"Normal speech"
'Normal thoughts'
"Demon/Summon speech"
'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'
Jutsu name
(author comment) - not a lot of them
flashback/memory
~locations and transitions~
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Before we start, I want to apologize for adding Inner Sakura in the demon thoughts section late in the fic I had actually forgotten about her before I started the fic and didn't know how to separate Sakura thoughts and inner Sakura, I hope this doesn't confuse people so much and I will go back to fix this in earlier chapters
Chapter 14: a painful solution
~Konoha streets 11 AM~
Hinata was walking through the streets of Konoha with her mother Hitomi and her little sister Hanabi on a family outing, heading to the park after they got some treats since it was her day off from team training. Hinata was enjoying a cinnamon bun while Hanabi and Hitomi were enjoying their vanilla crepes. As they were walking Hinata began to think, It had been about 3 weeks since Naruto began to prank her clan and forgiving her with her new favorite possession. Everyone in the compound were now either locked up in their room or so alert that the jump at the sight of a falling leaf, but for some reason it all stopped 2 days ago. Hinata was worried that something might have happened to Naruto but she hadn't talked him since graduation day. She had seen him train a few times but she didn't have the courage to go and talk to him and the order from the Hyuga elders was always there in her mind.
Hinata realized that they had made it to the park so they can sit down and enjoy their treats and the 3 of them made it to a bench that was set underneath a tree.
"Onee-chan is something the matter?" hanabi asked after they sat down
Hinata looked at her little sister wondering why she would ask that "why do you ask Hanabi-chan?"
Hanabi just looked at Hinata's hand "you haven't even taken a bite from your cinnamon bun in the last few minutes and you looked like you were thinking about something"
Hinata was about to deny that something was troubling her but her mother had placed a hand on her head "Hinata-chan what is it? If there is something worrying you, you know you can tell me. Is it about what has been happening at the compound?" Hitomi asked her daughter in a gentle voice
Hinata just looked up with a small smile "no, really I'm fine Okaa-sama". Hinata just went back to eating her cinnamon bun and enjoying her time with her mother and sister.
~meanwhile with Naruto~
Naruto was laying in a tree with the leaves hiding him, as he was in his fox form with his tails waving around leisurely and his head laying on his paws, thinking about what he would be doing that night. He knew it was extremely risky to be outside and in a public place in this form but he was more comfortable as a fox and since his team were not doing missions today he chose to just laze about, but he couldn't enjoy it since he was nervous about tonight.
'I don't know if I can do this, I mean, the way tou-sama made it sound, just makes me want to not do it. *sigh* but I have to'. Naruto and Kurama had talked about a solution to his henge issue and the solution was brought up but Kurama had told Naruto that the solution was going to be painful.
Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard talking "Onee-chan is something the matter?". Looking down from his tree he saw that is was Hinata and her family, without her father. Naruto felt wrong listening in to the conversation but he couldn't really jump down and leave without causing problems, but he had to stifle a bit of laughter when Hinata's mother mentioned what was happening at the compound although they shouldn't worry anymore since he decided that they have suffered enough humiliation…...for now anyway. Either way he had another group to target now….the civilian council. He learned that it was mostly their doing on why he was on the team with a walking talking rock and siren who couldn't hear her own voice.
He saw that the family were going to enjoy their time at the bench right under him and he couldn't stay since he had something he needed to do with the Hokage so he came up with a way to get away without making it seem like he was eavesdropping. Using an henge to change back to human he just let himself fall out of the tree and ungracefully hit the ground face first "...ow". Sitting up while rubbing his eyes and giving a yawn, he made it look like he just woke up from a nap.
The Hyuga family were startled by the loud THUNK and sudden movement from the tree. Standing up and turning to it they saw Naruto sitting on the ground rubbing his eye.
Seeing the blond boy, Hinata's face looked like it was Kawarimi'd with a tomato "N-n-n-n-naruto-kun!" she tried everything in her power to not faint especially since he was sitting like a dog while he had a sleepy look on his face which to her looked cute "w-w-w-what a-a-a-are you d-d-d-doing h-he-here?" she asked while poking her index fingers together, looking at her feet while catching small glances at Naruto.
Hitomi saw this and gained a gentle smile seeing that her daughter had a crush on the boy. She knew the boy was the Jinchuriki but she didn't hold anything against him since it was not his choice to become one and he didn't deserve the hatred the villagers gave him on a daily basis. Turning to the boy she smiled and gave a small wave "Good morning young man. You shouldn't sleep in tree like that, as you have just learned, you could fall and hurt yourself." she said in a small lecturing tone but gentle enough not to seem like she was reprimanding.
Naruto looked at the woman and was shocked that he didn't feel negative emotions from the woman, something Kurama clarified he felt from people. "It's ok I'm tougher than that so I wont get hurt from falling from the tree dattebayo!"
Hitomi smiled more hearing his verbal tic and thought he was a nice boy (she doesnt know he is the pranker of the compound). "Is it safe to assume that you are friends with my daughter Hinata?"
Hinata felt a bit of depression when her mother asked him that, having a small thought of him denying it for her ignoring him for those years, but what he said made her smile and blush even harder
"Yeah! I am" Naruto didn't have to think about it since he had learned why she did what she did and didn't blame her for it, which is why he left her the fox plush with the note. After he said that he saw Hinata's little sister hiding behind her mother's leg but still had the stoic hyuga face but Naruto felt ambit of anxiety coming the girl "hi, What's your name?" he said as he lowered himself a bit so he could be at eye level.
Hanabi just looked at him from behind her mother's leg for a few moments before she walked from behind in and stood a bit in front of him and in a stiff proper tone she speaks "my name is Hanabi Hyuga. It is a pleasure to meet you" she gives a bow when she is done and when she stands back up she sees Naruto tilting his head with his eyes closed, looking like he was contemplating something.
After a few seconds of this he gave a big foxy grin "hi Hanabi-chan, it's nice to meet you but you shouldn't be so stiff"
Offended by this, she was about to retort but in a blink of an eye Naruto was behind her and started to tickle her. Trying her hardest not to laugh she tried to get away but the tickling had caused her to collapse and burst into laughter. After a few seconds of laughing and tickling Naruto let her up and gave another foxy grin "see! You look better smiling instead of being all stiff and stone faced". Hanabi didn't know what to think about the older boy, he seems like someone that would get into trouble just because it would be fun but Hinata doesn't seem to mind that 'what's so special about him?'. Hanabi had seen how Hinata acted around him and knew that she had a crush but just couldn't see why. After catching her breath she got up and straightened her kimono and glared at the boy who looked like he had no care in the world, that just made her puff out her cheeks in frustration
Naruto would have continued but he had to get things ready "well it was nice meeting you all but I have to get to the Hokage-jiji, so I'll catch you later" and then he began to run off towards the Hokage tower but as he was running he turned his head and waved "see you later Hinata-chan!"
Hinata blushed and just gave a small wave and was also a little disappointed that she couldn't talk to him a little more. Hitomi just walked up to stand next to her "he seems like a nice boy, I hope that next time we will be able to speak with him more". Hinata just looked up at her mother and nodded her head. Hanabi just puffed her cheeks more "hmph he seems like an idiot to me"
Hitomi just patted Hanabi on the head "Hanabi-chan be nice"
~Konoha streets~
Naruto had come to a slow pace on his way trying to think about what to say to the Hokage. He knew what the conversation was about but it was the build up to it that kept him nervous. So into his nervous thoughts he had slightly let his mask slip while on the streets because of the hatred he felt from everyone around him. A look of fear was now on his face. Eyes kept darting left and right as he looked to the ground, a small bit of shaking, and his breathing increased a bit. All the civilians that were looking at the boy like they had won a battle
'Look at the demon shake in fear. He should be afraid of us!'
'Serves you right you monster!'
'Whatever happened to cause this, he deserves it'
The civilians kept these thoughts in their head and a few of them started to get up from their seats to or started to walk to the boy thinking they could corner the boy.
Walking towards Naruto was a Hyuga that kept his Byakugan on making sure that he wasn't caught off guard. As he kept walking he saw the growing group of people gathering behind Naruto and just scowled at the boy as he kept walking. He thought his luck was bad seeing the demon brat on the street, and unconsciously turned off his Byakugan, which was his mistake. Out of nowhere the Hyuga was snagged by a snare that was somehow on the ground with no ones noticed and he was dragged into an alley screaming to high heaven "AAAAHHHHH! Help me! HELP ME!" he screamed, clawing at the ground as he was pulled into the darkness of the alley.
The people that were behind Naruto changed their attention to the yelling to see a Hyuga being pulled into the alley. As they started to run to the entrance of the alley, they stopped there looking into the darkness listening to the scream and some sounds of swooshing, squishing, hard thuds and grunts.
Naruto jumped at the screams and noticed that a lot of people were looking into an alley. 'Whats going on over there?' he thought to himself before he suddenly got a set of memories of what just happened. 'Oh looks like I missed a few clones….pfft. I gotta remember to go to that store again to get another set of fairy costumes. Especially with the council now being a BIG target'. With that he left behind his last victim and the unknown building mob as the victim had made it out of the darkness to show pink fairy wings, clown makeup and waterfall tears going down his face.
~15 minutes later at the Hokage tower~
Hiruzen was sitting at his desk going through paperwork and was glad that it wasn't too much trouble and only had dealt with 15 documents that had to do with Naruto. Speaking of the boy he had heard about the whole Hyuga compound fiasco and he knew that Naruto was the one responsible but since Naruto wasn't doing anything threatening to the clan, he let it go….that and there was no evidence that it was him. 'How does this boy keep getting away with this? With all that he has done and gotten away with, he should be on an infiltration team'. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in". Lifting his head to see who it was, he was shocked to see Naruto walk in like a normal person with a look of apprehension. The look got him worried but with Naruto knocking before entering instead of his usual kicking the door open made the old man extremely concerned. Placing the paper that was in his hand down he looked at the boy with a concerned look "Naruto? What has you in such a mood?"
Naruto looked at the hokage and spoke "Hokage-sama, I need to speak with you alone"
Now Hiruzen was close to panicking thinking that someone might have learned Naruto's secret and with a wave of his hand his Anbu guard that he had hidden in his office popped up "Anbu would you please leave us for a while until I signal you to return". The Anbu squad were hesitant for a second but all bowed their heads and left the room.
As Naruto saw that the Hokage was about to put up a privacy seal, he felt and heard something "Hokage-sama wait!". Seeing the Hokage stop he closed his eyes and listened. Focusing he could hear the Hokage's heart beat which was sped up a bit but he had heard another heartbeat that was extremely steady and felt a small sliver of anxiousness as well and it wasn't coming from the old man. "What about the Anbu in the ceiling?" Naruto asked as he looked up to his left.
Hiruzen turned his head to look at the ceiling in the direction that Naruto was looking and flared his chakra to signal his Anbu to re-enter the room "Anbu! Capture our unwanted guest!" as this was said another Shinobi came down from the ceiling, wearing a black cloak that covered most of the body and an Anbu stye mask that looked like a bear but had "Ne" on the forehead signifying it was a Root agent. The Root agent jumped through the window to try and escape but the Anbu team had pinned the agent to the roof on the lower levels. As the Anbu were detaining the Root Agent, it started to convulse and spasm for a few seconds before the agent burst into flames. The Anbu had jumped back in time to avoid the flames and stood there looking at the burning corpse for a few seconds before using a Suiton jutsu to put the fire out.
Naruto stood in the office shocked about the event "Hokage-jiji! What just happened?!"
Hiruzen was furious to see that there was a spy in his office but knew who it was from but now that the body was in ashes he would gain nothing from this 'damn you Danzo! You are trying my patience! But you will slip up sooner or later and when you do, you will not live to see the next day'. Taking a deep breath he turned to Naruto "it is an issue that I have been trying to rectify for some time now and thanks to you I have removed an unknown issue. But anyway we should go about what it was you wanted to say". Turning to the few Anbu that remained in his office, he gave his orders "well done Anbu. Would you please take what you can and see if Ibiki can find anything" he said glad that Naruto hadn't seen the body or it's death.
Naruto, looking at the broken window, shook his head, trying to get back to the matter at hand "um….Hokage-sama, I really need to talk to you but can we do it somewhere that doesn't have a hole in the window?"
Hiruzen nodded his head, leaving the room and motioned Naruto to follow.
The 2 made it to the council room and Hiruzen spent a few minutes checking the room to make sure that they were really alone "ok Naruto, what is it that you wish to ask me?"
Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at the Hokage and standing up straight, with his hands behind his back and in the best proper manner he could, he started "Hokage-sama, I would like to request a select few shinobi to assist me in a personal matter that I have to accomplish".
Hiruzen felt his heart stop for a moment when he heard this. Here was the most unpredictable ninja, someone who would never show respect to any authority, was right now showing the amount of respect and proper manners that you would expect from a loyal soldier. So unbelievable was the scene that he put his hands in a seal and said "Kai". opening his eyes to see the same thing he tried several times "kai!...Kai!...KAI!". He finally made the conclusion that this was not a genjutsu he repeated what the boy had asked and decided he would find out what this was about "ok Naruto. What is this about asking for several shinobi's assistance?"
Naruto kept his posture and went about his request "I will be doing something that could…." before he could continue Hiruzen stopped him by lifting up his hand telling him to stop "Naruto please stop this, I cannot see you act like this, it doesn't suit you and you said this is a personal matter so please just ask me like you would normally ask"
Naruto had slumped his shoulders and his arms had dropped to his sides and he let out a breath like he was underwater and came up for air "oh thank Kami!"
Hiruzen smiled at this, knowing that the boy wouldn't be able to keep going like that "now please continue"
Naruto looked up and with a nervous chuckle "well….I am going to be doing something tonight at my apartment and I need the few who…...know my secret to be something like a guard so that nothing will disturb me"
Now Hiruzen was concerned about why he would need a guard "ok Naruto you are to tell me what it is that you will be doing and then I will give you my decision"
Naruto was sweating now, trying to find a way to tell the old man what he was about to do without telling him that he was doing this with Kurama's help 'now what?! Ok, ok, you can do this'. "Well you know my henge right?" seeing the Hokage nod he continued "well I have a way to fix the problem, so my secret doesn't get out like if someone hit me and the henge drops and before you ask I can't tell you where I learned this but I can tell you that where I learned it isn't bad"
Hiruzen could only think of several possible places the boy could learn something that could help him with the problem, something that he himself had not been able to solve "Naruto I need to know where you learned this"
"Hokage-jiji it's really ok and it is safe and…."
"Naruto" Hiruzen said in a stern voice saying that this was not for debate
Naruto was shuffling his feet under the gaze from the Hokage and felt really small, regardless of him being mostly Biju.
"Naruto" Hiruzen said again making Naruto just look at the ground and just told a half truth
'Oh kami please let this work' "Well…...I have talked to Ram…..the Kyuubi….". Before Hiruzen could start to yell, panic, or scold the boy, Naruto stopped him "Wait jiji! It's ok! Let me explain!"
Hiruzen noticed the slip up but kept it in his head for later and stay on topic "Please do!"
"Well….I met the Kyuubi a while ago and he said that he would help me with this problem. He um…. Said that if the ….villagers saw me as my fox form they would attack and kill me and to avoid losing his life as well the Kyuubi said that he would help me with a way to change my form so that I am in a human form but he said that it will hurt …..a lot"
Hiruzen did not like this. Not only did Naruto meet the Kyuubi and not tell him but this whole situation screamed problems. He didn't regard the boy meeting the fox when he was a little child since at that time Naruto coudnt even attempt to release him right now Naruto could very well unleash the fox if he was manipulated to do it "Naruto! You are not to listen to anything the fox says! For all you know he could use this to take over your body"
"THERE'S NO WAY HE WOULD DO THAT!" Naruto yelled before he could stop himself and quickly covered his mouth
Hiruzen was shocked at this since he didn't expect Naruto to disagree so adamantly, and it made him want to know what Naruto was hiding so looking at the boy with a stern gaze he asked "Naruto what makes you say this? And why are you so quick to defend the Kyuubi" he said looking into the boys eyes with slight anger and disappointment
Naruto wanted to be anywhere but here, however he knew he had to come clean a bit "The Kyuubi isn't evil jiji" taking a deep breath he steeled his nerves but still felt afraid of this "he actually is nice and doesn't hate me or the village. He actually….became my fat….friend and he just wants to help me, jiji" he said with some tears in his eyes afraid that the hokage will do something to seperate them.
Hiruzen wanted to disbelieve this, to say that it was all a lie but the look in the boys eyes said that everything that was said was true but he still stayed wary "as much as I would like to believe you it still seems too risky to just listen to the Kyuubi"
"But Jiji….!"
Hiruzen raised his hand to stop him "even with what you say, I cannot allow you to do this…." he saw that the boy was getting more depressed "not without someone of my choosing to be part to your guard". Naruto looked up at the hokage after he heard this "I will add a jonin that is aware of your secret and is the only jonin that knows your secret" 'apart from Anko and Kakashi but Kakashi believes that what happened to you was reversed….perhaps I should inform him so he may help you if something were to happen'. He knew he was taking a risk but when it came to the boy, he should never expect things to go the way they should 'it's times like these that I just feel like an old man watching his grandchildren doing the impossible….which is true'. He looked into the boys eyes once more and asked "are you absolutely sure that this will work"
Naruto stood more resolute "he hasn't lied to me ever since we met, saved my life, played with me when I was a kid, listened to me when you weren't able to and he wouldn't do anything that would be bad for me"
Hiruzen just took all that was said and decided that he would allow this and pray it wasn't a bad decision "very well, who is it that you wanted?"
~outside Naruto's apartment that night 9pm~
Naruto had been waiting for the people he asked for and was pacing back and forth.
It was around 9:30 when they arrived and Naruto saw the people he asked for and was glad that the Hokage had actually gone with this. Looking at the group, which consisted of Iruka, Anko, Hana and Inoichi who the Hokage chose to be part of the group
Everyone had a look of confusion when they arrived because the Hokage didn't tell them anything other than Naruto needed some guards during this night but that was it. Anko was the first one to speak "ok Gaki, why did you ask us to guard you? Did the Hyugas finally figure out that you were tormenting them the entire time?" she said with a huge grin on her face
As a few of them chuckled as they had witnessed some of the pranks on the street but Iruka was shocked at this since he hasn't seen any of it "What! Naruto!"
Naruto just looked sheepish at this but he wanted to get things started "sorry Iruka and thanks everyone for doing this for me. I will be doing something that will cause a lot of noise and I'm afraid that people might take this opportunity to do something, so I asked you guys who know my secret to make sure that no one will do anything."
Hana was concerned by the way he said it, like he was sure that he would be attacked or something "Naruto-kun what will you be doing?"
"I was told a way for me to change myself for a while but I was also told that it will be loud"
Inoichi wanted to clear up his understanding a bit and see how far the others knew "did the kyuubi tell you?" Naruto looked at Inoichi not wanting the others to know that he was talking to the fox "it's ok Naruto, I know about him, even met him when you were first turned into a bijuu fox and he seems extremely protective of you, like a father" he said, with the last bit with a knowing smile
The others who heard this were shocked and worried that the boy was talking to the demon fox but the way that Inoichi who said he met the fox and still lived to tell the tale, said that the fox was protective of the boy made some of them want to question the boy on the relationship between the 2 but Naruto looked shocked that Inoichi could know about him and Rama-touchan. He would have asked more but he felt a tug at the back of his mind which told him that Kurama was calling him "thank you again everyone" he said as he opened the door "and one more thing." he said getting everyone's attention "no matter what you hear in here, no matter how much you want to help me….please don't enter" he said in a serious tone. Seeing everyone nod their heads albeit a little hesitantly, he entered his apartment with one last "thank you"
As Naruto entered his Apartment everyone got into position with Anko by the door with Inoichi by her side. Hana on the rooftop and Iruka on ground level
Naruto had gone into his bedroom and sat down on the ground and closed his eyes as he entered his mindscape
~Naruto's mindscape~
"Rama-touchan! I'm here!"
Kurama had walked into the clearing that is usually where Naruto appears when he comes in the mindscape and looked at Naruto with a look of apprehension
"Kit are you sure you want to do this?"
"You told me about this and we already came this far so we should go with it! Dattebayo!"
"I know I told you this but I also told you that based on how you are this could very well hurt you a lot!"
"Yeah, you told me! But like you said the henge won't work and even if I am good at the Kawarimi I won't always be able to use it, so this is the only thing we can do. But if I don't need to I won't use it. You did say that this will only last like a few days so I can just use this when I need to"
Kurama just gave a defeated sigh, knowing that Naruto has made up his mind and he was cursing himself for bringing up this method. Leaning down he nuzzled his fox kit for a few seconds earning a small purr from Naruto "fine kit, but after this you're to wait a bit before we do it again". Seeing his kit nod he decided that it was time to start 'I hope you can endure this kit because we won't be able to stop until it's done
With the agreement they began, as Naruto was engulfed in red energy. A few seconds later he started to whine in pain
~real world, outside Naruto's apartment~
Everyone had set themselves for whatever could happen but not the sounds of an animal in pain they started to hear.
Hana was the first to hear it and he instincts told her that she needed to help out whatever was making the noise, however she remembered what Naruto said not to enter the apartment *whine yelp!* but this was going to be emotionally hurting for her.
Anko heard the noises but kept herself in place, but she didn't like the idea of the Gaki in pain, placing a hand on her curse mark thinking about what sort of pain the kid was going through.
Iruka had looked towards the apartment trying to think of anyway to help Naruto but knew that there was nothing that he could do.
Inoichi had flashes of the mob that had killed the boy when he was younger, and that because of them he has to go through so much more than the bright smiling happy boy should go through.
For 2 hours they stood there with the yelps being heard in the background but it was at the 2 ½ hour mark where it change
"YYEEELLP…..YEEELLL...ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH…...ARGH AAAAAAHHHHH"
That was what broke Anko as she made a move to enter the apartment but was stopped by a hand on the shoulder. The hand belonging to Inoichi "let go of me! I can't just stand here listening to this and not help him!"
Inoichi just held her in place "Anko-san you heard what he asked of us, we are to guard him as he goes through this and not to enter"
Anko just slapped the hand away and stared into Inoichi's eyes "I know what he asked us but why does he have to do this! Why can't we help him" she yelled at Inoichi while in the back of her mind she wanted to hurt someone else who had hurt the boy; Mizuki, who was still kept alive even if he was asking for death
Inoichi just turn his head to look at the street "we are" he said as he motioned his head to down the street to see a few people getting together and heading towards the screams and they did not look concerned
Anko who saw this found a bit of an outlet for her anger and frustration "these people are nothing but vultures looking for an easy target" she said through gritted teeth before she launched herself to the mob
Hana and Iruka had joined her in stopping the mob while Inoichi stayed guarding the boy. During the apprehension of the civilians 2 Anbu members popped up and helped out.
Tenzo and Neko who the Hokage knew had not hatred for the boy as well as being part of the search party when the boy disappeared had sent them to help out on guard duty, which the rest were thankful for the extra help in case some shinobi came to do harm to the boy. After all the civilians were subdued the Anbu had called in a squad to take them away
At 1 AM the sounds of pain had stopped and were now reduced to whimpers and Anko just burst through the door with Hana being worried that boy could have died with the length of pain he went through and when they entered his bedroom they saw Naruto laying on the ground convulsing in pain, covered in sweat and tears still streaming down his face. They also noticed that a small patch of fur on his arms were slowly receding into his skin but his nails were still long like claws.
Both Anko and Hana rushed to the downed boy, Anko gently put the boy's head on her lap and Hana used medical jutsu to see if the boy was alright. Iruka and Inoichi stood by the door with a look of worry but they wouldn't be able to ask what he went through, since he stayed unconscious for the rest of the night
~the next morning 5 AM~
After Naruto had woken up looking at the worried looks from Anko and Hana he felt like his entire body was made out of lead and given weights and thrown into a deep pool of water. Iruka and Inoichi had left an hour ago, with Iruka having to get ready for his class and Inoichi to report to the Hokage on what happened during the night.
Anko and Hana started asking the boy what happened and what was it that he did. And after 3 minutes of scolding and ranting he broke, especially since he was exhausted
"The Kyuubi had told me that my henge wouldn't work when in a fight since it would be dispelled so he told me that we need to change my body with chakra manipulation"
Hearing this caused the 2 to widen their eyes in realization. Chakra manipulation and Naruto was now mostly made of chakra which meant they manipulated his very body "but….but…."
Naruto nodded his head seeing that they got it "Kyuubi said that I couldn't do it so he did it for me. This won't last forever but we don't know how long it will last and that he will decide when I can go through it again"
Anko still wanted to ask but why would you go through it again!? Why did you have to go through so much pain just to be like this for who knows how long?!"
Naruto took a breath "I am mostly Biju now but one thing that is still organic are….my bones…"
Now they understood why he was in pain so much, his shifting was forcing his bone structure to change and such a thing would be excruciating. Hana had tears in her eyes thinking of what the pup went through even if she couldn't even imagine how much pain he went through "Naruto, you are never going to do that again"
Naruto would have argued but he himself didn't want to go through it again but knew he would have to but hoped he didn't have to do it a lot "...yeah"
Hana and Anko stayed with him until he left for his team training, in which they for their duties
~Training ground 7 8AM~
Sasuke and Sakura had been waiting for their sensei and teammate for an hour since they were told to arrive at 7. Sasuke was leaning on the center post with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face and Sakura, who was more frustrated than usual since her teammate was also late, was pacing back and forth on front of him and having a mental rant. 'That baka should be here! Why is he late?! Why is sensei late again?!' 'Cha! I'm going to beat their heads when I see them'
After a few more minutes Sakura saw Naruto walking towards them "NAR…." she started to yell but stopped when she noticed how Naruto was walking. He was hobbling instead of walking, he was holding his ribs like they were broken and he was pushing through the pain, his breathing was heavy like he ran a marathon and then ran another one and he looked like he winced every other step. She had never seen Naruto so tired or beaten so much even during one of their training sessions with Kakashi "hey Naruto, what's wrong with you?" she asked in a normal tone
Naruto had finally made it to the other 2 when he heard the question and lifted his head to look at Sakura mentally thanking kami that she didn't yell, he didn't need any more pain "I trained way to hard last night and I haven't healed yet"
Sakura looked a bit worried about Naruto, she may have problems with the guy but she wasn't going to want the him to work himself while in pain
"Hm, if you are too weak to train, than you don't deserve to be a ninja" Sasuke said with a smirk
Sakura was a little put off with this, since Naruto looked like he was in pain and Sasuke was acting like it didn't matter but she just let it go just as quickly
Naruto just went to sit at under a tree and rest as much as he could until his sensei came 'I really hope he extra late this time….'
~3 hours later~
Naruto was on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath after his spar with Sasuke with Kakashi and Sakura on the side watching with the former having his nose buried in his little book. They had started the spar with Sasuke vs Sakura but that didn't last and afterwards it was Sasuke vs Naruto but thanks to how tired and sore he was he didn't last long either and it was only due to how stubborn he was that allowed him to last the 20 minutes of the spar
Kakashi had noticed several things from the spar: Naruto was slower, his moves were sloppy, he seemed to take more damage than usual, he wasn't using the Kage bunshin or the Kiwarimi like he normally would and he wasn't as enthusiastic as he normally was. Kakashi chose to give the boy a break "hey Naruto-kun, take a break for now."
Naruto was thankful for this and got up on wobbly legs and went to sit by the posts. After a few minutes Sakura actually walked up to him as Sasuke and Kakashi had their spar "Naruto what did you do last night that made you this weak?".
Naruto didn't know how to feel about the question. Either be happy that she wasn't yelling it at him or pissed at the way she worded it. Looking up through half lidded eyes he spoke to the girl in a dull tone "Sakura, you really should work on how you speak to other people, I can't tell if you are actually worried or just belittling me"
Sakura wanted to punch the guys head hard but before she even lifted her head she thought about previous times she did and ended up hitting someone else and although she realized that he was too tired to even try the pause made her realize that the way she asked the question does count as rude "sorry Naruto"
That shocked Naruto since not once had she ever apologize to him and a part of him thought this was some sort of trick to get something from him but he couldn't feel anything bad from her.
Sakura had sat down next to him and just watched the spar, not saying anything else to him. She had been thinking about how Naruto had come to the training grounds and the fact that he was like this because of training so much that he was still in pain from it. It made her think of her own training….or lack of it. She only ever trained when they had team training but apart from that she didn't do anything else to improve and yet the dead last of her class had been improving, and even though she still thought that Sasuke was better she knew, especially from the bell test, that she was behind Naruto.
After 10 minutes Naruto had to ask "hey Sakura, why do you like Sasuke so much"
Sakura who heard the question just went on a bit of a tangent "it's because he is so cool, and strong and is like a prince from a fairy tale ready to save his princess: me" she said with hearts in her eyes as she drifted into a fantasy world
Naruto was kinda creeped out with the flying hearts that seemed to pop out of her head flying everywhere,leaning away from the girl he wanted it to stop "do you really think so, cause I don't see it"
Sakura stopped her swooning and looked irritated "what do you know, your just a loser that can't match up to him!"
Wincing at the yell Naruto rubbed his ears 'why couldn't the shift lower my hearing' "Sakura if you haven't realized it yet he doesn't care about anyone but himself" Sakura was about to yell again but Naruto wasn't finished "and before you even start yelling about how I'm wrong and he is keeping all his feelings inside or shy or not showing it in public, think about every time you 2 talked and tell me 3 times he was nice to you because every time I saw you 2 talk he would just push you aside and say no to all the times you ask him out on a date because all he has ever said was what was in the stupid Uchiha dictionary I made" Sakura had thought about it and looked through her memories trying to find a nice memory between the 2 but as she was doing this Naruto had thought of something as he put his fist into an open palm in an aha moment "wait he has said mor like 'stay out of my way' 'your in my way' 'don't drag me down' don't hold me back' and 'I'm an Uchiha'. It's always 'me, me ,me' 'my, my, my'. He doesn't care about you or me so you should stop you fangirling before it gets you killed"
That last bit got sakura riled up "Sasuke wouldn't let me die, he would save me if I get in danger!"
Naruto even though his ears hurt from the yelling was furious that she still didn't get it, ans in anger he got on her feet grabbed her by the collar, lifting her so they were face to face and screamed "FOR FUCKS SAKE SAKURA! HE! DOESN'T! CARE! ABOUT! YOU! HE WILL LEAVE YOU TO DIE IF IT MEANS THAT HE ADVANCES AND BECOMES STRONGER! AND THE WAY YOU ARE GOING IN YOUR TRAINING YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN DEAD WEIGHT! YOU WILL GET YOUR TEAM KILLED IF WE HAVE TO SAVE YOU FROM EVERY DANGER OUT THERE" Naruto dropped her making her land on her ass. Taking a deep breath he spoke in a more subdued tone "and even if he did care and tried to save you, he could get himself killed in doing so. So get out of your fantasy and get back to the real world"
Seeing the tears forming in the girls eyes he knelt down "I'm sorry but you should know this. The memorial stone that Kakashi brought us to, should show you that."
Naruto started to walk away from the girl to sit under a tree on the ide of the training field. Although he hasn't lost anyone important to him, he knew what it was like when someone you care about disappears. Even though at the time he thought that it was just a dream, it still hurt when he couldn't see Rama-touchan again for 4 years
Kakashi and Sasuke had paused their spar when they heard the yelling and although they didn't hear it very well because of the distance the look on Sakura's face told them that they had a big argument that hurt the girls feelings.
Sasuke didn't think it was important and just wanted to continue the spar "forget them, lets keep going"
Kakashi just shook his head in a bit of disappointment
~Medical wing in I&T department~
Anko walked into a room, looking at the only occupant in the room: Mizuki.
They had kept the man alive but barely, whatever Naruto's chakra did to the man was not allowing it the heal properly and due to the size of the wound in the shoulder, they had to amputate the arm but even still the corrosion was slowly consuming the man. He left side was wrapped in bandages since it was slightly rotted. They had taken all the information from the man, from there being a spy and what he had done to his fellow shinobi on missions just to make himself look better. The man didn't deserve to live but on how much pain he was in they kept him alive as punishment
"Look at you, you look so comfortable like that" Anko said in a condescending tone
Mizuki moved his right eye to see who it was but couldn't speak since it would hurt him
"You know Naruto-chan has become a genin thanks to you. Him beating you up allowed him to become a genin through a field promotion"
this caused Mizuki to wiggle a bit in anger 'that demon brat! It's his fault that I'm like this! If I see him again I will kill him!'
Anko could read his thoughts through his reaction to what she said "you think that you will get a chance to attack the gaki again? Wrong. You won't ever leave this room unless you are in a body bag! But from what I hear you won't last much longer because of the poison in your system. A week maybe but that's it. It's a miracle you lasted this long but it's what you get for betraying the village, working for that snake bastard and hurting Naruto" Anko began to walk away from the wiggling man and as she made it to the door she looked back "we already got everything we could from you and although you didn't ever see the spy's face, we now know that there is one so thanks for that". She closed the door and left the dying man in the room
End of the Chapter
More things to clarify
I could not think of a way to get the hokage to agree with Naruto's request without telling the truth. Saying that he found a way to turn human without saying where would not work ever
Hiruzen has faith in the boy but still wary and worried about the whole thing
Naruto's shifting was done for a later concept that will be happen and I couldn't think of any other way for it to work, besides it's only establishing it for the later bit
It is NOT permanent
As for the pain for the shift, I figured that body changing like that would hurt and even though he is mostly made of chakra now I already had the idea of his bones still being one of the few things that still remained organic and the shifting should be slow since unlike being made of chakra, that could be manipulated, the bones would slowly change shape with the help of chakra
And no it's not the bone kekkei genkai
Naruto would obviously be tired after going through hours of pain like that. And his chakra levels after the shift will be at Uzumaki levels which is still pretty damn high
Naruto has 2 chakras that are his, his human normal chakra and his Bijuu chakra. With Kurama it would be a total of 3. At the shift he will be using human chakra that has a small mix of his Bijuu chakra
The Mizuki bit was done because I left his fate wide open and I forgot about him but when I remembered I thought I could use this to do the filler episode with him but than realized that it gives nothing really so just felt like I should cut him loose. Don't like anyway. He's an idiot
Naruto yelling at Sakura was something I wanted Naruto to do and to get Sakura to realize that Sasuke doesn't give a crap about anyone but himself and his revenge. I am basing this Sasuke from the What if episodes from shippuden and the infinite tsukuyomi from Tsunade's I think
A Sakura wake up call
Is Naruto ooc when doing that…..yeah but think, he still feels the negative emotions from the villagers he walks past which affects him and after dealing with what he did last night, anyone would just let loose a bit
Naruto doesn't hate Sakura, he just doesn't like her