"Speech"
"Thought"
"Demonic Voice"
'Bijuu thoughts'
Justu
(A/N: Author Note)
Flashback
Disclaimer: All rights reserved by the original creator this is a fan production.
Okay gents and ladies enjoy the read.
XXXXXXX
Chapter 20: The Real Me
Surprise after surprise seemed to surround the young man in the center of the room and the group didn't know how many more they could take. Pushing anymore questions she had about Naruto aside Tsunade took charge of the situation, "You."
Haku looked at the finger pointed at herself and still a bit too dumbstruck to figure out why it was pointed at her, she pointed her own finger at herself, "Me?"
"No the wall behind you, of course I mean you!" Tsunade spat harshly snapping Haku out of her daze, "put the mask back on."
"Y-Yes of course," Haku placed the mask back on Naruto's face and watched as it changed to Naruto's face with the white diamond back on his nose.
"Now everyone here will keep quiet about this unless they want the first order I pass as Hokage to be sending their ass straight to prison," The air of power she imposed on the room had everyone nod in agreement to be spared their wrath. With that out of the way Tsunade turned to the doctor, " I've figured out how to save Naruto, the rest of you leave this room while I get the operation ready."
"But Lady Tsu-"
"No arguing Sakura, he needs to be prepped and we can't have people in here getting in the way," Tsunade's hard voice stopped any further protests from Sakura, but she could see the girl was still a bit anxious so in a softer voice she reassured the girl, "Don't worry Sakura I know what to do."
Sakura could feel her fears being crushed by the gentle hand resting on her shoulder, "I leave him in your hands Lady Tsunade."
XXXXXXX
Gaara opened her eye as the Third Eye vanished into dust, something like calm washing over her. Having learned to read lips, due to her justu being only visual, she'd found out that this Tsunade woman was going to cure Naruto. Whether that was true or not the woman seemed confident enough that Gaara couldn't help but be assured. She had let Shikamaru giver her updates for a time before she became fed up with having to wait, which is why she was sitting here using her third eye whenever she had a moment to spare.
She didn't know why but she felt, not calm, but something like it when she knew he was fine. Maybe Temari knew something about this, perhaps she could ask about it. Thinking about Temari, Gaara felt that unfamiliar feeling in her chest that she'd learned was happiness. Ever since she had decided to change herself Temari had been there for her, answering questions and giving advice.
KNOCK KNOCK
"Come in," Gaara wondered if her sister knew when she was troubled, Temari always seemed to be at the right place at the right time.
"Gaara, Shikamaru is here I thought it be great if we ate lunch while he informed you about Naruto," Gaara thought about sending the boy home, since she already knew what was going with Naruto. 'That might seem ungrateful, this had to be a risk for him, but it's annoying to hear about something I know, besides I want to get back to watching Naruto maybe I could ask Temari about—'
"Gaara?"
"Hmm? What?"
"Shikamaru? Lunch?"
"I don't want any more updates." Temari gave Gaara a perplexed look, her sister had been itching for news about Naruto the whole time they'd been here. But if Gaara didn't want to hear anymore she wouldn't ask why, "Can you tell him for me?"
Shaking her head, Temari decided to at least correct this behavior, "That's something you should tell him directly, since you wanted this favor it'd be insulting if you had someone else tell him to leave."
Nodding in understanding Gaara went to speak with Shikamaru, "Thank you Temari." Shikamaru was lounging on the couch, no problem with lazing about in someone's home, and addressed him in the only way she knew how, "I don't want any more information about Naruto."
"Mind if I ask why, ya seemed so eager before," Shikamaru asked as Temari joined them.
"I've been watching over Naruto for the past week."
"Alright," Shikamaru said as he stood up, "Wait no, what do ya mean you've been watching over him?"
Understanding his confusion at how she could watch over Naruto, she closed an eye and summoned her Third Eye, "I've been using this justu to watch Naruto in his hospital room."
"And you've been doing this for the past week?"
"Yes every moment I've had to spare," Gaara said honestly, "I'm sorry to have wasted your time."
Shikamaru not sure what to make of the situation turned to Temari, who looked absolutely mortified, "Is uhh, is she serious?"
"Oh god," Temari hid her face in her hands, "Gaara you can't do that."
"It's fine I haven't been caught."
"That's not the issue here," Temari grabbed Gaara and sat her down, not believing that she would have to discuss this with her sister, "What you're doing is stalking."
"I'm not hunting Naruto."
"What, no no, that's not what I mean," How to go about this without hurting Gaara, "Watching Naruto as he sleeps is a…it's umm…well what it is, is a…"
Shikamaru couldn't to look away as Temari floundered trying to explain to her sister how creepy it was to watch guy constantly while he slept, finally he decided to step in, "Its social taboo."
"Social taboo?"
"Yeah that's right," Temari said happily taking over, "If you were to be caught, people would be disturbed by your actions and uh, it could ruin our negotiations."
"But I haven't been doing anything wrong," Gaara replied defensively.
Temari gently replied, "I know you haven't sweety but people are going to think what they want to think, do you understand?"
Gaara looked down unsure what to do. On one hand she didn't really care for any stupid social taboos, especially those that get in the way of what she wants, but if she was going to change people's minds she couldn't just go around doing what she wanted, 'Things were easier when I could just crush anything in my way.'
"Yes, I won't watch over Naruto anymore," Gaara answered dejectedly as she went back into her room. Temari could've laughed at how gloomy Gaara looked as she left, the poor girl had it bad, whether she knew it or not was a question Temari wanted to leave for another day. It was a bit embarrassing that her younger sister seemed to have discovered romance, stalker like it may be, before herself.
"Man was that awkward," Temari almost jumped, having forgotten about Shikamaru, "your sister's pretty uhh unique."
Temari was reminded once more that Shikamaru had saved the day while she was a stammering mess, "Listen, I hate to admit it, I really hate to, but thanks for helping me out with my sister…but don't think I owe you anything!"
"Please, you owe me plenty," Shikamaru said smugly as he headed for the door.
"Cocky bastard," Temari said as she stopped him at the door, "Fine, how about we go out to lunch, I'll pay and you can count that as a favor."
"Well as long you're paying," Shikamaru complied happily as Temari had him wait by the door. His debt was repaid and now he was getting a free meal. The sand siblings were having everything paid by their village maybe he should go someplace classy and order something pricey. "Naw it'd be too troublesome."
"Hey Kankuro do you want to go to lunch," Temari shouted as she knocked on his door.
"Can't, working," was the muffled reply, "but bring me something back!"
Temari walked out the door with Shikamaru in tow, "Can't even stop playing with his dolls."
"There not dolls!"
Their gentle laughter filled up the hall way.
XXXXXX
"And that's how we'll extract the poison." Tsunade finished addressing the medical team that would be assisting her on Naruto's operation.
"Incredible Lady Tsunade," one of the doctors said, "good thing we weren't able to attempt the operation as planned it would have been a catastrophe."
"It was a good plan," Tsunade said, "you couldn't know that the poison would eat through the security seals on the container and basically turn it into a bomb."
"Is it true that the boy can manipulate his chakra from his mindscape?"
"Yes it's how I, with the help of Inoichi, was able to extract some of the poison safely for testing, synthesis of an antidote was my next step but I realized we didn't have enough time," Tsunade began to assign position to the team on what their role would be.
"Fascinating but to use one our trees as a way for the poison to run its course, how did you come up with that."
"Oh that, that was due to little Mei."
"The Mokuton user?"
"Yes the brat was harassing me while I was figuring out the operation, eventually things got out of hand and I was about to toss the little brat out of the window until she trapped my arm with a wood justu," the team sweat dropped as Tsunade laughed at her story, "Hehehe, that little cutie, anyway I remembered that those trees absorb chakra as part of their photosynthesis cycle and since the poison is now a chakra-like substance we can let it run its course inside the tree without risk of it spreading."
"When do we begin the operation Lady Tsunade?"
"In two hours make the necessary preparations and ready yourselves for a long night."
"Yes ma'am!"
XXXXXXX
"Are you ready Inoichi?"
"Yes Lady Tsunade," Inoichi said, sitting cross-legged on the floor, "What orders do you wish me to relay to the boy."
"Tell him to stop trying to overcome the poison and just try to hold it back," Tsunade had figured out that the reason for the violent reaction the doctor's experienced in the earlier operation was due to Naruto's chakra. While trying to fight off the chakra poison it saw the doctor's chakra as another foreign invader, "As soon as you've relayed that order report back to me."
"Understood, Mind Body Switch Justu," The world faded into a blur as his soul traveled into the depths of Naruto's mind. The haze lifted from his eyes and he found himself in the sewer that represented Naruto's state of mind, "This kid may look altogether but he's definitely got more than a few issues to deal with." Making his way to the concentration of chakra he couldn't help but notice the walls were beginning to crumble, "Looks like Lady Tsunade was right about how much time we've got."
Up ahead he could see a light blaring into the tunnel walking forward he set foot in a wide open plain the giant Kyuubi standing in the center with Naruto at his feet, Inoichi stood in front of Naruto, "Lady Tsunade wants you to stop fighting the poison."
"I'd love to but I think that might cause you know…death."
"She wants you to merely hold it back."
"That's what I'm doing now!"
"No you're trying to heal the poison, she wants you to keep it at bay so you don't kill her while she operates on you."
"Alright I'll give it a try, furball give me hand," Inoichi kept his eyes focused on the boy and his body stiff as the giant beast's booming voice shook him to his core, "If we die you I'm going to make sure to come back and turn this village in to a smoldering crater."
"Right, now that the plans been laid out, HELP. ME," the beast growled but it pulled its chakra inward condensing it into a thick fog, "Tell your medicine woman to hurry up." With that the world blurred again and Inoichi found himself back in his own body.
"The orders have been relayed Lady Tsunade."
"Alright let's start."
The light outside the operation room lit up and the small group waiting outside the room prayed for their friend. Haku placed an arm around Sakura while Tomoko kept Mei's mind off of the operation. With them were the able bodied members from the rescue mission Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba who was still wrapped in bandages.
"I'm sure Naruto will be fine Mei."
XXXXXXX
Thirty minutes into the operation everything had been going well and Tsunade was glad that for once things had been going as planned. Then one of her subordinates ruined her day, "This is a breeze."
'Risa Sato if anything happens I swear to god that—'
"His vitals are spiking, the poison's spreading faster!"
'There it is!'
"Damn it, you two get over here and keep pulling out the poison," Tsunade ordered as she took notice of Naruto's seal becoming unstable. Having learned fuinjutsu to a certain degree in order to complete her Creation Rebirth technique she could tell something was wrong with it, "Inoichi get your ass back in there and find out what's wrong!"
"Right Mind Body Switch Justu!" Jumping back into Naruto's mind his body immediately froze as a deafening roar rang in his ears. The great open plain the he stood before had shifted into a giant boiler room, pipes lined the walls and Kyuubi who had roamed free was now behind a gate slamming its body against the bars.
"Damn you open these gates!" the great fox slammed against the bars, the seal stretching from the force of the blows. Naruto stood in front of the gates his hands keeping it closed. Once more the Kyuubi smashed against the gates, "I'm getting out!"
"God damn it, Kyuubi stop you're going to get us killed!"
"No just you."
"Y-You can't be serious furball!" Naruto said as he strained against the gates, "what about all the shit we've been through!"
"What you think we're friends?" Kyuubi roared, "We're not. Your life is a means to an end, nothing matters but my revenge!"
Naruto couldn't believe this was happening, one moment everything's going fine and the next thing he knows the Kyuubi is slamming against the bars of the gate. The seal had actually started to give and Naruto could feel the Kyuubi close to breaking out. Not having time to wonder about what happened he had to split his concentration between holding the gate closed and keeping the poison at bay. Now he was fighting for his life and didn't know what to do.
"Naruto!" putting his back against the gate Naruto turned to see Inoichi kneeling as he fought against the fox's murderous intent, "What's happening?"
"The seal, something's wrong with it, tell Tsunade we need some way to calm the fox down!"
"R-Right!" Inoichi launched himself out of Naruto's body, glad to be away from the malevolent chakra, "Lady Tsunade, it the Kyuubi, it attempting to break the seal and it looks like its succeeding."
"The fox, Lady Tsunade perhaps we should seek shelter!" one of the doctors, a mousy looking thing called out, not wanting to be at ground zero if the beast escaped.
"You move and I'll throw you into the Kyuubi's maw myself!" Tsunade shouted stopping anymore cries of retreat, "Did Naruto give you any clue on how to stop the beast."
"No he thought you might know some way to subjugate the beast."
Tsunade's mind raced as she thought about what could tame a biju, and then it hit her, she had been familiarizing herself with her new shinobi force and recalled she had found that interesting ANBU member, "And my grandfather's necklace!"
"Lady Tsunade?"
"Go and order ANBU operative Tenzo to report here immediately and bring Sakura Haruno and Jiraiya in here as well!"
"Yes ma'am."
Inoichi ran out the room and Tsunade took her place at Naruto's side once again and began removing the poison. She could feel the chakra's clashing in Naruto's body but he was keeping the clash away from the poison so that she could extract the poison safely, "That's right Naruto keep it steady and I'll be done in no time."
Holding the vile purple chakra in above her hands she quickly moved over to another section that had been cut out of the chakra tree and forced the poison into it. The medical side of her mind couldn't help but appreciate how quickly the poison rotted the tree and the way it crumbled and fell apart, 'Orochimaru seems your edge hasn't dulled at all.'
"Lady Tsunade what's the matter?" Sakura asked standing next to Naruto, "Is Naruto alright?"
"Sakura calm down," Tsunade kept her focus on the pulling the poison out of Naruto's body, "Right now Naruto needs help but we need to wait for the others to arrive, so stand ready."
"Yes Lady Tsunade," Sakura admitted that she wasn't the most emotionally disciplined kunoichi but when Tsunade gives you an order you follow it. Watching Tsunade's methodical and steady movements Sakura was a bit in awe at the woman's skill. To be able to physically pull poison out of the chakra network, especially one that destroyed chakra had to be incredibly difficult. Not too long after she had entered the operating theater Jiraiya came in with Inoichi.
"Hime what's the matter?"
"His seal I think it's been damaged," Tsunade said as she pulled out glob of poison and deposited into another log, "Don't just stand there get on it."
Scanning the seal with a critical eye Jiraiya immediately spotted the problem. Pointing to the first and fifth trigram seal Jiraiya turned to Tsunade, "One of the containment seals has been damaged and Minato's failsafe to strengthen it isn't kicking in."
"Some of the poison must have gotten past Naruto's barrier," Tsunade said as she pulled out another glob of chakra, "Wipe." Her assisting doctor wiped the sweat from her brow as she ran another scan on Naruto's body and was glad to see that they were almost done, "Can you repair it."
"Yes but with the fox struggling I run the risk of doing more damage," Jiraiya said as he pulled out his sealing supplies.
"Tenzo should—"
"Actually Lady Tsunade he's out on a mission," Inoichi said a bit reluctantly.
"Damn it, we need a—Mei…Sakura go grab Mei and bring her in here."
"On it," Sakura walked out the room and marched back in with Mei, "here she is."
"Good, you two back here," The two doctors once again took Tsunade's place extracting the poison. Kneeling before the little green-haired girl Tsunade held her by the shoulders and looked her with the utmost seriousness, "Mei your big brother needs your help."
"What can I do," Mei said putting on her best serious face, "I'll do anything for big bro."
"Put your hands here," Tsunade gently placed Mei's hands over the seal on Naruto's stomach, "There can you feel that?"
Mei focused and at first she couldn't feel a thing but then she felt something slam against the seal, "Yeah it feels dark and angry."
"Good we need your Mokuton to stop that chakra, do you think you can hold it down?"
"I-I don't know how and it feels big," Mei said her usual cockiness replaced with fear at the prospect of fighting something so big by herself.
"You can fight the chakra Mei," Mei looked up at Tsunade, "When you feel it pushing, you push back as hard as you can and try to pin it down, you think you can do that?"
Mei nodded, "I'll try for big bro."
"Good," Tsunade said as Mei began to go through hand seals and brought two pillars of wood out of the ground, "Don't worry you won't be doing this alone, Sakura."
"Yes Lady Tsunade?"
"The necklace it'll help to subjugate biju you ne—"
"Biju?"
'Damn I forgot,' Tsunade could have smacked herself, "Look Sakura I promise to explain after this operation but right now I need you to place that crystal around Naruto's neck."
"Grandma the chakra!" A malicious aura filled the room as a violent red chakra bubbled out of Naruto's body. It thrashed around with a will of its own and Sakura could only watch in horror, frozen by the pure rage, primal and dark, as it flew towards her.
SHZZZZT!
The foul chakra crashed into a barrier, "I can't hold it back!" Mei shouted struggling against the fear and power the chakra exuded, but she was losing it, "Its breaking free!"
Tsunade watched as Mei did her best but it was too much, "AAH!" The wood pillars cracked and the chakra exploded outward knocking everyone off their feet. The chakra began to take shape and Sakura looked away in fear as a terrifying maw raced toward her. Tsunade raced to the girl but it was too late.
"SA-"
"KURAAAAA!"
"Naruto?" She looked up and there he stood, back to a gate holding it closed as a monster slammed against it, "Naruto!"
"Sakura what are you doing here?!" things just seemed to be getting going from better to worse, "You need to get out of here!"
"Let me out!"
"N-Naruto what it that?"
From better to worse and burning down at the same time, cursing his luck as the thought of lying to her crossed his mind, but no, if they were going to make it out of this she needed to know, "It's the Kyuubi and it's trying to escape!"
"Escape from where?" Sakura covered her ears as the fox roared and slammed against the bars.
"From, ngh!" the fox slammed against the bars agains, "From me!"
"What?!"
"Sakura I'll explain everything but you have to get out of here ngh!" the cage rattled once more, "Tell Tsunade to find Jiraiya and strengthen the seal!"
"OPEN THESE GATES NARUTO!" but Naruto stood firm as the bars rattled again, he could feel the poison killing him, and he didn't know how long he had but even if Jiraiya couldn't fix the seal then he could at least make sure the village was safe, "NO AS LONG AS YOU'RE IN THERE WHEN I GO YOU GO WITH ME!"
"Ngh!" it wouldn't be long now, his body would give in to the poison before the fox broke out, everyone would be safe and he could finally rest. All he had to do was keep his head down and the gate closed
"You idiot…" Naruto head perked up as he watched Sakura stand in front of him, "I didn't bring Lady Tsunade back just so you could die." She placed her hands on either side of his head, "and I'm not going to leave you alone."
"Sakura…"
"I don't know ngh," the fox slammed against the bars, but the bars didn't rattle as violently, "what's going on and I'm scared out of my mind but I'm not giving up and neither are you not for a second!" They didn't notice the Shodaime's crystal glowing.
"Shut up girl!"
SHZZZT!
The fox crashed against a green barrier and tossed him back into the darkness of the cage. Naruto looked at the glowing crystal around Sakura's neck shocked at what had happened, "What just happened?"
"I-I don't know," Sakura said.
"That chakra, I could never forget the feeling of that chakra," Sakura saw the beast glare at the crystal almost as if it were alive.
"This is why Lady Tsunade wanted this necklace," Sakura ripped the crystal off her neck and held it up the cage, "you can't fight this can you!"
"Shut your mouth girl!"
"Leave Naruto alone!"
Outside the seal everyone looked on as the chakra became wilder and wilder. Just as Jiraiya feared that he would have to take drastic measures the crystal around Sakura's neck glowed brightly and pushed the chakra back, "The crystal is working, Tsunade now our chance!"
"Everyone get back into position now!" Tsunade knelt down next to Mei as she was coming to, "Mei-chan I need you to try again."
"B-But I couldn't do anything, I can't help big bro," the poor girl look defeated but Tsunade knew what to say.
"Everyone here is trying to save you big brother but the one your brother needs the most is you, are you going to let him down?" the girl looked on the verge of tears but she stood up and rubbed the tears away.
"No," running through another set of hand seals Mei brought four pillars out of the ground, "I'm going to save big bro!"
"Good," taking her place next to Naruto once more Tsuande brought her palms up, "alright everyone give it you all."
"Damn you girl!" Kyuubi shouted as he railed against the bar only to be knock back into his cage.
"Just keep holding him there Sakura, I can feel Tsunade pulling out the last of the poison," Naruto said thankful that he could concentrate fully on keeping the poison at bay.
"R-Right," Sakura replied still scared out of wits each time the Kyuubi barreled towards her, even if the crystal kept throwing him back it was still terrifying to see the giant monster run straight at her with murder in its eyes.
"Hurry Grandma!" Mei said as she kept a tight leash on the chakra she was holding it down, but she could feel her reserves running out.
"Almost there," Tsunade muttered to herself as she pulled the last glob of poison out, walking over she forced it into another log, "Done, Jiraiya get your ass on that seal!"
"On it Hime," whipping out his tools he quickly repaired the damage to the seal with his brush and chakra, then he pulled out a small slip of paper and placed it on Naruto's head, "Seal!"
The malevolent aura disappeared in an instant like it hadn't even been there, and the fearsome chakra flowed back into Naruto. Everyone let out a sigh of relief and some of the medic collapsed altogether, "I don't ever want to do that again…"
"Same here, Toji-sempai I want a raise."
"Me to!"
"So do I."
"Quiet all of you," Toji shouted flustered that his staff was much such demands, "no one's getting a raise."
"Toji-sempai's pretty stingy," the medics chuckled, even Inoichi and Jiraiya joined in the good humor, with the evil beaten back they all needed something to laugh about.
Tsunade moved over to Sakura and checked her over, "Sakura come on wake up." Tsunade let out her own sigh of relief as the girl began to stir, "Lady Tsunade is Naruto alright?"
"One track mind," Tsuande laughed, "Yes he's alright."
Sakura nodded as she stood up and made her way out of the operating theater. Opening the doors she smiled at everyone waiting outside, worried for Naruto, 'No one can ever say Naruto Uzumaki is alone.'
"He's fine, Naruto's going to be alright!" Sakura laughed as everyone broke into cheers and shouts of happiness.
XXXXXXX
So who saw that coming? I sure didn't.
Alright thanks to everyone who read the last chapter and a bigger thanks to everyone who reviewed. Don't really have much else to say. Oh! Read and Review.