, ignoring the blood and flesh stuck to her clothing. Kazuya soon joined them.
"How idiotic do you have to be to have the flag and then seek for revenge for a war we didn't even fight in instead of just passing the exam?" Kazuya huffed into the hug quietly.
"Who the fuck cares," Naruto shrugged. "Let's go pass this exam."
"What should we do with the extra?" Hana held it up.
Kazuya took it from her and dumped it on the ground, letting off a small katon jutsu. They watched the flag burn before Naruto looked at his friend.
"They never said we couldn't destroy them," he simply said. "Plus this is one less competitor to fight in the next round."
"Let's go!" Naruto punched his fist into the air.
They made it to Kumo's village gate just as the light from the rising sun of third day reached them. Inei stared down at them grimly as they each handed in their flag. Kazuya's was still a little wet and both Hana and her flag were covered in blood but there was nothing in the rules about the condition of the flag either. Kumo really wasn't big on rules, it was turning out.
They were escorted to the competitors' waiting room where they could see that three Kumo-nin had already beaten them there. The girl with a Bijū was there; she looked pristine, like she hadn't even left the village.
It was long day of waiting for the other competitors to arrive.
The rain thundered against the large window as Rio stared at the grey clouds overhead. There was probably no chance of them getting back out to the park with it like this. He slumped back against his chair as Kiba complained beside him.
"Man, this sucks! It wasn't supposed to last this long."
"Such a drag."
Rio looked across the kitchen table to Shikamaru who was lazily staring out the window. Chouji was munching on his snacks in the chair next to him contently, eyes roaming the apartment casually.
"Here was closest and I don't have any umbrellas," Rio shrugged hopelessly.
"It's cool, Rio," Chouji smiled. "Thanks for letting us stay here until the rain stops."
Kiba's head snapped to the door and Rio could soon heard footsteps. Keys were inserted into the door and it flew open with a loud bang and a violent swear.
"Of course it had to be raining the day we came back."
"Calm down, Kazuya. We're home. We can have real food, a real bath, a bed..."
"We are passing these chunin exams because I swear we are not doing this again."
"How many times have I said this? We have had worse missions."
"And yet, those missions have been much less stressful."
Rio's brothers stomped their way into the flat, dripping with mud and misery. They dumped their sandals, bags and jackets at the door but they still looked like they had been dragged through every wet bush in Fire Country. They were dressed in mission gear; all black with body armour and bracers. Kazu-nee had had a haircut before the exams so his brown hair hung just above his eyebrows while Nii-san had his in a low bun today. They didn't look injured, just tired.
"Welcome home!"
Nii-san looked over at him and a warm smile immediately took over his features.
"Hi, Sunshine," he greeted. "I'd hug you but you look clean and I don't want to change that."
"Hey, Rio," Kazu-nee cheerfully waved from behind Nii-san.
"Hey, Kiba, go get some towels," Rio shoved his best friend out of his chair and went to boil the kettle.
His friend quickly returned grumbling with two large towels and handed them to the two older boys. Nii-san thanked the Inuzuka and plonked himself on top of the towel in the middle of the floor, Kazuya following suit. Rio dumped tea leaves into two cups and poured the water, handing the hot cups to his brothers. Nii-san and Kazu-nee thanked him warmly and Rio bounced back to his seat. He finally noticed Shikamaru and Chouji eyeing his family awkwardly.
"Oh, Shikamaru, Chouji, this is Nii-san and Kazu-nee. Nii-san, Kazu-nee, this is Shikamaru and Chouji."
He heard Kiba snickering beside him and frowned as Kazu-nee sighed softly.
"I'm Kazuya and this is Naruto," he said, looking pointedly over at Rio.
Previous talks about introducing people ran through his head and his mistake became apparent.
"The Nara and Akimichi we've heard about?" Nii-san spoke up, sipping his tea.
Rio nodded.
"We were at the park and the rain started. Here was closest."
Nii-san nodded and took another sip.
"It's nice to finally meet both of you. I'm glad that Rio's making more friends," he smiled, and Rio felt his cheeks grow warm in a mix of affection and embarrassment.
"You're taking the chunin exams?" Chouji piped up curiously.
"Just back from Kumo," Kazu-nee grinned widely.
"Wait, does that mean you passed?" Kiba prompted before Rio could ask.
"Not yet," Kazu-nee shrugged. "There are three stages to the exams and we passed two. We got told that the third stage is going to be in a month. We came back to train here though with all the travelling we're only going to be training for about three weeks."
"Why a month?"
Kazu-nee turned to look at Chouji.
"It's going to be a big tournament so they want to give people time to arrange travel to go. Like Kage and Daimyo and other important people. We were also meant to have sixteen people in the tournament but ended up with twelve."
"Why?" Kiba asked eagerly.
"The second stage involved getting a flag to pass. Three flags were destroyed and one genin pulled out due to injuries."
"How old are you?" Shikamaru finally spoke up.
The Nara had been quietly watching the exchange. That in itself wasn't unusual for the lazy boy but that keen glint in his eye as he watched was. Speaking of quiet, Nii-san was being strangely silent too; especially for meeting his new friends. His brother slowly sipped at his tea. Rio narrowed his eyes; was he swaying?
"I'm twelve and Aka-chan here is ten," Kazu-nee answered with a raised eyebrow.
"The way Rio spoke about you," said Shikamaru. "I thought you were way older."
"Me too," Chouji timidly added.
As all eyes moved to him, Rio looked away from Nii-san.
"I didn't say anything to make them think that. I just talked about you like normal."
"I didn't hear anything weird," Kiba nodded beside him.
"It's just that he said that you were raising him," Shikamaru looked between him and his brother in confusion. "That you always had and that you'd been genin a while. I just pictured someone older."
Kazu-nee laughed and nudged Nii-san. Nii-san didn't even look at him and alarm bells started to ring in Rio's head. Something was wrong. Nii-san's cup clattered to the ground and the barely drunk tea splashed across the wooden floor.
"NII-SAN!"
Kazu-nee was immediately hunched over him, hands glowing green. Rio hovered over his shoulder, tears blurring his vision before he roughly wiped them away. Kazu-nee leaned back after a moment.
"He's okay," he smiled gently at Rio and his friends. "It's just exhaustion. We've been travelling and fighting almost constantly since we left two weeks ago. He feels safe here so his body just decided that he needs to sleep."
Rio's heartbeat began to slow as the adrenaline left his system. Kazu-nee knew what he was talking about; if he said it was fine then it was fine. His oldest brother gathered up Nii-san in his arms.
"I'm going to take him for a check-up just in case. You stay and hang out with your friends. I promise he'll be back to embarrass you in front of your new friends by tomorrow."
Kazu-nee grinned and Rio offered a weak one in return at his attempt at humour. He headed to the door and Rio watched him go. He turned back to the kitchen table and shrugged hopelessly at his friends.
"He'll be fine, Rio," said Kiba. "I've heard the chunin exams are really hard. Naruto-nii is a badass but even he might have found them hard."
"Plus he's just super tired," Chouji pointed out. "My clan get it a lot. Some sleep and he'll be fine. He's got the final chunin exams to sit in a month; no way he'd miss that."
His friends' words helped a little. As Rio went to grab the mop from the cleaning cupboard, he missed Shikamaru's sharp gaze still fixed on the door.
Kazuya burned a hole in the waiting room of the hospital; Genma-sensei was slumped in the chair next to him. He hadn't lied to Rio when he said it was exhaustion. It also hadn't been the full story. How didn't he notice? Sure he was tired, but he still should have been able to tell. He looked up from the floor as a grim Yakushi-sensei came out.
"Follow me."
Kazuya exchanged a distressed look with his sensei before they scrambled to follow the doctor. They came to Naruto's hospital room and he looked as small and swallowed up by the harsh white sheets as he had four years ago.
"Naruto came to me a week before you left for the chunin exams with a cold," Yakushi-sensei turned to them. "It seemed like any other cold; a mild cough, headaches, fatigue."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Genma-sensei demanded.
"It was a cold. Everyone gets colds and usually they pass quickly with no issues."
"What happened?" Kazuya asked with dread pooling in his gut.
"He'll be fine. It's mainly exhaustion and the fact he took too many soldier pills. It caused him to crash harder than usual, but he can sleep it off."
"He took too many soldier pills?" Kazuya's mind flashed back to the night Naruto insisted he stay up to keep watch.
"It happens, especially among genin," Yakushi-sensei shrugged. "He overworked himself."
"So why are we having this conversation? Why tell us about the cold?"
The doctor sighed heavily.
"Due to Naruto's condition, we knew that there would be deterioration-"
"But that's not supposed to happen for years!" Kazuya jumped in.
"Yes, for his organs but we did not take into consideration his immune system."
Kazuya's mind flashed back through the medical textbooks he'd read and it clicked into placed. As he let out a quiet 'oh' Genma-sensei spoke up.
"For those which no medical knowledge, what does that mean?"
"A simple cold for you might not be a simple cold for Naruto," Yakushi-sensei explained. "The symptoms will be exaggerated and his recovery time extended. Same with the flu or any stomach bugs."
Kazuya followed his gaze to his best friend.
"Really, I'm amazed he made it through the exams with this level of exhaustion combined with the fatigue from the cold."
"He's a stubborn bastard," Kazuya said quietly.
"That he is," smiled Yakushi-sensei. "This cold was hard on him for both his energy and breathing. He had some time to recover before leaving for Kumo but it's apparent that it was not long enough."
"This is more than manageable," the doctor continued. "It's actually a very common side effect from most chronic conditions. I just wanted to let you know for the future since I know he won't tell you himself."
"Is there a way to make it easier on him?"
The doctor considered Kazuya's words.
"As long as he has a good diet and doesn't overwork himself like this again, he should be okay. There's no way to stop him catching these things entirely but it'll make it easier for his body to fight it off. I'd maybe add more oranges or grapefruit to his diet to increase his vitamin C intake."
Kazuya made a mental note to shove an orange down his friend's throat each morning.
"Should I pull him from the exams?" Genma-sensei asked grimly.
"That won't be necessary," Yakushi-sensei shook his head. "He can even go home tomorrow. I can give you a list of stuff of that can help him recover but he's banned from training for a week."
Kazuya could already hear Naruto's protests over that order.
"Thanks, Yakushi-sensei," he smiled tiredly. "I'll make sure he keeps to it."
Yakushi-sensei patted Kazuya's shoulder.
"He's lucky to have you."
He left the room and Kazuya was left to listen to the steady beeping of his teammate's heart with his sensei.
Fūton: Daitoppa = Wind Release: Great Breakthrough
Kawarimi no Jutsu = Body Replacement Technique
Gatsūga = Fang Passing Fang
Thanks for reading!
