A/N: The final scenes of the previous chapter were heavily revised, especially the scene from Kuushou's PoV. Reading them again should help clarify what happened and why.
"The situation has changed."
Kuushou remained silent as the Hokage spoke, feigning a slightly wary but still attentive air.
"It has long been my intent to allow you - or our own Naruto, I suppose - to grow and mature as a ninja without the reputation and responsibilities of a jinchuuriki hanging over your head. I cannot say that my efforts were entirely successful, but neither did they entirely fail. Nonetheless, your loss of control over the Bijuu within you in such a public manner means that secrecy is no longer an option."
The disapproval and disappointment were clear in the Hokage's tone, though he refrained from dwelling on that topic.
"In light of the events of the Chuunin Exams, I will be publicly announcing your status as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. This will have many consequences, but we are here to discuss those that apply directly to you.
"First and foremost, the incident with Gaara must not happen again. You are a powerful ninja who will only grow more so in the future, but that also makes you more dangerous to your allies should you ever lose control. If you give cause for our allies - or even our enemies - to believe that you cannot control the Bijuu, it could damage relations with the other villages and even invite attacks against us through you.
"Starting immediately, you will train in how to effectively control and suppress the Bijuu sealed within you. Jiraiya will oversee the beginning of your training, and other teachers will be assigned as we deem beneficial. Unless you are away on missions or are otherwise unavailable due to official duties, you will spend a minimum of four hours every day on this training.
"This is not negotiable."
The Hokage's gaze was fierce and stern, further emphasizing his words. Kuushou nodded seriously, though inwardly he scoffed at the unnecessary drain on his time. On the other hand, perhaps he could use this training to determine just what had changed about his physical container following the Death God's intervention.
And something had changed, that much had become obvious. Ever since that moment he had felt... off somehow. There was no single change he could point to as the source of the feeling, nor could he find anything wrong with his control over his physical form or his youki. All the same, there was this strange sense that something was missing, or maybe that something had shifted, or possibly that there was something new that hadn't been there before.
He just couldn't pinpoint what, and it was beginning to irritate him. Then again, this entire situation was beginning to irritate him.
"Secondly," the Hokage continued, his tone a little softer and more concerned, "there are those among the populace who harbor... ill feelings towards the Kyuubi. Among those, there will inevitably be some who cannot tell the difference between the container and the contained, or who are simply too wrapped up in their grief and rage to care."
Kuushou's eyes narrowed as the old man spoke. If he asked him to let those fools attack him without retaliating...
"You are a ninja of Konoha, and will be afforded every right and all due respect that entails. I will make it abundantly clear that anyone who seeks to extract some form of misplaced revenge or justice will be dealt with to the full extent of the law. In the case of assault with intent to kill against a ninja of this village, that means execution. I will also remind them that in such cases you would be well within your rights - not to mention ability - to defend yourself with lethal force."
He smirked slightly as he relaxed, though he quickly returned to his more serious demeanor.
"That said, we have never had a major incident along those lines, and we will strive to make sure that remains the case. Even so, Naruto-kun, should someone attempt to attack you directly, I would prefer that you keep casualties to a minimum, if only to make the punishments more public to serve as a deterrent in the future. Demonstrating restraint would also go a long way to reassuring your fellow ninja that the incident at the Chuunin Exams will not be repeated."
The Hokage held his gaze, his face solemn as he finished.
"I understand, Hokage-sama," Kuushou replied when it became clear the Hokage was waiting for him to speak.
The Hokage nodded sharply. "Thirdly... thirdly, I'm afraid that your training to master the Bijuu within you takes priority over everything else, including my own desire to have you join ANBU. It is likely, however, that many of those who assist with your training will be current or former ANBU, so you would be wise to consider your training as a sort of extended trial. Everyone will be watching how you perform closely to measure your abilities and progress.
"Danzo has also agreed to lend his expertise to assist in this matter," he added, "as he has trained many powerful ninja in his time and will be able to provide insight into your own progress. I will also take part as time allows."
Kuushou straightened, no longer needing to feign his interest in the conversation. "Just how long do you expect this training to last?"
"We don't know, Naruto-kun," the Hokage admitted. "We have never had cause to train a jinchuuriki in the control of their Bijuu before."
Kuushou started to respond to that, then paused as the odd phrasing of that struck him. "Never had cause," he repeated slowly. "You have had jinchuuriki before?" They would have had to, he realized abruptly. The demon masquerading as the Kyuubi in this world was sealed during a battle with the First Hokage. They had lost control of it at some point, obviously, but they must have had it for some period of time.
"Two, actually," the Hokage said offhandedly. "The first was the wife of the First Hokage, and the second her successor. Both became jinchuuriki later in life, and neither utilized the Bijuu's power to any significant degree. The same should have been possible for yo- for Naruto, but the fact that you lost control over the Bijuu during the incident with Gaara means that is no longer an option, even aside from the different circumstances of your seal."
Kuushou kept his irritation from showing, instead plastering an annoyed and slightly contrite expression on his face. The Hokage's rebukes about losing control were wearing very thin, but he had to keep up appearances, which meant accepting them without saying a word in protest.
He took a moment to consider the information the Hokage had just provided. Only two jinchuuriki likely meant that the false Kyuubi had managed to escape at some point in the past, and then returned for revenge only to be sealed within Naruto. At least that meant that the demon usurping his title wasn't completely worthless. The Fourth had been a surprisingly effective ninja, and if the demon had underestimated him - and Konoha in general - just like he himself had... well, it wasn't strange that the pretender would be captured in that situation.
"Where does that leave me while I'm undergoing the training, then?" he asked, his curiosity on that topic satisfied.
"I was hoping," the Hokage said, "that you would continue instructing your students. Your efforts have produced positive results across the board, even if your methods have been unpopular in some quarters. Your work with Hinata Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno in particular has drawn quite a lot of interest. Speaking of which," he said smoothly as his face became a little more animated, "I can't say that I've ever seen a technique quite like the one Haruno employed during her bout."
"Actually," Kuushou corrected with an amused grin, "you have seen it before."
The Hokage's eyes went distant as he began reviewing his memories again. "I don't think..."
"I gave the basis of the technique to Sakura as an experiment, to see if her rather impressive chakra control could produce anything useful. I myself first observed it approximately one month ago, when we both got an up close look at how a master employed it, or at least a version of it."
Sarutobi's eyes widened briefly. "Orochimaru's escape technique. You managed to learn it merely by observing it?"
Kuushou shook his head. "Learned is far too strong a word. I... stole the basic concept of part of the technique, perhaps. I still have no idea how Orochimaru employed it to move so rapidly through a dense forest. I personally am unable to control the distance covered with any precision, and neither Sakura nor I can change course once the technique has been activated.
"Despite these challenges, Sakura seems to have taken the shukuchi and successfully made it her own."
"The shukuchi?" the Hokage repeated curiously. He hummed thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. "A fitting name from what I have seen. And it can be employed with either the feet or the hands - very flexible. I'd be interested in learning this technique myself."
Kuushou blinked as he processed the Hokage's last words. "The hands? What do you mean, the hands?"
The Hokage looked at him, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Towards the end of the fight with Gaara, I personally observed Haruno employ the shukuchi with one hand, placing it against the arena wall and launching herself into the air. Was that some other technique instead?"
"Did she now?" Kuushou mused to himself. It seemed Sakura had been holding out on him, or perhaps her desperation had inspired her to new heights; either way, he would be getting the details of that from her very soon.
He returned his attention to the Hokage, who was watching him with a thoughtful expression. "I was not aware that she could use the shukuchi in that manner, but even without that she is more effective with the technique than I am. For me, it's little different from a shunshin, and less controlled."
"All the more reason for you to continue teaching," the Hokage said, nodding. "Haruno was rated among the weakest in terms of combat potential, but now she has progressed to the point where she can operate effectively against Suna's jinchuuriki for a short time; animpressive feat for any genin. While not quite as extreme a change, there are also few who would have picked Hinata Hyuuga to overcome Sasuke Uchiha in their match."
The Hokage smirked slightly, amusement leaking into his tone as he continued. "Shoving a needle through an opponent's nose isn'tthe most unusual strategy I have seen, but it's certainly up there. Most of the ninja I've heard comment on the match seem to think the Uchiha is lucky she didn't take out one of his eyes instead."
"Her aim was a little off," Kuushou deadpanned, drawing a sharp bark of laughter from the Hokage.
The room settled into an easy silence as the Hokage idly flipped through some of the documents on his desk, allowing Kuushou time to gather his thoughts. Teaching the Clan Kids was an interesting diversion that had yielded some unexpected benefits - possibly even more once he interrogated Sakura on what she had done - but it certainly wasn't what he wanted to do long-term.
The demon inside Gaara was not Ryuudo, whatever the people here called it, and it seemed abundantly clear that the rest of the Bijuu - the real Bijuu - did not exist here either. All of his focus was now on tracking down this "trespasser" the Death God had spoken of and offering up their soul. Once he had done that, he would be free of his seal and see about leaving this wretched world... or perhaps taking up the Death God on his implication that he could acquire immunity from sealing through another deal.
He still needed information to determine who or what the trespasser could be, however. That meant either wandering the Elemental Nations with even less direction that he would have had attempting to find his brethren, or making use of Konoha's spy network to do most of the work for him. Trespassing could imply many things, but with the level of paranoia and the accompanying focus on gathering information on their enemies, odds were high that Konoha would have a reference to such a ninja somewhere in their files.
Gaining access to them would be an entirely different matter.
He laughed internally as he realized his plan was still much the same, despite the very different goal.
"What will happen once I've proven that I can keep the Kyuubi under control?" Kuushou asked finally.
The Hokage leaned back in his chair. "By the time that happens, your identity will be well known across the Elemental Nations." He smiled grimly. "At that point, I'd like you to take a few high profile missions to give the rest of the villages an idea of what you're capable of."
Kuushou's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You mean..."
"I'm sure we can find some situation where you would be perfectly justified in cutting loose and reminding everyone exactly why the Kyuubi is considered the most powerful and dangerous of the Bijuu."
~ Scene Break ~
Kuushou slowly walked out of the Hokage's Tower, his thoughts occupied with the conversation that had just ended and its potential ramifications. The Hokage's abrupt shift on his entry into ANBU was the part that concerned him the most, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. Konoha - this Konoha in particular - had a very negative history with demons. The demon masquerading as him had caused quite a lot of damage when it attacked, and the village still bore the scars of that. With that in mind, he could understand why the Hokage would be especially cautious in this case.
It certainly was annoying, however.
As he reached the street, his attention drifted to the ninja and civilians making their way around him. Some of the civilians were watching him warily out of the corners of their eyes while others walked faster as they neared him. The ninja weren't so obvious about it, but there was a sense of anticipation and curiosity in their gazes. One of the jounin nodded to him as he walked past, his lips quirking into what could have been a smile.
Then his attention shifted to another jounin who had planted himself directly in his path.
"Good morning, Hatake-san," Kuushou said, nodding respectfully to the veteran jounin. They hadn't interacted much, and what little time they had spent together concerned either his abilities or his training of Kakashi's students.
"We need to talk," Kakashi said shortly, projecting a serious air while his one visible eye focused solely on him.
"Lead the way," Kuushou shrugged, motioning towards Kakashi.
Kakashi led them to one of the main training grounds, wending his way through the trees and coming to stop in front of a large stone situated in the middle of the training ground. There were small bundles of flowers and stalks of incense scattered around the base of the stone, which had dozens of names carved into it.
"This is the Memorial Stone," Kakashi said, his voice solemn. "The names of Konoha's heroes are carved into it, to be remembered and respected by future generations."
Kuushou nodded as if he understood what the hell Kakashi was getting at with this. He added a small gesture of respect, clapping his hands together twice as he bowed his head towards the stone.
When he looked up, Kakashi was in his face, his headband pulled aside and his Sharingan eye fully exposed.
"My teacher's name is on this stone," he said, his voice wound tighter than a coil of wire and deathly cold. "My teammates' names are on this stone. My friends' names are on this stone. The ones responsible for that are either dead or wish they were."
Kakashi brought up one hand to Kuushou's shoulder and gripped it tightly.
"The names on this stone represent ninja who fell in the line of duty, protecting their comrades and Konoha."
Kakashi's hand tightened even further.
"They did not throw away their lives in meaningless battles against ninja they had no business fighting. Their sacrifices had purpose, had meaning."
There was a brief spike of killing intent before Kakashi released him, turning to face the stone and falling silent for several seconds. His tone was much more controlled when he resumed speaking, though no less harsh.
"Sakura was not ready for that fight. She had no business attempting to face Gaara at all, but you convinced her to walk into a cage with him, armed with nothing but an unproven technique and sleeping gas. I trusted that you would continue to train and help her while I focused on Sasuke for a time, not-"
Kakashi cut himself off, then turned his head to expose his Sharingan eye. The tomoe were spinning rapidly and the pupil had contracted until it was little more than a dot.
"She survived out of sheer luck," he spat, "and barely survived at all. I had to stand back and watch helplessly as the med-nin scrambled to save my student while she bled out because you-" Kakashi shook for a moment and his killing intent spiked again, though he quickly clamped down on it. Emotions flickered over Kakashi's face, rage and grief chief among them, before he turned to face the Memorial Stone again and fell silent.
"Have you actually talked to Sakura about this, or have you just decided to blame everything on me to make yourself feel better?" Kuushou asked idly.
Kakashi whirled, an incredulous expression on his face.
"Blame, then," he continued, nodding to himself. "What is it that you're actually blaming me for, though, that is-"
"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Kakashi interrupted in disbelief. "Do you even care that you almost got Sakura killed?"
"Do I care that Sakura almost died? Absolutely. Do I feel personally responsible for that? Quite the opposite, actually: the training I gave her is the reason she is still alive."
Kakashi's hands clenched. "She would never have been in danger at all if you didn't convince her to do this!"
"Sakura wanted to fight Gaara, Hatake-san," Kuushou pointed out. "I didn't convince her of anything. She asked for training specifically for her match with Gaara, and so I trained her."
"Why?" the jounin half-shouted as he stepped closer. "Why would you train her to fight Gaara? That boy is insane! He would have gladly slaughtered her for no reason at all!"
"But he didn't, did he?" Kuushou countered, satisfaction creeping into his voice. "If it hadn't been for an unexpected... complication," he spat, his face twisting as he recalled the demon that Gaara had unleashed, "she would have won that bout without Gaara laying so much as a finger on her. I gave her the tools she needed to survive, true, but she exceeded even my expectations in that fight."
"And that somehow makes risking my student worth it?"
Kuushou paused and cocked his head to the side as he studied Kakashi. "I think I see what Sakura meant, now," he muttered.
Kakashi grew very still. "Meant by what?" he asked, the tension practically dripping from his voice.
"You really don't respect her at all, do you?"
"Did she say that?" Kakashi pressed. "Is that what she thinks?"
"Not in so many words," he shrugged, "though she did say something about how she wasn't 'useless'."
The jounin actually flinched, but didn't say anything as Kuushou continued.
"However, listening to you talk about her and what she has done, I can't draw any other conclusion," he said. He shook his head in mock sadness. "After all, not once in this entire... conversation, let's call it, have you given her credit for a single action or decision of her own. Even the Hokage was impressed by the technique she learned and applied to great effect, but you... you act as if she was a puppet dancing while I pulled the strings."
Kakashi's face darkened. "When I talked to her after the preliminaries, she understood and agreed that she should forfeit her match with Gaara. She wasn't happy about it, but she knew that the risk simply wasn't worth it.
"Then I come back to find that after spending a month with you, she's convinced that I abandoned her and that you are the only one who actually cares about her."
Kuushou sighed, stifling his irritation. "I have not attempted to manipulate Sakura against you, Hatake-san, nor did I pressure her into fighting Gaara against her will. To be completely blunt, your name barely even came up. Sakura was focused on growing stronger as a ninja and preparing to face Gaara because she believed she could find a way to win, and the results speak for themselves."
"Yes, they do," the jounin replied coldly. "Sakura nearly died and I was the one who had to save her." He stepped closer, looming over Kuushou as his gaze bored into him. "And if one of my students ever dies because someone else pushed them into a battle they had no business fighting, I'll do everything in my power to make sure that the ones responsible are dead...
"Or wish they were."
His threat delivered and punctuated with a small burst of killing intent, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves.
~ Scene Break ~
An hour later, Kuushou knocked on the door to room 214, most of his attention focused on the chakra signature that lay within.
"Come in," came the soft reply.
He opened the door and stepped in quietly, sliding the door shut behind him. The sole occupant of the room was propped up on her bed, several pillows supporting her back and her lower body covered by a thin blanket. The window next to her was wide open, letting in the sounds of the bustling streets outside as well as a cool wind that flowed across the flowers that dotted the hospital room.
"Is it already time for-" Sakura started to ask, setting aside the book she had been reading before looking up. A startled expression crossed her face when she saw who had entered the room. "O-oh, Naruto. It's, uh, thank you for coming," she settled on finally, shifting slightly on the bed as she smoothed out the blanket covering her legs.
"Were you expecting someone else?" he asked, his lips quirking into a small grin.
"I wasn't expecting anyone, really," she answered, glancing around the room. "My parents are at work and everybody else I know is already back out on training and missions." Her expression dimmed as she spoke, but she recovered quickly and shot him a bright smile. "Please, have a seat," she continued, motioning to the chair positioned next to her bed.
Kuushou nodded and took the offered seat, only pausing a moment to examine the large bouquet of flowers that occupied the end table at Sakura's side. He had inevitably learned quite a lot about flowers growing up in the Yamanaka household, and he recognized Kiku Yamanaka's hand in the arrangement.
He looked back at Sakura, mouth opening to ask a question, only to get cut off when she raised her hand.
"I-" she paused, swallowed thickly, then continued, "I wanted to tell you something. It's been on my mind ever since I woke up in the hospital, and I just- I need to get this out, alright?"
Kuushou slowly leaned back in the chair, nodding at Sakura to continue. He wasn't at all sure what she was about to say, and found that he was quite curious as to where this was going.
"Thanks," she said before drawing in a deep breath. "I almost died," she began bluntly, her eyes losing focus as she stared into the distance. "I barely remember what happened before- before I got disqualified, but I remember that much. I've heard about what happened, with Gaara and... and you, but at the time I just remember my leg hurting, and then everything going fuzzy."
She laid her hand on top of her right leg softly, and Kuushou noted that the skin from her wrist down was markedly paler than the rest of her arm.
"Gaara was... he was every bit as dangerous as everyone said he was, maybe even more so. If I'd known back during the preliminaries just what I was getting into, just how much more he could do than what he had shown in that short match, I... I think I would have quit, just like everyone kept telling me to." She was staring down at her lap now, her hands clutching at the blanket and shaking slightly.
Kuushou kept his frown from showing, but couldn't keep from narrowing his eyes slightly at Sakura. It seemed her brush with death had changed her outlook significantly, and not in a positive direction. He doubted she would agree to his request if she blamed him for almost getting her killed. Perhaps Kakashi had talked to Sakura before confronting him after all.
She finally turned to look at him, her eyes watering slightly as she continued. "But I didn't, because you offered me a chance. Because you told me that there was a way I could win, that there was a chance for me to beat the genin everyone was sure would wipe the floor with me without even trying. I put up with all the training, all the pain, kept ignoring what everyone else was saying because I was so focused on that chance..."
Tears started flowing down her face and she sniffed loudly as she scrubbed one arm across her eyes. "Sorry," she said, her voice breaking. "I don't mean to- it's just-"
Kuushou waited quietly, pondering the complications this would cause in the long run. He already knew that Kakashi was furious with him - a fact the jounin had made abundantly clear earlier - though most of the ninja who had expressed their opinions were more neutral on the matter. Anko, of course, had been there from the start and made her opinion clear long ago - if anything, she had been impressed that Sakura had done as well as she had, and had even given out a backhanded compliment or two for the pink-haired genin.
Sakura drew in a shuddering breath and scrubbed her hands over her face. "Sorry," she said again. "I just- I don't know how I can thank you for-"
"Thank me?" Kuushou asked in surprise as he was pulled out of his thoughts. "For what?" Hadn't she been about to blame him for her near-death experience? That was certainly what it had sounded like, up to this point.
Sakura looked at him incredulously, her tears momentarily forgotten. "For being the only one who thought I could do it!" she responded. "For pushing me to become a better kunoichi! For letting me prove to myself - to everyone - that I'm really not useless!"
Kuushou stared at her in bemusement. "I wouldn't have wasted my time on you if you really were useless," he pointed out.
"You-" she choked back a sob, her arm scrubbing across her eyes again. "That's why," she managed to say, "that's exactly why. It's just so- like it's a fact."
He met her gaze calmly, an amused expression on his face. "You think you managed to learn and improve on the shukuchi over the course of a month because you got lucky?"
She stared at him for a few seconds, her jaw working and her lips trembling, before she finally lost her composure completely. She folded over, her arms wrapping around herself and her entire frame shaking as she cried.
Kuushou watched her, going over the conversation again and trying to figure out exactly why Sakura was acting like this, before he frowned. Regardless of the reasons, he knew his Ino would have been pissed at him for upsetting Sakura and would have in all likelihood already stepped in to handle the situation herself by now. Short of that, she would have told him not to just let her sit there alone like that.
Grimacing slightly, he rose from his chair and moved over to the bed, sitting on the edge. He reached out and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, unable to stop from recalling the occasions he had done the same for Ino and feeling a sharp pang of loss. Sakura twisted slightly, turning into his embrace and resting her head on his chest as she bawled.
He remained still for several minutes as she cried, rubbing small circles on her back and not saying anything as he waited for her to calm down. When she finally did, straightening up and scrubbing at her face, she said quietly, "Thank you. For... everything."
"You're welcome," he replied simply, shifting back to his chair and absently drying off his shirt from where her tears had soaked through. "So when can I expect your training to resume?"
For a moment he thought she was going to start crying again, but she swallowed thickly and managed to keep herself together. "I- I don't know," she finally said. "I can't-" she paused to take a deep breath, then continued, "I can't actually walk right now," she admitted, pasting a trembling smile on her face. "The doctor has been really vague about how long I'll- I'll be like this, which-" she broke off, scrubbing at her face again.
"You think I'm going to let you go on vacation after what you managed to pull off during the match?" Kuushou interrupted, frowning at her. He wanted to know just what she'd done towards the end of her match, as well as gauge her progress in the technique in general and begin trying to apply it for his own use. He couldn't do that if she insisted on remaining in the hospital.
Sakura paused in the act of wiping her reddened eyes, looking up at him with a shocked expression. Her expression cleared after a moment, and she gave him a small smile. "Thanks for that," she said softly, wiping at her eyes again. "You're right. I'm sure it won't be as long as I fear, or as bad. It can't be any worse than your training, after all!" she finished, laughing softly.
"What precisely is the problem?" Kuushou asked, his eyes narrowed in thought.
Sakura's expression dimmed before she forced her face back into a smile. "Apparently the Ichibi's attack," Kuushou suppressed a twitch at the name as Sakura continued, "destroyed most of the muscles and tendons in my upper leg. They say it will be a while still before I've healed enough that I can begin building up my strength again." Her smile wavered slightly as her eyes grew moist. "They s-say if everything goes well, I might be starting to walk again in a m-month," she finished.
Kuushou frowned slightly, his eyes narrowing in thought. The injuries she described would require a recovery period, true, but the time frame didn't sound right at all. Surely the staff here would have... ah.
Shizune had never run the med-nin program in this world, had she?
"Do you mind if I take a look?" Kuushou asked.
Sakura stared at him for a moment, her mouth opening to say something before she stopped herself and shook her head. "They did a really good job, actually," she said, shifting the blankets slightly to expose her right leg up to above her knee. "There won't be any scarring at all, they said," she continued, her eyes drifting down to her leg. There was a small brace that kept her leg straightened out and immobilized, but other than that there were no bandages or even a cast.
Kuushou scoffed slightly in irritation, then tossed aside the blankets covering the rest Sakura's wounded leg.
"Wha-" Sakura gasped, her face flushing beet red.
He ignored her indignant protests as he leaned in to examine the damage more closely. There was a long strip of noticeably paler flesh along her thigh, curving from just above her knee nearly to her waist, vanishing under the pair of shorts she was wearing. He looked up in irritation when Sakura jerked the covers back over her leg.
"What are you doing?" she hissed, her embarrassment swiftly turning into anger.
"I am a med-nin, in case you've forgotten. I'd rather take a look at just what they've done - and haven't done - for myself." With that said, he reached out and moved the blanket aside again before laying one hand on top of the paler skin that signified the place where the wound had been, his eyes losing focus as he shifted his attention.
As Sakura had reported, most the damage had been corrected and the arteries and veins in particular restored to very good condition. The repairs to the muscles and tendons, on the other hand, were surprisingly incomplete. There was no sign at all that they had performed contractive therapy on the muscles following their repair and reattachment, and the tendons were significantly looser than they should have been.
The time frame she spoke of made sense with that as the base of her recovery. He wasn't about to wait that long, though.
"Ah, Naru- ... ahem," Mareko's voice said as she walked into the room. Sakura squeaked in embarrassment as she looked up at the doctor, her hands pulling the blankets over to cover her leg again. Kuushou looked up in annoyance, withdrawing his hand as his examination of Sakura's leg was interrupted.
"I heard you had come to visit your... friend, Naruto-san," Mareko said, her voice tinged with amusement as a small smile played across her face. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything," she continued, her voice turning more serious. "I'm sure I don't need to remind a med-nin such as yourself that Sakura-san's leg should be kept immobilized."
"We weren't- we're not- he wasn't- he was just looking!" Sakura finally yelled as her blush intensified.
Kuushou shot Sakura an annoyed glance, then shook his head before turning his attention to Mareko who was fighting to hide her amusement.
"Are you in charge of Sakura's care?"
"I am, Naruto-san," she said, turning more serious. "I can give you a full update if you would li-
Kuushou held up a hand, cutting off Mareko's offer. Normally, he would have just gone ahead and taken care of the problems he had found in Sakura's leg already, but the Hokage's rant about permission and proper channels following his work on Anko was still fresh in his mind and he wasn't about to draw even more attention to himself for ignoring the old man's demands.
"I would like to apply certain techniques that would greatly accelerate Sakura's recovery period. As you are her primary med-nin, I am hereby asking you for permission to do so." And somehow he managed to choke that out with a straight face; Ino would have been laughing her head off at that.
Sakura finally snapped out of her embarrassed state to gape at him while Mareko's eyes lit up and a wide grin bloomed on her face. There was a certain smug cast to it that made him think she had been waiting for this very thing. Given how annoyingly persistent she had been up to this point, it wouldn't have surprised him at all if she had been.
"I would need to fully understand those techniques before I could approve them, Naruto-san," she said smoothly, still grinning. "As a fellow med-nin I'm sure you can understand that. However, it just so happens that my calendar is open for the rest of the day, so I am free to hear about these techniques whenever you have time."
"Now would be best," Kuushou said, nodding sharply. It was a small sacrifice to speed things along; Mareko's agreement was a foregone conclusion at this point, she was just angling to pull another technique out of him and wasn't going to waste this chance. Once he had explained what the techniques did and how they worked, he could then return and apply them to Sakura, which would have her back on her feet within the day. Not in perfect health, granted, but more than well enough for his purposes.
"I believe the Senju Auditorium is available, if you would like to move there, Naruto-san," Mareko commented as she moved to the door and signaled someone outside. The Senju Auditorium was the largest room in the hospital, designed to be the primary meeting room and lecture hall for the med-nins that worked - and on occasion lived - at the hospital. It could hold a hundred people easily, and was far larger than necessary for just the two of them.
If it was just the two of them. The chakra signatures beginning to converge on that room suggested otherwise.
"Well played," he said, tilting his head slightly towards her.
Mareko just smirked in response.
~ Scene Break ~
"I really hope I get to meet your teacher some day, Naruto-san. You say that she developed some of these jutsu as a side project?"
Kuushou nodded in reply as they walked down the hall towards room 214. "Yes. She was helping me with my research into muscular augmentation and decided to explore some of the other potential applications on her own time. She came back a few months later with several techniques that became standard practice."
Mareko made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a whimper. "And Hokage-sama still insists that you cannot reveal her identity? Most of us are convinced that you studied with Tsunade-sama herself, so it's not like you would tell us anything we didn't already know..." she said leadingly.
Kuushou paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. He glanced up and down the hall, then leaned in closer. "Just between you and me," he began quietly. Mareko leaned in, her eyes burning with eager curiosity. "I... have been ordered not to say."
She huffed and shook her head in annoyance. "Fine then, be that way," she pouted.
"However," Kuushou added with a smirk, "if you were to make a bet, smart money would be on not Tsunade."
Mareko looked genuinely shocked for a moment, then thoughtful. Then she began to smile widely. "Thank you, Naruto-san," she said. "I will most certainly keep that in mind."
Kuushou smirked as he slid open the door to Sakura's room. The windows were still open and it looked like a few more vases of flowers had appeared while he was away, but the girl herself was sound asleep. She was propped up against a small pile of pillows, a book laying half-open in her lap as her head drooped down against her chest.
Her head suddenly shot up as they entered the room, her eyes looking around wildly for a moment before her confusion cleared and she focused on the two who had just entered.
"Naruto!" she called out. "Where did you go earlier?"
Mareko stepped forward smoothly, her voice shifting to a soothing tone as she spoke. "That's my fault, Sakura-san," she explained. "Naruto-san has access to some... unusual knowledge thanks to his prior training, and he was educating myself and some of my colleagues on what he was taught."
Sakura nodded slowly, her eyes drifting between Mareko and Kuushou. "I thought that's what you were discussing before you left, but... is there really something he can do for my leg?" she was trying to hide the yearning in her voice, though she wasn't quite successful.
"That is what we need to discuss, Sakura-san," Mareko continued. "Based on Naruto-san's explanation and my own experience, the theory is sound. He assures me that the technique has been employed successfully on a number of patients and I have no reason to doubt him. However, this would still be classed as an experimental procedure. Given that, as well as the fact that you are due to make a full recovery even without this treatment, I must ask you to consider your options carefully. You may discuss this with anyone you wish, but as you are a ninja in service to Konoha the decision ultimately lies with you."
Sakura adopted a serious expression as she squared her shoulders.
"Can this technique hurt me?" she asked.
Mareko glanced over at him, declining to answer herself, and so Kuushou replied simply, "No."
"What will it do?" Sakura asked next, focusing solely on him.
"Put simply, it will rebuild and strengthen your muscles in the damaged area, simulating multiple normal therapy sessions at once and using your own chakra to smooth out the strain."
Sakura's brow furrowed for a moment. "Wouldn't that burn through a lot of energy?" she asked.
Kuushou nodded. "It does, yes, which is why it's usually spread out over multiple sessions and used on otherwise healthy patients. Too much too quickly and either the med-nin or the patient can approach chakra exhaustion, not to mention the strain on the rest of your system.
"The results also aren't perfect, so it will still take some time exercising normally to develop the proper muscle tone and distribution compared to the rest of your body. Nonetheless, the end result is that you will be restored to something approaching normal functioning in a fraction of the usual time and will be able to handle the rest of your therapy at a much faster pace."
"How soon?" she asked eagerly. "How soon could I be walking, I mean."
"Depending on how much healing is required and who performs the technique... three days on the outside."
Her eyes widened in shock. "Three days?" she squeaked. She turned to Mareko. "I thought you said it'd be weeks!"
"Following the normal recovery program, it would. We did not have access to Naruto-san's knowledge at the time, and technically the results are still unproven."
"Do it," Sakura said firmly, her eyes narrowed.
Mareko cleared her throat. "I realize that the benefits are enticing, but you should still avoid making a has-"
"This is your technique, right?" Sakura said, turning to Kuushou as she tuned out Mareko. "Will it work? Really work?"
"I've used it on myself," Kuushou said simply, meeting Sakura's gaze calmly. The fact that he used it augmented by his own youki to levels that would be lethal in most ninja was neither here nor there.
Sakura drew in a deep breath. "I trust you. Do it."
~ Scene Break ~
Kuushou had barely made it out of the hospital before an ANBU approached him.
"Yamanaka-san, the Hokage has requested your presence."
He turned to face the messenger - Lion, judging by the mask - and eyed him curiously for a moment before shrugging. "Lead the way."
Lion nodded sharply and turned, taking to the rooftops before heading straight for the Hokage Tower. Kuushou kept pace, focusing his attention on sensing out who was currently speaking with the Hokage.
He could make out Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai, along with several other ninja, leaving the office, and Anko heading towards it. Ibiki was already waiting inside, and a few other ninja whose signatures he vaguely recognized from the various phases of the Chuunin Exams, including the proctor... Haya-something or other.
With that group and himself, there was really only one thing this meeting could be about.
Lion accompanied him all the way to the Hokage's office before leaving him at the door and disappearing. The secretary motioned for him to enter, telling him that he was expected.
"Ah, Naruto-kun, just in time," the Hokage greeted as Kuushou closed the door behind him.
Anko shot to her feet and crossed the room in an instant, picking him up by his collar and holding his face level with her own.
"Where have you been?" she growled lowly, scowling at him menacingly. "You were released from ANBU and then just disappeared. You weren't at your apartment, you weren't in the Forest, you weren't at your usual training ground..."
He stared at her for a moment, surprised at her intensity, then frowned slightly. "I've been here or at the hospital for most of the day, actually. I didn't realize you were looking for me."
"Didn't-" Anko's eyes widened before she cut herself off. "After what happened to you at the finals, you didn't think I would-"
She was interrupted by a very insistent cough from the Hokage, who was watching them with an amused expression on his face. The others in the room were a toss up between even more openly amused than the Hokage and faintly irritated at the delay.
"Sorry, Hokage-sama," Anko said contritely, wincing. She turned back to him with another glare as she mouthed "Later," before she dropped him. She stepped back and swept the rest of the room with a sharp glare. Ibiki met her glare with a smirk, but the rest quickly shifted their attention back to the Hokage.
"As I was saying," the Hokage continued, "I have called you all here to get your observations on the Chuunin candidates. I have already gathered the final feedback from the assorted jounin instructors, but each of you have had a chance to interact with or observe the genin in the course of your duties; some more than others," he added, his gaze lingering on Kuushou.
"The unusual end to the finals," Ibiki and the Hokage were the only ones who didn't shift to look directly at him at those words, "means that we have somewhat less information on the more powerful combatants among the group, but overall we should still have enough to determine who among the genin qualifies for advancement.
"We'll start with you, Ichi-kun," the Hokage said, nodding to one of the ninja Kuushou only vaguely recalled.
The general focus was on those genin who had made it all the way to the finals, although the observers for the second phase singled out Shikamaru and Tenten as well; the latter for her impressive command of traps and use of defensive terrain. Ibiki's own input was much more to the point.
"The Aburame performed acceptably," he said, giving out the highest praise a genin was likely to ever get from him. "The Hyuuga girl showed more spine than I expected and the Nara carried his team well. The Yamanaka wouldn't know subtlety if it smacked her in the head, and Haruno treated it like it really was a written exam. None of the others really stood out one way or the other."
The Hokage made a few notes before he motioned for Anko to speak.
"I didn't think much of her through my test, but Pinkie surprised the hell outta me this last month, and especially during her match with Gaara. She went up against the Ichibi and made it out alive; I wouldn't have figured that for any of them going into it."
Kuushou carefully kept the snarl off of his face at Anko referring to that thing as the Ichibi, though he still drew several glances. The others nodded in agreement, reiterating their own comments about Sakura's performance and a question or two about the technique she had been using.
"Sakura Haruno's performance took most of us by surprise," the Hokage commented, his eyes cutting towards Kuushou. "Your input has been noted, but there are still other candidates to address," he prompted, turning back to Anko.
"Neji Hyuuga didn't show anything we didn't already know," Anko resumed, shrugging, "but Hinata pulled a fast one on the Uchiha - gave him a nose piercing while she was at it, from what I hear."
The wide grin on her face showed exactly what she thought of that.
"That alone gets my nod," she continued. "As for the others... the Nara kid came damn close to beating the Uchiha in the prelims, and from where I was standing it came down to luck that he didn't. The Uchiha's almost as bad as Neji about that stick shoved up his ass, but the kid's got skills; almost beating him says a lot on its own.
"And the rest?" she shrugged. "Nothin' really stood out."
"Thank you, Anko-chan," the Hokage nodded, making several more notes on his scroll. He finally turned to Kuushou.
"Aside from their jounin instructors, Naruto-kun, you have probably spent the most time with some of the candidates in a one on one setting. What is your opinion?"
Kuushou nodded slowly. "When I first began teaching her, Sakura lacked any real direction or drive. Her decision to push herself over the last month and do her best to overcome Gaara has convinced me that is no longer the case. If she continues to improve in her usage of the shukuchi and learns to incorporate it into her combat style, I have no doubt that her combat rating will rapidly improve.
"Hinata deliberately underplayed her utility with the chakra strings to trap Sasuke during their match, which to me shows that she can set aside her own pride and adapt as needed. Once she agreed to continue training with me of her own accord, her focus and determination have never wavered.
"Sasuke is just as dedicated - enthusiastic, even - but is driven by his pride; Hinata proved that it can be used against him with minimal effort. Still, I would rate him the highest among the genin I teach in terms of current combat ability, despite his loss in the finals. I don't have concerns about the motivations for the others, but...
"Shikamaru is sharp, but he's too quick to cede the initiative in a fight. Shino is competent across the board, but he works best with someone else to draw attention away from him and his kikaichuu.
"Kiba only has half of Sasuke's pride issues, but also half of his ability and none of his patience. Chouji is becoming very skilled with his family's techniques, but is almost purely straightforward in battle without Shika to call the shots.
"Neji has the same problems as Sasuke. Lee fell for Sakura's - admittedly subtle - genjutsu without even realizing it, even though he knew she was his opponent and should have been on his guard; his power is meaningless if he's that easy to disable. From what I saw while in Wave, Tenten is the glue that holds that team together, though she isn't quite up to their level when it comes to combat."
Kuushou reviewed his mental list, then nodded sharply, indicating that he was done.
The Hokage continued writing for several seconds before he scanned his notes and looked up. "And Ino Yamanaka?"
Kuushou twitched. "Is not ready," he replied succinctly, keeping his expression blank.
The Hokage eyed him for a moment before he made another note. "Very well. Do any of you have anything further to add?"
The rest of the ninja shook their heads.
"In that case, I have everything I need. Thank you for your time. You are dismissed."
At his words, the ninja began filing out of the room. Kuushou hadn't even made it two steps, however, before Anko looped an arm around his neck.
"You're coming with me, Blondie."
~ Scene Break ~
Anko was staring at him intently as they settled into his living room. She was too agitated to lounge on the couch as she normally did, instead pacing back and forth in front of the long marble table that held his sealing supplies. She paused several times, raising one hand in the air for a moment before shaking her head and resuming her pacing. She did that twice more before she let out a frustrated yell and threw her hands up in the air.
"Fuck!" she snapped. "Look, I'm shit at this kind of stuff, alright? Just- when... fuck! I was worried, dammit!" she finally forced out, looking as if the admission physically pained her. She continued before Kuushou had a chance to reply.
"Everything was going so great - that piece of shit was finally dead and gone, my seal was removed, I was even picked by the Snakes as the fucking Summoner - but I just knew in the back of my head that it couldn't last. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, knowing that something would come along to finally fuck everything up and put it all back to normal.
"Then that Gaara shit let the Ichibi out, and you collapsed and the Kyuubi showed up and started going crazy and when I actually had a moment to stop and breathe I thought yeah, there it was, right on schedule! But then the Kyuubi stopped and you were still you and I just..."
She trailed off, tilting her head back as she stared at the ceiling and swallowed thickly. After a few seconds, she looked back at him with a faint look of worry on her face.
"You are ok, right? You aren't dying or going crazy or have Bijuu cancer or some shit, right? That's not why you were in the hospital, is it?"
Kuushou stared at her. "Bijuu cancer? Really?"
"The fuck do I know?" she snapped. "I've seen two jinchuuriki ever! One's a fucking psycho and the other just had his Bijuu go fucking nuts in the middle of Konoha! For all I know that shit's catching!"
Kuushou shook his head, letting out a small laugh. "I'm perfectly fine," he told her, meeting her gaze. "I don't remember what happened after Gaara let his demon out, but the Hokage believes that it can be controlled and prevented in the future. He ordered me to undergo training for that very purpose until he's sure it won't happen again. I'm not thrilled about that, but I'll deal with it."
"Good," Anko muttered. "Seeing the Kyuubi like that, how it was just oozing killing intent..." she shook her head. She was quiet for a few seconds before she looked up at thoughtfully.
"Do you-" she cut herself off, frowning. "You probably don't, I guess, but... do you know if it always looked like a fox?"
"The Kyuubi?" Kuushou asked, honestly curious where she was going with this. "Is it supposed to look like something else?"
"Well, I saw it when it attacked Konoha all those years ago, and yeah, it looked like a fox. But it just struck me when I saw it again when you- during the finals - this time it didn't just look like a fox, it was a fox. Compared to that, when I saw it years ago it was... deformed or something, I guess. I dunno, it just... stood out, ya know?"
"I wouldn't know," Kuushou said stiffly, fighting back his anger at further confirmation of just how different things were in this world.
Anko nodded, shifting uncomfortably and looking around the room.
"Oh yeah," she muttered after a few seconds of awkward silence, "I picked this up after you- after everything- dammit!" she snapped suddenly, throwing her hands in the air. "After you lost it," she ground out, reaching inside her coat and pulling out a small bundle of cloth, "I found this. I'm not real sure why, but apparently it was the only part of your clothing that survived the Kyuubi."
Kuushou's eyes widened as he realized what she held in her hand. He hadn't even had time to realize he had lost possession of it - he had gotten so used to carrying it around at all times that he no longer thought about it.
Anko smirked suddenly, then stalked forward with an exaggerated sway of her hips and leered at him. "Speaking of which..." she purred, "you've been holding out on me. At least now I know why that Hyuuga girl enjoys stalking you so much."
Kuushou stared at her for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully. "You're right," he said as he reached out and pulled the remains of his vest from her hand. He looked up at her faintly surprised expression and added, "I believe that means that I qualify for the... Sexy Tax, was it? I'll be sure to account for that in our future missions."
Her face was frozen in incredulity for several seconds before she burst out laughing, almost doubling over as she clutched at her stomach. Every time she'd start to calm down, she'd look back up at him and then start laughing all over again. By the time she finally got herself under control, she was leaning heavily on his shoulder and wheezing.
"That..." she finally got out, "was not what I was expecting." She chuckled to herself again before staring at him with a serious expression. "Also, you ain't got nothin' on me, so you can forget it."
Kuushou shrugged as he spread out the piece of cloth on the table and began inspecting the seals woven into the fabric for signs of damage.
"What is that, anyway?"
He glanced at her curious expression, then back at the heavily reinforced and protected sealing array that contained an assortment of sealing supplies and ninja tools... along with nearly three hundred thousand ryo and the Scroll of Forbidden Seals.
"Just some emergency supplies that I don't want to lose."
~ Scene Break ~
"Alright, kiddo, time to get started," Jiraiya announced, gesturing widely around the remote training ground they had reserved. "I'm only in Konoha for a few more days, so I'll be pushing you hard to get as much done as we can, got it?"
Kuushou nodded, his gaze cutting over to where Danzo and his - student? Apprentice? Servant? - Sai were observing. Four ANBU stood on the opposite side, silent and still.
"First up, we need to establish a baseline for your general abilities and chakra control, so we can measure any changes as they occur. I've whipped up a quick series of timed tests for this purpose. First off," he said, pointing towards a circle of a dozen logs nearby, "kawarimi with each of those logs in sequence, as quickly as you can."
Scowling slightly in annoyance, Kuushou darted over to the circle and rapidly executed the kawarimi on each of the logs. His attention was only half on the task, however, as he focused on the feeling of his youki as he executed the basic technique. He knew something was different, but he still could not place what it was. Performing the technique seemed to trigger something in his head, though, as he could almost tell what it was. It just seemed to slip out of his grasp before he could put a name to what was different.
"Six point four, not bad," Jiraiya muttered, making a note on the scroll he had with him. "Now make three basic bunshin, and perform the following actions in sequence..."
It continued like that for nearly ten minutes, Jiraiya directing him to use a variety of basic, low cost techniques to perform several tasks while constantly making notes. He commented on Kuushou's performance every now and then, but most of his attention was focused on the task at hand. Danzo and Sai watched silently, neither taking notes nor commenting the entire time.
"Now then, on to the more interesting tests!" Jiraiya exclaimed, clapping his hands together loudly. "I've heard all about your little range problem, but nobody went in depth into the various manifestations of it. That's a terrible oversight on their part, and one we're going to correct now!
"First up, stand here," Jiraiya said, motioning to a small circle at one end of a long dirt furrow that had been dug near the river that ran through the training ground.
Some of his irritation faded in favor of curiosity as he complied with Jiraiya's request. Various people, including the Hokage himself, had studied his "range problem" at various times in an attempt to find a solution. None of them had tried anything like this, however, and Kuushou was interested to see just what the seal master would come up with.
"Now then, make a water whip thirty feet in length, coiled up. Once it's ready, send it out along this dirt track here as slowly as you can manage."
"And then what?"
"I'll be watching it closely as you do so. I want to see exactly what happens when you hit the limit, as well as get an accurate measurement of just what that limit is."
Kuushou pulled a stream of water from the river and stretched it out, coiling it around his arm and above his hand. Jiraiya watched silently, a contemplative expression on his face, then eventually nodded in satisfaction.
"That'll do. Now start sending it along the trench here."
Jiraiya easily kept pace with the tip of the stream of water, As soon as it hit the fifteen foot limit that Kuushou maintained in front of the other ninja, the tip dissolved into mere droplets of water and splashed onto the dirt, leaving dark splotches in their wake.
Or rather, most of it did. A much thinner stream continued onward, wobbling and unsteady, for nearly half a foot more before it too lost cohesion.
Kuushou lost control of the rest of the whip, soaking his clothing and the ground at his feet as he gaped in shock. That... that shouldn't have happened.
That couldn't have happened.
"Huh," Jiraiya muttered, looking up from his rapidly scribbled notes. "That's not how it was described to me." He looked back at Kuushou, then smirked. "And judging by that gob-smacked look, that's not what it was supposed to do, is it?"
Kuushou just shook his head, then snapped out of his surprise and turned back towards the center of the training ground. With a sharp jerk of his hand, he shifted some of the dirt sideways, opening up a trench similar to the one Jiraiya had prepared... and took in the result in shock.
For fifteen feet, there was a clean, even, nearly foot wide line of dirt extending straight out. Past that, the line became jagged and tapered off to a point nearly a foot onward.
"Interesting," Jiraiya muttered. "I wonder if..." He fell silent for a few seconds, then turned to Kuushou.
"Pull up some of your chakra."
Kuushou raised his hand, operating mostly on instinct as his mind struggled to figure out what was happening. He pushed out his standard blend of his own youki and the body's chakra, manifesting a light purple energy that formed a perfect sphere above his palm.
Jiraiya grunted, making several more notes, then spoke again. "Now try to pull on just your chakra."
"Just my," Kuushou started to ask, then cut himself off. Not his youki, the body's chakra. It had been years since he had attempted to do so, not since his Ino had first given him the idea of blending his youki with the body's chakra to overcome his control issues.
The energy gradually shifted hues, the purple fading as he pulled more and more of his youki out of the mixture. He soon approached the lower limit of his effective control... and passed it. The color continued to shift towards blue, the sphere beginning to warp and destabilize as he did so. Finally, he pulled the last of his youki back into his body.
And stared at the nearly shapeless blob of blue chakra wobbling in the air above his hand.
~ End Chapter ~
A/N: As always, thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews!
Thanks to the SB forums for providing feedback and criticism on this chapter!