"What's going on? I heard Naruto got checked into the hospital again," Tsunade said, as she bashed open Naruto's hospital room door.
She stepped forward and saw Hakaru hovering over Naruto's unconscious body, while Kasumi and the others stood nearby watching. Hakaru ignored Tsunade and quickly pulled down on Naruto's jacked zipper.
All the boys except for Sai blushed ferociously.
Naruto, though not much bigger then Sakura definitely was still prettier. She had curves in all the right places. Still she was lucky she wore her undershirt.
Hakaru pulled out scissors form her back pouch and cut the top of Naruto's shirt until it down to mid rid.
Sasuke and Sakura gasped lightly; on Naruto's chest, just below her collar bone, Naruto had a large curse seal.
It looked like an armless dragon attempting to eat its tail and on the inside of that circle was a sharp diamond shape.
The skin around the seal was inflamed and bright red.
"Shit, it's already at this stage," Hakaru cursed. "Kasumi come here and lend me a hand."
Kasumi ran forward hands already covered in chakra ready to help.
"You know the drill, it's on the fourth stage."
Pressing her hands gently on Naruto's stomach Kasumi formed a protective seal to prevent the curse to be able to get to Naruto's organs.
Hakaru moved her hands to the curse seal and brought up one thumb and nipped at the soft flesh.
Swiping her blood over the cure she went through several hand seals and pushed a large flow of chakra into Naruto's body.
This action almost instantly caused the redness to go away and Naruto took a gasping breath when her body felt the change.
Hakaru closed Naruto's shirt slightly and laid the girl back.
Kasumi removed her hands and sat down carefully on the bed next to Naruto.
"What was that?" Tsunade asked.
"That was the one of the reasons Ato-Chan can no longer be a ninja," Sora said standing by his teacher.
"Ato-Chan is very strong we will give her that but that curse seal does this whenever she puts her body through stress or when she gets very angry," Hoshi added.
"But what's she going to do if she can't be a ninja?!" Sakura exclaimed.
Slapping a hand over Sakura's mouth Hoshi answer," Ato-Chan and Somi-Chan are next in line to the throne, though only one of them will remain in the village as high-class citizens and part of the council."
Sakura stared in disbelief.
"What do you mean, the dope just some normal orphan how can she be next in line for the throne?" Sasuke asked from his spot on the wall.
Sora answered this time, "Ato-Chan is for one thing not a 'dope' and for another she is next in line for the throne because she is our missing princess. When her mother died in the leaf next to her husband the Forth Hokage on the night of the Kyuubi's attack, Ato-Chan was stuck here because that dumb counsel never told us about her!" Sora's nails dug into his palms.
"I still feel that the council should be punished! Taking away our princess like that is punishable by death. They are so lucky Ato-Chan convinced the king and queen not to attack the village when we finally got to meet her!"
His voice rose at every word, getting loud enough to wake Naruto up.
She groaned from her spot and gently pushed herself up using her elbows.
"Ouch," she said as she rubbed her head.
"Itoko," Kasumi said as she pulled Naruto into a hug.
"Kasumi?" Naruto asked in a small voice.
"It's okay Itoko, everything is going to be okay," Kasumi said softly.
Naruto mumbled something into Kasumi's shoulder.
"No Itoko, you know even better than me that he can't come to the village."
She mumbled something again.
"I'm sorry honey, but you'll be home soon so please wait a bit longer," Kasumi asked softly.
Naruto clung harder to Kasumi as small sobs left her body.
"Mother please take everyone out, I'll stay with Itoko so don't worry she'll be okay."
Hakaru nodded and opened the door for everyone to leave.
Getting the clue, everyone moved to the door, with Hakaru closing it calmly behind her.
"Sorry, Ato-Chan gets like that every time that happens. That's another reason why she doesn't belong as a ninja." Hakaru flicked her gaze to Tsunade.
"I'm sure you gathered enough information from what happened in there, right?"
Tsunade nodded.
"Good then I will make this short; Naruto will be coming with us back to our village. I will not have a discussion over this because you have no choice. If you refuse we will rage war against you to get our princess back," Hakaru's eyes turned dead serious. Tsunade of course had no choice but to nod; if she caused a war over one person then she would never hear the end of it.
"I don't have much of a choice, but please... just take good care of her," Tsunade said, voice lased with sadness.
Hakaru nodded, "I'd kill myself before I did something to hurt her. When I lost Kushina it felt like my world had ended. She was such a big part of my life, and was always a good big sister... having Naruto around almost feels like Kushina is back," Hakaru explained.
Tsunade smiled, "Kushina really was such a ball of energy and life I can see why you would be sad. But I don't think she could have had a more beautiful ending. It's an honor to any woman to give up your life for your child."
The two older women came to an agreement with that.
"What was that curse on Naruto?" Sakura asked breaking the pleasant silence.
Hakaru sighed, "It's a curse that Naruto received before I met her, but still the curse is one meant to kill. It works at times of stress. Its main focus is to slowly destroy its host organs. The only way to get rid of the curse through is to find the people who put it on her."
"How did she get it?" Sakura asked.
"I could answer that," Jiraiya said walking up to them.
"During our first month away from the village Naruto and I had been making our way towards the village of Uzushio. Naruto had no idea why we were going there though."
Jiraiya sighed, "Everything had been going well; Naruto was training even when we were walking and getting really strong, really fast, but one day when I had gone to a nearby village and left Naruto alone thinking she would be safe enough. I then found nothing there when I came back. I searched everywhere but never found her. I chose to go to Uzushio in hope that they could help me find her. In the end neither they nor I found any trace of her, which is until one month later when Naruto and her savior showed up in Uzushio."
"Naruto was unconscious and near the point of death when she got there. She had several small wounds, bruised, scars, and one still bleeding gash stretching across her back," Hakaru elaborated.
"When she and the mystery man got there, we did everything we could to save her but in the end, she still ended up in a coma for two weeks," she continued.
"When she woke up she refused to talk to anyone. It took another two weeks just to get her to make a sound, and that first sound was a sob," Jiraiya said sadly.
"Kasumi was the only person that Naruto would speak to for some time. Eventually it got better and she started to talk to the man that saved her. By the end of that year Naruto finally was talking like a normal person again," Hakaru started up again.
"That following year I started training Naruto in medical nin-jutsu, and it was then we found out about the c Naruto sat calmly in her hospital bed reading a medical scroll when her door was suddenly bashed open.
Snapping her head in the direction the sound came from Naruto saw not only Iruka, but all of the rooky nine and Konohamaru corps.
A warm smile spread across her face at the sight of Iruka.
"Naruto?" Iruka breathed out.
Naruto calmly nodded her head in response that had been all Iruka needed. He hurried across the room and pulled Naruto into a hug, ignoring the girl's stiff shoulders.
"My god Naruto, you look so much older now," Iruka said into her hair.
"And you haven't changed one-bit Iruka-sensei," Naruto said softly.
"Damn Naruto you really look different as a girl," Kiba said coming into the room.
Naruto smiled at him. "Hi there, dog breath."
"Naru…" Hinata's voice said behind Kiba's shoulder.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out happily finally seeing her best friend.
Said girl took that as a chance to walk out from behind Kiba and walk up to Naruto's bed.
"Y-you grew your hair long," Hinata pointed out Naruto's hair which was currently out of its pony tail.
Naruto nodded happily. "I see you did too, it looks nice though." Shino walked up to Hinata's side and put a hand on her should, to reassure her.
"It's nice to see you again Naruto, you look very nice," he commented.
"Naruto-chan are we still going to be able to hang out like you said we would?" Lee asked walking into the room.
Naruto's smile faltered some. "I'm sorry Lee I don't think I will be able… I leave tomorrow."
Lee smiled sadly, "Maybe the next time then?" Naruto nodded to him.
"Don't worry Lee I'm sure you two will be able to hang out like 'old times' again soon," Tenten said stepping in with Neji at her side, who grunted in agreement.
"Naruto, you look so cute!" Ino said walking in with a very bored looking Shikamaru and chin munching Choji.
"Thank you," Naruto said plainly.
Naruto averted her gaze to the door were Konohamaru, and the others still stood. She smiled kindly at them.
"What not going to force me to play ninja with you anymore?" Naruto asked softly.
Konohamaru's eyes watered up and before he could stop himself he ran up to Naruto and slung his arms around her.
"I'm glad to see you to brat," she said ruffling his hair.
"Boss don't leave!" Konohamaru begged into her shoulder.
Naruto's hold on him became tighter, and she leaned into his hair. "I'm sorry Konohamaru, but… I have to go back to Uzushio," she said.
Konohamaru sobbed slightly on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said not only to him but everyone in the room. Iruka stroked her head as an expression to her apologies; he knew it wasn't all her choice; in the end it took him the whole night to calm down so he wouldn't sob like Konohamaru was.
"Now what's going on in here, I don't think a party should be held in a hospital room?"
Everyone, but Konohamaru turned to the door where Sora, Kasumi, and Hoshi stood.
"Holy shit, a red head Naruto with no whiskers!" yelled Kiba.
Kasumi shot a glare at the dog lover and ignored him to go over to Naruto, and sit down next to her again.
Sora still stood in the door snickering with Hoshi. Naruto, still holding a very upset Konohamaru, lent against Kasumi's shoulder.
"Are you sleepy?" Kasumi asked voice laced with worry.
Naruto shook her head, "Not really."
Kasumi frowned, 'not really' to Naruto meant 'yes.'
"Just don't push yourself to hard," she said.
"So, these are the rooky nine, huh?" Sora asked.
"Don't look like much," he said in a mocking voice.
"Oh, shut up Sora, no one wants to listen to you," Kasumi growled out.
Hoshi bolted from the door and slammed a hug on Iruka, who looked stunned at the girl.
She smiled up at him, with a toothy grin. "Thank you for taking so much good care of our princesses when she was young!"
Iruka blushed lightly, "It was more than a pleasure," he said.
"I think everyone should go, our little fox fell asleep," Hakaru said walking in the room with Tsunade and Jiraiya by her side.
Everyone flicked their gaze to Naruto and Konohamaru who were fast asleep in one another's arms.
"Aw," was what half of the girls said, that is until Kasumi pushed everyone out, except for Konohamaru, that is, and closed the door behind her.
Naruto was once again alone in her room. She was packing her things in to a backpack Kasumi brought for her.
'It's sad you know,' Kurama said at the back of her head, truly sounding depressed.
'What is?' Naruto asked the fox.
'It's sad that you have to leave. I know it's my fault the villagers are so rued to you, and I'm sorry for that, but now you have to leave your friends,' Kurama said.
Naruto sat down the pants she was holding and sat down on the bed.
"It is sad," she said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a photo of team seven.
"But maybe it won't be too bad, I'll have you, Kasumi, Aunty, Sora, Hoshi, Grandma, Grandpa, and…" she trailed off as a silent tear dropped from her eye. Holding the frame to her chest she let her tears fall freely, "Oh but I'm going to miss them so much. I knew I shouldn't have been around them" she told the fox.
'I'm sorry kit,' Kurama told her.
"What are you crying for?"
Naruto's head flung up to the door. Her wide eyes soften.
"Kakashi," she said plainly to her ex-sensei. He walked over to her bed and sat in the seat Kasumi had been in not long ago.
"Well?" he pressed.
Naruto gave him a bitter smile, "Do you really have to ask?"
"It might help to talk about it," he said.
Naruto sighed, "You know I never thought about leaving the village; even when people use to follow me so they could have a change at killing the 'demon.'"
Kakashi gave her a worried glance.
"Still this was my home; a place to return to whenever I went on missions, and now I can't even call it that."
"This will always be your home Naruto; even if you leave us we will always welcome you back here with open arms."
Naruto smiled, "I'm glad we got to speak to each other again, Kakashi-sensei."
"I'm glad we could to, oh on a second thought let me tell you what I came here for."
Naruto twisted her head to his side asking a quiet question.
Kakashi gave her his eye smile. "Team seven, Iruka, Konohamaru, and Hinata will be joining you party to make sure you return home safely."
Naruto blinked once, twice, and then three times and then ran out of her room screaming, 'TSUNADE' at the top of her lungs.
Naruto stood at the gate pouting slightly as she looked into the forest. She and her family were waiting for everyone else to show up so they could get on their way.
"Ato-chan, please don't pout; it's not like we did this to be mean," Sora said softly.
"I'm not pouting," Naruto said with a slightly winy voice.
"Could have fooled me," Sasuke said walking up with Kakashi and Sakura. Naruto stuck her tongue out at him.
"Naruto stop that, I know your mother didn't give birth to an ant eater, so don't act like one," Hakaru said sternly. Naruto just huffed and went back to staring at the forest. Hakaru sighed at Naruto's antics and went back for waiting for Tsunade.
It took another ten minutes for her and Jiraiya to come with Konohamaru, Iruka, and Hinata their sides.
Konohamaru was the first one to actually do anything, that being he glopped Naruto.
She just gently ran her fingers through his hair.
"Well then brats. I'm going to stay in the village this time; I'm sure you won't need me with everyone else here." Jiraiya grunted.
Naruto turned sad eyes on him. "Just make sure you visit us later then."
He needed and pulled her into a hug, "Take care of yourself."
Tsunade pulled Naruto away from Jiraiya and into her own arms. "I'm so sorry that I can't go with you myself…but I promise I'll keep the village safe, if only for you, because you love it so much."
Naruto gripped tightly to Tsunade's shirt and smushed her face into her shoulder as she felt tears poke at the corners of her eyes again.
"I'll come visit you when everything is figured out," Naruto mumbled into her neck.
"Then I'll wait till then," Tsunade said hugging he tight and then letting her go to look at the Konoha nin.
"I'm sure you guys will take good care of Naruto o I won't pester you about that but I will remind you that you all will be back in two months no one will stay behind because you'll end up as missing nin understand?" When she got nods of agreement from everyone she turned her attention to Hakaru.
"Take good care of her." Hakaru nodded.
"Don't worry I will," she flicked her had signaling to start moving.
Naruto glanced back, one last time and mouthed the words 'good bye' before hurrying after everyone. As she ran a gentle wind blew past her ears caring distant voices that whispered goodbye to her as well.
urse. It took us a long time to put it under control but when we did Naruto had a minor relapse.
When this happened my mother and father decided that they wanted her to remain in our village, thus I started preparations, so Naruto would fit in better with higher social standing people. Our village loves her very much though so I believe she will be fine," Hakaru finished.
Sakura and Sasuke both held looks of astonishment.
"I will agree to let Naruto leave... but during your journey back I want to have a team of ninja escort you home, even if you feel you don't need it," Tsunade said.
Hakaru nodded she didn't have a problem with that. "Then we will leave after tomorrow."
Tsunade nodded and started walking away as she thought of the best group of nin to take Naruto home.
Hakaru and her students nodded at Jiraiya and Sai, fully ignoring Sasuke and Sakura.