Previously on The Deception Gone Awry:

Two younger voices replied in unison even as the door opened "Yes Umi-neechan we promise." The girl that was stood behind it smiled sadly at Sakura before opening the door completely to let two young girls out, obviously dressed to look their best and with clear tear marks upon their faces. "Sakura-san, Ayame-san, and sorry I am afraid i don't know you Kunochi-san." The girl bowed slightly and introduced herself. "I am Umi Kaitoma, refugee from Tea country, what is your name?" Hinata bowed elegantly back, despite her anger that another girl was now living with her Naruto-kun she could not disrespect her, that was not the Hyuuga way. "Hinata of the Hyuuga clan, I am sorry we have to meet in these circumstances Umi-san, but when I heard about Naruto-kun's injuries I felt I should come and make sure he was okay."

To her surprise, rather than act confused or jealous at her showing concern for Naruto, Umi's smile widened slightly. "Naruto-kun has such good friends, I am sure that he will be pleased to see us all at the hospital. Shall we go then, best to get there as soon as possible." Despite the lingering annoyance she felt due to the girls living arrangements, Hinata knew that with that reaction she would get along with the girl regardless of possible conflict over Naruto, she just had that way of making those around her like her, quite similar to Naruto in her own way if she was honest with herself. Yes, they should be able to get along just fine.

Chapter 14: The Hosptial

Persona: Naruto Uzumaki

He remembered why he hated hospitals now he thought wryly as another nurse took a blood sample of his for investigation by the hospital analysis. It wasn't that they showed dislike to him or treated him badly, that he could deal with now, it was more that under their care he felt as much a lab experiment as he did a patient. They would take so many blood samples that he was surprised he didn't have a scar on his arm from the needles they used being injected there. And since waking up this morning and being able to get up and walk around, albeit with great effort and pain, he had been run through test after test by a swarm of doctors and medic nins, investigating the properties of his healing and checking his spine to check it for stresses upon it. He hadn't been told the extent of his injuries except for what frog had told him the night before, but if his spine was what was being checked he decided it was better that he didn't know the details.

The good news was that the doctors had reluctantly declared him fit for visitors, though they insisted on keeping him in another night for 'observation'. Bullshit excuse to cause him more discomfort he thought, but he could deal with that as it wasn't too bad to be treated nicely and fed well for a few simple tests and samples. The thought of his treatment by the rest of Konoha brought his mind squarely back to the thoughts he had been trying his hardest not to dwell on since he had woken up, the events of yesterday that had led to his stay here. Whilst he had initially panicked when he had first woken about Kakashi seriously trying to kill him during the test, he knew that if that had been the man's aim then he would have been dead there and then, and definitely not have been taken to the hospital to be treated.

Naruto knew he could be a bit slow at times but now he had thought about it some more he could see that the blow hadn't been aimed to kill him, not that that made it all okay of course. Perhaps instead of killing him which would probably have caused him to be jailed or even executed for murder, Kakashi had instead been cunning enough to just cripple him with a blow that had damaged his spine and with the show of caring by delivering to the hospital would be enough for the thing to be treated as a training accident, even though if he had not been the container for the Kyuubi he would have been crippled for life because of it, and the fact that he could heal from such injuries was only discovered after the event lent some credence to this theory. He tried to shake the feeling, convincing himself that the hokage would not have put himself under a ninja that hated him for what he contained, but the doubt was there and wouldn't disappear despite his best efforts to squelch it.

That brought him to another worrying line of thought, that of the Kyuubi inside him, and the conversation that they had whilst he had been asleep that night. The fox had strangely enough not tried to terrify him into submission with its overwhelming power, and as far as he was aware had also not tricked him with words during their conversation, though he knew he still had to tread carefully around the tailed beast in case of deceit. Recalling the conversation, he wondered whether if the foxes reaction to him was genuine, and if it was what that really meant for him.

*Flashback*

A deep voice emanated from everywhere, the pressure on him increasing until he was forced to one knee and breathing hard even as the words washed over him and a ten story fox stalked out of the shadows, nine tails swaying lazily "So you are the unlucky mortal that has been made my jailer this time round. Well my container, make yourself comfortable as we have many things to talk about..." The pressure was almost back breaking and that was at the mere presence of the being in front of him, and he could tell that there was no added intent to the feeling, if there was he may have been forced to the floor. With great effort he stood up back onto two feet once more, swaying unsteadily before turning to face his tenant with a stern but respectful expression on his face.

Then he bowed slightly to the creature, deciding it was best to show respect to the thing that could crush him with its mere presence despite the seal keeping it from doing physical harm. "Kyuubi-san, as much as I would like to say it is a pleasant honour to meet you, we both would know that I would be lying about the pleasant part at the very least so I will refrain from insulting you." The pressure around him decreased slightly as the fox sat on its haunches to gaze at him with an amused expression. "Quite different to how you normally act mortal, I wonder whether that is out of genuine respect, or out of fear of my power. I honestly expected your first visit to this place to be to demand my power, or to insult me for making your life rather unpleasant. Is this a ruse of some sort i wonder? Because you should know better than to try and trick a fox at riddles and lies."

Honestly, the second method had been something he had had to resist doing once he realised where he was and what he was dealing with, and it was only thanks to the fact that he had performed the prank and suffered the consequences that he had realised that aggravating those with power would not end up well for him, especially if they were directly linked to his chakra system as the Kyuubi was. Rising from his bow he looked directly into the foxes eyes once more and this time felt a little less afraid as he thought of his reply. "Truthfully I am afraid of you, but that is understandable considering your reputed power." His smile faded and he took a step forwards towards the cage.

"However, do not take that to mean that I am doing this out of fear or in hopes of tricking you, for that would be foolish of you to do so. I do however wish to talk with you as you obviously wish to do with me, so therefore I think that we can avoid the death threats and other such nonsense that probably come at this point in the conversation." The Kyuubi grinned, whether amused or impressed it was hard to tell considering how terrifying the visage just looked by itself there was without any effort on the foxes behalf. "Well in which case, I suppose we should talk about relevant matters from the beginning then? I have more than enough to speak of, so it would probably be best if you began..."

*Flashback end*

And they had talked alright, well the fox had anyways once he had asked his first few questions, such as where the fox had come from, and why it had decided to attack Konoha on the night of his birth all those years ago. The kyuubi hadn't answered most of them directly, though the where it had come from question had been one it had answered in detail and had scared Naruto slightly that there had been a creature with more power than all the other tailed beasts combined back in the days before the elemental nations were formed and humans truly learned to control chakra. With that answered Kyuubi had then spoken at length about what it would like from an agreement between the two, making it clear that such an agreement would take more than one simple meeting before anything concrete could be arranged.

He was still unsure of what to do about the fox situation, his very being screamed at him to reject its words as a trick, the fox had said it itself when it claimed that foxes were impeccable tricksters. However, he knew that if the fox wished it could make his life very difficult despite the seal stopping it trying to kill him outright. His healing ability was not something that he wished to put on the line needlessly out of fear or suspicion. It was something for him to consider further another time he mused as the door to his room was opened and his first visitor arrived, causing a smile to appear on his face.

"Jiji! Thank kami you're here, the doctors are at it aga..." Naruto trailed off with a shocked glare as following in behind the Hokage was Kakashi, who looked away at Naruto's glare. Naruto raised a finger before he could stop himself, feelings of anger and fear welling up in almost equal measure. "You! Here to try and finish crippling me are you?" That accusation actually caused the masked man to flinch and Naruto regretted his outburst even before the Hokage spoke at him in a stern and authoritative manner. "Naruto enough! Kakashi did not hurt you this badly on purpose, if he had wanted to kill you he easily could have done so in a much less obvious fashion. We are here to get you both over this little accident and back on track, you are a team now and you must act like it."

The news that they had passed the test cheered Naruto up a little, and a small smile appeared on his face for a moment before he nodded his head. "Well if he wasn't trying to cripple me, what the hell was that punch he through at me? I felt my stomach explode inside me Jiji so it can't be he just misjudged the strength of the attack slightly, especially if these tests on my spine mean what I think they mean..." He gestured to Kakashi, knowing that even though he honestly would prefer not to have to talk with the man, if the Hokage was telling the truth about the man's intentions there was something he was missing here. The silver haired man shifted from side to side uneasily for a moment before speaking, unsure of how to approach his defence from where Naruto was sitting. "Well Naruto, do you know anything about shinobi reflexes?" At Naruto's cautious shake of the head Kakashi sighed before running one of his hands through his hair and beginning to explain the concept, with the Hokage occasionally dropping in what he thought was missed or needed emphasising.

Five minutes later Naruto was slightly confused and at the same time relieved at what the two had told him, though he knew the only reason he even remotely believed it was that Jiji was here agreeing with what Kakashi was saying about what he was beginning to understand was a major thing amongst higher up shinobi. He did have a single question about the whole thing though, something that struck him as a little off about the whole thing. "So, if you guys have this thing that reacts when you are injured or attacked heavily, why the hell did you tell us to attack you with the intent to kill? Surely that puts us even more at risk of something like what happened to me occurring?"

The hokage chuckled even as he shook his head at the question. "In pretty much every case, not even the best academy student would be able to touch a Jounin in combat or get the drop on one of them, so you guys going all out wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that your academic record was written by Mizuki who of course wrote in it that you were unskilled, untalented and without any form of strategic understanding, which is what Kakashi judged what your level of ability would be, even with the kage bushin to help you." Kakashi sent a small glare at the hokage as he spoke up to divert some of the blame. "There was also the fact that nobody saw fit to tell me about the Mizuki thing or the fact that you were off taking on bandits by yourself the day before the test and gaining valuable combat experience that definitely helped you on the day of the test."

Naruto gave a small grimace of a smile as he gestured around him with one hand as his other went to his chest, his muscles constricting as a wave of pain crossed over him once more, something the Kyuubi had warned him might happen as his body was unused to the fox's chakra in such large amounts as it had been over the last twelve or so hours and as such was rejecting its presence as best it could. "Of course Kakashi-san, those skills really helped me succeed judging by where I am being experimented upon..." He caught the warning look from the Hokage and sighed before nodding. "Hai, hai I get it Jiji. Well Kakashi-sensei, If we are a team now, I expect you to teach me loads of really cool jutsu to make up for this little trip understand!"

It was a front, reverting to his boisterous personality in an attempt to hide the fact that he was still not at all comfortable with the man's presence, but despite the fact that both men could probably tell that neither of them brought it up. Kakashi gave him what Naruto assumed was a smile, hard to tell with his damn mask and then saluted the Hokage. "Thank you for this Naruto, I apologise again for what happened and i will make it up to you. Now Hokage-sama by your leave?" The Hokage nodded and Kakashi was gone in a flash of lightning and smoke, leaving the two alone, the Hokage losing his smile as he turned to Naruto once more.

"Are you sure that you are okay with this Naruto, I am sure that Kakashi would understand if you wished for another instructor..." Naruto shook his head, mind made up. Kakashi didn't seem to have done it and whilst a lazy baka, it was better than another Jounin who might really want him dead or crippled... Besides, the man had just essentially admitted that he owed Naruto a favour and that was something that Naruto could just let drop like that. Though, best to be honest about his worries for the team even if not for himself "It's fine Jiji, its just... Are you sure he won't do that again when we are working as a team? I mean i should be okay, especially if i toughen up a bit more, but teme wouldn't stand a chance against such a blow... And Sakura-chan..."

He felt a bit pathetic stating his worries like that, it made him sound like he was using his teammates as an excuse, so he was a little surprised when the Hokage smiled brightly at him once more at his question. "That is the will of fire right there Naruto-kun, care for your comrades above that of yourself. I am certain that Kakashi is even more worried of that happening than you are, and I am sure that he will go out of his way to make sure it does not happen. Now if you are okay with him being your team leader, there is simply the matter of the bounties from the bandits you captured, and the need for you to make an official report from your mission two days ago."

Sarutobi then produced a cheque out of his pocket and presented it to Naruto with a soft smile. "This should go some way to covering your fine, and I imagine I can send someone round later today to help you with your report, better to let you relax right now rather than pile it on." Naruto took a quick glance at the cheque and his eyes widened, it was almost 1700 yen. Sarutobi chuckled, obviously at the look of shock that Naruto imagined had passed over his face. "You get half of the 30% that was assigned to you and Hitomi for finding the base, plus you got an extra 10% for the number of them you managed to take down, whilst the retrieval team and Konoha absorbed the rest to recompense the civilians you helped to rescue, and some of it to be put towards your fine." With that the Hokage gave him a quick hug and then straightened up. "I think our official business here is done now and i can go let your friends in to see you if you wish..." That perked Naruto up and he nodded hurriedly, people were coming to see him? He knew that Umi would, after all she was him in a way, but who else would take the time to come and see him like this?

The Hokage smiled once more at his reaction and headed over to the door and opening it he called out into the hall. "Right, he is ready to see you now, the medic nins have done a brilliant job with healing him up." The last bit was said with the hokage looking back at him and giving a small wink before waving goodbye. "Naruto, once you are released from the hospital tomorrow, come to the Hokage tower straight away, as that will be where your team will be meeting, I have a special assignment to give you all." And then he walked out of the room whistling an indecipherable tune to the calls of "Hokage-sama" that came with his passage. The door opened once more and several people poured into the room with varying levels of relief and happiness at seeing Naruto awake from where he was on the bed.

Akko and Yuna seemed to be being restrained from jumping him by an equally ecstatic Umi, who had lead the charge into the room, followed by Ayame who was smiling broadly at him, tears visibly being restrained in her eyes as she brushed past Umi and the two sisters to engulf him in a relieved hug. As she withdrew and stepped back he noticed that Sakura, Hinata and Sasuke were also there, Sakura smiling happily at the sight of him, Hinata doing the same with a slightly red face that she always seemed to have when she looked or talked to him, whilst Sasuke had a smirk on his face but he nodded when he noticed Naruto's gaze on him, obviously his version of being happy Narutos recovery. Ignoring the three of them with where they were stood for the moment, he focussed his attention on the three girls in front of him. "Akko, Yuna you can come give me a hug as long as you are gentle okay? I'm still recovering you hear?"

The girls nodded impatiently and with a sigh Umi let them go, the two rushing over to the bed before slowing to a stop as Yuna went one side of the bed and Akko went round to the other. At some unspoken signal they jumped onto the bed with him, each embracing him in a one armed hug that they obviously thought was a gentle hug, luckily they were two bust snuggling into him to see his wince as several of his recently healed ribs complained painfully at the pressure exerted upon them. He didn't say anything however as he wrapped an arm round each of them and gave a reassuring squeeze of his own before lying back completely and turning his attention to Umi. "I seem to be making a bad habit of promising you things Umi-chan and then letting you worry about me whilst I go and do stupid things... I am sorry."

To his surprise she and the other girls bar Hinata chuckled at his comment, he had expected her to get really upset or something, but this was decidedly more pleasant for him to deal with if he was honest with himself. She composed herself a moment later as she walked up to him and gave him a quick hug like Ayame had before straightening up and looking at him seriously. "I get the strange feeling that it is something I am going to have to get used to Naruto-kun, I have known you for less than a week and you already seem to attract trouble to yourself more than anyone else I know, I expect another lovely meal for making me worry like this." Naruto chuckled at this little jibe and gestured to where he had put the cheque on his bedside table. "Don't worry Umi-chan, I think I can do that and start paying you back, especially if my little adventures keep being this profitable..."

Umi looked a little confused at what he meant till she picked up the cheque and her eyes widened at the figure. "1700 yen? That is a serious amount of money Naruto-kun." That caught the attention of everyone else in the room and Hinata Sakura and Sasuke all came closer to crowd round curiously. It was Sasuke who spoke first in a slightly confused manner. "What is the Hokage doing giving you this money dobe? Is this to do with you being late to graduation?" Well, never let it be said that Sasuke was dumb Naruto thought as he nodded his head in answer. "Yeah, it's a long story Sasuke, I will explain to you and Hinata at some point at some point as the others have already heard it and I don't want to bore them."

Hinata gave a small eep as he mentioned her name and he used the opportunity to talk to her directly. "And Hinata-chan, it is really nice of you to come visit me in hospital, I am sorry I haven't been able to catch up with you since the academy, it seemed no matter how hard I tried i just couldn't find you." Sakura chuckled at this comment for some reason and Hinata turned even redder, to the point Naruto was worried she was going to faint on him again, before she seemed to manage to control herself and reply to him, somewhat haltingly. "S-sorry Naruto-kun, I-I was doing clan training with my F-father." The stuttering was something he still had to get used to, but he supposed that not everyone could be as forthcoming as he is when speaking, it was one of the things that made Hinata Hinata he supposed. He smiled happily at her. "Thats awesome Hinata, that means you have probably gotten super strong whilst I haven't really done anything useful."

That wasn't entirely true he knew, even before Yuna and Akko voiced their disapproval of his statement, but it was worth it to see the shocked smile on Hinata's face broaden into a full smile that fitted her perfectly even as her face became entirely red and she fell backwards, to be caught by Sakura who was looking at Naruto disapprovingly even as a small grin flashed across her face. "Naruto, that wasn't very nice... But I am glad to see you are recovering, Inochi-san removed the memory from my mind, but I still get a feeling that what happened to you was terrible to watch." That sobered the conversation up for a moment, before Ayame grinned and headed back to the door. "Naruto-kun, I have a little surprise for you..." She was gone for a whole five seconds, and when she returned, Naruto knew even before he could see what she had what the surprise was, the smell was a big give away. "Ramen! Ayame-chan you are awesome!"

And just like that the tension of what had happened to him was gone, and everyone relaxed somewhat, Sasuke leaving shortly after that, 'having made sure the dobe wasn't going to die on him now they had made a team' or thats what he said anyways. It was almost two hours before the nurses turned up to tell them that visiting hours were over now and that they would have to leave in order to allow him to rest, even though he protested that he didn't feel even the tiniest bit tired. The girls all gave him a hug, even Hinata and Sakura-chan, though she had said 'This is a one time thing okay Naruto, don't push it', it still counted. Umi had almost been forced to physically remove the two girls from Naruto, and it had taken him a promise of seven bedtime stories when he had gotten out of hospital to get them to let go. Waving as Akko reluctantly made her way out of the door, finishing the small parade of people and leaving him alone, well apart from the guards he probably had considering frogs appearance the night before.

Something to ask the Hokage about later he thought as he lay back in the bed as the Nurse looked him over once again, something he was sure was going to happen at least several more times before tomorrow morning came and he could get free... It was only as the nurse left that Naruto realised something strange, the nurse hadn't collected any blood from him or even looked at his chest, she had only done the basic tests to check that he was fine, stuff he had learnt in first aid. He was about to call out to the ANBU guard and report it as suspicious when he noticed a small piece of paper stuffed into the arm of his hospital robe that was the arm she had used to check his blood pressure. In disguise of looking at the cheque once more, he subtly opened the piece of paper, upon which was written. 'Training ground 21, shadows are pretty in the new sun of the day, especially yours..."

It took him a minute, but he then realised that this was a meeting point, a time and a hint about Umi, which meant that that nurse was... He frantically tried to remember what her face looked like, but no matter how hard he tried he could not remember any details about it, as if something was trying to make him forget. What it did help him remember with a groan of annoyance was the training he had promised Tenten that he had missed the day before because of his hospital trip. it was hardly his fault, but he knew that she wouldn't see it that way. Scrunching the small piece of paper up to fit back into his sleeve until he could burn it, he put the cheque back down and laid back on his bed, all this thinking was hard work, he was feeling rather sleepy...

And with that he was fast asleep, not knowing that his subtle actions had been noted by his current guard. She had seen the nurses actions and their own medical experience made them suspicious and she had stayed in place to see Naruto read the note the nurse had slipped them before going to sleep. She leapt down from her perch, removing the genjutsu she placed around her to make her impossible to notice as she strode forwards silently and plucked the note from Naruto's arm, reading it quickly and memorising the contents of the message before placing it back in place, her eyes widening as she realised the connotations of the note and what it meant. She disappeared into the shadows as the door opened, the nurse barely catching a glance of the rabbit mask before she was hidden once more. This was something that she would have to tell Cat-taichou about as soon as possible, especially considering the captains attachment to the boy...

A/N: Evil laugh at this point... The plot thickens and it doth thicken quickly. So we managed the first meeting with the Kyuubi, dealing with the aftermath of the first test and Kakashi and Naruto's talk, Naruto's interaction between him and his friends (girls), and someone beginning to catch onto something suspicious going on with Naruto, all in one chapter... That has got to be worth some reviews right? :P Hope you all liked it and we will see when i actually find the time to write the next chapter... until then, Have Fun Ja Ne!