Chapter 37: Recovery

A full day had passed since the Akatsuki's involvement in Taki. Tsunade hadn't exactly been pleased to hear that Shibuki had aided the Akatsuki, even though he had been under duress.

The original deal with Taki was that Konoha would keep Fu safe until such a time that she was no longer at risk, but after the betrayal, Tsunade had declared that Taki would not be getting her back.

I idly scratched my arm as I sat in my hospital bed. Ordinarily, I wouldn't need to spend too much time in the hospital as my healing factor fixed pretty much everything bar loss of limb, but things were a little different this time.

Kakuzu's black threads were still imbedded throughout several different locations in my body and had to be removed manually, a time consuming and delicate process seeing as Kakuzu had wrapped several of them around my various organs.

Thus I found myself confined to a bed in the hospital. It wasn't all bad, I got to spend time with talking with a few new roommates.

"And then what happened?" Fu asked eagerly.

"I brought you back here, after that my clones finished off Kakuzu's masks and decided to try and kill him by… blowing up the tree" I said offhandedly before realizing that I'd just admitted to destroying Fu's former home. "Sorry abo…"

"That's so awesome," Fu cheered. "You're like super strong and fought off those guys. When I fought them, they beat me in like ten seconds."

"Well… I do train a lot," I smiled. It was always nice to have my efforts acknowledged.

"It must be if you beat those guys," Fu nodded rapidly.

"Awww, how sweet," Anko crooned from her bed. "You two get on so well… Be careful about that, Naruto. What would your girlfriend think if she sees you with Fu here?"

"She's seen me hang out with you and she hasn't said anything yet," I deadpanned.

"You got me there," Anko chuckled softly. "Wait, so she's seen us together? It's that Ramen girl, isn't it?"

"No," I said smugly. "And I'm still not telling."

"I don't get it," Fu said, tilting her head to the side as she regarded me. "Why do you need to be careful that your girlfriend doesn't see me? I want lots of girlfriends and boyfriends, would I need to make sure that they don't see me with others too?"

Both Anko and I stared at Fu for several seconds, processing what she had just said.

"You mean like a Hare-" Anko began.

"You mean friends," I interrupted Anko.

"Yes, friends," Fu nodded.

First Gaara and now Fu, it seemed that I was cursed to meet Jinchuriki that didn't understand the concept of friendship.

"A girlfriend or boyfriend is a little different from just a regular friend," I explained, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. "They do different things, like kissing and hand holding for one… It's more like… well, it's more intimate."

"And you have someone like that, besides just having a friend?" Fu asked, wonder in her tone. "That's so lucky. Back in Takigakure, the only person I was close with was Shibuki and when he saw how strong those Akatsuki guys were, he stopped fighting and let them take me." Fu rubbed her eyes. "Everyone else in Taki didn't like me. When I lost my fight with those guys, some of the villagers seemed happy."

I clenched my fist tightly as I saw a stray tear fall down Fu's face. People hated Jinchuriki and feared them because they either didn't understand how it worked or they used the Jinchuriki as a proxy for the biju they contained.

Knowing all this, I understood why the average person wouldn't like a Jinchuriki or why they would not want to be around one. It didn't stop me from wanting to ask Tsunade if we can have a quick war with Taki though, although that would just be me doing exactly what Taki had done to Fu.

"Well now you'll have a chance to make some real friends," I hummed.

"Konoha won't mind that I'm a Jinchuriki?" Fu asked cautiously.

"There will be a few that won't like you solely on principle," Anko said. "But you shouldn't care about those assholes. Give it a shot and talk to a few people. In time you'll meet others who you can call friend... People who see you as more than just a Jinchuriki."

"Is that really possible?"

"Sure is," Anko grinned. "You already know Naruto here is a Jinchuriki. He's already gone through hell and back to bring you here, so you've already got one friend!"

Fu turned to me. "Naruto?!"

I was already going to help teach her how to control Chomei's Chakra and try and foster a good relationship between the two, if one wasn't in place already, so it went without saying that I was going to be her friend. "Yeah, we're friends… or at least will be once we hang out a bit more."

One moment Fu was sitting in her bed and the next she was on mine, pulling me into a tight hug. "I've never really had a friend before. This is so exciting," Fu cheered.

My breath hitched and I let out a pained groan when she hugged me tighter. It wasn't her strength that was the issue, it was the fact that her knee was currently resting between my legs, crushing a very specific part of my anatomy. Anko seemed to understand what was currently happening if her laughter was anything to go by.

"That's good," I wheezed as I pushed her leg back a little before sighing in relief when her knee was displaced.

"Oh... I can't… breathe…" Anko laughed, clutching her stomach. "Hurts… to… laugh…"

"You know, maybe I should introduce you to some of my other friends," I began. "So you can be friends with them as well. I'm actually really good friends with Anko here. I'm sure that you two will be great friends with time."

Fu's gaze turned to Anko who, sensing what was coming suddenly stopped laughing.

"Wait a minute, let's think about this," Anko said nervously.

"What's there to think about?" I asked with a malicious smile. "You're my friend and Fu's also my friend, so by that logic you're Fu's friend. That's how this all works after all."

My bed jolted to the side and nearly tipped over from the force of Fu's jump.

"Gut wound, gut wound, gut wound," Anko chanted as she held her hands out in front of her in an attempt to ward off Fu, but it was all for naught. Fu glomped Anko with all the force of a wrecking ball.

"This is the best day ever. Not only was I saved from those Akatsuki guys, I've got a boyfriend and a girlfriend now!" Fu cheered as she hugged Anko tightly.

"That's great," Anko groaned. "You can let go of me now."

"Just a little bit longer. I've only ever seen people hug, so I don't know how long to do it."

'Kurama, do me a favor and remind me to make sure that I've still got a marked Kunai back in Taki. I'm going to use it as my dumping ground for when I learn how to redirect Jutsu with the Hiraishin.'

"Are you really going to do that?" Kurama deadpanned

'I mean… maybe some of the less powerful Jutsu, nothing lethal. Like if Kisame throws a lake at us, I'll just dump it there. Taki gets some minor flooding and I get to remove Kisame's water source.'

Looking up, I found myself staring directly into Fu's eyes.

"You done talking?"

"Um… yeah," I replied.

"That's good," Fu nodded. "Chomei says that Kurama is prideful and was probably angry with you because he's sealed inside you, but you don't seem like you've come back from an argument."

So Fu was on a name basis with Chomei. "We're actually on good terms. Him and I are friends after all," I said. "And also… You might not want to say those names out loud. I don't know how it is with the Nanabi, but the Kyuubi doesn't like it when people he hasn't deemed worthy use his name!"

"Oh," Fu hummed. "Sorry Kurama-san. I didn't mean to anger you."

"She did it again,"Kurama could only sigh. "Just… tell her not to say my name, alright."

"He says just don't say his name out loud again," I repeated.

"I won't," Fu promised. "But Chomei says that he doesn't really mind if others know his name."

With how well Fu and Chomei seem to get on, it does bring up a question. "How much of Chomei's Chakra can you use?"

"A few wings worth, I think," Fu replied. "I don't know. I usually just make a pair of wings and use some of his Jutsu… Although something weird happened to me when I fought those Akatsuki guys, my Chakra became all heavy and using the wings made me pass out."

"That would be their poison," I nodded. "They found a way to prevent Jinchuriki from using their biju's Chakra, but there's an antidote now, so it's not that big of an issue.."

"So I can use my wings again?"

"I suppose so," I hummed.

Fu cheered and suddenly there was a ripping sound as a set of wings that looked similar to a dragonfly's punched a hole through the back of her hospital gown.

"I didn't mean right now," I said suddenly. "I meant after we've been released from the hospital."

"Ah… oops," Fu chuckled bashfully. "But since I've already made a mistake, it should be fine to leave my wings out, right?"

"I don't see any problem with that logic," Anko answered. "In fact, I live by that motto. If you've already made a mistake, you might as well enjoy it. Sometimes you've even got to double down and make another."

"And suddenly I'm starting to understand a few more things about you," I muttered. "But yeah, you might as well leave your wings out."

"Yes," Fu cheered again. Her wings began to move quickly, releasing a high pitched skittering sound as she was slowly lifted off the ground.

The door to the room was suddenly flung open, making Fu release a yelp of fright. She flew up, only to end up knocking her head into the cement ceiling, before dropping to the floor.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Tsunade's clone asked.

"Don't look at me, it was his fault," Anko said, pointing to me.

"What?!" I asked.

"Yeah. He said that Fu could use her wings again, but he didn't specify when and the poor girl misunderstood him."

"Did he now?" Tsunade asked, turning to me.

This was revenge for setting Fu on her. There was no other way about it. "It was all just a massive misunderstanding."

Tsunade eyed me, before turning to Fu. "And what's your side of all of this?"

"My side?" Fu asked nervously as she nursed her head. Shooting a glance at Anko and me, she took a deep breath. "I just wanted to show my wings to my new girlfriend and boyfriend!"

Tsunade's blinked as both of her eyebrows rose. "What?!"

I slapped my palm to my forehead. "She means friends. She's was isolated in Takigakure and no one ever really explained the difference between a friend and a boyfriend because she's never had either."

"I still don't really get it," Fu added.

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just… get a new hospital gown on and get back in your bed."

"Yes ma'am," Fu said suddenly as she got up. Her gown heavily torn, barely hanging on her body.

Directing Fu to the small set of draws next to her bed, she opened it and pulled a new hospital gown out before closing the curtains around Fu's bed. Once Fu was changed and back in bed, the curtains were pulled back.

"Alright," Tsunade began. "I'm going to be leaving now, so try and keep it down in here. This is still a hospital, people come here because they're sick or injured. The last thing they need is stress caused by loud noises or by sensing a biju's Chakra!"

"We'll try not to cause any issues," I attempted to reassure her, but by the look on Tsunade's face said she didn't believe me.

I shrugged on my jacket and made sure that my sandals were tightened properly. After several uncomfortable hours of having Shizune pulling the leftover bits of Kakuzu's thread from my body and a nights rest, I was finally being discharged.

I had gotten really lucky with how little thread there was in my body. It was mostly confined to parts of my chest and my leg. Fu on the other hand… she was going to be stuck here for a bit longer. With Kakuzu having used her body as a thread puppet, there were very few places that didn't contain thread.

"Leaving already?" Anko asked, slowly sitting up in her bed.

"Yep," I said, standing up. "They've gotten all of that thread crap out of me and I heal fast so I don't need a lot of rest to recover. Perks of being a Jinchuriki."

"That sounds almost too good to be true," Anko snorted, before turning somber. "Do you think that there was any way that I could have been able to help back in Taki? Could I have made a difference if I was able to borrow some of the Kyuubi's Chakra?"

That came out of nowhere. "What brought that question on?"

Anko let out a deep sigh. "I've been on hundreds of missions ever since I became a Kunoichi with them ranging from D to S-rank. I'm strong… I know that much, but when compared to people like Orochimaru, I just don't measure up," She laughed briefly. "The thing is, I always thought he was an outlier, but it seems that I was wrong."

"When it comes down to it, the Akatsuki still are…"

"Yeah, I realize that there aren't that many of them, but this is about more than just that. I ended up being a hindrance to the mission," Anko replied. "… Back during the Chunin exams, I tried to kill Orochimaru, not caring if I ended up dying and he treated me like a Genin… I felt that way again on this mission only this time the guy that beat me didn't even need to be near me to do it."

"You're not weak, Anko," I said comfortingly. "The Akatsuki had been planning this attack for a while. Being caught off guard is nothing to be ashamed of."

"You fought off two members by yourself," Anko deadpanned. "You even ended up killing one of them."

"Well that's different. It wasn't just me fighting then, it was the Kyuubi too… I really don't think I need to explain to you how powerful the Kyuubi is."

"It still doesn't mean that you did nothing," Anko argued, before taking a breath. "This team that you, me and Shizune formed… I really liked it. It's a team that I've spent the most time on. With you going to Kumo, we're going to be split up for a while, so I wanted our last mission to be a good one, but I was nothing more than dead weight that ended up holding everyone back."

"Anko," I said, closing my eyes. "Can you speak up? I can't hear you with that pity dick in your mouth!"

"What?!" Anko spluttered.

For the first time ever, I'd managed to actually shock Anko. That might be an achievement above killing Orochimaru and thwarting the Akatsuki.

"It's just as I said. You're upset that you were taken out of the fight before it even began, but you're forgetting that sometimes shit happens. This was just one fight with the Akatsuki out of many more. So instead of lamenting how weak you are now, use this time to figure out how to get stronger," I finished.

Anko just stared at me, before letting out a huff that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Who do you think you are trying to act all wise after saying I've got a pity dick in my mouth. You want me to kick your ass?"

"You kicking my ass?" I smirked. "Yeah right. I'd need to let you do it and even then I doubt I'd even get a bruise."

"Bastard," Anko grinned. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I smiled.

The door to the hospital room clicked open and a yawning Shizune walked in, looking thoroughly exhausted with deep bags under her eyes. "Alright, Fu, we're going to take you to… Naruto, what are you still doing here? You were already discharged."

"I can answer that," Fu said, waving her hands eagerly.

"Fu wai-"

"You see, Anko was feeling bad about not being able to fight off those Akatsuki guys, so Naruto decided to comfort her."

That actually wasn't so bad, I'd been worrying about nothing.

"And then there was a pity dick in Anko's mouth and then there was some talk about Naruto letting Anko hit his ass… I didn't really understand that part though."

Anko burst into laughter, cradling her stomach. "Oh god… I just… I can't with this girl!"

Shizune blearily stared at Fu, before nodding. "Oh, I see… Wait, WHAT?!"

"It's all a very big misunderstanding," I said quickly. "There was nothing in Anko's mouth. We were just talking!"

"B-but, she said…"

"It was a phrase," I replied. "I said that Anko had a pity dick in her mouth because she was sad and nothing I said was getting through to her. Think about it logically for a second… I'm not an exhibitionist. Assuming I was doing that, why would I pull my dick out in front of someone else?!"

"Your…" Shizune's face started turning red. "Just… will you stop trying to explain yourself if I say that I believe you?"

"…Yes." The more I tried to explain what was really happening, the more awkward I was making the situation.

"Good," Shizune nodded tiredly. "Now we can all forget this ever happened and I can take Fu to have those black stitches extracted."

I was more than happy to go along with Shizune's plan.

"Oh, there's just one thing I want to do first," I said. Walking up to Shizune, I placed my hand on her shoulder and refilled her Chakra. She perked up almost immediately, the bags under her eyes faded and she quickly began to look more awake. "That should just about do it."

Shizune blinked before nodding. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," I replied.

Medics had a pretty tough job. From the moment she'd returned to Konoha, Shizune had been working on Anko alongside one of Tsunade's clones, helping stabilize her. She also helped with the initial treatment of both Fu and myself, helping remove the bulk of Kakuzu's stitches.

Even now, Shizune was going to continue working on Fu and that was before I refilled her Chakra. She was nothing if not determined.

"Well," I said, stretching. "I think I'm going to head out. I've got some things that I need to do and I should probably also get a little training in. I don't want Anko to be able to kick my ass too soon after all."

Training ground 7, the place where team 7 was officially formed and also the place where the Sannin became Genin. It had a history of hosting some of the most powerful Shinobi in the world.

Glancing down from my spot high up in a tree, I caught Sasuke running laps around the clearing while Sakura sat in the shade, several books and scrolls lying on the ground around her.

Time was running out. It wouldn't be too long before I would have to leave for Kumo and I still had one very important task to accomplish before that. Before I went out to accomplish that task however, I needed to ensure that Sasuke was as strong as he could possibly become in a short amount of time.

Jumping down into the clearing, I idly watched as Sasuke passed me by, not saying a word. Sakura on the other hand was entirely to engrossed in her studies to realize that I'd arrived. Coughing into my hand, Sakura tore her gaze away from the numerous books and looked up.

"Oh, Naruto. When did you arrive?"

"A minute ago," Sasuke replied as he completed another lap. "He was watching us before coming down from his tree."

Not bad, he'd been able to spot me pretty quickly.

"Good to see you too, Sasuke," I hummed. "You think that you could stop for now? There's something that I want to discuss with you... the two of you actually."

"You do?" Sakura asked as Sasuke's pace slowly came to a stop. "What about?"

"Your training," I replied honestly. "I want to help you two train."

Sakura blinked. "You want to help with... No offence, Naruto, but I really don't think that you'll be able to help me learn medical Ninjutsu faster... Unless you're planning on having Shizune-sama teach me."

Actually, I hadn't really thought of that. "I... might be able to get her to give you a few pointers," I answered. "But I don't think she has the time to teach, she's busy enough helping manage the hospitals with Tsunade's clones."

"Ah, that's a pity," Sakura sighed dejectedly.

With everything that had been happening lately, I'd actually forgotten that Sakura didn't have a proper medical Ninjutsu instructor. Originally, Tsunade would have taught her after Sasuke defected, but none of that would happen now.

Even with clones, Tsunade was entirely too busy to take on a new student. Shizune might be able to, but she was still an active Jonin that was needed out in the field. As things stood now, Sakura was going to have to do her best with the scrolls and books that she had at her disposal.

"Why now?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Why are you offering to help us train now?" Sasuke asked. "What has suddenly changed that you feel that you need to help us become stronger."

It seemed that I had underestimated Sasuke's deduction skills. He'd caught on much faster than I thought he would.

"You've heard about the alliance with Kumo, right?" I asked. "And the Akatsuki's attack on the meeting in the Land of Iron?"

"I have," Sasuke nodded.

"A lesser known fact about the meeting was that during it I displayed an ability that can be useful, so much so that one of the terms of the alliance is that I regularly travel to Kumo and stay there for a few months at a time," I explained.

Travelling between nations was no longer an issue for me now that I had the Hiraishin, I would have a lot more freedom, but I still needed to spend time in Kumo to ensure that no Zetsu's attempted to infiltrate the village.

"So you're leaving Konoha?" Sakura asked. "That's not fair."

"It is what it is," I shrugged.

"When are you leaving?" Sasuke continued pressing for information.

"In less than a month," I replied, watching as Sasuke tried to figure out how everything fit together. "So time is of the essence here."

"You're not telling me everything," Sasuke said. "If it's important and time really is short then you should just say it."

That's true, I hadn't been telling him everything, but I couldn't exactly say it out loud. While the Akatsuki relied on spying, Root had members that used Jutsu to spy on people from long distances, like Sai's ink mice that contained no negative emotions to sense.

"The timeframe has moved up, Sasuke. I need you to be ready for the day that you've been waiting for since the end of the Chunin exams."

Sasuke's eyes widened and his Sharingan flared to life as he finally caught on. "You mean..."

"Retribution," I nodded.

Danzo would be dead before I left for Kumo. Too much was on the line now with the most important things being the alliance with Kumo and Fu being brought to Konoha. All it would take for the alliance to break would be for the wrong person to die and knowing Danzo, he would make sure that such a death came to pass in order to prevent me from going to Kumo.

What he might attempt with Fu on the other hand... Well, I could only see that going one of two ways. He either attempts to use his Mangekyou Sharingan in order to place her and Chomei under a Genjutsu or he decides to make a new Jinchuriki. Neither of which I would allow to happen so long as I was alive.

"I see," Sasuke muttered, his body deathly still while his Sharingan blazed.

"Um... I still don't understand," Sakura muttered quietly.

"It's simple. I'm not going to be in Konoha for too much longer so I want to make sure that it's protected in my absence," I explained. "The Akatsuki are dangerous and I want to make sure that anyone that's more likely to encounter them will either be able to fight them or escape."

"Oh," Sakura hummed in understanding. "But why would we be more likely to encounter the Akatsuki?"

I sighed. "Long story short, they're after Jinchuriki and I just so happen to be one."

"But wh..."

"Sakura," I interrupted. "That's a whole other topic that we can talk about later. For now, let's just focus on training, alright?"

"Fine," Sakura sighed. "But you have to tell us later, alright."

There would come a time for everyone to learn about the Akatsuki, their members and what they were capable of, but that would come later. The thing that mattered now was getting rid of Danzo.

"You said that you wanted to help us grow stronger," Sasuke began. "How would you go about doing that? I don't think that we will be able to learn the same techniques as you due to you having much larger Chakra reserves than us."

That was true, many of the techniques I used cost a crazy amount of Chakra. If I hadn't been a Jinchuriki and an Uzumaki, I wouldn't be able to pull off half of the Jutsu I know, let alone be able to spam them as I often liked to do.

"It can sometimes take years for a person to fully master a single Jutsu, can either of you tell me why that is?"

"Sometimes they're just difficult to learn," Sakura hummed. "Like medical Ninjutsu, it requires extremely delicate Chakra control and an understanding of how the body works. Without those, it's less than useless."

That was true. Some techniques were just extremely complicated, the Hiraishin was another example of that. The average Shinobi would need to decades of study to even have a chance of being able to learn the Hiraishin. I was just one of the few that was able to take all those years and condense them down into a month.

"There is also another one," I hummed. "Chakra required to practice your Jutsu."

Shinobi with large Chakra reserves had the advantage to not only be able to use more Jutsu than those with smaller reserves, but could also devote more time to practicing their Jutsu before they would eventually need to take a break.

"How many times can you practice your Chidori in a day, Sasuke?" I asked.

"Five times if I space each use out properly," Sasuke replied.

That was actually a little impressive. Not that he could use the Chidori four times, but the fact that he was able to master it when he could only attempt it a few times a day. His Sharingan probably came in handy when he was first learning it.

"Do you think you would make more progress if you could use it more times per day?" I asked, already knowing his answer.

"Yes," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Then why don't you practice some more," I hummed, replenishing Sasuke's Chakra reserves with a single bump to his shoulder.

"What?!" Sasuke asked in a startled tone as he looked down at his hands with his Sharingan active. "What is this?"

"Chakra," I replied. "I already told you that I don't have that much time, I can't wait for your Chakra to replenish naturally, that would take way too long."

Even with my help here, it was incredibly unlikely that Sasuke would be ready when the time came to take Danzo down. Sasuke couldn't be involved in the actual fight, but he could be involved afterwards when the time finally came to kill Danzo. He deserved some form of retribution for what was done to his clan.

Flashing through several hand seals, a Chidori briefly sparked to life before fading at Sasuke's command. "How many times could you refill my Chakra?"

Seeing as Kurama and I would eventually be able to share our combined Chakra with tens of thousands of Shinobi while still fighting, I would have to say... "However many times you would need your Chakra restored," I shrugged. "With the Kyuubi's help, I could probably refill the Chakra of every Shinobi in Konoha and still have enough Chakra to fight with."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?" Sakura asked.

"Probably not," I shrugged. If anything, I was actually understating how much Chakra Kurama and I had. "But as I said, I am considering the Kyuubi as well and he once fought the entirety of Konoha... Anyway, the point is that I've got more than enough Chakra and won't have to worry about running out at all."

Refilling their Chakra wasn't going to be a permanent thing, it would only be lasting up until Danzo's death. After that, Sasuke and Sakura would have to wait for their Chakra to regenerate naturally. It wouldn't be good for them to grow too reliant on my Chakra, I wouldn't always be around to help them out after all.

And that's chapter 37.

Fu's awake, Naruto's recovered and helping Sasuke get ready for when they inevitably confront Danzo.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 44 on the spooky P word website.

P

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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

The next chapter will be posted on the 13th of September.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.