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We're up to Chapter 27 on the website above!
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"Open your eyes."
I almost didn't obey her. It was infinitely easier to stand up from the bed today, but I had also been standing for close to 3 minutes. This was a stretch, and it was causing so much fatigue in what little muscles I had. But I was determined, and Sakura was a slave driver.
I did as she asked.
Sakura stood in front of me, with her hands outstretched underneath my armpits, but they weren't touching me. The implications took a moment to register in my mind. I was standing all by myself. The best part was that my knees felt strong despite how long I had been at it.
A smile overtook my face, and the happiness from my achievement seemed to chase the burning sensation of my core muscles away.
"Let's go longer."
"You have to eat it all."
I knew she was right, despite the fact that I was so stuffed I was starting to feel nauseous. It felt like I had just eaten only a few minutes before. I shoved the bite into my mouth, and forced myself to chew it. Eventually, I had to grab the water bottle next to me and drink some to get it down.
She yanked the chopsticks from me and prepared another bite. I glared at her as she lifted it to my mouth.
"I'm going to take a step now."
I was happy that Sakura had the reaction time of a trained shinobi, because I didn't give her any time to respond. I just lifted my right leg to take a step forward. My left leg gave out immediately, and I found myself in the strong arms of Sakura once again.
"You could give me a second to process that, you know?" Sakura told me as she picked me up and let me lock my legs underneath myself. Then she grabbed my left side and pointed to my right leg.
"Now, let's do it slowly."
"I'm gone for two days and you're walking around?" Tsunade's voice was a surprised one.
It was a weird thing, realizing that I was over reliant on my sensing ability. That had been the reason that Kabuto had been able to sneak up behind me. And now that my chakra was still wonky, my sensing ability was still outside of my reach. Anytime someone opened the door it was a ninja and I didn't realize they were here until they spoke up.
My hands were gripping a walker, and I was carefully using it to shuffle around the room. The Sandaime sat in the corner of the room. For the last two days, while Sakura was on shift, he had taken upon himself to come and sit with me. I knew he was really just watching to make sure I didn't do something to hurt myself.
"He only started this morning." The Sandaime responded, because I was far too concentrated to do it myself.
"Sakura was right, huh. You're an Uzumaki."
A pain gripped my gut, waking me from my sleep. I wasted no time in throwing the covers off of me. I had only been in the hospital a few days, but I had been pushing myself, and eating vast amounts of food. Between that, and Sakura's diligent healing and building of my muscles every night, I was able to swing my legs off of the side of the bed in record time.
I grabbed the walker on the side of the bed and practically jumped out of the bed. This time though, my hands grabbed the walker in front of me while my legs found the ground.
"What's wrong?!"
Sakura was in front of me with sleepy eyes, and a worried expression.
"Bathroom!" I exclaimed as my gut twisted once again, sending a pain throughout my stomach. I immediately started shuffling towards the bathroom as fast as I could. It was practically a run.
"Oh ok!" Sakura smirked before moving to the door of the bathroom and opening it.
Had I not been so focused on needing to take a shit, I would have smacked her for her smirk. But I had a single-minded focus at that moment. Once inside, Sakura's hands went to my waist band.
"Don't you dare!" I yelled without realizing it, while slapping her hands away. "Get out!" I told her as I stood up and my hands went to undo my pants on their own.
She had the audacity to laugh at me as she shuffled out of the door and closed it.
Ram, Horse, Snake, Dragon, Rat, Ox, Tiger.
The hand seals to the Dragon Flame Bomb that the Sandaime had taught me flashed through my mind as I peeled my pants down and fell onto the toilet. Had I been capable, I would have thrown the jutsu at her. I was too busy relieving the pain in my gut though.
"How is it going?"
Of course, Sakura had to ruin it with her comment right outside of the door. My anger immediately became replaced with laughter for some reason.
I chuckled.
Sakura squealed outside of the door as she too laughed. Hearing her turned my chuckle into full on laughter. The fact that I didn't need to rely on anyone else to relieve myself sent happiness coursing through me.
Progress is progress.
I took a deep breath and let it back out.
Slowly, I took my hands off the walker, but kept them hovering above it to catch myself if I fell. Nobody was in my room at the moment. Sakura's shift just started, and Hiruzen had duties to attend to every once in a while. I believe he was speaking at the Academy today. I was taking a risk doing what I was doing, but I wasn't willing to be stagnant. I wanted to get better every single day.
Slowly, I lifted my right leg and paused as I felt my left one hold. Then I slowly tilted forward and let my right leg fall to the ground.
My hands gripped the walker in front of me as my right leg gave out slightly. But I could feel that I was so close.
So I let go of the walker and tried again.
Later that night, Sakura would squeal in happiness when I showed her what I could do.
"That can't be right." Tsunade muttered as she looked at the number on the scale in front of us.
"What's wrong?" I asked. The scale was positioned in such a way that I couldn't see the numbers. Was it a bad thing? Did I gain any weight at all?
"Did you know?" Tsunade asked, as her face turned to me. Her eyes locked onto mine. I couldn't help but let my confusion show on my face. What was she talking about?
Apparently, I didn't even have to answer for Tsunade to know.
"I'm going to fucking kill her." Tsunade said as her face instantly became angry. I could feel her anger rolling off of her in waves. I knew just who she was talking about. What had Sakura done? "Step down." Tsunade told me while she held an arm out for me to grab.
"What did she do?" I asked curiously. I did not receive an answer and Tsunade began pulling me along after her. My feet started to step, as I had trained them to do so diligently for the past three days. Only now, I barely gripped her arm for safety purposes and didn't use it to balance myself at all.
"Am I at least ready to go home?" I asked, changing the subject to something that I had wanted to do since I woke up. I hated hospitals, and my apartment would be a good change of scenery.
"We'll talk about it when we get to your room." Tsunade snapped at me, causing me to shut up and focus on walking. Luckily, we only had to go down the hallway to reach my room. It seemed a lot easier on me, compared to normal hospitals where they have the different branches on different floors. With Chakra though, all you needed were basic supplies and tools. Chakra provided everything else. It was fascinating really.
Sakura was waiting in my room when we returned. She had taken the time during my check up to shower and change. She was wearing her normal dress with black, skin-tight, leggings that went to her ankles. She was turned around and packing her stuff up in a bag when we walked in, and I couldn't help that my eyes went to her impressive rear immediately.
I walked through the open door, and quickly got out of the way for what was about to be an ass chewing for Sakura. I heard the door 'click' shut, and I was immediately correct.
I did not expect it to be as violent as it was, though.
I blinked, and then Tsunade had Sakura pressed up against the wall by her throat. The building rumbled from the impact, and spider web-like cracks extended where Sakura hit the wall.
"How dare you!" Tsunade growled at the pink-haired girl. "You think I wouldn't notice 10 pounds in seven days!? Are you out of your fucking mind!?"
Ten pounds? How is that possible?
Sakura's face was one of shock at first. Her hands were wrapped around Tsunade's wrist trying to pry them off of her. Sakura's face changed after a moment, though, and I felt something prickle at the edge of my mind. It felt very similar to my chakra sensing.
Sakura twisted Tsunade's wrist, and it buckled. My eyes widened in surprise at that. Tsunade was one of, if not the, strongest people alive. To be able to match her in strength was an accomplishment. To be able to do what Sakura just did, was downright impressive.
Guess she's already gotten Tsunade's legendary strength down.
Something told me that a fight, of legendary proportions, was about to break out in my room.
"Stop!" I commanded, using the meanest voice I could. At the same time, the two of them blurred to my perception. Once the sound hit their ears though, they both obeyed. Tsunade was already halfway through a right hook, and Sakura was in the process of ducking it. "Tell me what's going on, now!" I continued.
I know that I had no authority over either of them. Hell, Tsunade was the Hokage… But they had both shown that they cared for me deeply, and that obviously meant something. Sakura's hands went to her throat before they glowed green.
My eyes narrowed at Tsunade. She must have done some serious damage to make Sakura heal it immediately.
"Don't give me that look, she's been drugging you!" Tsunade responded with a frown.
What?
I couldn't help the feeling of betrayal that I felt when I heard Tsunade say that. What had Sakura been drugging me with? What was it doing to me?
Sakura opened her mouth, and I was not expecting the raspy voice that came out of it. "It's not like that." She managed to get out before coughing. Her hands continued to glow green around her throat.
I moved towards her unconsciously. How hard had Tsunade hit her? My eyes looked at the damage in the wall, and I found my answer. She had hit her fucking hard.
"I told you that if you used them on yourself, I couldn't stop you. I know you can fix the damage it causes! But what about him!" Tsunade roared at her student, while she pointed towards me.
"I have been fixing the damage!" Sakura said as her voice began to return. "There is a reason you haven't found out until now! You've been checking him every night!" She yelled just as loud towards her teacher.
Tsunade pointed a finger at her and opened her mouth. She didn't say anything for a moment. I could tell she was pondering violence again.
"It'll take a month to leave his system. How are you going to make sure, huh? What are you going to do, move in with him?" Tsunade responded as if Sakura was 4 years old.
She was not expecting Sakura's answer.
"Yes!" Sakura said, as she pointed at the bag on the bed that held all her clothes, along with a couple of sealing scrolls that undoubtedly held even more stuff.
Wait what?
Tsunade's eyes dropped to the bag, and then they looked over to me again. "Look at him! You never even asked!" Tsunade yelled at her again.
"If he wanted to go home, I was always going to go with him! He can't take care of himself yet!" Sakura responded. She had stood up now that she was done healing her neck and staring at Tsunade defiantly.
Tsunade's finger pointed straight at Sakura's face. "You will tell him, and if he tells you to stop, you will stop, do you understand me?" Tsunade told her through gritted teeth.
"Yes Lady Tsunade." Sakura responded. Somehow, Sakura seemed to look smug at the result of whatever they were talking about.
"Good!" She said while turning around and moving towards the door. "Take him home, and tomorrow you're not on shift. Meet me at the training grounds." She told Sakura and walked out of the room.
"…shit." Sakura muttered. I realized that the 'training grounds' was just another way of Tsunade telling her she was going to beat the shit out of her for the day.
Sakura stood up and slowly walked back over to her bag on the couch. I could tell that she was still hurting from the small exchange with Tsunade. No matter how strong Sakura had gotten over the past two years, there was very little one could do against a Sannin. Their experience alone was enough to make one pause in facing them.
I reached over and grabbed her shoulder. "Are you alright?" I asked quietly. I wanted to ask about what she had been 'drugging' me with, even if I already had an idea.
There were only so many drugs that could cause rapid muscle and weight gain. My bet was on steroids. I could see why Tsunade didn't want me on those at this stage in my recovery. It would be extremely harmful on my organs. But if Sakura had been healing my body of the damage before it ever really happened, was it such a bad thing?
"I'm fine." She sounded a bit upset when she answered, but she zipped up her bag and slung it around her shoulders. Then she turned around and sent me a fake smile.
"Ready to go home?"
"I'm surprised the landlord hasn't found any other tenants. Who's been paying the rent for this place?" I asked as I held Sakura's hand with my left, and the railing of the stairway with my right. It was a slow process to get all the way to my apartment, and I had to be carried a lot of the way by Sakura, but I was insistent on taking the stairs myself.
"The Sandaime. He hasn't let me pay for your food either. Every shop I go to, he has a tab at and they tell me to have a good day. It's as frustrating as it is sweet." Sakura answered as she patiently helped me up the last stair before my door.
I was breathing hard and I took a moment to just stand there to catch my breath. But eventually I moved forward to the door.
Out of instinct I pushed my finger at a random spot above the door handle. Luckily, the fuinjutsu locks I designed didn't require finesse to unlock, you just had to be keyed into it beforehand. I had enough chakra control to shove chakra where it needed to go and unlock the door.
I could also go a bit further than that. With another twist of chakra, Lines of fuinjutsu lit up on the door and door frame around it. Before I opened it though, I grabbed Sakura's hand before moving it to a specific cluster of lines.
"Feed it some of your chakra." I told her as I placed her fingers on the right did as I asked, and the fuinjutsu flashed a bright blue before fading into the door entirely. "Now you can come and go as you please." I told her as I opened the door and began to shuffle inside.
All the lights were off, thank goodness. Dust clung to every surface, but I had expected to have to clean when I got back anyway. I am glad I always had the foresight to do the dishes and take out the trash before I left for a mission. It surely would have stunk to high heaven otherwise.
"Welcome home." Sakura said as she followed me into the apartment. She took a look around before finding the light switches and turning the kitchen lights on.
"Where is your duster?" She asked as she immediately went to the cabinets underneath the sink. The universal place for keeping cleaning supplies in any household or culture you could find.
"Is it steroids?" I asked, ignoring her question. I had been patiently waiting for her to bring it up on the walk to my apartment. She hadn't.
She paused what she was doing for a moment, but quickly resumed. When she stood back up, she had found my duster and started to clean the dust off of the countertops immediately.
"Not exactly, but extremely close." Sakura answered as she started running around the apartment and any surface that needed the touch of the duster. She kept talking as she did so.
"Remember what you said to me that day? 'There are plenty of ways to cheat in this life?' As it turns out, you were exactly right." She told me, before she moved back towards the sink and put the duster up. Next she retrieved some surface cleaner and paper towels. The smell of chemicals filled my apartment as she began talking again.
"When you recommended medical ninjutsu, did you realize what that encompassed?" Sakura asked, curiously.
"I just figured that if you could accelerate the rate with which you heal and build muscle, then you would get an edge over your peers." I answered truthfully. I was still jealous that I hadn't dedicated more time to medical ninjutsu.
"Well, there is so much potential in the field that it's a wonder it's not more known. There was a reason the Uchiha and the Senju were so powerful during the Warring Clans Era. The sharingan allowed the Uchiha to collect such knowledge in ninjutsu that they far outstripped everyone in the field. The only reason the Senju were able to keep up and surpass the Uchiha was due to their knowledge in medical ninjutsu. Along with the Senju Brother's prodigal nature." Sakura started what was sure to be a long winded explanation.
"The Senju are naturally born with stronger bodies and chakra than normal. But even that wasn't enough to keep up with the Uchiha. At one point, the Senju started annexing smaller clans of talented warriors. They needed something to put these warriors on even playing fields with their greatest rivals. They developed a 'concoction', that's what they called it, that would allow rapid growth and development of not only someone's body, but chakra as well."
I frowned, as none of this was common knowledge in the Anime Narutoverse. Of course, not much was known of the Warring Clans Era, besides the fact that Hashirama and Madara pulled the world out of it with their raw strength.
"However they quickly learned that our organs can not handle it, particularly our liver and heart. They abolished the practice immediately after that." Sakura had moved to the living room by this point, and was still busy cleaning the surfaces of my apartment. I kept my eyes on her the entire time.
"Fast forward a couple hundred years, and Tsunade's uncle, the Nidaime, finds this 'concoction' buried in the clan's archives. With his brilliant mind, and Hashirama's prodigious healing ability, they discovered that with careful administration, someone could use the concoction safely."
My eyes widened at the revelation. Was there anyone that I would know that had taken this 'concoction'? Had the First and Second Hokage taken it themselves? What about their students?
"And this is what you've been giving me?" I asked, reading between the lines.
"Yes. I am not currently taking it, but I've already taken three cycles since I discovered and perfected it. Not to brag but… well let's just say that it truly is one of the many cheats of this world." She answered, while looking down at herself.
I did the same. I had thought 2 years of hard training would be able to do what she had done, but I was apparently wrong. I couldn't help but think she looked more grown up than what she should be. She looked closer to her adult self, than what was shown in Shippuden. Her hips were wide, and looked ready for childbearing. Her legs were solid, the type that you only get when you stop growing and start putting on weight.
If I didn't know she was 15, I would say that she was closer to 18 off of looks alone.
"I don't have access to my chakra, so I can't sense how big your reserves are." I told her. It was more of a question really. I was asking her to tell me how much she had grown.
"I have about the same as a jounin, to be truthful. Kakashi and I spar sometimes when I can't get Guy motivated." She answered. "But there is no substitute for skill. I haven't managed to get a win on him. I can only barely keep up."
She grinned when she said that, and her hands formed into a familiar seal. Two puffs of smoke appeared next to her. "But I'm working on that as well." She told me as her two clones winked at me and started cleaning the rest of the apartment.
I smiled at the use of my signature jutsu. I was impressed with her, I really was. Just keeping up with Kakashi was not a feat I could have boasted about before my kidnapping. And the fact that her chakra had grown so much was… well it was incredible.
Nothing near my own reserves to be honest, but that wasn't very fair now was it?
Sakura had civilian level reserves when we graduated from the academy. To go from that, to Jonin level in a few years was prodigious. And the fact that she would continue to grow and train promised that they would grow even further.
"That's something to be proud of." I told her seriously, praising her for her massive growth. "But don't you think you should have asked me first?" I had just moved over to the living room and sat down on my couch when I asked her that.
"Yes, but would you have done it?" Sakura asked as she plopped down on the couch next to me.
"If you sat down and explained the pros and cons, then maybe." I answered with a shrug. I couldn't help but think that was a lie. I probably wouldn't have to be honest. I was never attracted to the idea of steroids, or augmentation of that nature. It seemed dirty.
But as I sat there and thought about it. I needed all the help I could get for what was to come in the future. I didn't have the luxury to say no to this 'concoction' that she was telling me about.
"As long as me, Tsunade, or Shizune are alive, then the organ damage will be fixed before it can ever happen. Other cons include speeding up the body's aging process while in the cycle, that's why I look older than I actually am. Your chakra will grow so rapidly that it will become uncomfortable, and your chakra control will suffer because of it. It'll be hard to regulate your mood. Your hormones will be all over the place, even more so because you are literally in the middle of puberty. Let's see what else…" Sakura muttered as she tapped on her lips in a thinking pose.
There is more?!
"…Oh, loss of hand-eye coordination. That's a byproduct of growing so quickly in a short period of time." She said, as she finally remembered another downside.
"Oh is that it?" I asked sarcastically. My eyebrows were at the top of my skull, and kept rising with each con she listed.
She chuckled a little bit. "The results speak for themselves…" She said with a shrug. "And you only have yourself to blame for this!"
I frowned at her. "How is that?" I asked. I couldn't wait to hear this.
"You cheated first. I was just trying to even the playing field!" Sakura said as she pointed an accusatory finger at my face.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't argue that point. I never really sat back and thought about how rapid my development was before this happened to me. In the span of about 4-5 months, I had gone from Genin to Tokubetsu Jonin level in both skill and physicality. That was not normal, nor was that fair to a lot of other hard working people.
Fuck fair. This world is cruel.
Lee's slack jaw, and unfocused eyes flashed across my vision. My answer was made for me at that exact moment.
"I guess you're right…" I said as I steeled myself. "The results speak for themselves." I looked down to my thighs and core, where I could already see more meat being put on my bones. 10 pounds was a lot in a week, Tsunade was right. No doubt, steroids helped me in that regard.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Sakura asked, as her face lit up. Was she worried that I was going to deny her?
But I really didn't have a choice did I? Sasuke was already approaching S-rank by this point in time. Meanwhile, I could barely walk. I needed this to accelerate my recovery time. And if it meant I could start to age and grow a little faster, well I was tired of being a child anyway. I wanted to get to my previous life's height. I wouldn't live very long, if I didn't stay on this stuff.
"Yeah." I agreed, nodding my head at her.
"I'd like to stay on it."
A/N: Boom!
I ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO SAY! PLEASE READ THIS AUTHORS NOTE.
"Twubs, this is a shameless author plot device. Why even have the time-skip happen, if you're going to give him something to recover so quickly?"
"This is so dumb and stupid and heavy handed! Author-San has no shame!"
"Story ruined!"
Well I have to admit that it is a plot device! But I did put myself in a bit of a dilemma when I decided on the 2 year time skip. I thought of just having Naruto wake up and he be at the same level that he was at when he got kidnapped. But that wouldn't have been very realistic, would it?
No, I needed to show that he did atrophy, as was normal with human beings. But at the same time, I didn't want the recovery time that was so prevalent with cases like that. So you're right, this is a shameless plot device. But this is what I came up with to skip 2 years, and have Naruto be on the relative same level when Shippuden rolls around.
I'm sure there was a better way to handle this, but this is what I came up with.
It will not be a natural recovery process at all, my worried friends. I decided I would give you a taste of just how insane this will be. 10 pounds in a week is freaky! In our world, a normal cycle of steroids is like 8-12 weeks and you can gain anywhere from 10-30 pounds based on genetics throughout the entire cycle.
Now imagine a world where chakra has some say in things. I think this is an appropriate growth level.
THIS WILL COME WITH MORE DRAWBACKS IN THE FUTURE. I JUST HAVEN'T SHOWN THEM YET.
I have tried to answer most of your reviews before you gave them to me. I can only hope that you read all the way down this far.
Let's talk about it!