Chapter 28: Aftermath

I breathed heavily as I hopped from one tree branch to another. We'd only been traveling for a few hours and nowhere near our top speed, but I was already exhausted.

Unlike the last time that I used Kurama's full Chakra, Tsunade wasn't here to heal me, only Shizune and while she was a great medic, she wasn't as skilled as her master… The best she could do was get me up on my feet so we could begin traveling.

As I landed on the next branch, my food slipped and I found myself rapidly approaching the ground, only for Shizune to catch me around my waist, preventing me from landing directly on my face.

"Are you alright?" Shizune asked with a concerned look on her face. She made sure that I wasn't going to fall over before she released me. Anko landed next to her with the girl… Isaribi on her back.

"Just a little tired," I panted. "But I can keep going."

"I think that we could all benefit from a break," Shizune said. "We crossed the border into the Land of Fire about an hour ago, so we could stand to get some rest… And I would like to reexamine Anko's shoulder… to make sure that it hasn't been aggravated from traveling with Isaribi on her back."

Shizune was clearly calling for a break because of me, it was easy to see. I let out a sigh. Due to my current state, I'd been holding them back. I wanted to argue that we should rather continue and that I wouldn't slow them down, but that was my ego talking.

"Alright." I sat down on a large tree root. The best thing I could do right now was to accept that I'd reached my limits and take a break.

"Finally," Anko sighed in relief as Isaribi climbed off her back. Stretching, she let out a yawn, before dropping onto the root in front of me. "So, what's got you down?"

"Gravity," I deadpanned.

"Very funny," Anko smirked. Opening a water canister, she took a sip before passing it to me.

Shizune quickly busied herself by checking on Anko's shoulder, which seemed fine from where I was sitting.

"Thanks," I said, before taking a gulp.

"So I take it you're feeling useless because you're slowing down and Shizune called a break for you?" Anko asked, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

"Anko?!" Shizune gasped, shooting me a embarrassed look at being called out. "That's not why I called for a break, I did it because…"

"I already knew," I interrupted her. "And, to answer your question Anko… Kind of. The truth is, I'm mostly just tired. If I relax even a little right now, I'm going to pass out."

"A solid answer," Anko nodded. Digging in her pouch, she pulled out a pill container. "Here, catch," She said as she tossed a pill over.

Catching the pill in my palm, I glanced at it before shooting a questioning look towards Anko.

"Anko, what's…" Shizune began.

"A soldier pill," Anko interrupted her. "It might not solve all your problems, but it should at the very least keep you awake."

Shrugging, I swallowed the pill. At first nothing happened, but after a few moments I felt some of my exhaustion fade. It hadn't done too much, only enough so that I no longer had to fight to stay awake. The fatigue that I felt in my bones was still there.

"That feels a little better," I hummed as I sat up straight. "Maybe I should take another one?"

"That wouldn't be a good idea," Shizune butted in. "Taking a single soldier pill is fine, but taking one after the other wouldn't offer any further benefit and could damage the stomach."

"Ah, so it's just a one and done deal then," I noted.

"That's pretty much how it goes," Anko nodded. "Taking too much of anything will lead to bad side effects."

Several moments passed in silence as Shizune continued her examination of Anko's shoulder, before she stepped back, nodding.

"Everything seems to be alright. It seems that traveling hasn't aggravated your shoulder," Shizune said, before moving over to me. Another few seconds passed by before she pulled back, sighing. "And your condition is as stable as I can make it. The only thing you can really do right now that would improve it is to get a little rest."

"So pretty much the thing I've been doin…"

I was interrupted by Anko who darted up, flinging a hand full of Shuriken into the tree tops. Slipping a Kunai into my hand, I eyed the area wearily while Shizune got in a defensive position in front of us.

"Reveal yourselves," Anko ordered warily.

A single man dropped down from the tree tops wearing a grey uniform along with a tiger mask. "Anbu, codename Tora, here to find, assist and escort the Jonin, Kato Shizune, Uzumaki Naruto and Tokubetsu Jonin Mitarashi Anko back to Konoha."

Anko and Shizune glanced at one another, before relaxing their stances. Following their lead, I slipped my Kunai back into its holster.

The man made a gesture, before several more Anbu dropped down into the area around us.

"We were able to track you by the thick smell of blood," Tora announced almost mechanically. "One of you is severely injured."

"I've seen to the wounds and have applied proper first aid. No further treatment can be administered outside of a hospital," Shizune explained.

"Then we will bring you to a hospital," Tora nodded before looking between Anko and I. "Which one of you is the one who was injured?"

I felt distinctly uncomfortable at how the Anbu members were looking at us. Their masks hid the entirety of their faces and they all remained silent while Tora talked. Their mannerisms were unnerving. I knew that they weren't particularly powerful, but that didn't mean that I couldn't find them a little creepy.

"The blood was mine," I said, standing up. "But I'm not exactly injured… only tired."

Tora glanced to an owl masked Anbu member who nodded, looked towards me, before shaking their head. "His Chakra system is in disarray and his muscles are overly strained."

"One of my members will assist you on the way back to Konoha," Tora announced. "The girl?"

"Part of our mission," Anko replied. "We're bringing her back to Hokage-sama."

Tora nodded his acceptance.

The trip back to Konoha had gone much faster with the Anbu agents' assistance. They had one of their agents carry Isaribi on their back and another two on either side of me, helping support me while we leapt from the tree tops.

Landing in front of the main gates, I immediately noticed that Konoha was on high alert. There were several dozen Shinobi on the walls while a few more were on the ground, backing up Kotetsu and Izumo, both of whom seemed stressed.

If I had any doubts earlier, they were all gone now. Konoha had sensed my use of Kurama's Chakra and assumed the worst… And if Konoha sensed me, then it's safe to say that other villages did too. There were likely going to be repercussions to my fight with Bee.

The Anbu swiftly brought us to the Hokage tower. They'd initially wanted to take me to the hospital, but I argued that I could always go after the debriefing that was no doubt coming. The last thing I wanted to happen was to needlessly worry Tsunade by not appearing in her office after using Kurama's Chakra in a fight.

Entering Tsunade's office, I immediately felt a little bad when I saw how stressed Tsunade looked. Her clones were working at double pace, several spots at the desks were open as the clones ran errands and gave orders to the various corps around Konoha while Tsunade herself organized them and gave orders.

Catching sight of us, a look of relief came over her, before she nodded to the Anbu. "Leave us." The Anbu agents complied without a moment's hesitation and swiftly left the room. Tsunade leaned back into her chair. Several long, silent seconds passed, before she spoke up again. "What happened?"

"Kumo Shinobi, ma'am," Shizune explained. "They appeared after we finished our mission. They claimed that on a previous mission, Anko and Naruto had crossed their boarder and used a powerful Jutsu… The situation escalated to an all out fight."

"A squad of Kumo Shinobi made you use the Kyuubi's full Chakra?" Tsunade asked, turning her gaze to me.

"My fight with the Hachibi Jinchuriki, Killer Bee did," I replied.

"Which wasn't our fault," Anko said suddenly, stepping forward. "The Kumo Shinobi aggravated the situation and struck first."

"Anko is correct," Shizune added. "We tried to deescalate the situation, but were rebuffed by one of their Jonin. Their Jinchuriki stepped in after they lost."

"Damnit," Tsunade cursed as she bit her nail. "This entire situation's gotten so complicated. What was going through the Raikage's head that would make him think that sending his Jinchuriki after Konoha Shinobi was an acceptable idea… and how does the girl fit into all of this?"

The Girl? Following Tsunade's gaze, I found myself looking at Isaribi who shrunk in on herself. Right, I'd forgotten that she was here. My mind was more focused on explaining what had happened on the Demon Island and staying awake than the lab that we'd raided.

"She's… well, she's a civilian that was experimented on by one of Orochimaru's scientists," I explained, unintentionally making Isaribi flinch. "It's… kind of a Jugo situation without her turning into a rage monster."

Tsunade sighed and motioned to the clone nearest to her, which immediately walked around the desk and placed a hand on Isaribi's shoulder. "My clone will escort you to a cell where you'll remain until I finish looking over your situation and decide what to do with you."

The clone led a pale and trembling Isaribi out of the room.

"Now," Tsunade began. "Why don't we start from the beginning? Tell me what happened from the moment you left Konoha to this moment right now."

Shizune proceeded to give a detailed description of what happened on our mission with Anko occasionally chipping in to add a small tidbit of information that she felt was important. They, however, didn't explain everything that happened, keeping the more… personal events to themselves.

Before I knew it, I slipped into a lull and found myself fighting against the need to sleep once more. It seemed that soldier pill had worn off. Several moments passed and I felt a hand grab my arm and gently shake me. Looking up, I found that everyone was looking my way.

Feeling something pressed up against my back, I glanced towards it, only to find one of Tsunade's clones standing behind me.

"Um… Did I miss something?" Warmth flooded through my body as I felt my Chakra begin to flow properly.

"That should do it for now," Tsunade's clone announced before moving back to her desk. "Now all you need to do is get some rest."

Tsunade nodded, before turning her attention back to me. "I asked for your side of the fight with Kumo's Jinchuriki," Tsunade explained. "Anko finished explaining her part in your fight with the Hachibi Jinchuriki."

"Ah, that," I nodded. "Well, I was thinking that I could show you what happened instead of telling you." Stepping forward, I held my fist out to Tsunade. The fewer people that knew what really happened on the Demon Island, the better.

Tsunade bumped her fist against mine and the world blurred.

"So the fight was staged," Tsunade muttered. "From the moment Shizune mentioned you and Killer Bee bumping fists, I knew something had happened there, but I didn't exactly expect this."

In a similar fashion that I'd shown Tsunade movies, I showed her my conversation with Bee. The memory continued playing, showing the rest of my fight with Bee, only softer, now that I'd shown her the truly important part.

"There are too many things wrong with what happened there, someone set it up." The most damning piece of evidence that I had was that this never happened in the original timeline.

"Akatsuki."

I nodded. Sure there was the war hawk, Danzo, who has the mindset to try something like that in some bid to make Konoha superior, but he didn't exactly have the means to pull something like that off. The Kumo teams mission was sanctioned, meaning Danzo would have had to sneak into Kumo and use Kotoamatsukami on several different people without being caught and then sneak back to Konoha.

The Akatsuki on the other hand… Doing something like that would have been extremely easy for them. They have Obito who can teleport to pretty much anywhere in the world and Zetsu who can perfectly disguise himself… More than the means, the Akatsuki also had the most to gain.

By stirring trouble between Konoha and Kumo, the Akatsuki draw attention away from themselves. We would be weakening ourselves through war and the Akatsuki would profit… literally in the event of a village hiring them.

"They're the only ones that would really benefit from a war between Konoha and Kumo."

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. "This plan of forcing Kumo to communicate with us… It's not going to go as smoothly as you might think. Although Killer Bee is open to the idea, his brother likely won't be as enthused."

"Even if he becomes aware of the true threat of the Akatsuki?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Tsunade replied. "Ay is stubborn and prone to anger, but more than that, he's proud. He'll likely acknowledge the threat that the Akatsuki is, but choose for Kumo to handle it on its own… at least until it affects him personally."

That did line up with what I knew about Ay. He only became proactive in dealing with the Akatsuki when his brother had been kidnapped and by that point, there wasn't much of the Akatsuki left.

"Are you saying that it's impossible?"

"I'm saying that it's highly unlikely," Tsunade said. "There is a lot of baggage between the two villages with… conflicting opinions. The most recent issue being the Hyuga clan incident where Kumo claimed their head Shinobi was unjustly killed while we both know that he'd been sent to abduct the Hyuga heiress, but sadly that's only one example of many, they attempted the same thing with Kushina years back as well. Throughout all of the Shinobi world wars, Konoha and Kumo have never allied together."

But it was possible, that much I knew. Kumo Shinobi could work alongside Konoha Shinobi. If I hadn't changed anything, all Shinobi from each of the major villages would have ended up working together, so it could be done. The only question was… How?

I wracked my brain for answers, but couldn't find any.

I silently watched my memory of the fight, of how Bee and I fought each other on more or less even terms. Each one of my blows had been perfectly matched by him. When I entered the second state, he cheerfully followed right after and we continued our fight, always even.

Seeing the fight from an outside perspective was… different. During the fight, I'd been giving it my all and didn't really have time to truly appreciate the kind of power we'd been wielding.

"The two of you really let loose," Tsunade hummed as she watched the fight. Wincing when she saw the damage the version 2 cloak had done to my body.

"I don't know about Bee, but this was the first fight that I'd had where I really didn't have to hold back," I replied.

The fight quickly entered its last phase and we both launched our full sized bijuudama at each other, reducing the island to sand and momentarily pushing the water back, before it rushed to fill the new crater.

We'd matched each other perfectly in the fight, maybe we would also match each other with our efforts to get our villages to ally. The only thing I could do right now was trust Bee to get the Raikage to listen.

"I might not be able to convince the Raikage to listen to reason on my own," I admitted. "But, it's a good thing that I'm not on my own. I know it's a risky bet, but I think Bee will come through, he knows what's at stake now and I doubt he'll let his brothers' stubbornness stop him."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, before letting out a short chuckle of amusement. "When I decided to throw my support behind you, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but this… I wasn't expecting this. I'd initially been worried that you would try to preserve things so that you could predict them later, but it seems I should have been worried about the opposite."

"Well it's not like I'd planned this whole thing… It just sort of happened," I smiled.

"You do realize that things are going to change now?" Tsunade hummed. "Your use of Kurama's Chakra, although brief, was felt all the way here by Shinobi that aren't sensors."

Meaning that the other major villages probably knew that I was able to use Kurama's Chakra. That wasn't exactly a bad thing, but it did draw unnecessary attention my way. Suna was still trying to get back in Konoha's good graces and Kiri was engaged in a civil war, so the only ones that could truly act on that information were Iwa and Kumo.

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. I'd already suspected as much when Tsunade had sent the Anbu team to bring us back to Konoha.

Although we'd spent quite a while talking while within the seal, only a few minutes passed in regular time. Pulling my fist back, I blinked and immediately stumbled, catching myself on the desk. My exhaustion came crashing back into me.

"Hey now, don't fall on the Hokage's desk," Anko said, helping steady me.

"Thanks," I replied as I stepped back, regaining my sense of balance.

Standing from her seat, Tsunade walked towards one of her clones, whispered a few orders to it, before having it dispel. Relaying those orders her clones that she had stationed around the village.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune began.

"It's been a long day. The three of you should go get some rest," Tsunade said as she moved back to her chair. "I imagine that tomorrow's going to be even busier."

"Are you sure?" Shizune asked. "I could help you here, or I could go work in the hospital."

"I'm certain, Shizune," Tsunade replied. Glancing at the piles of paperwork sitting on several desks, she let out a sigh. "I suppose I'll have to start dealing with that again now that things have calmed down."

"Home sweet home," I said as I walked into my apartment.

I was tired, hungry, dirty and my Chakra system was still a little screwed up. All I wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep, but I still had a few things to do before I could do that.

Bringing my hands together in a familiar seal, I created a single shadow clone to handle making something to eat while I went to shower. Walking into my bathroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

"Wow, you look like shit," I chuckled. There were deep bags under my eyes, my hair was mattered down and all in all I looked like I would keel over at any moment.

After a quick shower, I grabbed my pajamas that I hadn't worn since… well… since before I'd woken up as Naruto. Back then, I was too busy training and opted to just sleep in what I was wearing at the time.

Shrugging, I stepped into the pajama pants and pulled up, only to have them rip once they were on.

"The hell," I grunted. Grabbing the pajama shirt, I slipped it on, only for the sleeves to tear around my biceps. Looking at it, I noticed that it was entirely too short. Where the sleeve once extended to cover my hands, it now only extended to a little below my wrist. Not only that, I couldn't even pull the shirt closed.

These clothes should still fit me, right. I mean, I'd only recently got new clothes, I was wearing Naruto's old jacket, pants and wire mesh shirt a few days ago.

I quickly went to grab the photo of team 7, before returning to the bathroom. Glancing down at the photo, I looked back up at myself in the mirror. It was a bit difficult to tell if anything had changed. The orange jacket of the Naruto in the photo hid most of his body.

Putting the picture down, I went out into the hallway and looked for the doorway that Naruto had been marking his height on. If memory serves, the last time he measured his height had been just after Iruka gave him his headband.

I blinked when I couldn't find the marking. Looking down, my eyes widened. I found the marking. I was at least a full head taller than when I last measured my height.

That couldn't be right, could it? Was this because I'd used too much of Kurama's Chakra? No, that couldn't be. I'd already used his full Chakra when I killed Orochimaru and, if it had, I would have noticed a change then.

"Have you only realized it now?" Kurama chuckled. "Ever since your two personalities merged, you've been eating healthier, training harder and practically bathing in my Chakra. Your body was bound to mature faster."

'That's a bit of an understatement,' I thought back. 'I'm a full head taller than I was back in the forest of death.'

"I can't stress enough how unhealthy you were eating before the merge. You ate cup ramen at almost every opportunity and the only vegetables you ate was those that the ramen chef placed in your bowl. Now that you're eating healthier and training, your body's making up for lost time," Kurama explained. "If you still feel worried about it, just ask your girlfriend. She'll likely tell you the same thing."

I think I'll do just that… In the morning though. I was way too tired and hungry right now while Tsunade is way too busy.

It didn't take too much longer for me to eat the food my clone made and collapse on my newly replaced bed. Looking over to the picture of team 7, I briefly thought about how much had changed since that photo had been taken before drifting off to sleep.

Only, it didn't come. I frowned and shifted slightly, only to find that the bed that I'd been lying on had been replaced by something cold and wet. Opening my eyes, I found myself laying in my seal with Kurama staring down at me.

"Okay… why?"

"We need to have a talk, face to face."

"Can't it wait until morning?" I moaned, sitting up. At this point, I just wanted the day to end.

"I know you don't feel exhaustion in here the same way you feel it out there," Kurama replied. "Now, you might want to listen to what I've got to say. It's important."

Raising an eyebrow, I stood up. IF Kurama was so adamant that I listen to him now, then it probably was important.

"Alright."

"I believe that I've discovered the reason of why you feel so fatigued after using my Chakra."

My eyes widened. Okay, that was important. If I could solve that, then I could practice using the form and might be able to extend the time that I can stay in it. "Go on," I said eagerly.

"You've got a self sabotaging problem," Kurama replied, poking me in the chest with one of his claws.

"Um… you think you could explain that to me?"

Kurama smirked cockily as he leaned back. "I'm sure that you would figure out the meaning of that in time, but I suppose I could tell you. In gaining my help from the moment we met, you skipped several steps, some that can be ignored, but one that I now believe to be vital. You didn't get rid of your darkness and now it causes you problems when you use my full Chakra."

Darkness? Did he mean the dark Naruto that can be confronted at the waterfall of truth?

"I felt its presence attempt to take you over when you were entering the version 2 cloak, only, it didn't have my backing and failed," Kurama explained. "When we merge our Chakra, I'm distracted, so it uses that time to wreak havoc on your body. It mostly disturbs our combined Chakra, which strains your Chakra system which strains your body."

"So what do we do? Can you bring my darkness out?" I asked. From what I remember, it wasn't that tough to beat. All I needed to do was accept it and it would dissolve.

"That is what I called you in here for."

"Alright, then let's do this," I said eagerly. "…How do we do this?"

Rolling his eyes, Kurama placed a single claw against my chest, funneling a small amount of his Chakra through me. Several moments passed and nothing happened, until suddenly I felt a burst of hatred and was knocked off my feet.

"The hell was that?"

"Your inner darkness," Kurama replied. "It likely knows what we're up to and doesn't appreciate it."

So my inner darkness was rejecting me? I didn't really know how to feel about that. On one hand, no one liked to be rejected, but on the other, the one doing it is a reflection of my darker emotions…

Honestly, I didn't really know how that worked to begin with. I was pretty open with my darker emotions. I didn't suppress them, I allowed them to run their course. Acceptance was the key to beating it, so how could it exist if I didn't deny it.

"Let's try that again," I said, standing up.

Once more, I found myself lying on my back, staring up at the inky void. I'd definitely felt hatred that time, but still didn't understand how that could be. I let myself hate, so it shouldn't be able to, right? I was pretty sure that's how it worked.

"For the love of…" I ground out as I pushed myself to my feet. "Damnit, inner darkness. Come out here and be accepted already! I want to go to sleep."

Several more attempts and several more failures later, I found myself glaring at my reflection in the water. "That son of a bitch," I growled. "He's really just ignoring me. He's supposed to be the dark, scary one and he's just ignoring me."

"He is a reflection of you," Kurama replied. "It makes sense that your dark self would be a stubborn ass."

I glared down at my reflection harder, before taking a breath. My inner darkness was a reflection of my negative emotions, so maybe I needed to be in a calm state of mind o bring it out.

Centering myself, I allowed my anger to fade away, before standing up. "Alright, I've got this. Let's try this one more time."

Shrugging, Kurama placed his claw against my chest and funneled his Chakra into me. Remaining calm, I followed the stream of Chakra and felt for any negative emotions.

The seconds ticked by and I felt myself grow hopeful. This was by far the longest that I'd gone without being thrown back. That must mean that keeping calm was the key to bringing my darkness out. Soon, my vision twisted and I was standing in front of a copy of myself that had red and black eyes.

The dark version of me had a shit eating grin on his face. "Nope," He muttered and rapidly brought his leg up between my legs.

Suddenly, I was standing in front of Kurama again, only to suddenly be thrown backward with a sudden pain in my balls.

"That…" I groaned as I shifted to my knees. "FUCKING ASSHOLE."

"It would seem that this method isn't working," Kurama sighed.

"Come the hell out right now," I gritted my teeth, glaring down at my reflection. "I don't even care about the whole accepting you thing. I'm going to shove my foot straight up your ass!"

"Naruto… Threatening your reflection isn't going to make your inner darkness suddenly appear. We need a new method."

A new method? Ignoring my pain, I pushed myself up. Kurama could try overwhelming my body with his hatred during a Chakra tug of war, but that method seemed monumentally stupid. I might be able to get a Yamanaka to take me to the part of my consciousness where my darkness resides, but I didn't want to risk my memories.

"The waterfall of truth," I sighed. That's the only sure fire way to face my darkness. It would enable me to confront myself without any outside help. The only issue was that it resided on the turtle Island that was looked after by Kumo.

I wonder if there was any way for me to sneak onto the Island… It would probably be difficult to find, as it's literally a moving island, but it shouldn't be impossible. I would probably need to gain sage mode, or learn some kind of extremely powerful sensing jutsu… Who was I kidding, it could literally be anywhere in the ocean. I wasn't getting to it without Kumo's assistance.

"It seems that it's the only way you'll be able to safely face yourself," Kurama agreed. "At least you've already gained Kumo's attention with your and Bee's fight today."

Yeah. Only it was negative attention. I now had another reason to ensure that our villages got along. Damnit, why did everything have to be so complicated?!

And that's chapter 28

Did Naruto just get a swift kick in the nuts for forgetting that his inner darkness is a thing... Yes, yes he did.

Some important news. I'm going to be traveling soon to a country that has restricted internet access. I might not be able to post the next chapter this coming friday depending on the internet, but I'll post it and the next one when I return the following friday.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 35 on the Spooky P word website.

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

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

The next chapter should be posted on the 12th, but if not, then the next 2 chapters will be posted on the 19th of July.
See you all then, dudes and dudettes.