Hiya!
I finally found some time to myself so I was eager to get back to writing! I'm trying to make a habit of sparing any post-chapter self-analysis for after the chapter, so I'll save most of my thoughts for the end. For now, I'll let you all go with a quick reminder that I do not own Naruto. I make zero money off any of this, unfortunately! Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and I'm simply lucky enough to be playing around in his sandbox.
Please enjoy!
The Uzumaki war dances were brutal on the body. They required the highest degree of physical conditioning just to perform even the most basic of maneuvers. Every muscle group mandated being honed like a knife's edge, for each dance was varied in what it required of the body. Some preferred flexibility and endurance; some demanded intense balance for freedom of movement; others just wanted you to hit things, and hard. Ultimately, the qualities that defined a good war dancer were the very same that defined a good seal expert, among the clan: a creative mind, and an obscene amount of practice.
Frankly, Naruto suspected that even Rock Lee's bushy brows would raise at the level of effort required just to get these damn forms off the ground. He'd probably be up to the challenge, though; Naruto resolved himself to try chatting with the boy once he was up and about.
Still, physical conditioning should've been impossible here in his mindscape. This realm was primarily mental, with a generous splash of spiritualism. There was very little physicality for him to grasp onto… Or at least that's how it was supposed to be. If he had to hazard a guess, he'd suggest that the chakra that was being allocated to rebuilding his body from his injuries was doing so with his current spiritual imprint, in mind. Regardless of the logic involved, Naruto could feel the various dancing forms getting easier by the day. He resolved to tackle that particular question, later down the line.
Regardless, he had agreed to take a break from Granny Mito's epic and focus on himself, the last few days. Still, a question still cooked itself on his lips.
"So what did Granny Mito do with the rest of her life, after she retired?" It was a valid question; after all, there was a pretty substantial gap between Mito's 'last fight', and her natural death. Well over fifty years, in fact. According to Kushina, their ancestor had died rather old; she'd far outlived Hashirama, even surviving to see the fall of their home and clan.
"Well let's talk about it, then. Take a break and join me, over here." Kushina paused, waiting for her son. He did as bidden, throwing himself into a boneless heap on his mother's lap and sighing in relief. She chuckled, once more working away at his lengthening locks. They were well past shoulder length, now. The blonde in his hair had lightened, a touch. The ends of his hair had seemingly blended into a faint pink, darkening to a deep burgundy color closer to the tips.
"Auntie Mito wasn't even in her thirties when she decided to 'retire', and uh-I say it like that because she did still keep up with her training, to my knowledge. But I think her spirit as a fighter was more or less eroded away by all of the bad things she'd experienced.
That certainly made sense to Naruto. "So what, she just became a doting housewife, or something?"
"Not a chance." Kushina huffed, then patted his hair down, her deft fingers easily braiding one whole side of his head. She chose stitch braids this time, flush against his head in a diamond pattern. Taking a long look at it, she decided she rather liked the asymmetry and left the other half to hang loose. "Ultimately, Auntie Mito only really married the Shodaime for political reasons. She probably liked him, but from what we know of her it's pretty doubtful that she loved him much, if at all." Frowning, she added, "Honestly, the former is probably doubtful as well, once he went and gave the Tailed Beasts away. She blamed him for the fall of the Uzumaki clan."
That made sense. "But that doesn't answer my original question. If she wasn't a warrior anymore, then what did she do with herself?"
"She became a teacher. I remember from back when I was young, she held a school for higher education, here in Konoha; she hosted an arts program for sealing and rituals." Kushina sat up, suddenly lost in thought. "Your father and I attended on-and-off for some time after we made Chunin. It was hard to stick with though; our schedules on the field made catching a class pretty tough."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I don't recall ever seeing any school like that."
"Unlikely that you would've. It was torn down shortly after she died. It would've been a cold day in hell before you found anyone even close to being qualified to teach what she did. I've said it before and I'll say it again: sealing is one of the most complex, esoteric arts in the entire world. We Uzumaki revolutionized virtually everything there is to know about sealing, Naruto. People are figuring out today things that we mastered nearly a century ago. Hell, most people lack the most necessary qualities to even scratch the surface of what we do with it." Kushina laughed as her son rolled his eyes.
"You mean most people aren't the unhinged freaks of nature that we revel in being."
"Exactly! Their perspectives are far too limited. Minato was the only person I ever recall having even a fraction of that spark within him." Kushina groaned. "Ugh, but he was far too technical in his approaches. He could perform wonders with seals with the right inspiration, but it was rare that he could inspire himself. Your father was a freaking genius, love, but getting him to experiment with seals was a damn battle." And what a shame, that was. In terms of raw talent, Minato had exceeded even herself. His expertise with seals was borderline immeasurable amongst his generation, at least on a technical level.
He wasn't much of a visionary, though.
Naruto, on the other hand… "Thankfully, you seem to have inherited the best of both of us."
Her son blanched. "Uh- I don't know if you've realized this -maybe you're just biased because you're my mom-, but I'm dumb as a sack of bricks."
"You're one of the smartest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, you big doof!" Kushina palmed her face in response to her son's incredulous expression. "I'm being dead serious, Naruto. Your problem is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of knowledge. Your education was a steaming hot pile of garbage." Moreover, he'd clearly been surrounded by people who had done more to inhibit his growth, than to actually help him thrive. Not even a month, Kushina had been with him, and Naruto had easily grown tenfold; not just in strength, but in cleverness and even wisdom.
Kushina gently grabbed both of his whiskered cheeks, pulling at them. The marks on his face had thinned, now tinting a light red color. "I've watched you work since you've gotten here; the way you absorb information like a sponge, once you're motivated to go looking for it… Moreover, you have that very same spark of creativity that made our clan so formidable, and then some." Pulling him into an embrace, she whispered, "Nourish that spark, Naruto, and there's nothing you won't be able to accomplish."
"Yeah, um-okay." Naruto blushed, still not used to receiving such confidence from people. If only for that reason, he promised himself that he would do as his mother bid. "In that case, you can help me with a little project I've been meaning to get around to."
Kushina nodded, earning a grin from her son. The scene blended around them, taking the shape of a large, square-shaped arena.
"Well I say project, but really all I'm doing is taking notes, I guess… I've been wanting to analyze all of the fights that I saw or took part in during the Chunin exams; I figure if I'm gonna fight Neji, I may as well take a look at his performance against Hinata and see what I can glean from that." Naruto shrugged. "While I'm at it, I should also see what else I can learn from the others. Maybe that creep Orochimaru has a technique or two that I can rip."
"So the plan then is to see what skills you can steal from the competition… I like it!" Kushina began to cackle. "And while we're viewing all these battles, I'll sneak a peek at your performance against that 'Kiba' kid."
"Please don't," Naruto begged. "I fought like a real clown, there. Big shoes, red nose and rainbow wig; the whole fit!. Easily one of my worst performances I've ever had."
"Naruto," Kushina started, taking on an air of seriousness. "Your failures are the most important moments in your life for you to learn from." Running her fingers through his hair, she plastered a wide grin onto her face. "You think I haven't gotten my butt kicked before? You think your father never got absolutely bullied in a fight? We learn from those experiences and become the warriors we want to be by learning from those failures."
Groaning, Naruto flopped backwards, into his mother's arms. "Alright, but if you laugh at me, I'm putting you in the shame corner over with the fox."
"I hate hospitals," Kiba grumbled as Team Eight stepped through the large, double doors leading into the place. "All that antiseptic makes my nose burn like hell."
"Suck it up," Kurenai chastised. "We're just gonna pop in and check on Naruto, then we can help Shino prepare for his place in the tournament. Don't go causing a commotion, understand?"
Kiba grumbled at his sensei. "What do you take me for? Some sort of crazed knuckle-dragger? I'm not gonna go screwing around in a hospital, Kurenai-sensei."
"I agree with Kiba, sensei." Shino's voice was only slightly louder than a whisper over all of the commotion. "Why? Because Kiba is foolish, not stupid."
"I'll have you know that I'm stupid, not foolish!" Kiba lightly shoved his friend, then threw an arm around Hinata's shoulder. "So, which room is your boyfriend in?"
"H-he's not- I mean-" Hinata groaned, shaking Kiba's arm off. "He's not my boyfriend, Kiba-kun." Feeling bold, she picked a yawning Akamaru up from his resting place on Kiba's head. She felt a yawn coming on, herself, as she cuddled the tiny dog in her arms. "Y-you can have this back w-when you've learned to behave."
With a chuckle, Kiba walked on ahead. "Fine by me. I was thinking of getting a new dog, anyhow." He let out a barking laugh as Akamaru whined. "I'm kidding, buddy. I won't let the mean wallflower take you away from me."
"Naruto-kun is in room 513. Th-that's the fifth floor, in the East wing." Accentuating her point, Hinata pointed toward a flight of stairs, aiming upward.
"Hold on," Kiba interjected, tugging at the hem of Hinata's shirt. "Ain't that Shikamaru and his sensei?"
Hinata followed where her teammate was pointing, searching for the boy's telltale pineapple-shaped ponytail. Sure enough, their old classmate was indeed lounging about, following loosely behind a tall, bearded man with a cigarette in his mouth.
Kurenai's eye twitched, and she moved to confront the man, her students following closely.
Stomping up to the man, Kurenai snatched the cigarette out of his mouth. "Asuma! How is it that you even managed to get into this place, with this thing in your mouth?"
The bearded mad blinked in confusion, his eyes following the half-smoked stick, held between Kurenai's fingers. "Oh, I'd forgotten I'd lit that. Haha, whoops." He leaned away from Kurenai as her eyes narrowed.
"Whoops? You do realize that this is a place of medicine, yes?" The man meekly nodded, and Kurenai sighed, the faintest hints of a smile tugging at her lips. "Help me find a place to get rid of this, you silly man. Our students can get reacquainted in the meantime."
"Y-you know you could've just asked for alone time, right?" Kiba interjected, frowning. "You're not slick, sensei."
"Yes well, you smell and I don't like you," Kurenai hissed back, dragging Asuma off by his arm. "Go see Naruto and don't give any of the medics any trouble, you hear me?"
"You know what? I'm going to find the busiest medic in this place and give them all of the trouble now, and it's entirely your fault!" Kiba jeered at Kurenai as she rounded a corner. He looked back to his teammates, now featuring a plus one in the form of an irritated Shikamaru. Addressing the latter, Kiba asked, "So what brings you and your sensei here?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, looking almost like even that was too much effort. "Choji got carried away and sprained his ankle; I think his fight against that Sound ninja really got to him." Lifting a small bag, he added, "We're just bringing him some fresh clothes and a few snacks so he doesn't start his villain arc and eat the nurse."
Shikamaru and Kiba shared a chuckle at that. Choji was one sweet guy, but getting between the heavy set boy and his meals was a fool's errand.
"Still, I didn't expect to find you back so soon after Hinata was discharged." Eyes panning over to the shy Hyuga girl, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, his expression flat. "You sure you're good to be walking about, by the way? You gave us quite the scare, Hinata."
Hinata blushed, poking her two index fingers together from around Akamaru. "I- well, I think I-I'm as good as I'm going to get. T-thank you for your concern, Shikamaru-kun."
"Then why's your nose bruising?"
Hinata paused, instinctively reaching up to prod at the tenderness in her nose. "Oh, I-uh, I got into a fight with Neji-nissan…" She knew better than to try lying to Shikamaru; the young man was scarily intelligent..
Kiba growled. "How on Earth did you manage to fight that jerk again? Fuck, I thought you just had a cold or something!" All at once, he and Shino had swarmed her, inspecting the light bruising. Really, it wasn't even a big deal… Hinata sighed.
"He a-and I got into a disagreement b-back at home. I-um, I'd prefer not to talk about it -I'm okay, though."
Both of her teammates looked like they wanted to push the topic. Thankfully they let it go -or rather, Shino let it go and dragged their third teammate away from her. A shared side-eye between the two told Hinata they'd be bringing it up again later.
Wonderful.
"You know, I was having a perfectly average day before you came along and opened your mouth. Do you think you can piss off so I can go back to that?" Shikamaru's lazy grin took all of the bite out of the harsh request.
"Nah." Kiba threw an arm around the lazy ninja's shoulder. "Sorry to say you've been adopted into our team for the moment."
"Y-yes." Hinata piped up, eager to take the attention back off herself. Sidling up to Shikamaru, she offered an apologetic smile, then shyly added, "T-this is a stick up. Um- p-please do not resist." Akamaru barked from within her arms, adding his own two cents.
"I concur." Shino joined his other two teammates in surrounding the suddenly confused Shikamaru. "In the ship, part of the ship, as they say. Why? Because we are abducting you." As one, he and Kiba grabbed the now panicking Shikamaru by either arm. "Room 513 was it, Hinata?" At her nod, Shino mirrored the girl, helping Kiba to drag a now limply following Shikamaru away.
"I heard you guys are visiting Naruto?" Shikamaru caught Hinata's eye, still insisting on being dead weight within the grip of Shino and Kiba. "What's up with that? Did he get hurt, training or something?"
Hinata nodded. "Yes I- Well I'm not sure what you um- what you know about his situation, but he's in a pretty bad state." Shikamaru was easy to talk to, thankfully. He always looked annoyed, but he was actually quite nice.
His mock-annoyance melted into an expression of real concern. "I heard something had happened to him; Asuma-sensei wouldn't spare me any details, though… Is it really that bad?"
Kiba snorted. "Oh, I can fill you in real quick. Apparently his psycho sensei went and pushed him off a fucking cliff."
"Kakashi pushed Naruto off a cliff?" Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, taking on an edge.
"N-no," Hinata interjected. "H-he had a different sensei help-helping him prepare for the tournament. Jiraiya-sama pushed him o-off a cliff."
"The Sannin?" With a groan, Shikamaru shrugged the other two boys off him, now leading a surprisingly fast face. "Five-thirteen, right? You're telling me the freaking Sannin Jiraiya tried to kill Naruto?"
"H-he said it was an accident."
"Fuck that! How do you push someone off a cliff by accident!?"
Hinata realized all of a sudden that she'd never actually seen Shikamaru upset before this moment.
"What's the damage?"
"A-a lot of broken bones. One of his eyes was ruined… His arm was- well, they managed to save it, thankfully." Hinata listed off, rapidly. She'd seen Naruto with her byakugan during the first few days; she'd all but seared his condition into her retinas. "Both lungs collapsed; a fractured neck; the debris that scattered on his fall delivered some frightening lacerations, particularly to his- small intestine… yeah."
"Fucking-" Shikamaru gritted his teeth. "And no one thought to tell me? Does his team know?"
"Y-yeah."
"They haven't even bothered to come see him, though!" Kiba was still righteously pissed about that particular detail.
"They haven't- are you fucking kidding me?" Shikamaru didn't shout, but the sneer on his face told all of Team Eight exactly what he thought of that. He picked up his pace again, climbing the stairs now three steps at a time. It was the fastest any of them had ever seen him rush. "Is he at least going to be okay?"
Hinata smiled, glad to finally have good news to offer the boy. "Yes! I heard that he'll make a full recovery. Well- mostly. Jiraiya-sama said they're confident he'll be able to continue being a ninja."
"If I ever see that bastard I'm gonna toss him off a cliff!"
"I-I didn't realize you cared so much about Naruto-kun. I-I'm s-s-sorry for not telling you." Hinata flinched as Shikamaru glanced her way. He could be quite scary when he was mad.
"Naruto's a big dum-dum stupid idiot, and he's annoying as hell. But that's still my friend. We all grew up together; of course I care!" Sighing, he added, "I don't blame you for not thinking of me though. God, his own fucking team didn't show up. I'm gonna wring Sakura's little neck."
Hinata would happily help. She didn't think Kiba and Shino would have many issues following suit.
"Room five-thirteen. Five thirtee- there it is." Shikamaru crossed the distance in just a few strides and shouldered the door open. Hey dumbass, you awa-" He froze as his eyes took in the scene before him.
"Ah, yes. I f-forgot to mention that he-" Hinata was startled out of her explanation as Shikamaru's hands flew up, forming a hand seal synonymous with his clan's technique, the Shadow Possession jutsu. In an instant, his shadow flared to life, stretching into the room.
"Don't just stand there," Shikamaru grit his teeth, a bead of sweat gathering at his brow. "Help me!"
Startled into action, Hinata's byakugan flared to life and she rushed forward. Now able to see through the walls and into the room, she spotted the Sand ninja Gaara. Two corpses lay still on the floor around him, their bodies crushed to a pulp. Sand was leaking from the massive gourd on his back, trying to smother the faintly beating cocoon that held her crush.
Kushina forced down the urge to laugh from the balcony above as her son was thrashed by a feral dog-like boy. To his credit, Kiba Inuzuka was a fairly decent combatant. Nothing special, sure. But certainly worthy of a Chūnin vest; the boy had good instincts, and worked excellently with his ninja hound, Akamaru. Still, one thing had become immediately clear to her as she watched their little spat.
"You're holding back, against him." That was an understatement. Her son had hardly even tried to attack in the minute or so since Kiba's Man-Beast Clone jutsu had been put into play. His dog had transformed, taking on his exact appearance.
It looked like a variation of her clan's Shape-changing jutsu, albeit significantly more limited. Regardless, the pair had begun running wild against her son, to great effect.
"Not quite." Naruto shook his head. "More like I'm being impeded." He lifted his shirt, showing off the seal on his belly. "The seal holding the Kyuubi is a modified evil containment seal, featuring an eight trigrams lock and a power reversal algorithm." He looked to his mother for confirmation, and at her proud nod, he continued. "The seal siphons off the Kyuubi's chakra runoff and allocates it to reinforce the eight locks, essentially turning its power against it. This comes with a couple of issues, though. In order for the power reversal to be effective, the seal can only ever steal from the Kyuubi however much chakra my body can handle, and uses my own chakra as a means to dominate and twist it against the fox. I should have anywhere between ten-to-twenty times my current chakra at any given time, but the majority of it is dedicated to keeping the Kyuubi in a prison of its own making."
Groaning, Naruto prodded at the seal, thankfully pristine now from the effects of his encounter with the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. "Orochimaru's goofy ass put a poor man's five element seal on me in the forest of death, overlaying the Kyuubi's seal. It not only restricted the flow of the Kyuubi's chakra, but also put a lid on my own chakra output by essentially 'filling in the gaps' of the initial seal with a bunch of senseless filler. Because the seal pulls on both mine and the Kyuubi's chakra to maintain the seal's integrity, Orochimaru's addition sealed us both off from one another… But therein lies the issue."
"Because the seal uses both the Kyuubi's and your chakra to maintain itself, severing that connection with an odd-numbered seal restricted its ability to preserve itself. Had the Kyuubi thought to attack its cage during that time, it's unlikely that the seal could've kept up with its onslaught for long, and the fox would've broken free."
Yeah, Orochimaru nearly killed everyone in the village, himself included.
Dumbass
Kushina placed a wet kiss on his forehead. "Not a bad diagnostic, my love. That certainly explains why you were having trouble molding chakra. She bit her lip in thought. "Moreover, if your chakra was really being restricted to such a point that you were struggling to cast any jutsu, then it means you were probably working without any natural flow at all."
Whether they realized it or not, most ninja typically made use of passive chakra flow to enhance their own physical abilities. The stronger their chakra, the greater the effects; the more chakra they had, the more freely they could make use of this ability; lastly, the more refined the ninja's control was, the more 'bang' they could get out of their reserves. Ninjas could train to actively make use of such an ability, sure. But many ninja tended to underestimate how much faster and stronger their chakra tended to make them, even passively. Physical conditioning helped significantly, but the main reason it did so was because it increased the capacity that a ninja had for passive and active chakra flow enhancements. Endurance and flexibility were most important, above even raw physical strength. It was why most ninja, shinobi and kunoichi alike, tended to have such lean builds.
Naruto frowned. "Yeah, my chakra flow was a hot mess, because of that. Well that, and I just kind've sucked." Chuckling, he added, "Back then I knew like- three whole jutsu and knew how to use a whole one of them effectively."
"Shadow clones?"
"Oh god, no." Naruto stood up, stretching. "I'd argue that the only jutsu I even truly understood was the substitution jutsu, if at all. Even that's strongly in question." He looked to her, his amethyst-colored right eye contrasting heavily with the standard cerulean of his left. "You were right, mom. There's a world of difference between then and now."
Looking back, Naruto stepped forward, leaping off the balcony. Approaching the two now-still boys, he hummed. "I wonder if I can resonate with myself?"
Joining him, Kushina shrugged. "I've never considered it, but I can't imagine why you wouldn't be able to?"
"In that case, there's something I'd like to try." Naruto's eyes both turned a bright blue , matching his younger self as he stepped into his space.
Immediately, motion resumed between Kiba and the younger Naruto. Naruto felt heavy, as if he were wading through water at the bottom of the sea. His movements were sluggish; hell, even his thoughts felt oddly weighed down.
Was this how it had felt back then, to be himself?
Narrowly, he leapt out of the way of a lunge, courtesy of Kiba. From behind him, he could sense a second Kiba, nearly exactly identical to the first, making to take his flank.
Why was he not responding to it?
Pain slammed into his spine in the form of a shoulder check, sending Naruto tumbling forward.
Ah right, his senses were shit too.
As he made to stand, he felt himself attempting to call upon his chakra. It coursed through his body like thick sludge, barely able to respond to his commands. He'd need at least a good few moments to shape it into what he needed.
That was time that Kiba seemingly had no intention to offer the boy. Before he could even begin to get a handle on his heavily resisting power, a fist slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. Naruto felt his flesh part as four claws tore into his back. Stumbling, Naruto was sent careening onto his back, a good few meters away, courtesy of Kiba's elbow to his face.
'Okay, ow.'
Naruto dragged himself to his feet, trying and failing to weather the onslaught of attacks that came from all angles.
Was this how his enemies felt when he whipped out the shadow clones? He sighed.
There was little to be learned from himself, here in this fight. The version of himself that he was experiencing had barely scraped by purely through a stroke of luck in the form of poorly timed gas.
That, however, did not mean there was nothing to learn from the other side. The way Kiba moved in sync with Akamaru was immaculate; clearly the pair had trained extensively to work together. His animalistic movements sparked an idea, and a shared grin with Akamaru sparked a dozen more. Swiftly, Naruto split from his memory and dusted himself off, his teeth bared in a feral smile.
"That's the grin of a revolutionary." Kushina laughed as her son tackled her to the ground.
"What is the most valuable skill to have when working with a group?" Naruto's toothy grin was infectious as he nuzzled his mother's cheek.
Kushina paused at the question. Then, "I suppose it'd be teamwork? If you're working in a group then you need to make sure everyone is always on the same page." Naruto suspected that Kakashi would be proud of his mother. Though, he suspected that neither his mother nor himself cared very much what the man thought of them.
"And I just so happen to be able to create a bunch of like-minded little goblins who will do exactly as I say!"
"So what, your idea is just to use your clones better?"
"No you're misunderstanding, mom. This changes everything!" He was struggling to lay out exactly what was on his mind, so Naruto just started to ramble. "I've always just treated Shadow Clones like a free army that I can throw at people to overwhelm them because I have so much chakra to chuck around. But that was it; I didn't even realize that they could transfer memories before you told me because I never even used them except as nameless fodder. I need to start treating them like a specialized unit with dedicated purposes."
Naruto huffed. "I know it seems like an obvious thing, but by delegating roles to clones I can increase my efficiency exponentially. The better I can use my clones, the more effectively I can fight. But that also extends beyond the battleground. The more efficiently I can position my clones, even in just regular day-to-day stuff, the more reach I'll have in all things. I need to start thinking of ways that only I can use my clones to hit their max effectiveness; not just by throwing a bunch of them out. Even the absence of my clones can be a boon if I just change how I approach things. By changing my mindset when using clones I completely blow open the door for realizing what's possible!"
"And how did you glean this from watching that Inuzuka kid bully you with his dog?"
"That's just it, mom Akamaru isn't just a dog. He's Kiba's partner! Even with me being as screwed up in that fight, I'd have kicked the dogshit -sorry- out of Kiba in a straight one-to-one fight. But by splitting my focus and coordinating with each other, they completely overwhelmed me in that fight! I can make hundreds, -hell, thousands- of clones! If one well-coordinated clone of Kiba could help him thrash me in a fight, then imagine what I can do with a coordinated effort of even just a dozen of them! I gotta stop looking at clones like a distraction and start looking at them like the world's biggest wolf pack!
Naruto's excitement was cut short as he noticed the dark expression on his mother's face. "What's up?"
"See for yourself," Kushina hissed as the scene around them began to change. The telltale white of his hospital room melted into sight around them. There was sand and blood everywhere.
Hinata's fear took a backseat in favor of slamming her palm into the throat of the Sand ninja, currently threatening Naruto. The surge of chakra that exploded from her hand knocked the boy to his knees, shuddering. From behind them, Shikamaru groaned.
"Hey, careful! That jackass and I are linked."
"O-oh! S-sorry." Hinata stepped away from Gaara, instead positioning herself between him and Naruto's cocoon. Narrowing her eyes, she looked down on the wide-eyed Gaara. "What do you think you're doing to Naruto-kun?"
"That's simple," Gaara wheezed. Blank-faced, he shakily looked up to Hinata, forcing a chill down her spine. "I was going to kill him."
She wasn't exactly surprised, considering who it was that she was speaking to. Still, the question remained. "W-why?"
"Yeah!" Kiba circled around Gaara, giving the boy a wide berth. "What could Naruto have done that made you hate him so much?"
Gaara blinked. Once, then twice. Finally, he grunted in annoyance. "You misunderstand. I don't feel any hatred for this guy. I feel nothing at all for him."
"T-then why-" Hinata's mouth snapped shut as the room was filled with Gaara's presence.
His intent to kill them all.
"I was going to kill the green one who I fought in the exams… But I felt something drawing me here, instead… As for why, well- killing him is simply something that I wanted to do."
He was going to kill Lee? Hinata gasped. "But why? Why would you want to kill either of them?"
"Are you really that sore of a loser that you wanted to kill Lee for kicking your ass in the preliminaries?" Shikamaru groaned out. A bead of sweat had deposited itself over his eye, partially blinding him.. Hinata could see that the boy was being stretched to the limit, trying to keep Gaara restrained.
"You're not getting it!" Gaara howled, a grin twisted across his face. "Rage, jealousy, hatred. All of it, meaningless! I want to kill them because that's what I want to do. That's all there is to it!" They didn't get it. Of course they didn't. Gaara sighed, as if being forced to explain something to children. "You're all going to die here, so I'll explain it to you as a matter of courtesy… Our existence in this world is fleeting; meaningless, even! The only way to thrive in a world such as this is to live only for yourself, and do anything you can to prove your existence. By killing, I actualize my existence; I leave a mark in the world that cannot be wiped away!"
Just the thought of their blood soaking his sand… Gaara began to cackle. "All of your deaths will validate my existence for years to follow! In this world, that's the only way to prove that you are real!"
As Gaara's bloodlust peaked, the line between himself and Shikamaru's shadow snapped away, throwing Shikamaru onto his back. Sand exploded from his gourd and began to fill the room at a staggering rate, threatening to swallow everyone within.
"You know, I was having a pleasantly average day before you idiots all dragged me along, here!" Shikamaru cried out as a wave of sand attempted to sweep him under. Swiftly, he flipped onto the ceiling, using his chakra to stick there. Hinata followed his lead, taking position right above Naruto's cocoon; Akamaru swiftly deposited himself atop her head, both hanging upside down. From either side of them, Shino and Kiba clung to the walls.
"In our defense, I don't think either of us expected to have to scrap with this psycho!" Kiba yelped as the sand began actively targeting him. The wall beneath his feet began to crumble as he rolled out of the way of a wave of sand; the strands moved as if they had a mind of their own.
"Yes, that's right little rats." Gaara cackled. His eyes were bloodshot, nearly bulging out of his head. Saliva drooled from his mouth as he watched the Genin scamper to safety. "Dance, little rats! Within my cage of sand, you're all just my playthings. Let me see you bleed!"
"Please stop!" Hinata cried, attempting to use her gentle fist to disrupt the sand, rapidly encroaching on Naruto's cocoon. "Just stop!"
"Gaara-san, I must iterate that your current behavior is severely uncouth!." Shino shakily unleashed a cloud of insects from his sleeves, which attempted to battle back an oncoming torrent of death. "Why? Because murdering people is typically considered 'impolite' in most societies."
"Most!?" Kiba whined as a whip of sand cracked across his face. "Fuck!" he cursed. Blood gushed freely from the wound. "For the record, you are such a dick!"
"Someone needs to get help!" Shikamaru shouted above the roar of the sand. Kiba, take the window out and-"
"Gah!" Three heads snapped towards Hinata, who had screamed. A clump of sand had captured three of her fingers, squeezing painfully.
"Hey! Let her go!" Kiba hollered. His arm snapped to the utility pouch on his hip, and the brace of shuriken that followed was easily intercepted by Gaara's sand. "I'm over here, you piece of shit! Let her go!"
"Shut up," Gaara hissed. He clenched his fist, and Hinata screamed as several violent cracks sounded from her hand.
"I said let her go!"
"Shut up!" Gaara shouted. "Shut up, shut up! I need this, don't you get it? Now shut up and wait your turn!"
Hinata choked back her pain and slammed her other palm into the wad of sand that had captured her hand. It dispersed with a burst of chakra, leaving her ruined fingers room to breathe. They were bent a full ninety degrees, backwards, and turning purple fast. In her ring finger, the bone had jutted out from the side, leaving the digit to spew blood, which messily coated Naruto's jacket. "I'm okay," she sobbed, trying to hide her broken fingers. "I'll live! I'm okay!"
They needed to get Gaara out of the room before he could hurt Naruto. From atop her head, Akamaru barked.
"We need to get him out of the room," Hinata whispered to the dog. Akamaru barked again, and Kiba gave her a thumbs up from across the room.
Gaara had only eyes for Hinata. He was freely drooling onto the floor as he watched her blood drip from her wound. His eyes tracked every drop as the crimson liquid stained the chains that made up Naruto's rapidly-beating cocoon.
He was like a ravenous animal. Good. Then she'd treat him like one and lead him around by the nose.
Hinata gathered chakra to the soles of her feet, pushing her output to her absolute limit before kicking off with a bang! In just a moment, she'd crossed the distance between herself and Gaara, arm tensed to deliver an attack. Gaara smirked as his sand shield rose to defend him; strands of sand roiled at the surface, ready to capture her other limb and destroy it, too.
Hinata wouldn't give him the chance.
Just before she reached him, she tilted her body, altering her trajectory and applying a steady pane of chakra across her palm. Gaara's sand tried to catch her, but found no purchase as she slid across the surface of the sand wall. With a strong burst of chakra from her palm, Hinata dispersed the sand and propelled herself away all at once, depositing herself once toward the ceiling, now directly above Gaara. Spinning, she planted her feet on the ceiling above and procured a kunai. It sped out towards the murderous Sand ninja, through the gaps left behind by Hinata's attack, but was absorbed yet again by his sand, which had now reshaped itself into a dome.
Hinata grinned against the pain in her hand. Gaara's sight of her had been blocked. Taking her chance, she launched herself from the ceiling, straight for the door. Akamaru barked at the Sand ninja as she did so, and her aggressor finally caught her movement just as she reached it.
"Don't run!" Gaara howled, gathering a wave of sand beneath his feet and chasing after her.
Hinata had just reached the hallway intersection when the door to Naruto's room burst off its hinges, flying directly towards her. The enhanced perception of her byakugan allowed her to be ready for it, and Hinata bent backwards, slamming her foot into the base of the door and implanting it into the ceiling with a deafening shudder.
That's right, Hinata. Make as much commotion as possible.
A spear of sand attempted to skewer her head, and to avoid it, Hinata planted her good hand into the ground, vaulting herself into the air. A dozen sand shuriken followed, attempting to catch her in the air. Hinata reached upwards, gripping the jutting out-side of the implanted door to pull herself to safety. Another set followed, but Akamaru finally leapt from Hinata's head, turning into a tiny spiraling torpedo that deflected the attack.
Gaara, who had chased after her, was suddenly swarmed by a massive blanket of insects. Shino's entire hive of parasitic insects had come into play, all of which quickly began to siphon the chakra from the sand he attempted to interpose between them and himself. It took only seconds for Gaara to feel the drain; he could sense his sand becoming more sluggish as the insects did their work. Thus, he commanded the material to begin crushing Shino's bugs, en masse.
"Hey, jackass!" Kiba blurred to his unprotected flank, Akamaru taking the other side. "That sand of yours looks a bit preoccupied, huh?" As one, the pair began to spin, each spiraling through the air in a vortex of bodies. "Fang over Fang!"
Gaara was able to allocate a pittance of sand to redirect Kiba's charge, but Akamaru slipped through and cut across his face, leaving a massive gash in his cheek; the wound began to leak sand as chips of the material began to fall from his damaged head.
"Again!" Kiba and Akamaru both howled in unison, attempting to perform an encore of their attack.
Gaara snarled at the pair, peeling away the crumbling sand armor on his body and attempting to use it to skewer the Inuzuka pair. Suddenly though, he found himself unable to move.
"Shadow possession jutsu, success," Shikamaru grinned as both dog and master smashed into Gaara, cratering his body underneath their onslaught. Shikamaru withstood the feeling of being slammed into the ground as he was forced to mimic Gaara's posture. "Ouch"
"You good, Shikamaru!?" Kiba glanced his friend's way in concern as he vaulted from the crater. Akamaru leapt fully out of the way, spent.
"Don't worry about me, put this jackass through hell!"
Kiba grinned, planting his feet into the ceiling. Spotting Gaara's crumpled form, he reared forward with a roar. "Fang over Fang!"
Once again, Kiba became a lone, spinning bullet, crashing into Gaara with everything he had. The ground beneath the pair shattered, and a howling Kiba drove the Sand ninja through the ground.
Then the ground below that.
Then even the ground below that, until Gaara's spasming body was buried in the ground of the second floor.
A nurse screamed as the rubble began to fall from above, but Kiba only had eyes for Gaara. As the young woman rounded the corner in a panic, he slammed a fist into the boy's chest, then followed up by slugging him across the jaw.
"Think you can hurt my pack, huh!?" Kiba's knuckles crossed on Gaara's dumb, stupid face in a backfist. The sound of the Sand ninja's cheekbone caving in was music to his ears. "You think I'll let that slide!?"
Three more punches soundly connected with Gaara's face before the boy snapped back to life, as if startled awake. Gaara's hand flew up, catching Kiba's fist in a crushing grip.
"Shut up..." Gaara wheezed, his eyes still rolling about in his head.
"Fuck you!" Kiba smashed his forehead into Gaara's nose, pulverizing the cartilage with a bloody headbutt. Wrenching his fist free, he gripped Gaara by the shirt and slugged him across the jaw again, heedless of the pain in his knuckles. "Don't you ever touch me or mine again, you got that!?"
"Shut up!" Gaara's whole body bucked, throwing Kiba off balance. Then, he laid a choking grip on Kiba's neck, causing the boy to gag. "Shut up! Shut up!" With just one hand, he lifted Kiba off his feet, heedless of the panicking boy's punches and kicks. Clutching his head, seemingly in pain, Gaara began to screech. "I SAID SHUT UP!"
All at once, a putrid, burgundy chakra bloomed from Gaara's body, filling the air with a miasma of the vile runoff. With a howl, Gaara threw Kiba, leaving him to collide with the wall across from them like a human bullet.
Kiba groaned from his place in the wall, trying to catch his bearings. "That all you got, asshole? I can do this all da-" His words froze in his throat as he finally caught Gaara's eye. They had gone a sickly yellow with a black diamond patterned pupil, adorned with a black dot bordering each corner. "Hey uh, have I ever told you you've got a beautiful pair of vomit yellows?"
Gaara rushed forward, and Kiba cried out as his fist implanted itself into his chest. It felt like his ribs had been put in a trash compactor.
"Shut up!" Gaara smashed a brutal left hook into Kiba's temple, flooring the boy. "Shut up! I don't want to hear you anymore! Shut up!" Gripping Kiba by his coat, Gaara lifted him into the air, one handed, and cratered him into the ground.
"Kiba-kun!" Hinata called as she descended from the hole that Kiba and Gaara had made. She was closely followed by Shikamaru, Shino, and a panting Akamaru.
"I could use some help, any day now!" Kiba choked out, groaning as Gaara kicked him in the chest.
Hinata rushed Gaara from behind, looking to put him down with a gentle fist strike to the neck. Now that his sand had been expended, she suspected it'd work far better than last time.
She was forced to roll to safety as Gaara's fist swung out, trying to brain her against the wall. Flipping right above him, Hinata wasn't quite quick enough to stop the follow up as Gaara snatched her by her leg and swung her around, smashing her into Kiba's still-crumpled form. The pair mirrored each others' groans of pain as they were forcibly implanted into one another.
Lifting her up again by the leg, Gaara used Hinata once more like a battering ram, warding off the approach of Shino and Shikamaru, whose shadow had tried twice to connect to Gaara's own, to no avail. Rearing backwards, Gaara leaned all the way back, as if in some approximation of a pitcher's stance, and smashed Hinata into the ground. Her body bounced as she connected.
Hinata let out a choked scream as the floor buckled beneath them. She clutched her arms tightly around her head, trying to weather the impacts. Gaara's crushing grip was threatening to rip her foot right off.
Shino's insects had begun to swarm Gaara, but were now doing little to even slow him down; it was like he didn't even feel them!
Suddenly, the room around them started to rattle, as Gaara's chakra continued to flare out; Shino's parasitic insects began to die in the hundreds as the toxic chakra overwhelmed them.
"Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT U-" Suddenly, Gaara cut off as something -no, several somethings- smashed through the ceiling right above them. A mass purple, ghostly chains, ranging in the dozens relentlessly skewered the boy through his body, causing him to scream in agony; smoke began to puff from Gaara's body as the chains seared his flesh from within. Gaara howled, equal parts rage and fear as he was torn from his feet and smashed into the wall.
Then the ceiling.
Then the wall again
Then the ceiling twice- no, thrice more.
From the hole above, even more chains began to descend upon the boy, their pointed ends skewering into Gaara's flesh and pinning him to the ground until the mass that the others could see was more smoking chains than boy. All at once, the yellow in his eyes bled to their usual teal, and Gaara went still, save for his pain-filled spasming. A few moments of silence passed, save for the loud rattling of the centipede-like chains. Within seconds, the toxic, burgundy chakra surrounding Gaara had faded to nothing. Then, they uncurled from his figure, leaving a bloodied, punctured mess of a boy in a crater made of his own body; the boy looked closer to tenderized well-cooked hamburger meat than an actual, human body.
Hinata's byakugan watched the chains retreat, back to the fifth floor. "Naruto-kun?"
"Kiba? Shino!? HINATA!" Hinata suddenly found herself swept into the arms of her sensei, joined by Shino and a loudly complaining Kiba. She repressed the urge to squeak like a dog toy as her tender everything flared up in her sensei's embrace.
"Ow, ow! My ribs!" Kiba clearly had no such qualms; he squeaked loudly as Kurenai simply hugged him tighter.
"Are you three okay? When I heard the commotion and I saw the sand I- my god, I was so worried about you all!" Kurenai's eyes zeroed in on Hinata's broken fingers. "Your hand!"
Hinata winced. "I'm okay, sensei."
"You're not okay, you need a doctor!"
Hinata was getting rather sick of doctors.
"Shikamaru!" Hinata watched from the corner of her vision as Asuma appeared in a blur, snatching her pineapple-haired friend into his arms. "You alright, kiddo?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but returned his sensei's hug. His eyes had dilated like tiny dinner plates. "I-I'm fine, Asuma-sensei. Worry about those two." Accentuating his point, he pointed to Hinata and Kiba. "They're both pretty roughed up. She's got some busted-ass fingers and Kiba got absolutely smoked. I don't know the specifics; I'm not a doctor."
"Hey! I'll have you know I was rocking his shit before he went nuts!" Kiba huffed, tenderly crossing his arms. "Also, I want it on the table now that I was not the instigator of this commotion. I accept zero responsibility for any chaos that occurred here."
"I second that." Shikamaru raised a hand in solidarity.
"Third." Shino reciprocated.
"Um- I also put all of the blame on that guy. I-if that's okay," Hinata stammered. "He um- he killed Naruto-kun's guards, I think." And didn't that just make her sick to her stomach? If they'd been only a few minutes later, Naruto would've followed.
Hinata didn't very much like Gaara.
"Explain to me everything that happened. Leave nothing out." Kurenai groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on. "God, this is going to become a political mess, isn't it?"
"I reiterate that none of us can be held responsible for the ass kicking that this dickwad received." Kiba irritably drove a foot into Gaara's ribs, eliciting a painful groan from the somehow still-breathing boy.
"I'm going to kill him."
Kushina watched her son pace back and forth, trying to think of a way to calm him down. "To be fair, your friends seemed to do a pretty outstanding job of beating the breaks off that guy. Well, until the One Tails came out. Nice save, by the way."
Naruto groaned. "That asshole broke her fingers. I'm going to wring his fucking neck!"
"Calm down, Naruto. And watch your manners."
"Fine, I'm going to wring his fucking neck. Politely."
"Better!" Kushina stood, getting in her son's way as he tried to pace past her. "Listen, I know you're angry, but dwelling on that isn't going to help right now. You can think about how you're going to implant your whole foot in his ass after you've woken. There's no point tormenting yourself over this."
"I still don't get why you wouldn't let me go beat him up," Naruto whined. "I'd have made mincemeat out of him!."
"You did make mincemeat out of him, and honestly, even that much was pushing it, X'omaa. We're just lucky it turned out so well for us. If you'd gone out there you would have died, and it has nothing to do with that boy." Kushina squeezed her son's shoulder, trying to catch his mismatched eyes. Naruto met her stare, questioningly.
"I'm pretty much fully healed, aren't I? What's the problem?"
With a sigh, Kushina dragged them both to the ground where she sat, cross legged. Naruto matched her posture. "Imagine you're a caterpillar "
"You've lost me."
"Naruto," Kushina growled. "Imagine for a moment that you are a caterpillar, attempting to grow into a beautiful, majestic butterfly that's got beautiful eyes and gets tons of girls." At her son's flat stare, she sighed. "That's how you've gotta treat yourself, while you're in that cocoon of yours. You've gotta understand, X'omaa, that your body was completely broken- no, utterly demolished. You didn't almost die, Naruto. You did die."
"Oh…" Naruto frowned. "So I couldn't just be healed. I had to be reanimated, then."
"In order to do that, you needed to first be reassembled. Anything that was damaged had to be repaired; anything that was destroyed had to be replaced… Haven't you wondered why your eye's gone purple?" Kushina watched her son's hand snap up, his fingers ghosting over his now amethyst-colored eye. "Or why your hair's changed? Or why you look so much different compared to when you got here? Your body needed to build new parts, and it needed some 'scraps' to get started, with."
"So what, you went and offered me a most-generous donation, then?"
"Auntie Mito, actually." Kushina's mind wandered as she began to pace. "I told you before that the Legacy Seal imparts upon you everything. Memories, experiences, emotions, chakra…" Turning to face him, she added, "Even flesh, if need be."
"How-how does that even work?" Naruto asked, suddenly looking over himself with newfound curiosity.
"In the same way that the seal takes an imprint of your chakra system, it takes a constantly updating imprint of your physical er- let's call it your physical blueprint. Cells die and need to be repaired all of the time; everything is stored and recycled, just in case it should ever need to be used again. And when we die, everything that is left of us is consumed by the seal, leaving nothing behind for our enemies to steal."
"So I'm pretty much rocking Granny Mito's sloppy seconds?"
"Hey, don't complain. Your Granny Mito's sloppy seconds are still the remains of a premium-grade turbo warrior."
"But why hers? You're the closest kin, aren't you? Wouldn't it have made sense to use whatever is most compatible?" Naruto questioned, curiously.
"Good question! I thought so too, at first. But the answer is simple." Kushina sighed and threw her arms up, helplessly. "You inherited everything I had, already. I have nothing left to give."
"Wha- wait no, that makes sense." Naruto dropped down to a squat, his eyes rolling up as he thought. "'The seal responds to a need, not a desire', right? I spent most of my life just barely surviving. I barely had enough to eat, most days; even when I did, I mostly ate ramen because it was cheap. I was likely suffering from a severe case of malnutrition; there was no way I was going to be able to build a strong body capable of ninja work, working with what I had. So the seal cannibalized any of your remains it could salvage to keep me going, right? Sounds like matriphagy with extra steps."
"Look at you, my little spiderling, eating your poor old momma. I'm so proud," Kushina sang.
"Gross. Wait, is that why I'm so short? Woman, did you shrink me!?"
"Hey, don't go blaming me! I'm not the one who eats ramen everyday instead of stealing from the locals like a good, proper goblin child."
"Note to self, 'stealing from the locals is a-okay'", Naruto mimed as if writing on a notepad.
Sharing a grin with her son, Kushina raised a finger. "So long as you don't get caught."
"So long as I don't get caught..." They laughed, enjoying the brief break from all of the tension.
"Back on topic then…" Naruto frowned. "So since there was nothing left of you that could be used to repair me, the seal used Granny Mito, why- because she was the next closest match?"
"It's possible that there were better matches in terms of build, that we could find if we were to go back far enough in our family tree. But none of them would have shared the connection that you've built up with her over the month."
Kushina studied her son's features. He was largely androgynous; most of her own effeminate features inherited from her side had only become more prominent with Mito's additions. That, and most of the features that she would've once associated with Minato had been steadily phased out. Only his father's blue eyes shone through, though even that now only occupied one, amongst the pair. The other was distinctly Mito's. The blonde in his hair was still there, but a few shades lighter and somewhat diminished; much of the length of his locks had gone some shades of pink and red, with only the top still retaining any semblance of his father's iconic blonde color. Even the texture of his hair had changed; it was a bit thicker and fluffier, and the ends of his locks now had a faint curl to them. His eyelashes and brows had both gone a light blonde, matching the color of his hair. He looked more solid, too. There was a solid cut of well-defined muscle on his frame that had not been present when he'd arrived. He was taller -bigger too-, though still lean and scarily flexible.
"Yeah, you definitely inherited from auntie Mito. In some ways, she's become as much your parent as I am, ya know." It wasn't much of a stretch, really. Naruto had learned from the woman's experiences; he had seen much of her life -had been raised in part by Mito's story. It was her own struggles which had helped shape him into the warrior he was becoming…
Kushina hugged her son, fighting back tears as the boy questioningly returned her embrace. There really was a world of difference between the fragile child who had stumbled into this realm of hers, staining her dress with snot and tears, and the solid young man that stood in her arms, now.
She wasn't ready to leave him yet. She couldn't…
"You're not going anywhere. I still need you, mom." Naruto muttered. Kushina blushed as she realized she'd spoken out loud.
"Wait wha-"
Naruto separated from Kushina, holding her at arm's length and smiling. Kushina noted that his one blue eye had tinted purple, the pair now matching Mito's in full. The scene around them shifted, once more reflecting the scene outside. It was the exact moment before Naruto had interfered in his friends' battle with the crazed Sand ninja, Gaara.
Kushina watched as dozens of chains slowly separated themselves from the walls, Naruto's cocoon shaking unsteadily as they did so. They creeped through the air en masse, slowly exiting the door leading to his room. Slinking along the floor, the chains rattled in anticipation before suddenly rearing up and bursting through the ground. Debris flew as they burrowed through the several floors at lightning speed, finally reaching and dispatching Gaara with brutal efficiency.
"Getting anymore of the Kyuubi's chakra was always going to be a pipe dream. It's smart; the same trick was never going to work, twice. Heck, even if I could convince it to bargain, there's no guarantee it'd ever uphold its end; nah, the fox is more likely to stab me in the back, the first chance it gets."
As Kushina watched the burgundy chakra get siphoned off from Gaara's form, she understood. "So you targeted someone who wasn't wise to our tricks, then."
"Yep," Naruto let out a dark chuckle. "That dumbass really just waltzed into a hospital and killed two Konoha ninja who were just doing their jobs, then he tried to kill my friends! The least he can do is make himself useful by helping me keep my mom around a while longer."
"How much did you take?" Kushina was confused. She didn't feel any more rejuvenated than before.
"Enough to put him out of condition for a while. I'd say just a little less than you were able to nab from the fox. You can't feel it yet because it's not going directly to you. There's no way I would've been able to handle that much caustic chakra like that in my current condition. Trying to purify it for use would've killed me -or at least stalled my healing a bunch. Nah, I've got a better idea." Naruto scrunched his face up in concentration. "I'm repurposing one of that jackass Orochimaru's moves, this time with a modified two-point lock, overlaying the Kyuubi's Eight trigrams seal. By combining the two, I'm gonna use the One Tails' chakra as a buffer to reinforce the seal with a bootlegged ten-point mechanism. That'll free up a good amount of my chakra, which I can feed directly to you. You can help me clean it up later, seeing as you've suddenly got little better to do." Naruto gave her a cheeky grin.
A loud gong-like noise sounded all around them, startling Kushina. Then, Naruto slumped, a tired grin on his face. "Dad's idea to filter the Kyuubi's chakra only works so long as the fox and I are willing to work with one another. Between that overgrown Bjiir(1) trying to steal my body, and you stealing its chakra, I doubt either of us want anything to do with one another, so there's no point in keeping the gaps so wide. With the Kyuubi secured better, I won't have to worry about it screwing shit up; my chakra should get easier to control, and I'll have more available to me since it'll have less room to muck about with."
"And you can then you can keep me sustained without taking any noticeable losses to your usable reserves…" Kushina stared at her son, eyes wide. She could've sworn her whole jaw had dropped. "I need to revise an earlier statement, X'omaa. You're not one of the smartest people I've ever met." Kushina swept her son into her arms and cheered, tears in her eyes. "You're the smartest, craziest little goober I've ever met!"
"You're damned right I am!" Naruto threw his arms around his mother and laughed. "You're not going anywhere, you hear me!?"
Rare was it that the Third Hokage's patience found itself truly tested. The man was old, having lived and led through several brutal wars. He had loved and lost...
And lost again.
And again.
And again...
The point being that he had endured through it all, always seeking to remain on top of his emotions and lead his people with an objective and empathetic mindset.
But even he had his limits. Oh, and they had been pushed a great deal, this last month. This just happened to be the final straw.
"Gaara of the Hidden Sand Village is hereby disqualified from the Chūnin exams." Taking a steadying puff of his pipe, he leveled a toxic glare on the rest of the boy's team. Temari and Kankuro, the boy's siblings and teammates; they were cowering in the face of his fury. Baki, their jounin sensei, was little better. All three had prostrated themselves, their foreheads touching the floor. Behind the trio were the jounin he'd sent to collect the team. Each stood at attention, ready to kill them if their lord would only ask.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I would like to personally extend my most sincere apologies for-"
"Be quiet." Baki's mouth snapped shut in response to Hiruzen's words. "Your apologies mean nothing to me, in the face of what I lost today. Tens of thousands in property damage; Two of my guards dead, protecting a hospitalized boy that your loose canon of a jinchuriki attempted to slaughter in cold blood. Children from two prominent clans reported grievous injuries just trying to stop your student from taking even more lives." Unmentioned, but still noted by the Hokage was Shino Aburame, who had reported cataclysmic losses to his kikaichu hive. He had smartly chosen to rescind his name from the tournament.
"I understand that my inability to perform may be a touch problematic, Hokage-sama. Why? Because plenty of influential people will have arrived to witness the spectacle of our battles. With this in mind, I would like to apologize; eager though I was to compete, my hive's integrity is down to little more than twenty-one percent. I will not be able to recover from such devastating losses in time for the tournament and fear that my inclusion would only bloat the remaining performances."
Frankly, Hiruzen was sorely tempted to give that boy a vest, off his wisdom alone. All of his team, Shikamaru Naara included, had done an excellent job of subduing the Kazekage's son, Gaara.
Hiruzen made a quick note. Perhaps a secondary evaluation, after the tournament had taken place?
A thought for later, he supposed.
Hiruzen stood from his chair and circled the table, looming over the now lowly bowing Baki and his students. "I want you to truly understand just how sorely tempted I am to have your entire team killed. The only reason you still breathe in my presence is because of your connection to the Kazekage, and I assure you, if your lord cannot convince me otherwise, I will be all too happy to change my mind. Do you understand your situation, Baki-san?"
Baki said nothing, merely bowing lower.
"Open your mouth, boy. Tell me that you understand."
"Y-yes, Hokage-sama. I understand."
Hiruzen sighed. "Gaara will be locked in a holding cell until it is time for the Kazekage and his entourage to come collect him." Regarding the trio of ninja standing at the door, he added, "I want chakra suppressing cuffs on that boy at all times; I want a full squad on him every second of the day until it is time for them all to go, and when that happens, I want his name planted in every issue of the bingo book, henceforth. Yes, make no mistake, Baki-san I am putting a bounty on your boy's head. If any of my ninja ever see him on our territory, they are to kill that stupid little boy, on sight. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Baki did not argue. He knew better. Were it any other lord of any Hidden Village other than the leaf, sand included, he and his students would have been dead without so much as an explanation. He was thankful that his two present students seemed to also understand the gravity of the situation.
"One more thing..." Hiruzen dropped down to eye level with Baki, his eyes boring through the crown of the man's head. Baki didn't dare look up at the man. "A jounin of mine was found dead, weeks ago. Autopsies reported that the wounds that killed him seemed eerily reminiscent to the Sand Village's most-iconic Wind Cutter jutsu..." Baki said nothing, so Hiruzen stood. "If I find out that you or any of your people were involved in that man's death, I will send your heads to your Kazekage in a fucking basket. Do you understand me?"
"I-I understand, Hokage-sama." Baki clenched his teeth, praying that the Hokage would not rethink his decision to spare them.
Hiruzen rounded the table, once more taking a seat behind his desk. "Your people are not welcome in my village, any further. You can take your entourage and rough it out beyond the walls, until the day of the competition. If I see any of your ninja in my village without my express order, I will personally kill them." Lighting his pipe, he disregarded the trio. "Get the hell out of my office."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you, Hokage-sama." Baki, Temari, and Kankuro scrambled to their feet, allowing the three jounin guards to escort them out of the village.
Hiruzen watched them go, the dispassionate glare in his eyes withering into a tired frown. "Report, Asuma... Kurenai."
The two jounin stepped out of the shadows, quickly arriving at the center to stand at attention. They shared a look, then Asuma stepped forth, first.
"Yes Da-Hokage-sama," he hastily corrected. The faintest hints of a blush crept up his neck. "After I saw Shikamaru home, I headed back to the hospital for a report." From the inside pocket of his vest, the man procured a thin, manilla folder. "I took reports from any and all witnesses on the scene who were able to get a good look at what occurred. That includes Shikamaru and the nurse who called for us." Asuma stepped forth, gingerly placing the folder onto the table. Hiruzen gave it a glance, before panning back to the pair.
"Kurenai?"
"Y-yes Hokage sama." Following Asuma's lead, Kurenai offered a folder of her own, slightly thicker than Asuma's. "I got a report from each of my students before I got them all home. Um- Hiashi-sama was most displeased to see Hinata arrive with such serious injuries. I'm sure you recall that she was just discharged from the-"
"I recall," Hiruzen interrupted the woman, softening the act with a gentle smile which calmed her nerves. "I'd like to thank you both for getting this to me so quickly. I will speak to Hiashi-san, regarding the situation." Taking a long puff of his pipe, the Hokage relaxed, a touch. "Tell me, what are your thoughts?"
"On what, Hokage-sama?"
Hiruzen smiled again at Kurenai. "On your students' performances, of course? I was led to believe that Gaara-san was quite the formidable ninja. I was truly impressed to have heard that they were able to subdue him."
"Ah," Asuma frowned. "That's actually something we wanted to bring to your attention... Preferably in full confidence, you see."
Hiruzen matched his son's frown, snapping his fingers. "My guards are gone. Speak plainly, Asuma."
Sharing a glance with Kurenai, he stepped back, allowing the woman to take the lead. "I'm sure you saw the condition that Gaara-san's body was left in."
"Yes, I saw... He was left with forty-three stab wounds; his chakra was almost entirely depleted. When our medics finally got to him, he was just short of dead." Hiruzen leaned let his pipe drop from his mouth. It clattered onto his table as he leaned forward, leaning on his elbows. "Of course, none of your students present would've been able to replicate such wounds in the boy. Which implies a third party was involved in the conflict." Of course, he recognized the boy's wounds; he'd recognize them anywhere. He'd just been waiting to see if his jounin would tell him.
"Yes, well- our students reported a multitude of chains bursting from the ceiling to assault Gaara. Hinata reported that her byakugan saw them arrive from Naruto-san's room."
"Then that is joyous news." Hiruzen's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "For it would seem that young Naruto is quite awake, after all... I was beginning to worry that he wouldn't get to compete in the finals." He would have to send Jiraiya a missive, along with a stern warning not to stress the boy. "Thank you for telling me, Kurenai. Asuma. You are both dismissed."
As the pair departed, Hiruzen finally slumped.
"God, I hate being old..." Once again picking up his pipe, he looked out the window, spotting the Konoha hospital from well overhead. "How about you hurry up and take this seat from me already won't you, my boy? My back is killing me..."
…
Inside the hospital, hundreds of chains began to rattle.
Bjiir: A rat; a derogatory phrase to suggest that someone is cowardly, deceitful, or undeserving of respect.
And we're done with this chapter!
I hope you all enjoyed it, it was hard as hell to write!
Funnily enough, the biggest issue wasn't getting anything onto a page. It was that I had way too much on my mind that I wanted to write, and had no idea how to filter it all into something cohesive.
Now, let's talk thoughts:
First thing's first, I really wanted to give Hinata's team a really strong moment to help open their introduction. Team Eight is a group that we don't really see interacting a whole lot outside of filler moments, so it was important to me to set the tone of how their dynamic would look, inside and outside of battle. I wanted them to feel like good friends who work well together and cover each others' weaknesses, both in social situations and as fighters.
Shino is the cool, logical straight man who is overly verbose but ultimately good natured. I see too many fics try to present Shino as this emotionless machine of a character but honestly, I think he's at his best when he's treated like a big freaking nerd with a bit of dry humor injected. At the end of the day, he, Kiba, and Hinata are all kids; most importantly, they're friends, and I can't imagine them all being good friends if they couldn't groove with one another. You guys can let me know whether or not you think I handled that well.
Hinata is the shy one, sure. But again, I feel like her dynamic with the group should offer at least a tiny bit of comfort that would offer her agency to joke around, albeit somewhat shakily.
Kiba is the funny man of the group. He kind've stole the show for me as I kept writing. I imagined him being the 'fun' or 'cool' friend who is always making light of things to keep tensions low in the group. Especially since he knows that Hinata is such a shy person; he works as the glue that helps bring Shino and Hinata both out of their shells. I hope you all enjoyed him as much as I did.
Shikamaru originally didn't have a place in this chapter, but I wanted to include a bit of the lore we see about Naruto's relationship with his friends around Shippuden. In that, we see that Shikamaru always had a rather high opinion of Naruto and really valued him as a friend, and vice versa.
I don't want Naruto as a character to be completely shut off from other people; I feel like that's a quick way to end up with this edgy loner character that I reeeeally don't want to have to write, in Naruto. I want him to have close friends and strong relationships that he can bounce off with to bring out the best of his character. This isn't just the Naruto and Kushina show. It's the Naruto and Hinata show, featuring friends and family.
Which brings me to my next point:
I originally planned for Kushina to disappear; this was meant to be her last chapter, really. Naruto would wake up and have a really cool moment where he got to beat up Gaara and everyone would go "wow Naruto you're so cool and hip please sign my chest" or something like that. But the more I tried to write something like that, the more I ended up disliking it. It felt so ham-fisted and unoriginal. I found myself really liking the idea of Team Eight, plus Shikamaru, managing to take down Gaara with teamwork. One of the biggest issues I've had with the canon material is that many characters tend to only ever be relevant if it's to prop up one of the main characters of an arc, and afterwards they fall into obscurity. The biggest examples for this being Hinata and Lee, for me. Hinata got clapped to prop up Naruto's conflict with Neji, and Lee got clapped to prop up his and Sasuke's encounters with Gaara.
No sir, not in my house. Here in my kitchen we let characters cook!
So Team Eight gets to beat Gaara. This comes with some minor issues. The big one being that Gaara's supposed to be strong as shit. Does that mean that Gaara is weaker here?
Nah.
Gaara is as strong as ever. In a one-on-one fight he'd absolutely smoke any of the present fighters. But instead he's facing a well-coordinated team designed with the tools to take him down. Even then, many injuries were taken in the form of Hinata and Kiba, and tons of casualties in the form of Shino's hive. I hope you all didn't walk away feeling like Gaara just got clowned on with no difficulties. Besides that, it's hardly the last we'll end up seeing of him.
Just trust the process and let me cook.
In any case, please drop me some reviews, telling me what you thought. Let me know what else you'll want to see in the story, moving forward! Share it around; tell your friends if you think it's worth showing to other people. All of that.
Next chapter, the butterfly hatches!
