A Bewitching Dance

by Haerrlekin

When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful, red-haired woman with violet eyes and a warm smile. Oh, and a white void, but that was besides the point! In which Naruto fails to summon Gamabunta and goes splat in the chasm; Jiraiya did a whoopsie, Kurama is a jerk, and Hinata brings good vibes. Who knew that crippling, life-threatening injuries could feel so good?

18. Reap and Sow

Heya.

Good lord this chapter was a pain in the butt to write. I swear, I'm pretty sure I went through like four full-length chapters before I finally settled on something I was even half-way happy with. Special thanks to those in the discord who let me soundboard some stuff, and especially Tei who beta'ed it for me. You guys are great

With that said, let's begin:

---

"So you really plan to tell her then, huh?" Kushina's query was quick to blindside him from the very moment he settled down to rest for that evening. He spawned into their shared space in a daze, as if thrown or dragged, and all but dead on his feet. Still reeling from his encounter with Tsunade just a few short hours prior, Naruto hadn't exactly been prepared or eager to do any more than collapse into a dreamless rest and sleep off the lion's share of his lingering aches and pains.

Groggily meeting gazes with Kushina's severe expression though- Naruto knew that his mother had no plans of being denied their talk.

"Well, do you really gotta look so grumpy about it?" Naruto grumbled lightly. He slapped both palms against his cheeks in a bid to wake himself up to little avail. Finally, he gave up on standing entirely, instead flopping down onto his back and tossing a too-heavy forearm over his face to blind out the overbearing light of the two suns' scorching glares. "Look, can this really not wait 'till morning?"

"I'm not grumpy," Kushina grumbled back, half petulantly. The other half though, combined with her ducking of his request, was sign enough as to her thoughts. A gleam of something bitter glinted in her eyes, fully garnering his attention. "I'm concerned."

"Fine." Naruto's guarding arm slipped from his face, giving way to a curious glare. The faintest bite of steel surfaced in his own eyes. "You don't think I should trust Hinata… You more than anyone have been yapping on and on about how I oughta open my heart to more people; doubly so, for her. Now I'm doing exactly what you keep telling me and we have an issue… What gives?"

The bridge of tension that had assembled between them swayed, dangerously. Then, Kushina sighed, exasperated. "Are you planning to tell her about me too?" Her question blindsided her son, who rapidly blinked in confusion. Kushina though gave him no time to respond or even ponder her words before she steamrolled him. "Because if you tell her about the Kyuubi, that's fine. But then she might get brave enough to ask other questions. For example, 'What actually happened to you after Jiraiya pushed you?' Or maybe 'Why did you start screaming in tongues at Tsunade like a loon the other day?' You know, the lost long language of a dead clan that You. Shouldn't. Know!"

Naruto winced at the accusation that clung to her words.

"Well? What then? What will you tell her?"

Naruto frowned. "We-well for starters, I trust Hinata not to go snooping around my business if I tell her I'm not ready to talk about something. And more importantly, you saw how far she was willing to go for me with those Akatsuki guys. You're saying she can't be trusted with the truth? Ugh, look-" Naruto huffed, his exhaustion showing itself clearly in his slumped shape and under his eyes. "I'm tired. My head hurts and my bones ache and I'm like half sure I'm gonna be pissing blood in the morning. Now you know I hate doing this whole guessing thing, so with all due respect -and I say this with all of the love-, get to the damn point."

Kushina's eye twitched with transparent irritation at the boy's attitude, but she shelved it with a breath. "Sorry, sorry…"

He didn't understand, but that wasn't his fault, but hers. She had been so intent on sheltering him from her pain; she had shared with him the good of their clan and its rich history.

Their accomplishments.

Their crafts.

Their philosophies.

Their joy…

Rarely had she been brave enough to dwell with him on the messier parts of it all- not since she'd broken down in his arms and cried, recanting to him the fall of their clan.

It was the source of her shame; it wrapped its arms around her, its squeeze all-encompassing. She was his mother. She was the one who was supposed to be comforting him! Not burdening him with the root of her own suffering; certainly not when he was still in such a fragile position, himself.

Since then, she'd been remiss to reopen that wound in full. She had been afraid, not just to spoil what remained of her baby boy's innocence, but even to re-live that pain, herself as well.

He knew of it, but knowing and experiencing it all were very different experiences, she knew…

Better to just rip off the band aid, then.

Considering this all, Kushina sighed, self loathing already creeping upon her like oil in her blood. "I like Hinata, darling, and I think you're right to trust her. But this isn't just your secret to share." She took a long breath, steadying herself. "I need you to understand that this goes beyond plain trust. I didn't even tell Minato about the seal. Mito sure as heck knew better than to tell Hashirama… Naruto, when I tell you that the Legacy Seal is one of our clan's best-kept secrets, I need you to try and fathom just how big of a deal that really is. I need you to understand why that was, and why that continues to be- now, more than ever!" Kushina waved her hand and the space around them distorted. "This is one of the last memories of my aunt, Yua Uzumaki."

Naruto's stomach lurched as he stared at the still image that had melded into the space around them. Their surroundings, so much like the shared space that Kushina had built for them- now, they were scarred in excess with crumbled, burning wreckage and still bodies. "T-this is-"

"The day of the invasion… If you're even considering telling anyone- well, I can't stop you. But first, I need you to understand…" She gestured to a redheaded woman; her shoulder-length hair, done up in loose curls, was tarred with sweat and filth. Her pretty face was twisted into a visage of terror.

She was heavily pregnant.

Naruto looked to Kushina again, now frozen with clear apprehension. Very nearly, she wanted to just sigh and fold- to let him turn in for the evening and pretend that this conversation had never happened.

But she knew better. It would hurt him, gods would it hurt him! But he needed to see; he would never truly understand until he did.

Again, she gestured to the still image of her aunt, and with a heavy swallow, he reached for her.

---

Her body felt so very heavy. The ground shook beneath her, throwing her about on fragile knees that wobbled with distrust for her own two feet. Even still, she staggered about with intent.

The invasion hadn't come as a surprise to anyone. They had foreseen the arrival of the enemy, even sent word to Konoha requesting support. That request had gone unanswered, and the people of Uzushiogakure had thus been sequestered off from the mainland, pulling back deeper into the central district for defense.

The confidence in their defenses had lasted only as long as it had taken for the first jinchuriki to transform. Assuming the shape of the Tailed Beasts that they had been cursed to house, they were resistant to traditional methods of sealing that might otherwise have subdued the creatures that the Mist, Stone, and Cloud alliances had so cruelly weaponized. The bijuu tore down their protections, weathering the storm of traps and defensive structures that should have easily repelled a frontal attack of any other kind.

Now, the last of their defenses were on the verge of falling, and orders had been given to move forward with their final line of defense.

The children had been taken below the schools in hopes of buying time for them to- well to figure something out. The island's fortified position had been chosen long ago to protect its people from sudden attacks, but there was hardly much one could do to prepare for the titans that were now ransacking their home. The messy wake of those demons paved the way for the increasing swarm of enemy ninja whose murderous intentions suffused their chakra like bloodstains on a well-worn cleaver.

Now, there was no time for anything else, and so she had joined the disposal squad while her husband rushed to take up arms; he'd only taken just a moment long enough to kiss her hair before rushing to join a fruitless push against the invading forces.

"Burn it all. Sear it into your heart, then cast it into the fire!" He'd whispered, his trust in her fueled so very much by a shared desperation between them. Then, he'd snatched his father's old fishing spear off the wall and barged through the door, leaving it swinging loosely on broken hinges.

Yua's stomach quaked as another unfathomable tremor staggered her footing. Her groin ached with a scalding pressure, the tiny life within her shifting erratically as if aware of the chaos that gnashed readily at their futures.

But there was no time to dwell; no time to ponder her mortality; no time even to curl up for even just a moment to shush the tiny presence in her body that should have been born any day now.

Everything had to burn.

Her senses screamed at her and she shouted a warning, scrambling to the ground with a cry as something massive scraped through the ceiling above, showering their heads with a fresh heap of sawdust.

A sizable chunk of the ceiling broke off from above, the heavy wooden mass clubbing a teenage boy over the head. He staggered for just a moment on uncertain footing, then toppled face-first onto the ground where he lay, petrified in a pooling mass of his own blood that eked from a gash in his crown like cracks in a rusted faucet. His chakra spasmed, weak and uncertain; ghostly fingers that felt too small and too frail reached fearfully for aid that not even their fastest had time to offer, and her heart broke, pity lingering on the boy for precious seconds. Then she turned away, taking only just long enough to pry decorated ceramic from his still-tight grip and cast it into the immolating green flames, herself.

Everything had to go; every object- every memory! All of it! Any and every sign that she and her people had ever existed was torn from the piles they'd built and cast into oblivion; she took only just long enough to do as her husband had begged of her- to glare into its core and drink its significance like a man dying of thirst.

Then it too was cast into oblivion.

All the while, her heart gnawed itself apart as her senses snapped about with frantic intentionality, feeling desperately for the fast-fading reliquiae of her dying kin. Their hearts were one, unified in the drooling maw of shared horror and even still they all fought tooth and nail in the only way that they could, anymore. Disposal teams pushed forward all across the island, erasing themselves and their kin, all on the slightest chance that when the dust settled and they all lay broken, even a single stray spark might remain to crawl out from it all; for that one, uncertain future, they would give their enemies nothing that they could use to hunt their remaining loved ones.

Their lok'haathe led a suicide charge, taking only just long enough to decorate their flesh with inhumane war matrixes, each stroke of their brushes designed to push their bodies past their brink. Fat stores were cannibalized and converted into chakra with nary a regard for what would become of them after; their blood boiled under the immolating heat of a furnace in their chests, shaving their essence down stroke-by-stroke and in turn turning their very touch deadly. When their wounds became too great and their souls finally passed, their wills carried on in the shells their wounded souls left behind. Corpses continued their charge even in death, fighting like puppets on invisible strings until their limbs were severed and their heads were destroyed. Then, their bodies swelled and burst, corroding their flesh to nothing and spawning writhing, ghostly apparitions with noxious breath and furious, pained eyes in their place.

Spools of ethereal chain embraced each other, forging themselves into mighty barriers that were torn down as swiftly as they assembled, courtesy of the kaiju that their enemies commanded. They rose again and again, fighting to tear the beasts down for just the few precious seconds that their efforts might afford. Then finally, when the last Uzumaki warrior had nothing left to give, their chains crumbled and their forms tumbled into the deadly embrace of their waiting killers.

All of it held meaning. Even as they were cut down again and again with no end in sight.

Yua's husband was ice in her lungs, the way he scrambled along the ground, wracked with bloody wounds and stumps for legs. His suffering was her own, and yet he howled in defiance, his spear flashing about to stab through every inch of flesh his eyes could find. She felt a tanto pierce the flesh of his back, driving into his liver and filling his nerves with the kiss of steel. She felt the vertebrae of his spine warp and break, severed at the neck. His thoughts slowed, the very contours of his heart stained in his final moments with the colors of despair.

Their neighbors, who she had often played amongst or shared meals with in their youth- she felt their suffering as a massive hooved foot tore through their home and crushed them all under its apathy.

Then, her heart turned to the schools just as another pile was dragged before her, and once again she was tossing it all into the flames' immolating embrace. The children's terror was bile on her tongue as the school was ransacked. Those that were caught were dragged out and beheaded. Child, teacher- their deaths were all the same. The fastest were rushed below and sealed themselves away in hopes of buying precious moments. Then, explosions sounded in the distance, and she felt their desperate hope for a miracle be crushed in tandem with themselves as chunks of rubble broke from above and descended upon their tiny bodies. A child, not yet even the same age as her darling niece, was afflicted with a fresh current in her nerves as a massive falling stone crushed her leg underneath itself; Yua tasted that terror, renewed two-fold as she failed to wrench her destroyed limb and crawl to freedom. Rubble continued to pile onto her, breaking her tiny body again and again and again under itself. Children all around that tiny girl soon followed, smatterings of rubble snuffing out their innocent lives as instructors fought to stave off the increasing onslaught of rubble with their chains, finally succumbing to its weight with renewed hopelessness.

At the end of it all, a smatter of survivors lingered underneath it all, their lives slowly ebbing painfully away as they suffocated beneath the carnage. Every single tiny life that faded was a shard of glass in her heart, and Yua felt her guilt reach up through her gut and burden her chest with the knowledge that the only thing she could do for them all was to erase them from existence.

The final object in her pile was cast into the flames, and she made to join a cousin and help with theirs. Then, the windows shattered and the walls blew apart. Bodies were torn from their feet and collided into their surroundings in a synchronous symphony of severed life strings. She screamed as her body was showered with glass shards; her pregnant stomach scraped scathingly against the glass, lacerating her flesh with scarce regard for the tiny soul within that would never even live to breathe its first breath.

Then a massive shadow swallowed her, looming over her limp body. Robotically, she turned to face it- a massive, red-furred ape with pupilless orange eyes; its four massive tails, wild and bristled with unkempt fur, swished about with unspoken agitation. Yua spotted a thick, glowing pink collar that wrapped too tightly around its throat.

Her senses reached outward, searching for comfort in her final moments, and Yua's eyes widened and died, burdened with the realization that she couldn't feel anyone. Despite the roaring flames and the cries of enemy ninja; despite the screeches of the titans that had invaded them or even the lumbering breaths of the soulless kaiju that now stood above her, Uzushiogakure was so, so quiet.

The creature above her raised one of its massive, five-fingered hands and pressed it down on her. She felt her body warp for just a moment before bones snapped and crumbled under the boundless weight of her death. She felt her skull split and her brains slosh out of her head in throbbing chunks that fired off spastic, incomplete nervous signals; there was a split second of painful half-awareness even then- numbed spasms flaring through her ruined limbs as her adrenaline fruitlessly spiked in a last ditch effort for a miracle that was overdue but would never come. Then, her thoughts dulled and her body shut down, her life finally snuffed under palm like the wick of a candle.

---

Naruto tore himself free of the memory, their screams still roaring in his head. He staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground, eyes wide and swimming with visions that weren't his but were and should never have been but had. His sinuses ignited themselves with the searing sting of bile before it pried his jaw open far too wide and splattered the ground beneath him. The strength in his arms failed under his own body that suddenly felt far too heavy; he collapsed onto his face, spasming and twitching in a seizure that went on and on until his very bones began to rattle beneath his own flesh.

The burning in this throat grew more scalding by the second until it was tenfold and it was only then that Naruto realized he was screaming too.

A grip on his shoulders seized his panic, and without thinking, he lashed out, numb hands and feet flopping weakly against flesh time and again without pause or rationale.

"Shh, ma'akiine x'omaa, yon uzumaki/Steady your heart, little spiral." Kushina's pained voice gifted him with recollected awareness, her arms circling cautiously around him in a close embrace. "I'm here… You're not alone, son."

Naruto said nothing, for no words would answer his call. His senses were spastic, seeing and tasting and feeling their deaths on loop as if they were all his own; their heartbeats battered his ribs like roughened fists on jail bars, threatening to burst out of his chest and siphon the last pittance of breath that he'd fought to choke down. His dome ached, and his hands snapped up, fingers cupping his own face and crown with desperation to confirm that he was intact; that his skull and brain were still-

A familiar stinging stormed in his sinuses once more and he ripped himself away from his mother, scrambling to his palms and retching yet again. Moments later, her arms circled him again, her comfort persisting.

"I'm here. I'm sorry- I'm sorry," She whispered. She sounded so broken, even as she fought to hold his spasming frame still. "I needed you to see; I need you to understand."

He did. He tried to tell her that; that he understood now- understood how she felt; how Sasuke must have felt when he… No words came though. All that did was a wordless wail that grated at the back of his throat like nails grinding on asphalt. He clutched at her clothes, sobbing into her chest and shuddering in her hold that was comforting, but not comforting enough. Her lips brushed his hair, so much like his- like Yua's husband had, and a second wave of pain clawed up through his chest and shrieked in his voice box.

The whole while, she held him, patiently sharing her warmth and decorating his head with kisses and promises of comfort that he slowly forced himself to believe in. Then, when the moment had finally passed and his shuddering had finally ceased, she held him just at arm's length to peer into his bloodshot eyes that lacked much of their earlier light.

"When the attack happened, all of our kin recorded their final moments; they tried to memorize as much as they could and pass it along, even as they were being killed… Auntie Yua's is just one of many stories like that."

Molten slag weighed in his guts. "T-t-tha-that was-"

"I know… I didn't want you to see that; I-I'd hoped I could shelter you from it, to let you preserve that softness in your heart if even just for a bit longer, but I need you to understand-" Kushina stifled a sob of her own, leaning forward to press their foreheads together. "Hinata- I like her. I think you're right to trust her; I would trust her with your life. But Naruto, I trusted Minato with my life. I still would. But I didn't- I never had plans to tell him"

Her words came out quickly and breathlessly, like a wheeze of pain that just kept dragging on. "If I could've, I would have spent my entire life never sharing any of our clan's secrets to anyone, him included. If- Naruto, just the mere existence of our clan was seen as a threat that warranted our genocide from the rest of the world. Stone, Mist, and Cloud- they killed us, and Konoha did nothing to help us. We knew the attack was coming; word reached Konoha full days before they finally breached Uzu's defenses and made it onto the mainland. But they had nowhere to go to escape, and Hiruzen just bowed his head and declared our clan dead before the enemy had even fully reached them."

Kushina buried her face into his hair, staining his scalp with snot and tears that he just didn't have the heart to complain about. "Now imagine how bad it would be if even the implication of the Legacy Seal or any of our other secrets reached the ears of powerful people. What do you think would happen? Tell me," She ordered, desperately.

Naruto swallowed, painfully. "We'd be hunted down- either killed or collared, just like they did with the Bijuu."

With that hanging over his head, suddenly the Kyuubi and Shukaku's malice made a lot more sense…

"Yeah," His mother agreed, lamely. "You risk putting not just yourself, but any and every Uzumaki that might yet remain in peril."

She cupped his face in her hands, her touch so featherlight that he feared she would shatter and scatter away if he moved at all. "Regardless of your issues with your father, I need you to understand- please understand, darling… I loved your father with all of my heart; I trusted him with my life. Do you really understand what I'm trying to say?"

He did understand. "Even though he loved you-"

"Us, X'omaa. He loved us both; I swear to you he did."

"... Even though he loved us-" Naruto amended. "Even if that's true, he was always gonna put the village first. If he ever had to choose between us or Konoha, he would throw us under the bus every time… It's why he made me a jinchuriki, even knowing through you how we're treated. At-" He choked back his anguish, shoring up the strength to continue. "At the end of the day, he was a ninja first, and a dad second."

"Yeah." Kushina chuckled darkly. "It's not his fault, love. Ninja don't often get the luxury of putting their loved ones first. That's one of the reasons that our people separated ourselves so far from the rest of the world. It's why we called ourselves warriors, even though we too used chakra and practiced ninjutsu."

It was a core difference in their values which had garnered them the disdain and mockery of other clans. For many born into the ninja system, duty came above all else; to them, the Uzumaki's tendency to overvalue bonds and personal freedoms made them naive at best, and destructively selfish at worst. Qualities more befitting of an arrogant ronin than that of a ninja dedicated to their home and lord's prosperity.

Naruto sighed, deflating with the breath. Maybe they were right. After all, in the end, it was his people who had been slaughtered down to the last child- and at the very heart of their own homes, at that; so far out of the way and removed from the fighting that the only thing that could have motivated that attack at all was pure malice.

What's more, it had been them who had been betrayed by the very allies they had welcomed as friends and kin; they had been abandoned by Konoha in their time of need. The old man had forsaken the bond between their people and left them to drown in their own blood…

Which brought them back to his father. Kushina had clearly loved Minato more than anyone else in her life; she had trusted and adored the man enough to die with him without a second thought. Hell, she had trusted his judgment enough to let him put the Nine Tails in their baby…

But not for even a second had she ever trusted him to choose them over the entirety of Konoha. To expect that of a ninja -and a Hokage, no less- she was no idiot.

And she had been right, because Minato had chosen Konoha first; he had turned Naruto into a weapon and left him in the floundering hands of Hiruzen, who may not have directly exploited him, but sure as shit had underdelivered on his promise to his parents to look after him.

And that hurt.

Naruto wanted to love his father. He wanted to be proud to be the legacy of the man who had been his idol and hero throughout his youth. But he couldn't quite shake the bitterness in him- that ugly, creeping serpent in his ears that hissed to him that he had only ever been a tool for Minato to use solely for the village. No amount of pretty words from anyone, not himself or even his own mother, would settle that putridness in his heart until he spoke to the man himself…

But- but he wasn't ready for that; not yet, at least. He wasn't ready to potentially face the idea that his fears were right.

Kushina's eyes caught his own again; hers glistened with freely shed tears, imploring- begging for him to understand. "I hate to say it like this darling, but telling the truth is a slippery slope. Once you tell her about the Kyuubi, you may eventually feel pressured to tell her about what really happened in the chasm. If you tell her about the chasm, you'll need to either tell her about me or lie to her. If you tell her about me, you'll need to explain the seal. If you lie to her instead, she'll know, and that will hurt her. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

He did, but even still, "You'd rather I just keep her in the dark forever then?"

"I'm asking you if you're prepared to face the consequences of breathing our clan's best-kept secret to an outsider. If you tell her and she lets something slip, powerful, dangerous people like Danzo will be breathing down your necks within hours, and that's if you're lucky. If you're not, men like that from all over will scour the world, killing or collaring any red-headed child just on the chance that they have a drop of blood in their veins."

Kushina let out a laugh that was a touch hysterical. "Even if she never breathes a word of it to anyone, the mere fact that she'd know is a loose end and a risk to both you and herself. She could be captured and tortured for our secrets- killed for the simple crime of knowing and loving you. Her clan may try to pressure her to get close to you and reveal your weaknesses. People like Jiraiya or Hiruzen may try to use her to 'help' you and end up dooming you because they may care about you, but they absolutely do not have your best interests at heart!" Naruto tried to wipe her tears, but they came so quickly that all he did was soak his palms. "I-I know I sound pessimistic and fearmongering and I'm sorry!" Kushina's sob shook her entire body as she clutched her son to her, her grip so tight that his skin bruised under her touch. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I know I'm hurting you and I hate it but I need you to understand!"

"I understand," Naruto assured her, probably more calmly than he really felt. "I understand, mom."

A long, painful silence built between the two of them, their shared tears finally dying down to something a bit more manageable. Then Kushina pulled away from him again and took a breath, swallowing her fears and stuffing them away for the moment.

"What I want is for you to look me in the eyes and tell me you're fully prepared to take that risk. Tell me you trust her to love you enough to put you first, above her family, and even above her duty as a ninja; tell me you trust her and yourself to be strong enough to protect each other from anyone and everyone that will come for you, and strong enough to protect any more of us that you come across- tell me that, and you have my full blessing to tell her everything."

"I- Well I…" No words came to him. In that moment, he understood exactly how his mother must have felt about his father. He understood why Sasuke had never spoken about Itachi, as if his very name would somehow summon the man to destroy his life anew. He understood why he would probably never trust Jiraiya or Hiruzen again in his life, no matter how much he wished he could just smile and forgive them.

Never in his life had he felt so vulnerable.

Hinata- he didn't need to think twice to tell Kushina that he trusted Hinata with his life… But did he trust her to put him and his secrets before anything else in her life? Did he trust her strength to protect him from all threats? Did he trust his strength to protect her in turn? Was it even right to ask such a thing of her- of anyone?

Guilt was a scalpel in his chest, carving contrarian sentiments across his heart, but Kushina's stare, gentle and patient as it was, demanded an answer all the same. Terror crawled underneath his skin like a thousand insects fleeing smoke. "I don't- I don't know, mom."

Her lips brushed his brow. "Then find out."

---

The sun had yet to even fully peek its head. A shy haze of half-light grazed over the horizon, its streaks dotting the near-empty roads and cornering building signs until finally, a stray beam pierced right through the curtains of Naruto's room and bored between half-parted eyelids. They cracked open slowly, the dry crust of sleep resisting the act just enough that he very nearly surrendered again to the call of exhaustion and faded back to sleep.

Then the rest of his senses cracked over his head like the yolk of an egg, and in that very instant, he was shooting up, a rose-gold thorn with a drill-like curve bursting from his palm to skewer the intruder looming over him.

His ascent was paused as a set of feminine fingers closed around his mouth, joined by another firmer set that pinned his wrist back to his futon. Their grip was strong, but not terribly unkind.

"Shh," The adrenaline in his system hiccupped for a moment, a familiar voice driving him still. "It's just me."

His eyes found peace in Tsunade's familiar amber that was just a touch warmer and kinder than he remembered. Then his weapon receded back into his flesh as if it had never been at all.

Her palm remained over his mouth for a moment, even as she rose to give him space. "Don't yell. Your girlfriend is still asleep in the other room." Naruto nodded in assent, and she unhanded him.

"Ya know, slipping into a young boy's room in the early morning is a quick way to catch a case." His tone was dull and his joke suffered for it, merely prompting a suspiciously raised brow from the woman in front of him. Naruto leaned all the way up, cracking his stiff neck and trying a lazy grin to defuse the lingering tension. In the wake of the prior night though, the best he could manage was a painful grimace.

Tsunade frowned at the expression, then she simply smirked, indulgently. "If I catch a case, it'll be because I folded you into an effeminate blonde pretzel, you little twerp… Get up and get dressed; don't make me wait."

"Where are we-" Naruto didn't get farther than that before Tsunade had bobbed up to her heels and slipped out through the window. Grumbling, he rose as well, taking only just enough time to confirm that Jiraiya was still asleep before moving to get ready. It was quick work to wash his face and brush his teeth, taking only a moment to jot a note, then a moment longer to don his chains and twist them to match the evening prior. Then he too left through the window.

Tsunade was waiting for him on the roof, sitting cross-legged and watching as the sun finally began making its rounds toward the skies above. "Took you long enough. You know, Hokages are expected to work late nights and early mornings… You'll have your work cut out for you if you can't handle waking up bright and early like this."

"I think it has more to do with the crazy, big-tiddied gorilla who beat the piss out of me the night before," Naruto grumbled back. He let out a long yawn, squinting uncomfortably as his jaw popped; he raised his arms and stretched until his spine shuddered and decompressed. Then, he peered at his unexpected visitor under long eyelashes, the amethyst glow of his evident eye in contrast to the heavy bags under his eyes; the exhaustion from the night before was a leash tight around his throat, the prior night's rest rendered mute by the troubled topic of his and Kushina's talk. "Er- Pervy Sage told me about your blood thing. Sorry for making you- well, y'know."

Tsunade looked away for a long moment, the target of her gaze uncertain. "I know… Don't worry about it. Besides, if I really let a hatchling like you get the better of me, maybe I deserved to be humbled a little." An awkward pause filled the air for a moment, as if she'd planned to leave it at that. Then she side-eyed him again, something close to worry simmering on the surface of her chakra. Naruto tasted shame; it held hands with uncertainty, the source of which he couldn't quite clock. "I healed your girlfriend-"

"Hinata."

A huff. "I healed Hinata before I came for you. I was just about done fixing you up too, before your dumb ass tried to shank me."

"Ah, my bad." His throat felt dry. He tried coughing, but it only seemed to make it worse. "I'm a bit on edge, ya know?"

This time, Tsunade really looked at him. Their eyes met again, and her eyes widened, welling up with something that was familiar and so very sad. "I know that look. What happened to you?"

"Mhm…" Naruto floundered for a moment. What even could he say? "A lotta stuff, I guess." He was silent for a long moment, wondering if it was even worth getting into all over again.

"She might be able to help," Kushina supplied, quietly.

"Jiraiya pushed me- er, off a cliff." Naruto licked his lips, fingers grinding against the wooden roof. "I died."

He was hesitant to look at her again, so he kept his eyes low, forcing himself to continue. "The Kyuubi tried to eat me, and- well some stuff happened. The seal tried to save me, and Granny Mito's memories- I…" He didn't want to get into that again, so he skipped it, merely hoping she could make sense of his incoherent rambling. "Then I saw the thing with Uzu- er, when the invasion… Yeah." Still, Tsunade said nothing. Floundering for anything else to say, something occurred to him. "Y-you've seen it too, right? The- the thing with Uzu." It needled at him, taking such perverse comfort in the idea- in the knowledge that his suffering wasn't wholly unique.

That he wasn't entirely alone.

That thought gave him strength to finally look at the woman beside him, and that bravado crumbled to dust, seeing her ashen face.

"Oh," She finally said. "Yeah… Yeah, I've seen it," She wheezed back. Her fingers flexed, working to restore her ice-cold fingers. "You've been through a lot, huh?"

"Probably not as much as you," Naruto laughed, genuinely this time. "I shoulda been more considerate of your baggage before I started running my mouth. I'm really sorry for being such a twat."

"Don't apologize to me," She hissed. "You're a child… It's not fair to expect you to understand. It's not fair that you do."

She was silent after that for a long moment, and it was minutes later that she seemed to finally find it in her to say more. "When- when the fall happened, I'd been thinking about telling him- Jiraiya, that is- about the seal. Granny Mito always said to tell no one, but I figured if there was anyone I could trust to know, it'd be him. He was there for me when Dan and Nawaki- when they-" Her jaw 'clicked' shut, her pretty features darkening with a nasty scowl. "The seal is designed to do whatever it can to help protect you; even if the things that it does end up being- well, less than ideal." She licked her lips, staining the upper corner with smeared lipstick. "If the seal activated like that to stop me from telling him, then it's probably because telling him put me in more danger than it was worth." Then her eyes narrowed with something close to suspicion. "So what, were you planning on telling that girl of yours?"

"Something like that." Naruto sighed. His eyes tore away from hers, searching for something-anything to look at aside from his companion. His chakra spanned outward, first settling on the still-asleep Hinata and lingering for a long moment. His sensory jutsu traced the shape of her, tasting the warm spark of her own chakra and pulling comfort from her safety. Then he swiveled, prodding anxiously at Jiraiya like a bear with a stick before finally extending outward; he flitted about through his range, not even the vaguest idea of what he was even searching for in his head.

When nothing came to him, even after nearly half-a-dozen searches, he finally forced himself to acknowledge the woman again. "I adore her. She's so kind to me; she's so patient, and respects my space, and doesn't make me feel weak, even though I'm-" He tried to say it, but the words stuck to the walls of his throat like a wad of gum.

"Even though you're broken, right?" Were it anyone else, he would have snarled at her for saying it. But he knew that she, more than most, knew exactly what it was to be like that.

"Yeah… Even though I'm b-broken. But she's- well, she's good to me, and I wanted- I want her to know that I trust her. But then I saw-" He grit his teeth, smoothening his features. "I can't." It came out, almost as a whine, and he resented it!

"I know." Tsunade raised her arm for a moment, looking at the appendage with discomfort before awkwardly setting it back down. She looked away from him, intent on giving him space to recollect himself. "How do you feel? Physically-" She added.

Sensing the obvious topic change, he forced himself to grin, because he did feel better. Exhaustion aside, the soreness in his muscles had dwindled to little more than a dull shadow of itself, reminding him of just what it felt like to move somewhat comfortably again. His chakra felt light, shaping itself with speed and flexibility unlike even what he had enjoyed during the exams.

It was a testament to Tsunade's prowess, that she had managed to fix him with such completeness, and while he slept, no less!

She seemed to notice the realization, the barest hints of smug satisfaction gracing her lips. "Try doing some exercise over the next few days to get your body back in sync; plenty of stretches before and after so you don't pull or tear anything. I'll run another checkup in a few days to make sure you're at one-hundred percent."

A short pause, then she sighed. She'd given him a reprieve, but their conversation wasn't over. "Now for the elephant… Jiraiya came over last night." Tsunade gave the boy a stern look. "Your little tantrum at dinner raised a whole lot of questions that neither of us are wanting to answer."

Naruto said nothing, but a flush of heat crept up his collar. One-part embarrassment, three-parts anxiety- his heart boiled with shame from that alchemy, and his features morphed to match.

Yeah, not his best moment.

"Obviously, I told him to piss off." Tsunade pinned him under an intense stare. "But don't get it twisted- he will come snooping, and Jiraiya ain't the type of guy who stops snooping… Ever. If you're lucky, he'll be direct. But regardless, he's gonna keep digging and digging and freaking digging until you either tell him what he wants to hear or do something to scare him off for good. That's the reality of your situation now, kid."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Naruto palmed his face, the rapid throbbing in his head pulsating beneath his fingertips.

There really wasn't much that could be done about it though; Jiraiya had already been keeping an eye on him. Naruto had long-since suspected that he had invited Hinata along largely to get his guard down. Regardless, he'd always figured he'd have to weather the man's curiosity; if not his, then definitely Hiruzen's, assuming they could get the old man back on his feet. Still, if he wasn't telling Hinata about the seal, he sure as hell had no plans of caving for Jiraiya. Turning a tired eye Tsunade's way, he asked her, "What do I do then? How did you keep him from snooping on you?"

"I didn't." The frustration in her tone communicated more than a thousand words could've. Her fingers clenched and vibrated with restrained violence. "It's one of the reasons I left in the first place. Listen, little one- Jiraiya is a good man. He cares a lot, and he's got good intentions. But he's lacking a bit in the emotional intelligence department; he always has… The last thing I needed with my fiancé and brother dead was to have him slinking around trying to catch me slipping in some clown-attempt at 'helping'." Her palm rose again, this time dragging across her face and clearing her eyes. "Ah, look- I told him to leave you be, but Jiraiya is a dog with a bone. He hates not knowing shit, and nothing but the whole truth is gonna get him off your ass for good."

Yua's agony raced up his spine, nesting cruelly at the base of his skull. He twitched, his discomfort sharpening into something angrier. "Not happening," He hissed, a myriad of unspoken threats vibrating at his fingertips.

Jiraiya was growing on him, but he'd wring the old pervert's neck himself before he told him a damn thing about the seal.

"You'll have your work cut out for you." Kushina's voice was small, with even her typical amusement seemingly muted under the heaviness of their earlier talk.

Tsunade only chuckled, indulgently. "Keeping secrets ain't easy, little spiral. You're gonna have to get damn good at lying. I'll help you where I can, but the onus is on you not to slip up any further, alright?" A haze had fallen over her eyes and a familiar pain seemed to loom over her shoulders. He'd seen it in his mother; he'd felt its own embrace since the day he'd fallen…

Today though, its weight seemed to be so much more.

"I almost forgot, by the way." Tsunade reached up to her neck, grabbing the Shodaime's crystal and plucking it off without care. The metal fasten broke off, letting her hold the adornment in the flat of her palm. She stared at it for a long moment, emotions messy in her gaze before turning his way. "Before I hand this to you, you oughta know: This thing is super cursed. Every person I've ever given this to has died a grisly death without fail. My love, my brother- hell, I once slipped it into a mark's pocket and he got mauled by a circus bear in the middle of a busy street." She shook her head, as if in disbelief of her own story. Then," A deal's a deal, so if you still want it, knowing that, it's yours. But don't blame me if your next step sees you trip and break your neck."

Naruto heard the lilt of concern, just underneath her blasé tone. Clearly, she was keen to be rid of it; far too many painful memories to count had hung around her neck like a guillotine paused mid-drop for years, all in the simple shape of this jewelry…

For all that she hated the old relic though, she'd never had the heart to just crush it. It was the last relic of her dead grandfather, who for all of his flaws, she had loved and admired… And now she was giving it to him.

He didn't quite have the heart to turn her down.

"I'll take it off your hands. Maybe I can slip it in Itachi Uchiha's pocket- see if my luck bails me out if I meet him again." The thought of Itachi Uchiha tripping on a pebble and dying of a broken neck was a hilarious one, if a bit morbid.

Tsunade snorted, hesitating for only a moment before cramming the thing into his waiting palm. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Mhm…" He was silent for the moment, marveling at the legendary crystal dangling before his own eyes. Apprehension bubbled up, then he squashed it with a shrug, circling it twice around his neck and fixing the two ends with a simple clasp made from his chains so it lay flush against his collarbone, just over his undershirt.

Another silence stretched between them; it wasn't quite uncomfortable, but nevertheless, Naruto found himself searching for something to say, unwilling to let their conversation die in full over such a morbid subject. A thought occurred to him, and he managed a real grin.

"I'll cut you a deal, granny."

"Don't call me that," Tsunade growled, though he knew that the heat in her tone was mostly for show. "What do you want now?"

"I'm still holding you to healing the old man and my people. But I figure I can spare you the embarrassment of dragging you kicking and screaming through those gates, yeah?" He elbowed the woman good naturedly, and she snorted. "We'll set you up a cute little tent a ways off with enough sake to kill a bear and its forefathers and you can work your magic from there. After that I'll cut you loose and you're free to go-"

"Nah." Tsunade bore his gaping expression with a light chuckle. She reached over and ruffled his hair, her laugh increasing as the ends stood up in her wake. "I talked with Jiraiya and Shizune last night. We're going back with you." Her eyes narrowed with an open challenge. "Since you seem so sure you're going to be Hokage, it wouldn't sit right with me if I didn't tag along to see it happen. I've just got some quick business to wrap up here in Tanzaku -shouldn't take longer than a week, tops- then we'll head on back."

Naruto continued to stare blankly at her, and her chuckles slowly waned, finally dying down to become something a bit more somber. "Besides, you were right about one thing: I've missed too much of your life as it is, wouldn't you say?"

The shame in her heart was a cup overflowing.

"I-I thought you didn't care about all of that?"

"I lied." Tsunade shrugged. She fidgeted for just a moment, as if expectant for another outburst on his part. When nothing came, she chanced another look at him, snorting again at his dumbstruck expression. "I asked for you, you oughta know. When the Kyuubi happened, I'd already been planning on leaving for a while- take Shizune with me and see the world… I wanted to take you with me." Tsunade sighed, and she sounded, so very tired. "But sensei wanted me to stay, and he gave me an ultimatum."

Raising two fingers, she continued. "One, I could stay in the village and claim guardianship. Two, I could leave without you." The shame that clung to her chakra swelled and festered like an ulcer. "Not only had Dan and Nawaki died under him, but now he was trying to use you as a bargaining chip to keep me in line… I left you behind out of spite."

Naruto felt cold, listening to Tsunade's shameful admission. "I see…"

Tsunade said nothing, for she had nothing more to say.

"Forcing her to choose between her personal freedoms and her responsibility as family. No doubt he expected her to cave right away. He'd have the best medic in the world to help care for all of the wounded, and he'd be able to keep you close and under his thumb."

Why was he trying to save this man, again? Naruto shook his head, banishing those traitorous thoughts before they could take root.

"You probably hate me." Tsunade didn't blame him. "I gave you shit for it last night, but you definitely had me pegged." She laughed, humorlessly. "I'm just some washed up old loser who's too sore and bitter to fulfill the oath I took. I can't even see a drop of blood without losing my shit." She scoffed, the disgust she felt for herself worn plainly on her person. "Imagine that- Tsunade, the legendary medic who can't even heal people anymore… I've been wondering for the longest time- maybe you were better off without me."

The grief in her heart was foul, a mix of shame and self-loathing that formed teeth and seemed to gnaw away that tiny bit of light that he had started to enjoy from her. Naruto measured his words twice before responding, knowing before even speaking what their worth would be to the woman. "I don't hate you." Her gaze snapped over to him, eyes teeming with disbelief. "I don't!" He insisted. "I understand… I'm pissed; I'm hurt, yeah- but I understand… I'm not gonna pretend like you just up and dipping sits right with me; I'd be so full of shit." He took a shaky breath. "But- well, if you're really committed to making up for lost time, then I guess I can let you off the hook, just this once." A thought. "That is, so long as you're down to teach me some stuff."

A beatific smile found her lips; a glimmer of hope peered through the fog again, reaching for him with the faintest brush of shy, ghostly fingers. He grabbed them tight, gripping her real hand as well. "Don't make me regret giving you a chance, you old bint."

"Yeah, yeah… Whatever." She squeezed his hand, her smile widening. "Why don't I show you how to throw a real punch for starters? Those limp-wristed sissy punches of yours aren't going to cut it, twerp."

"Hey, my limp-wristed sissy punches put you on your ass so clearly I'm doing something right!"

---

He was gone.

Hinata had woken up early, intending on making breakfast for herself, Jiraiya, and Naruto. It had seemed like a fun -albeit small- way to occupy herself while doing something nice for her boyfriend.

That plan swiftly crashed and burned in a smoking ditch when she realized -and she was loath to admit how long it had taken for that- that he wasn't even present.

Instead, all that remained in his place was a note, written shortly in his pen, which had been left on his bed and addressed specifically to her.

Hinata,

I'm out training with Granny Tsunade. Don't worry about me."

It was short, stiff, and terribly out of character for the boy, whose tendency to ramble on and on about anything and everything had become something that she found supremely endearing. She tried not to think too much on it- tried not to let herself think that she had done something to upset him, because she knew exactly how quickly that line of thought tended to spiral in her own head…

Oh who was she kidding? She shouldn't have asked him about jinchuriki; maybe he was mad at her for prying into his personal business? Why had she gone and pried in his business!? Hinata knew damn well that she hated feeling pressured to talk and yet she had gone and put him on the spot. Was that why he had agreed to tell her- because she had pressured him? She didn't want to pressure him- certainly not over something that seemed so personal and uncomfortable for him to talk about!? She needed to apologize when she saw him next; she needed to tell him that she respected his privacy and that he didn't need to tell her anything if he didn't want to and-

Her thoughts ground to a sudden halt as a large hand cupped the crown of her head. Stiffly, she rotated her neck, craning uncomfortably to meet the amused eyes of Jiraiya.

"You were mumbling to yourself," He warned, teasingly. Then his eyes pulled away from her, scanning the room with swiftness. Something uncomfortable assembled itself in his eyes. "Is the kid not with you?"

That uncomfortable look lingered in his eyes for a moment longer before he managed to hide it with a smile. But Hinata was a Hyuga, and byakugan or not, their perception was second-to-none.

"Oh, n-no." She swallowed, procuring the note that Naruto had left behind for her. "He- um, he said he was going to train w-with Tsunade-s-sama…"

The note was plucked from her hands, the Toad Sannin scanning it quickly. His eye twitched, then he took a breath. "Real shame. I was hoping to chat with him for a bit."

"U-um, I think maybe he just ne-needs some space right now," Hinata supplied, hoping to ease the man's clear irritation. "He's probably embarrassed, after last night?"

"Yeah, yeah." Jiraiya nodded, stiffly. Then he looked down at Hinata, easing his features into something more agreeable. "Well since the two of you seem to have gotten the rasengan down pat, I was thinking I could teach you both something neat." He shrugged, a rueful grin in his face. "His loss…. Do you wanna learn? Or are you planning on disappearing too?"

"I-I'll learn!" Hinata was quick to interject. However worried she may have felt, Naruto likely had his reasons for disappearing, and she trusted him to come back when he was ready. Besides, she had promised him that she would get stronger, and she wasn't about to turn down a chance to learn from a ninja of Jiraiya's caliber.

Plus, it'd keep him busy for a while...

"Great. Grab your things. I'll teach you how to make needles with your hair." He flicked a stray strand of blue that hung out of place. "You might need to grow it a bit though to really make it work… I'll be waiting at the door."

---

You're doing too much," Tsunade's critique came with a chop at his head that broke his concentration. The chakra teeming in his coils fizzled as he rubbed the aching spot on his skull, dispersing with his focus. "Emotions can take you far when you know how to harness them, but trying to learn something like this with a chaotic heart is only gonna end with you blowing your damn limbs off."

Naruto groaned, his palm prodding at the reddening welts she had been leaving him with. "Well how exactly do I un-chaos my heart, then? Just dump all my baggage in the trash bin and forget about it?"

"Ill-advised."

Tsunade seemed to concur with Kushina's warning. "Tried it. Not a good look- unless you'd like to try drinking again?"

"I'm good!" Naruto tried to tune out Tsunade's chuckles, steadying his breathing again and dedicating all of his attention to the boulder she'd placed before him. It was massive, standing taller, wider, and much heavier than he was.

Tsunade's earlier orders still rang in his head. "If you wanna learn how to use my strength, you first gotta realize that it's as much about precision and focus as it is, raw power. You can't just sling a bunch of chakra around and expect it to work; you're more likely to just do permanent damage to yourself… So the first order of business is to learn your body and chakra inside and out- not just how to control it, but how to maximize the value of even the tiniest bits of your chakra and that starts with 'chakra purification'."

Her lecture was still clear in his head, even with all the welts she'd laid into it since they had started.

Chakra purification was a complex process that demanded absolute control. It started with breaking down one's chakra to its core components, and changing the nature of that chakra down to the atomic level. It minimized natural waste, and once reassembled, resulted in an outcome that was far more potent and optimized for its task than attempting to convert the already final, impure product that their bodies naturally produced.

When performed at even a basic level, it drastically cut down the amount of chakra needed to perform any jutsu, and magnified the potency as well. Even the most mundane of just could become well over twice as effective under the most basic applications of chakra purification.

It was also a skill that he had little foundation in- one that had been largely pioneered by Tsunade, herself.

Which meant the Legacy Seal was seemingly of little help here.

"So I've gotta break my chakra down, convert the kernels to a purely yang alignment, and rebuild it into pure yang chakra with no impurities brought about by my other natural alignments. Then apply it to my body perfectly without blowing my body apart… Easy enough!" He sarcastically sang. He had no idea what he was doing! He'd thought his control was pretty good, even without the aid of his chains, but this brought a new perspective to the table, on just how much further he had to go.

Unfortunately, as Tsunade had repeatedly told him, his 'chaotic heart' or whatever wasn't doing him any favors.

"Sorry," Kushina mumbled for what felt like the umpteenth time since he'd awoken.

'It's fine,' Naruto tried to assuage her. He tried to mean it, too. But it wasn't fine, and even if he didn't blame her for showing him, that didn't mean it didn't weigh on him.

Yua's helplessness had served as a reminder that, for all of his improvements, and all of his accomplishments as of late, he was still a small fish in a large pond. The Akatsuki members, Itachi and Kisame- he hadn't been strong enough to ward them off. Hinata had been hurt trying to defend him; Sasuke had been rendered comatose. What's more, they had only survived due to the timely arrival of Jiraiya.

And he had to swallow that- that for all of his recent accomplishments, the young Uzumaki was simply not strong enough to protect her or even himself from the threats that lurked in this world. Their people, who had stood among the very top of the world for their strength and ingenuity, had been equally as helpless in the face of the weapons that Hashirama had handed to their shared enemies.

Something bitter swelled painfully in his chest, at that.

Children crushed to death under rock.

Neighbors' brains splattered in their childhood homes...

If someone tried to do that to his precious people- Naruto wasn't strong enough to prevent something like that- not yet, at least.

But he would be.

"Weakness breeds desperation. Desperation fuels growth." Kushina supplied. He felt her fingers close around the curve of his shoulders, her cheek pressing against his own in as much a bid for comfort as it was, an offer.

"Well I'm feeling pretty damn desperate," He growled. His anxieties; his fears- all of it was just the symptom of his own weakness. "I'll cut it all down, starting with this." His eyes affixed once more to the boulder, ignoring Tsunade's curious stare. A long breath, and his thoughts finally cleared. "So what do you suggest then? Separating my chakra- it's not like I can just eyeball that."

A loud groan was his response. "Are you an Uzumaki or not? Quit thinking so one-dimensionally!" Tsunade's fists found her hips, her torso leaning forward to just about loom over him. "You think our sensory jutsu is only good for scanning your surroundings? Turn that thing inwards and take a look at yourself for a change!"

Oh…

It was a simple change that made all the difference. Reversing the flow of his chakra wasn't easy, but here at the heart of it all where his control was at its greatest, it was doable. His chakra shifted, changing from something akin to an antenna to that of a sonar, centered on himself. Suddenly, with just that change in his perception, he could see, and her instructions didn't feel quite so impossible anymore. He saw the way his chakra flowed within his body; saw every muscle as it tensed, contorting and shaping itself in sync with the electrical signals that fired off in hundreds of thousands of ceaseless streams from his brain and along his spine.

It was too much.

He bowled over, clutching at his head as the information branded a smoking mark within. Groaning, his focus slipped, and he fought to set it back, but nausea crept up on him. It was every bit of focus just to keep the light of the sun from throwing him over the edge and making him hurl their earlier breakfast.

"You gotta self regulate." Tsunade's warning was far too late, and he glared at her for it. "When you scan your surroundings, your chakra has to travel, so its potency naturally dilutes itself over the course of that distance. With this though, your chakra is at the heart of its source. You need to learn how to maximize your awareness both internally and externally; what's more, you've gotta maintain that balance without frying your brain. Once you master that, chakra purification won't feel so ridiculous anymore.

Naruto merely groaned back, and she laughed, a touch of sympathy finding its way into her tone. "I know it sucks, but eventually it'll be as natural as breathing. When that happens, you'll be constantly aware." Then her tone shifted to something bordering on bragging. She flexed her arm, and Naruto was surprised to see the intense swell of muscle underneath her feminine figure. "Because of my heightened self-awareness, I'm constantly refreshing my brain and muscles with yang-release to revitalize myself. I can produce supplementary-proteins and nutrients needed to make sure my body is always functioning at max capacity. If I activate this seal right here-" She gestured to the purple diamond on her forehead. "I can go months without eating or drinking, and I can fight for days or even weeks without tiring, so long as I have chakra to spare. I'm all but immune to genjutsu because it can't stick in my brain since I'm always refreshing it. Do you get the point, or need I go on?"

"I get it. You're built like a brick shithouse and don't need nappies," Naruto drawled. "So grit my teeth and bear the pain, and I'll thank you in a few years when I'm also crazy tough."

And that was all that needed to be said about that. Once again, he set his awareness inward, sparing just enough focus to remain aware of his immediate surroundings. His range dropped down to a mere pittance of what he'd enjoyed just moments ago, and his brain all but pounded at the inner frame of his skull.

Grin and bear it.

"Keep that on at all times. Even when you sleep." Tsunade gave the boy a devious grin. "If I catch you slipping -and I will-, I get to smack you."

"You'll smack me anyways, you villain!"

"Yeah, yeah. Back to the rock." She grabbed his shoulders, physically turning him back to his assignment. Her first thought was to continue her earlier lecture. But perhaps it was better to let him attune himself further before she threw something entirely new at him... "Y'know what, let's take a detour. Before we even get to the point of chakra purification, we're going to get you familiar with your body's limits. Take note of your internals, from the density of your bones to the flexibility of your twitch muscle fibers and everything in-between- hell, even keep your skin in mind! Map it all out; sear your schematics into your brain and never forget them! From there, you'll control the flow of your chakra to accommodate for all of that. Take your time- hours, even days if you've gotta. But you're not to leave this spot until you're precise enough that you can cleave this thing right down the middle.

He nodded and, satisfied that he understood the assignment, she stepped back, taking a seat and watching him work. He ignored her presence entirely, instead doing as she had commanded. His sonar pulsed throughout his body, readily drinking in the information that returned to it. Every bit of himself was slowly calibrated, like a machine reading its own code. When he finally moved for the first time, the sun had dipped well past the skyline, once-more denying their world its light.

Slowly, he raised his arm, positioning it well above his head. His chakra rushed throughout his body.

Bone was reinforced.

Nerves fired off with rapid activation.

Muscles expanded and contracted in tandem with his intentions.

His heart rate skyrocketed in the moment, pumping blood at such a rate that for a brief moment, he felt lightheaded. Then everything seemed to 'click' into place.

Thin puffs of violet smoke wreathed his fingertips and he slashed his hand down with a yell, grimacing as the stone before him exploded. Rubble flew upwards, hanging airborne for a time before scattering across the field all around him.

"Not enough control," Tsunade observed. She formed a single seal, and to his awe, the ruined boulder reassembled itself as if it had never been broken. Except, now it was larger and thicker than before. "Do it again. Refine your yang chakra to a knife's edge and infuse it through your body. Don't just make a blade with your chakra; become that blade!"

He did, his fingers aching as he did so. The stone crumbled, though not as explosively as before.

"Again."

From his core to his shoulder, his muscles burned with the exertion as he once again plowed away at the boulder which increased in stature with every half-success.

"Again."

The night continued on, every attempt tormenting his body until she rose from her spot and took his purpling arms in her grasp. She swallowed as she did so, forcing her eyes not to linger on his bloodied fingers and knuckles, and taking only just long enough to soothe the pain before once again, she was commanding him to try again.

The sun rose and he was still working, taking only the briefest breaks to let her fix him or eat a nutrient bar that she stuffed into his hands before once again he was splitting the stone again and again and again until the sun had fallen again, and his aunt finally barked at him to stop.

"Why'd you stop me?" Naruto questioned her. She had only just healed him recently, and his hands didn't hurt at all!

"Look at it."

He did, and he gaped. There it was, split perfectly down the middle, just as she'd shown him what felt like only hours prior.

"Physical effort is the fastest way to refine yang release. Our dances tap heavily into it to work, so you should already understand how important it is. But it's not enough just to strengthen your body; that's only the first step. To truly attune to yang-release you need to shape it like clay in your hands. Then become that clay, yourself. " She stood, approaching the boy and smoothing down his frizzing hair with a smile. "Take a day to rest. Next time I come get you, we'll move properly onto chakra purification." With that, Tsunade disappeared in a puff of smoke, and he stared, wondering when she had even made the switch.

---

The sun had just fallen for the second time when Tsunade finally left the boy all by his lonesome, at last leaving Tayuya and her team to take a breath of relief.

Eluding that damned sensory jutsu of theirs was a pain in the ass; only Orochimaru's own forewarning of Tsunade's range had aided them in keeping out of her purview, though it had ultimately put them all so far away that their only option in the end had been to rely on Kidomaru's spider summons just to keep an eye on the pair.

With her finally gone though, they were finally able to close much of the distance, leaving the kid firmly in her crosshairs for the first time that day.

Clearly, that crazy old bat had put him through the ringer. Gashes, large and small littered his clothing; of the skin that peeked out through the damage, she could make out a heavy dotting of bruising along nearly every inch of his visible flesh. Even still, he seemed remiss to leave the field, even though Orochimaru's old teammate had clearly dismissed him.

"You're awfully interested in that kid, aren't you?" Kidomaru jeered at her. She didn't deign to look at him, but she knew the boy was grinning at the back of her head.

"I'm sure we could try introducing you, if you're feeling brave enough-"

"Oh bite me, you mutant shit-stain," She growled back, garnering a chuckle. She sighed. "Kimimaro says this guy's the one who took down the One Tails."

That got his attention. "And you're only just now bringing this up?"

"I sure as shit wasn't gonna mention it around Jirobo." She gave a long roll of her eyes, finally turning just enough to glare at him from under long lashes. "He's been unstable as hell since we lost the boss' favor. No telling what dumb shit he'd do trying to 'prove himself' or whatever; he'd probably get us all killed."

Her reasoning was sound. Kidomaru could see it clearly in his mind's eye. Jirobo, as mild-mannered as he tended to be, had been increasingly irate, ever-desperate to find any way to reclaim his lost favor with Lord Orochimaru. He didn't doubt for a second that his teammate would do something drastic, if he thought for even a moment that it would work.

"So you thought pawning him off to watch the Hyuga was a good idea?"

And unmarked at that…

"Jirobo's not quite dumb enough to try anything while the Toad is lurking around." Well, she certainly hoped so, at least. "Either way, Sakon and Ukon oughta keep him in line."

Which brought them back to him. Or at least, she thought it was a 'him'. He was flat as a board, but Tayuya was also flat as a board.

Note to self. Kill herself for talking shit about herself.

More importantly, this one not only had been able to take down a Tailed Beast, but now seemed to be buddies with the Slug Sannin. "If this kid manages to turn the slug from helping Kimimaro, we're probably getting the axe, whether it's our fault or not…"

"Mhm…" Kidomaru hummed, suspiciously. "But you don't plan to be around to see that happen regardless, yeah?"

Tayuya froze, feeling the boy's fingers ghost across the back of her neck. "If you're gonna do something you'd better make damn sure you don't miss."

He most definitely had her beat at this range, but if he thought she couldn't still drag him to hell with her he had another thing-

"I'm kidding! Kidomaru chortled, his touch receding on the spot. "Whatever the odds, I don't exactly fancy my chances with you." He shuffled back, giving the girl room to finally turn to match his gaze. "Nah. I want in."

That made her quirk a brow. "Just the other day you were tonguing the snake's ass alongside Jirobo. Now you want me to believe that you're trying to turn traitor?"

"Yeah, right. Let me just run my mouth while Jirobo is around and listening; you think he won't sell us out the same damn attosecond he hears us say something he doesn't like? I was trying to protect us, idiot!"

Oh… Tayuya schooled her features, peering through the boy for any sense of deceit. He could be lying to her, but if he was, she sure as shit wasn't seeing it, and Tayuya had always had good sense for stuff like that. More importantly, he was the smartest of the four; of all of the others most likely to be on the same page as her, it was always going to be him. Plus, she couldn't exactly turn him down. If he was telling the truth, scorning him would just piss him off, and he'd probably just sell her out, out of spite.

"Fine, let's say I believe you… What exactly are you hoping to gain from me?"

He shrugged. "Freedom or a swift death. Either or is better than what the boss has in store for us." He chuckled, and she couldn't help the rumble in her throat, in kind. Then his features turned stone cold. "Problem is: we can't exactly just defect. So long as we've got these seals on us, he's got us locked on his mini-map. Hell, he's probably listening in on our coms, as we speak."

"Nah, we're good," Tayuya cut in. "Our seals are the older Earth variants. He can only link up with us when it's active." Her fingers reached up to ghost across the mark on her neck. "The second the seal activates, by our will or otherwise, he'll know. Even if we ain't thinking about it at the time, I'll bet. But until then, we've got a bit of wiggle room; especially since he ordered us not to use it."

"How do you know?"

"You think I've been planning this out half-cocked? I've been testing this thing since the first day we got back from Konoha. He disciplined me for pissing off Kabuto, but only after the rat went and snitched on me, himself. After that, I spent our whole last meeting thinking of killing Kimimaro while he's sick and not once did he so much as give me the eyes." It was possible that he was well aware and was just playing along, but she was running out of time; at this point, she was just going to need to gamble a bit. After he'd used the seal to torture them, she'd known damn well that they were on borrowed time. After all, Orochimaru was a collector; he wouldn't dare damage anything he valued. "If you really want out, we need the seal removed, or at least sealed so he can't activate it on us."

"Doing something like that, we'd need the help of a seal master-" The spider-like boy's eyes widened. "You mean to use Jiraiya?" Then they narrowed. "You're playing a dangerous game, Tayuya."

"We're trying to slip under the radar of Orochi-fucking-maru. We don't get to play it safe!" Frankly, she was already half-way at peace with the fact that she was likely to die. But she sure as shit wasn't going out sorry.

He flinched, then sighed. "Conceded. So what, then? We can't exactly walk up to him and ask to help. He knows our faces, and we were there with Orochimaru when the Hokage got axed. He's likely to just kill us on the spot."

"Which is where that Konoha twink comes in," Tayuya grunted, jutting her finger toward the boy, who had finally started to limp from the clearing. "Problem is, he seems pretty close to the Hokage as well. If we approach him wrong and he rats us out, we're dead."

"So convince him that we come in peace and get him to convince Jiraiya to protect us…" He stuffed his face in one of his hands and groaned. "Your plans suck."

"You can gobble my whole ass. Look, I've got an idea, but you're not gonna like it."

Kidomaru frowned. "Let's hear it."

---

Dealing with Tsunade was always a balancing act. Directness was favored with her, for she had little patience. However, that foul temper of hers tended to flare up at the most random -and often inopportune- of times. She was fickle too, and Orochimaru had long-since learned to never trust the woman simply at her word. She lied constantly, often about minor things that rarely mattered; occasionally, those lies piled up like trash in a landfill, and it took a fair bit of foresight to anticipate the problems that her tendencies often brought.

So he wasn't surprised to see that she had changed her mind. Not at all. He wasn't even upset, for that was expected. They had not been close for quite some time, and Orochimaru's defection from Konoha was only one part of a much larger set of issues between the two.

"I am saddened to hear that you are no longer interested in honoring our deal." The Snake Sannin leaned back in his chair, lounging against the hardened surface. Just behind him, Kimimaro stood, his palm rested on the back of his chair. The young man's eyes were filled with venom for his master's old teammate.

Not because she had refused to cure him, but because she had defied his master...

Kimimaro really was so adorably predictable.

Tsunade shrugged, lounging with her whole body against the plush couch that Orochimaru had offered her. Her legs were kicked up over the armrest, the woman seemingly intent on taking up as much space on the object as humanly possible. "His condition is too far along. It'd take me weeks- maybe even months to get him restored to the point of a clean bill of health. I'm afraid it's just not possible on the timetable I'm working with."

"Because you are unable, or because you are unwilling?"

Tsunade shrugged again, finally tilting her head to pin him under apathetic eyes. "I've got more important shit on my plate than to hang around your posse and fix your broken toys."

Kimimaro's fury vibrated under his skin, but it was only a slight touch of their link through the seal on his chest to soothe the boy once more.

"That medicine of his should at least keep his condition from getting any worse for the time being. If he follows my prescription properly and avoids any excess activity, it should buy him a couple more months, at least... Maybe by then that medic of yours will figure out a cure, himself." Tsunade looked Kabuto up and down and sniffed, causing the young man's eye to twitch. Judging by the tone of the woman's voice, Orochimaru suspected that she didn't care much either way.

"Surely there is something I can offer you that will convince you?" He could think of one, but he was hesitant to suggest it. Tsunade was unpredictable, and was just as likely to fly into a rage at its mention, as she was to cave. If she did, it was unlikely that he'd be able to kill her. At most, he'd drive her off before things got too out of hand, but Orochimaru didn't exactly favor his underlings' chances against her speed. If he was especially unlucky, she'd tear right through them in seconds, and the resulting chaos would attract unwelcome attention. Tsunade shrugged again, clearly not thinking much of his words, and it was tough to keep from baring his teeth at her.

Still, having Kimimaro at one-hundred percent again was likely worth the trouble. At the rate things were going, he would need to switch again soon… Taking a weak, ill-prepared body would set him back years. Kimimaro though- he would be the ideal. Though, perhaps one of the other Sound Four could suffice for the time being. Tayuya was also a strong candidate; only slightly less so than Kimimaro, himself. Indeed, whatever she lacked in physical ability she more than made up for, elsewhere. But she was unlikely to cooperate. What's more, she was clever, and her strong yin-chakra made taking her body a risky play.

No, he needed Kimimaro cured. There was no other option.

"Perhaps I do have something you want." He leaned forward, his sibilant tongue no higher than a whisper. Tsunade raised an eyebrow, her previously unconcerned posture rattled suddenly by the confidence in his own. "When we last met, I told you that I had managed to reinvent Lord Second's resurrection jutsu-" Tsunade's eyes narrowed with suspicion, and he knew to hurry before she lost her patience with him. "I have since been able to develop it even further. Further still with the data I collected against sensei... I am now certain that I could manage a true revival. Not that of a mindless servant, but of a real living, breathing, independent restoration of the soul."

"You mean-" Tsunade shot out of her seat, any semblance of her previous attitude long forgotten. "What are you trying to pull!?"

He did not speak immediately, choosing his words very carefully. "You should know that you were the reason I started developing this jutsu to begin with," Orochimaru whispered, almost reverently. "Nawaki's death was my fault after all, wasn't it? He was on my squad when the bomb went off..." He stood as well, a sad smile lingering on his lips. "All this time I simply wished to do right by you, my friend, and while you and Jiraiya may feel that I have lost my way, I am proud to say that I never lost sight of my original goal. Agree to fix my dear Kimimaro and I will make you an offer you cannot refuse. A contract between friends. Nawaki, once you have signed, and Dan once his condition has been fully reversed." Orochimaru stood as well, opening his arms to the woman in a show of warmth. "However low you think I have fallen, my heart is not yet so cold that I would torment you with falsehoods. After all, for all of our differences, you were and are my beloved friend."

---

Jiraiya's lackadaisical facade had lasted for much of the first day, but as night fell and the sun had risen anew, his face seemed to grow more and more grave by the moment. Thrice, he stepped out, mumbling something about "checking on Tsunade," with the man looking more and more frazzled with each return. The final time, something close to fury had settled in the place of his worry, and no amount of shy prodding on Hinata's behalf could get the man to so much as speak to her about it.

Naruto did not return throughout the second day either, and as the hours passed, Jiraiya's glower only continued to darken, the man remaining seated on a couch facing the door and sitting far too still for her liking. Several times throughout that day, small toads seemed to find their way into the building, drip feeding the man information that only seemed to further darken his countenance.

Just when she feared that the man would flip the whole table and erupt, the door to their lodging finally cracked open and the object of their shared concern limped inside with half-lidded eyes.

Hinata gasped, taking in the state he was in. It was only moments for her to find herself beneath his arm, propping up his weight and dragging him further inside with a thousand and one questions ready to bounce off her tongue.

"Are you okay? W-what happened to you? Did you get attacked?" She rambled on, her questions barraging the boy with rapid speed until his low chuckle slowed her thoughts.

His lips found her scalp, and she ducked her head into his chest, her blush igniting on her face. "I'm fine," He assured her. "I was training, and I didn't want to leave until I figured out what I was working on." Hesitantly, she peered up at him; he gave her his eyes, letting her see the truth in them, and her fears mostly melted away.

Almost.

His warmth was familiar, and though his eyes were as sweet and adoring as they had always been, there was something painful in them that made her heart clench.

"A-ah, I wan- I wanted to tell you that you don't need to-" Her hastened words were lost in the sudden stampede that was a now fast-approaching Jiraiya.

"Where in the bloody hell were you!?" He roared, raw fury searing itself across his features.

Naruto flinched at his tone, looking at the man with wide, wary eyes. "Wha- I-I was- I was training… I left a note for you guys!"

"A note- You have been gone for nearly two days! You think a note covers that?" In his rage, Jiraiya completely missed the clear surprise in the boy's eyes. "Have you forgotten that Orochimaru and his lackeys are in the area, or that the Akatsuki could still be lurking around here? You didn't even mention where you would be; how in the blue hell did you expect us to find you if you got into trouble?"

This time, Naruto stepped forward, ducking out from under Hinata's arm and standing taller in spite of his clear exhaustion. Annoyance crept quickly into his eyes. "Hinata's byakugan has more than enough range that she would've found me in minutes if it was really pressing. Plus, I said in that same note that I was training with Tsunade! Quit treating me like I'm stupid!"

"Don't lie to me," Jiraiya hissed, stepping forward, himself. Naruto's eyes dilated as his massive form loomed over him, the boy's fingers flexing with anticipation. "You think I haven't been keeping tabs on her? My toads have been searching for you for the better part of this day and the last; I've seen her plenty of times, but not once have they reported your presence. I know damn well you weren't with her!"

Hinata looked between the two, her confusion turning into something closer to panic as the tensions between the two continued to rise. Sensing a misunderstanding, she stepped forward, knowing in her heart that the blonde was being truthful, yet afraid to somehow escalate further by intervening.

Naruto, to his credit, merely looked confused. "I-I mean I guess she must have left after a while because when we split off she was a clone, but I did train with her and I figured she was probably close by."

"Probably!?" Jiraiya's shout was so far at odds with his usual laid back demeanor, and this time Naruto stepped back. "Let me remind you again that it was only days ago that those Akatsuki guys nearly snatched you up and broke your girlfriend in two, and now you're trusting your fate to 'probably'!?"

"A-alright, I get it." Naruto's voice was small. He backed up another step, his eyes watching the man before him for any slight movements. "I figured she probably left some of her summons or whatever around to keep an eye out for me and didn't think much past that 'cuz I got wrapped up with training. I didn't even realize so much time had passed." He huffed, looking almost pained as he forced himself to swallow all of the things he wanted to say. "That's on me. I should've let you guys know where I was going to be or at least sent a clone with an update… Sorry. Now stop fucking shouting at me."

Seeing her chance to jump in, Hinata stepped forward. "U-um, Naruto-kun is telling the truth!" She cut in, swallowing as Jiraiya's angry gaze found her person. "T-that is- I don't think Naruto-kun would lie." Naruto's thankful smile was wiped from his face when Jiraiya scoffed, disbelievingly.

"Yeah, yeah sure." He visibly calmed himself, forcibly replacing his rage with a mask of firm disapproval. "From now on, you don't go anywhere unless I sign off on it first. I want to know where you're going and who you're going with, and you're to return exactly when I dictate; are we understood?"

Naruto blinked rapidly for a moment, still reeling from the man's confrontational attitude. Several emotions slipped across his face, most too quick for Jiraiya to even put a name to, before he finally settled on anger. "What exactly is this supposed to be? I admit that I probably should have come back for the evening, but it's not like I snuck out or anything. You can literally go ask Tsunade herself since you think I'm full of shit; she'll back me up when I say that all I did was go train! Why are you so intent on making a fight out of this?"

"Because you left without discussing anything with me, and you stayed out for days without once thinking to check in with anybody! I'm responsible for you! If something happens to you, that's on me!"

"What the- Oh piss off with that!" Naruto snapped back, harshly. "It's a bit late to be worrying about my safety at this point, ya know."

Jiraiya flinched as if struck, then his eyes boiled with rage. "Kid, I'm getting real sick of this whole guilt trip play. I let you off the hook the first couple of times, but now you owe me answers-

"Guilt tri-" Naruto's eyes gleamed with barely restrained violence. "I don't owe you shit! You're not entitled to shit!" A dangerous sneer curled at his lips, teeth sharpening and lengthening unconsciously. His fingers lengthened and sharpened into digits more synonymous of several shuddering scythes. An ominous rattling noise began to fill the air, sounding from within him. His earlier exhaustion seemed entirely forgotten, the dark circles under and around his eyes contrasting heavily with too-bright, star-shaped pupils that widened further and further like a predator's gaze. "We barely even know each other! You spent my life dicking around and perving on women instead of stepping up! The first time we met, you fucking put me in urgent care for a month! Now you can't even give me the benefit of the doubt 'cuz you'd rather put a collar on me than just give me my damned space! Why the hell do you expect me to just spill my guts to you like we're friends!?"

"Naruto…" He heard the warning in his mother's voice and forced his temper down, forcing the lion's share of his stress out with an exhale. A short gout of hot, purplish smoke puffed from his lips. His teeth and fingers returned to normal, his stuttering chest forcing itself to slow its rate.

"Whatever. Fine… Sorry for being out so long. Get out of my damn way." He made to step around his godfather, who was unnaturally still. The dark shadow that had taken over much of the man's face and obscured his eyes was sign enough that the discussion had gotten too hot for comfort.

"Hold on. We're not done here." The weight of Jiraiya's palm pinned Naruto where he stood, the man's grip on his shoulder rendering the boy statuesque.

Slowly, as if fearful of what he would find, the boy tilted his head, his gaze first finding the too-large hand of the man who once more loomed well above him. Naruto's eyes dilated, his pupils take up nearly every inch of space as they panned up, too fast, to quickly find the glowering stare of the man who had-

His lips were moving, sound bending around his ears but not quite penetrating as Jiraiya spoke.

He was falling. His bloodied fingers scraped uselessly against the stone walls trying to arrest the inertia foisted upon him by the man who had protected him.

He had pushed him again. He was falling. He was-

"Naruto!" Kushina's cry was a catalyst, and Naruto screamed.

"Don't touch me!" He shrieked, a deliberately closed fist swinging out with too much strength and swatting Jiraiya's arm aside. In his haste to retreat from the man, Naruto lost his footing, stumbling to the ground and scrambling away with a sound that bordered on animalistic.

"Hey!" Jiraiya growled, shaking his surprisingly aching wrist. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm just-" He froze, his forward advance toward the boy cut off by Hinata's sudden interception, the girl interposing herself between them with her eyes wide.

"You're scaring him!" She hissed, tearing her eyes away from the man just long enough to soften her gaze and peer at the still grounded boy behind her. "It's okay Naruto-kun. He didn't mean to-" She stopped, cut off abruptly as her boyfriend scrambled to his feet and bolted, slamming the door to his room behind him.

Worriedly, her gaze lingered on the still shuddering door, her subconscious byakugan tracing the frame of the boy behind it as he slumped against it, clutching at his heaving chest.

Then a vicious glare found its way back to the confuddled frame of the boy's godfather.

"He said he was sorry!" She growled, fingers clenching with an itch to strike the man. "How many times do you need to see him freak out before you realize he's afraid of you!?"

Jiraiya reared back as if she had struck him. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a dumb babble, and Hinata steam rolled right past it, her fury stymying her typical reticence for confrontation.

"He's not guilt-tripping you! He's afraid! And you're not helping him by jumping down his throat- what, because he won't talk to you? The first thing you did was scream at him and call him a liar! Why would he talk to you!?"

"I-I swear I wasn't trying to scare-"

"But you did! You pushed him and now every time you touch him out of nowhere or loom over him like that he sees you as a threat! You did this, and you don't get to just blow it off in a week or boil his pain down to a guilt trip!"

Then she stepped forward, stamping her foot so hard that the wood beneath it cracked. "And he doesn't owe you anything! If you can't trust that Naruto-kun has his reasons for not telling us things, then you don't deserve to know!"

Her final piece said, she spun on her heel and stomped to her own room. The door's frame cracked as hers too slammed behind her. Then, she too slumped against the door, her frantic heart trying to beat out of her chest.

Deep breaths Hinata.

On the other side, she heard Jiraiya start to pace, the heavy fall of his footsteps sounding clearly even through the barrier she'd put between them. Her byakugan followed a moment later, tracking him as he finally gave a lingering look toward Naruto's room, then left the building. Then her gaze drifted toward the door of the boy she loved, spotting his still-shuddering figure; she forced her sight to retract, knowing he wouldn't appreciate being seen in such a state, but resolving to check on him once he had pulled himself back together.

---

Night had long since come, and Shizune had just about settled down for the evening when the door to their hotel room started to rattle under a heavy fist. She shared a desperate look to Tonton, both of which had already laid onto the bed for rest. "Please?"

Tonton gave a smoldering glare. "Oink!"

"Oh fine, you big baby!" Shizune yanked herself out from underneath the covers, tossing the majority share of the fabric onto the lazy pig's head and starting for the door, which had only grown more insistent in the time since it had begun. Smoothening her sneer into something more pleasant, she pried the door open, flinching back as the large fist of Jiraiya nearly brained her in the man's haste. "Please don't punch me."

"I need to speak to Tsunade," He gasped, looking terribly out of breath. "Is she here?"

Taking in his discontent, her eyes then rolled over to her master's room, where she knew the woman was likely drinking. "She's not in a great mood, I'll have you know."

"She'll get over it. I need to speak with her."

Shizune winced at the man's callous retort, knowing he'd likely regret those words. Still, she wasn't about to be the one trying to stand between a so-obviously desperate Jiraiya. "Please just don't anger her any further." Then, she stepped aside, letting him bustle past her. He made a beeline for Tsunade's room, and with a poorly restrained groan, Shizune headed for the small kitchenette to make tea as the man just about barged into Tsunade's room.

"I need to talk to you!" He all but roared, his words finding company with a Tsunade whose seating had been adorned with nearly a dozen bottles of cheap liquor.

"I heard," She growled, setting a violent glare onto the man. "I could hear you from here."

"Naruto says he was out training with you."

"That's why you all but kicked my door down?" She palmed her face, leaning back into the cushions of her small couch. "Get the hell out."

"Did he or did he not train with you!?" Jiraiya roared, his fingers harshly grabbing at her door frame.

"For the love of- Yes. I went to heal the brats the other day and he asked me to teach him some shit. What the hell is this about, you damn pest?"

Jiraiya slumped, his features morphing into something shameful. "We- uh, we got into a fight… I panicked and I thought he was lying to me so I-"

"So you what?" Tsunade's tone was deadly. "What did you do now, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya barely heard the threat in her voice at all, too wrapped up in his own shame. "I didn't mean to scare him…" He looked back at her, as if suddenly remembering she was there. "We started arguing, and I grabbed his shoulder. He lost his shit and I-"

"Post-traumatic stress disorder," Tsunade cut in, her tone somehow more impatient than ever. "How the hell do you not understand that you've gone and fucked that kid up for life?" Jiraiya said nothing, his eyes cast downward. So Tsunade continued on, her tone entirely unsympathetic. "Every time he so much as looks at you, he remembers what you did to him. Symptoms can range based on certain stimuli; sometimes he might be able to keep it together, but high stress situations are always going to bring the worst of it out. Even if he forgives you, he's never going to trust you, and if you were stupid enough to get aggressive with him, you likely went and triggered his fight or flight response." She eyed the light bruising that had begun to develop on his arm and snickered, darkly.

"What can I do?" Jiraiya all but begged her. "I swear I wasn't trying to- I was just worried and I thought he was trying to bullshit me again so I was trying to be stern but-"

"I don't care." She switched her focus back to the bottle in her hand, downing its remains in a single go. "You wanna know what you can do? Leave the kid alone. He's not gonna get any better with you breathing down his damn neck. I tried to tell you this the other day, but your dumbass can't help but try to play hero… Sometimes, you just end up making shit worse."

"Oh…" One word, spoken so lamely that Tsunade felt a shred of guilt. The man really was too easy, sometimes.

"Look, I'll talk to him. For now, just stay out of his way and let him sort his shit at his own pace."

"Right… Right." Jiraiya shuffled on the spot, looking so terribly out of place just lingering in her doorway. "I'll- uh… I'll just go. Thanks for- thanks."

Then he left, just as quickly as he had come, once again leaving Tsunade by her lonesome.

"You're welcome, kid." Tsunade muttered, tiredly. "That oughta keep him off your ass for a bit... Sorry about the scare though." She swirled a bottle between her fingers, watching as the trace liquid followed its path. "Now I've just got you to worry about then huh, you damned snake?"

"I will await your response until the end of the week."

---

Alrighty. That's the chapter. Obviously, this took a bit longer to come out than I was originally intending. I kept having to do rewrites because I had some things that I really liked but just couldn't get everything to 'click' into place the way I wanted. For those of you who are interested, you can find a link to the discord in my profile where we'll likely be chatting about the chapter as people get around to completing it. That's also where you'll find the post-chapter analysis that I used to do at the ends of these chapters.

To those of you who might have wanted to join last time but weren't able to because of technical issues, my apologies. I have since fixed said issues and double checked, as of literal minutes before this chapter would be going up. Come join us! It's fun!

Speaking of which, thanks again to all of my discord goons; you guys really helped me get over a lot of major hurdles and are probably the only reason I didn't take a full month trying to get this one out.

Alright I'm done rambling. Thanks for reading, and until next time!