Right, into the thick of it. Enjoy.
"Fight." His arm dropped with a sharp whoosh.
Naruto didn't move, neither did Gaara. They were sizing each other up. Naruto broke the tense silence that had developed with his usual charisma, acting more brave than he felt.
"So… Gaara of the Sand. Come here often? And why do they call you that? Are you made out of sand? Do you live in a sand house?" He put a hand on his chin in a thinking pose, looking off into the distance but not for a second taking his focus off of Gaara. "I suppose everybody in Suna probably lives in a sand house huh?" He grinned.
Gaara didn't even twitch a muscle in response. "Mother will have your blood."
"Hmm, that's kinda dark, you know." He sighed, "well if it's blood she wants, lets see if we can't give her some." He threw a few kunai at Gaara, and immediately a wall of sand rose up to block them. It was fast. When it retracted, Gaara still hadn't moved a muscle.
"Ah! Now I see why they call you that! That's a neat trick!" He called out as he reached into his weapons pouch again. He pulled out a shuriken and threw it in the same motion. His hands flashed through hand signs as it flew, and immediately he knew something was wrong. One shuriken became 4, all of which were easily caught in Gaara's sand defense.
Up on the balcony, Sasuke's red eyes picked up both fighters in detail. "Something's wrong." He said aloud. "Naruto's chakra isn't flowing properly."
Naruto was feeling the same thing, and cursed himself for resting the last few days. He'd been pushing himself so hard before the exams that the fight with Orochimaru had all but forced him to rest.
It had been a long time since his control had felt anywhere near this bad. He'd still gained insightful information on Gaara though. His wall went up either automatically, or only with thoughts. If he could come from enough directions and distract his mind enough, he might be able to sneak through the defense. He formed a hand sign, pumping chakra into it. Delicately he attempted to mold his chakra, and felt it fluctuating all over the place. He focused even harder and grunted as he let loose the jutsu. 3 shadow clones came into existence. Pitiful for him, and he realized just how much trouble he was in. He could work with it at the very least though. The clones began sprinting to surround Gaara.
Projectiles flew from every direction at the Sand genin, but each and every one was blocked. "Give mother your blood." He said. His voice was starting to trend from toneless to unstable, bloodlust leaking into it. He raised a hand, and a wave of sand flew at the real Naruto. Fast as it was, it quickly overwhelmed him and enveloped him. Gaara made a claw shape with his hand and turned it, shutting it quickly into a fist.
"Sand Coffin." The sand responded immediately, and crunched down on Naruto. Gaara had a small look of confusion on his face.
Two more kunai came from the left, blocked by his sand. He turned to look at who threw them, but six more came from behind, followed by the clone that had let them loose. A massive punch struck his sand wall, but it held. Another clone came from his left, leapt upward, and threw several projectiles at him. As they converged, so did several more from three different directions. Gaara was confused, but his sand wall rose up to meet the challenge.
Quick as lightning, the real Naruto, the one who had thrown the first kunai after his clone was crushed by sand, flashed past the sand that had already risen. He was behind Gaara now, and as the boy turned left to see what was happening, Naruto placed his hand on Gaara's shoulder.
A while ago, Jiraiya had taught him a bijuu chakra suppression seal. It's intention was to be written on a tag, preferably with Naruto's blood, and given to his teammates in case he ever lost control. Theoretically it could stop up to 4 tails of power, so it should work on the one tail. He had even committed the chakra control to memory after he met Gaara for the first time, just in case he would need it in the exams.
Chakra memory is a fickle thing though, and relies on control being the same as when it was remembered. Like throwing a kunai became muscle memory, if you got much stronger between throws, the memory is no good until you've adjusted to your new level.
Naruto's chakra control was all out of whack, and it was in that moment that he had a flash of a memory of Orochimaru laying some sort of seal on his stomach as he came out of his bijuu daze. It felt more like a dream than real life, enough that he questioned if it was even true.
Gaara made eye contact with him as the seal began to materialize from his palm. The black ink spread into the shape of the seal he needed. It was wrong though. Where there should be sharp lines it was rounded. Thin became thick and there were even a few offshoots that weren't even of his intended creation. The spiderweb of black failed to take hold of Gaara's chakra. The glint in the redhead's eyes told Naruto he was in a bad spot.
A wave of sand, bigger than the first one, smashed into him. He flew several meters landing on the concrete as it drove him into it. Hard. The momentum it had given him though prevented it from taking hold. He rolled with it onto his feet, immediately dodging left trying to escape the sand. A second wave came at him from the other direction. Both of Gaara's hands were up now, and he had a look of intense concentration on his face.
Naruto continued dashing left, straight at the second wave of sand. He feinted right, hoping to open up a way to make some space, but the sand welcomed it and shifted to his left. He looked up and paled ever so slightly. It looked to him as if he was being herded towards Gaara. The Sand's Jinchuuriki didn't appear to have much physical prowess, but controlling the sand took chakra control, and that was easier the closer your chakra was.
He began weaving through the sand trying to come up with a plan, even as the larger waves broke off into smaller, almost spear-like sections. Slide, roll, dash, jump, lunge. He did everything he could to avoid the sand. He was too slow though, and he knew it. If he had his normal chakra control to augment his movements, it might be a different story. He didn't though, no use thinking about what if.
He had one more plan in his head, one that likely wouldn't require control. He let the sand work him closer to Gaara, and pushed his body to it's limit as the sand seemed to increase in speed the closer they got.
He ran through the hand seals for his water bullet as he ducked under another slice of sand. He left the last hand sign off, and channeled as much chakra as he could into it. An experiment he'd been doing with Sasuke had led to this idea. Trying to use less hand signs to do jutsu could sometimes lead to disastrous results.
A large ball of water quickly took form in front of him, as he willed it to become as sticky as possible and… promptly exploded. The result was water. Somewhat syrupy water. Everywhere. Up on the balcony, ceiling, and most importantly, Gaara's sand.
There was an opening, and he was going to take it. He sped towards Gaara, who was standing, somewhat in shock, in the middle of the floor. His sand was laid out all across the battleground, and slow to react. It rose, vibrating in an sound trying to clear the water out. It wouldn't get to Naruto in time to stop him though.
Naruto pulled his right fist back, and loaded as much power, and as much chakra as he could into it. He planted his left leg, and threw the hardest punch he ever had, right at Gaara's cheek. The Sand's jinchuuriki stood there, shocked like a Nara in headlights, as the punch slammed into his face.
He was knocked to one knee, crouched over it. Up on the balcony, everybody, especially the sand shinobi, seemed to be in shock.
Naruto stood there, still holding his follow through, huffing and puffing. It had felt like several minutes of dodging, but probably was no more than ten seconds. His body ached nonetheless. He looked down at Gaara.
A low sound came from Gaara.
"Huh?" Naruto inquired.
"Blood." Gaara ground out, whipping his head around to look at Naruto, it revealed a crack on his face, and crumbling sand falling off of it. "Mother wants your blood!" He lashed a hand out. Sand that had been coating his body rushed off of him with its full speed.
It seemed to move in slow motion for Naruto. He couldn't move out of the way, couldn't move at all. Suddenly it was upon him, latched onto the arm that had thrown the punch, and the leg he was leaning on, it pulled him off balance.
As he fell, he saw the look of pure bloodlust and hate in Gaara's eyes. The redhead pulled his hand into a fist.
There was a blood curdling scream in the arena that rang through the walls and may well have cracked a few of them. It was followed by a psychotic laugh.
"MOTHER LOVES YOUR BLOOD!"
"That's enough! The match is over!" The proctor yelled.
"AND NOW SHE WILL HAVE THE REST OF IT!" A huge wave of sand followed his words, crashing towards Naruto. The proctor was too far away, having jumped clear of the giant explosion of water earlier. He would never get there in time.
Naruto laid there, broken and bleeding. Struggling to remain conscious. 'This can't be how it ends. Not like this. I still have to become Hokage." But there was no more strength left within Naruto Uzumaki, and he lost consciousness.
The sand was but a moment from crushing him, when it was blown back by a huge bout of power.
When the dust cleared, there were shinobi of Konoha standing between Naruto and Gaara. Guy, Yamato, and Kakashi led the way, Sasuke standing with them. Hinata was right by Naruto's side, desperately trying to help him. A shadow crawled down from the balcony from behind the sand's Jinchuuriki. The lightning from Kakashi's jutsu still crackled in the air.
"It's over. Return to your sensei." Kakashi barked coldly. He made a point to look at the sand jonin with his sharingan. "Or face the consequences."
"Gaara, lets go." Baki said shakily. It was bad enough he had to deal with Gaara when he was like this, but now the copy ninja wanted his head too?
Gaara did not move. He stared with a smile at where Naruto lay.
"Gaara!"
Gaara began to turn to walk towards his sensei, and the Leaf jonin turned their attention to Naruto. Gaara paused. "I will have his blood." He said quietly.
The lone pair of sharingan that remained in the leaf village saw his lips move, and read what he said. Sasuke continued to stare at Gaara, every bit of will being used to keep himself in place and not attack.
He felt the mark on his neck slither, heard it whisper in his mind to take its power and crush the one who would hurt his friend. He did nothing to quell the thoughts, only continued to try and remain in place, and not do anything that could start a war. He felt as the mark sent a pulse of chakra through him. Pure power. He knew, instinctively, that he would win a fight against Gaara if he used it.
He was about to allow it to lend him some power when he felt a hand on his shoulder, right on the mark.
"-uke! Sasuke!" He turned toward Kakashi, who looked as cold as he'd ever seen him. He'd always wondered why the lazy jonin who liked to llight hearted mind games with everybody and was always late was so respected. This was why. This wasn't the same Kakashi he'd been around for the last five years. This was a killer. A veteran of a shinobi war, and an S-rank ninja.
"Now is not the time." He ordered. "You can't fight him here, not now. You'll start a war. Focus on Naruto."
His best friend's name shocked him out of his rage, and in an instant he was by his side. Hinata was running green glowing hands over Naruto, but she looked like she was in shock. He understood the feeling. Never in a thousand years did he think Naruto would be beat, let alone this hurt. His best friend just had a knack for finding a way to defeat the odds.
A medic pushed them all out of the way, followed by two more. One got to work on Naruto's leg, another on his arm. The third pulled a stretcher out of a storage scroll, and quickly they moved him onto it. Just like that he was being ushered out of the building, and Sasuke and Hinata were hot on his tail.
The other genin looked on in shock. They couldn't believe Naruto had gotten hurt. He was by far the best of them, if he couldn't' beat that Gaara kid, then none of them would've even come close. Secretly, a few of them had even believed that Naruto might even be able to beat their own sensei.
It was a shock to the system for all who watched.
The proctor did his best to finish out the event. Those two had been the last fight. Kakashi had sent an Anbu member from the shadows to tell the Hokage what had happened. Yamato had left to check on Naruto, Kakashi assuring him that he would relay the necessary information to the team members who had passed.
Hayate called them out in a line. None moved. He sighed, then coughed, and decided to move on with the explanation of what was to come for the final round. He called them forward one by one to draw numbers. Kakashi drew for both Sasuke and Hinata.
The final rounds stacked like this:
Lee vs. Neji
Hinata vs. Temari
Kankuro vs. Shino
Kin vs. Kiba
Sasuke vs. Gaara
Winner 1 vs Winner 2
Winner 3 vs Winner 4
Winner 6 vs Winner 7 vs Winner 5
It had been a while since they'd had a three person fight to decide the finals of the exam. It had been a difficult decision for him to give the bye to the 5th match. As proctor it was his job to judge them all, and generally give the bye to the strongest genin not of the village. Less fights means less of a chance to impress. Simultaneously, you don't want to take a fight away from the lone Uchiha that is loyal to the village. People would be coming in droves to see him. Ultimately, the fact that Gaara would definitely be trying to kill whoever he fought was the deciding factor. Less fights for him was safer for everybody.
The genin and their sensei quickly dispersed after he gave them the date and time. The Konoha shinobi all headed in the direction of the hospital, and he followed them, though at a distance.
—
It was half a day before Naruto woke up. The lack of light coming through the window told him it was the dead of night. He reached out lightly with his senses, and got three responses. Sasuke, Hinata, and Kakashi. They were all there in the dead of night while he slept?
He moved to sit up and realized he couldn't. His right leg was held up in a sling, a massive cast wrapped around it. A matching setup for his right arm. He inhaled sharply, recalling what had happened. Then came the pain. Excruciating pain.
He stifled a scream, but shook slightly in his bed. Kakashi was at his side, headband up, sharingan blazing in an instant.
"Naruto, what is it?" He asked worriedly.
Naruto took several deep breaths, squinting his eyes shut as hard as he could. So hard he saw stars.
"Hurts." He ground out through a clenched jaw.
Kakashi flared his chakra, and a second later there was a member of the ANBU there. Several seconds of agonizing pain later, a nurse came rushing through the door. Kakashi quickly directed her, and she used a jutsu on Naruto's head that dulled the pain.
"That's strange." She said, "his pain medication shouldn't be even close to worn off yet.
Kakashi deadpanned at her, putting his red eye away in the process.
"I have a, uh… fast metabolism." Naruto said as the pain subsided. He looked at her pointedly, and she seemed to catch his meaning.
"Oh… right. I'll send for Dr. Yakushi. He'll know what to do." She said.
Naruto thanked her, and Kakashi gave her a nod, and a flash of a hand sign to the Anbu, who melted into… he wasn't sure where, because he got distracted by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Hinata, with Sasuke standing right behind her, looking over her shoulder. Both of them had their dojutsu active.
"You guys, thank yo—" A smack to his face cut him off. After a second to regain his bearings he looked at his teammate. "Hinata?"
"Hokage-sama told us." She said shakily, tears forming in her white eyes. "He told us you requested to fight him." She spat at him. The tears began falling.
"Why would you do that, Naruto?" Sasuke asked him. There was a slight look of betrayal on his face.
"I-I didn't want anybody else to get hurt. Hinata you weren't even fully recovered, and Sasuke… your mark. I didn't know what else to do." He said dejectedly.
"So you decided to fight the deadliest person in the exams?" Hinata asked.
"Without your chakra flowing properly too." Sasuke added. "What's going on with you?"
Naruto himself bit back tears, happy to have teammates who loved him so much. Sad, and immensely disappointed to have let them down. "Orochimaru… He put a seal on me at the end of our fight. I was so exhausted from using the Kyuubi's chakra and being lit on fire that I had forgotten. I'm still not sure that it wasn't a dream, but my chakra control is ruined." He said.
"That explains why you didn't use any of your more powerful jutsu, or why your seal didn't work, or why you were so slow." Kakashi said.
"Thanks Kakashi-sensei… real helpful." Kakashi shot him an eye smile. "I think it will take Jiraiya to fix the seal. Does anybody know where he is?"
"The Hokage sent word to him, but he was trying to stay off the radar, it could be at least a few days before he even knows what happened. I imagine he'll be back immediately when he finds out though." Kakashi said. Naruto nodded in acknowledgement.
They sat comfortably in silence after that. Hinata and Sasuke found seats on Naruto's bed, recounting what happened after he passed out, and doing their best to cheer him up. Kakashi seemed to pour himself into the nearest comfy seat, content to lazily sit in their presence.
"Where's Yamato-sensei?" Naruto finally asked.
"He's watching the team from Suna. His techniques makes him… Uniquely suited for the task." A lazy drawl responded from behind its book.
It took a second for it to dawn on Naruto why that was. He was so used to sensei's wood style that he had almost forgotten it's ability to tame bijuu.
"Ah, right."
It was at that moment that a doctor opened a door. He was in general shinobi fatigues, covered by a white lab coat.
He looked alert, but his unkempt hair made it clear he'd just been woken up. He snagged the chart from the slot on his way in.
"Uzumaki-San. I hear your pain was an issue when you awoke?"
"Yes, Dr. Yakushi. It didn't feel as if I had any painkillers at all."
"Hmm… we can administer IV drip over night to keep you pumped full of it. It might be easier to just continually use a medical jutsu to numb the pain during the day."
"You talk like I'm gonna be in here forever, Doc. I'll be just fine once my seal is fixed." Naruto said.
"…Has nobody told you…?"
"Told me what?" Naruto tilted his head, his long hair flopping about, untethered by his headband for once.
"Uzumaki-San… We aren't sure you're going to make a full recovery."
"What do you mean? Surely you know what's inside of me. He fixes all my injuries right up. That's why the meds aren't workin." Naruto said lightheartedly.
"The damage to your leg is extensive, Naruto. The tenketsu have been destroyed. I don't know what kind of jutsu was used on you, but it burnt and crushed your coils. You won't be able to send any chakra to it, so it's highly unlikely that even your tenant could heal it. I've looked at it, and know for a fact that I can't heal it."
Naruto's heart sank. His stomach flipped. His lip trembled. "What?" He felt like he was going to throw up.
"The only med nin who would stand a chance is Lady Tsunade, and she hasn't been seen in years. She might not even be able to anymore."
Naruto's mind went blank, and he began speaking without thinking. "Kakashi," he said as tears began streaming down his cheeks. "Tell Jiraiya. I don't care how. I need him to know. I need him."
Finally his brain caught up to him. He wiped some tears from his eyes. "My giant scroll that I used to carry has a toad summoning scroll in it. If I give you some of my blood you should be able to summon Gamakichi. He can get word to Jiraiya." He looked at Kakashi through tear filled eyes. "Please."
Kakashi looked at his sensei's son, the spitting image of both his parents. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He produced a small jar seemingly from nowhere, and pricked a finger on Naruto's good hand. A small amount of blood found its way into the jar.
"It's leaning against my dresser in my room." Naruto said. "Bottom left matrix, can't miss it." He explained solemnly.
Kakashi nodded and quickly left, throwing out a hand signal to one of the shadows as he did so.
"If there's nothing else, Doc, I'd like to sleep. Can you set up the IV?"
Dr. Yakushi nodded, and moved quickly to get it running. Naruto turned to his two teammates. "You two should go home." He said quietly.
"We won't." Hinata said firmly. Briefly it dawned on him how much she had grown in the last year and a half. Completely unrecognizable from the girl he saw sitting shyly in Iruka-sensei's class.
"I'm serious. You both need your sleep."
"We. Won't." It wasn't an argument, but a statement. Naruto looked to Sasuke for help, but saw the same look on his face.
"Fine, but I'm gonna get some sleep. See if maybe I can't talk to the damn fox and see if he can help." Naruto said, and laid his head down on his pillow.
There was no dreams, no Kyuubi to talk to. Just darkness.
—
One week after the preliminaries.
Jiraiya still hadn't arrived. Naruto was beginning to worry about his adoptive father more than he was worrying about himself. 'Kichi had said that he delivered the message, and that Jiraiya had immediately taken off, not even bothering to pack up his camp. That was as unlike him as it got, as carefree as he often acted, doing the little things right was something Jiraiya always insisted on.
He'd been far away, deep in Lightning country. A five days journey if he pushed it, perhaps six if he had to be cautious at the border. Lightning was the most militarized of the five nations. It could be possible that Jiraiya had slipped up in his haste to return. If he was arrested or worse, it would be Naruto's fault.
The blond wasn't sure he could handle that on top of everything else.
He was… adjusting. His hand had mostly healed, but he couldn't send chakra to it. His leg was another story. He didn't really understand the technical aspects of what the doctors told him, but he did know that they couldn't heal it any better than what it was already at. That left him on crutches.
He completed rehab in record time, according to the specialist. Today was supposed to be his last full day in the hospital.
Teams 8 and 10 came to visit him everyday, and Team 9, with Neji, had even stopped by once. Ino often brought flowers, Choji snacks, and Shikamaru even tried to play him in shogi, though that hadn't gone well. Shino's quiet presence was nice, Sakura seemed extremely worried for him, and Kiba brought Akamaru.
He was glad to have people that he was close to that cared about him. He was pissed that they were all pitying him. Hinata and Sasuke were the only two that didn't. After her initial outburst and slap, had rarely left Naruto's side. She was a gone a few hours a day for training, but she ate her meals with him, and didn't seem to do anything else.
Sasuke wasn't much different, though he seemed angrier and more uptight that usual. He also spent a significantly larger amount of time training. Apparently Kakashi had been taking him up into the mountains for some special training. Sasuke didn't seem much like he wanted to talk so Naruto didn't pry for now. He would see the fruits of his friend's labor soon enough.
The Uchiha would stumble into his room at the end of the day covered and dust, shirt occasionally showing scorch marks. He'd plop down and eat his bento box, never uttering more than a grunt. Naruto tried to engage him in conversation, tried to get him to talk but every sentence was short. It often ended in him rolling his eyes and talking to Hinata instead.
He tried to show everybody that he was okay, that the injury wasn't getting him to down. He was still Naruto, he insisted. He would still find a way to be Hokage. They all smiled at him and nodded, but he knew the truth. They all thought he was done for… and he wasn't so sure that he disagreed with them anymore.
A rustle by his window startled him out of his wallowing. His sensory ability had seen a huge decline since Orochimaru messed with his seal. He'd been doing research on it, but books were hard to come by in the hospital, everybody just wanted him to rest.
The window began to slide open, which wasn't entirely unusual. Sasuke hated hospitals and most people so he tended to avoid using the more traditional methods of entrance.
The shifting sound of sand chilled his blood. It was fairly dark out, and his room light was off, but he knew exactly who was entering his room.
"What do you want?" Naruto said. Cold, detached, and entirely unlike him. He was being extremely cautious. He definitely couldn't fight the sand shinobi in his current state, but if he tried to alert an anbu or hospital staff, he might set the boy off. The last thing that could happen was an unstable jinchuuriki in a hospital.
He tried to remain calm on the outside. Internally though he was scared. He was angry that he was scared, but that didn't change the fact that he was. This was the guy who had crushed him, both emotionally and physically. He must be coming back to finish the job. Naruto had to find a way to alert the ANBU that should be nearby. He took a deep breath, and looked Gaara in the eye, not backing down.
"I wish to know," Gaara monotoned out. "Why do they not fear you?"
Naruto was caught off guard by the question, but he stayed tensed nonetheless.
"What do you mean? Who?"
Gaara looked… confused? His facial expressions were hard to read. It became clear to Naruto that he wasn't used to showing many emotions. Perhaps he'd never dealt with them before. "The other Leaf shinobi. They do not fear you like the Sand fear me. Why?"
Naruto was somewhat confused himself, caught between fear of the ninja who had crushed his bones and dreams, and anger at the audacity to come in here and ask him questions as if he'd done nothing wrong.
"Look, if you think you're just gonna waltz in here and ask me questions after trying to kill me, you got another thing coming, pal."
Gaara tilted his head ever so slightly in question. "I just wish to know why they don't run from you. Why they tried to protect you from it."
Naruto was confused now. He clearly said it, as if he weren't the one that had attacked him. "They're my comrades. My family." He started leaking chakra slowly, hoping the emotion he portrayed would hide the call for help. "They jumped in to protect me because they know without a doubt that I would do the same, and more, for them."
"They do not see you as a monster?" Gaara asked. His tone this time was almost… innocent.
Naruto was now extremely confused, and risked loosing some more chakra. "You mean because I'm a jinchuuriki? Not anymore, no. It took a lot of work though. Some still don't care for me." He said quietly.
"How did you do it?" Gaara asked.
Naruto was thrown by that. He thought about how to best explain it, slowing turning up his chakra output as he did so. He never got to answer though.
Gaara, who had been standing there quietly, suddenly doubled over in pain, holding his head. When he looked up, the lonely emptiness that was in his eyes before was gone, replaced by psychotic glint.
"MO—" Gaara started to shout, but cut himself off with a grunt and a scream, and Naruto flared his chakra sharply. "Mother wants your blood!" The sand shinobi finally ground out. Naruto trembled slightly. He couldn't use any jutsu, at the moment because his right arm wasn't working, and he hadn't got that jutsu to work without seals yet.
Sand rose up, nearly vibrating in it's anticipation of an attack. Before the sand could attack him, Naruto built up as much chakra as fast as he could, and blew it out of his left hand in the form of wind. A powerful gust cut through the air, Gaara's sand rising up to block it.
While the sand blocked his sight, Naruto flipped himself out of bed, moving towards the window to try and throw himself out. He was already broken, it's not like a two story fall could make him much worse.
Sand rushed in front of him, cutting him off and he swore. He hobbled back towards the bed, trying to give himself some space. The sand crept it.
He silently lamented himself for forcing his teammates to spend a night at their homes, since he would be getting out of the hospital the next day anyway.
Gaara looked crazed, almost like he was fighting himself as much as he was Naruto. The sand continued to creep forward, but hadn't launched an attack yet.
The redheaded shinobi finally let loose another scream, and the sand launched itself at Naruto.
Suddenly, he found himself flying through the air, hospital bed not too far behind him. When he finally landed in the corner, there was a figure in front of him.
Sasuke was there.
He didn't know how, and he didn't care why. He was just happy to see his friend.
"Where. Is. The. Anbu?" He ground out. He was pissed.
"Dunno. Tried to alert them. They should've been here by now."
Sasuke and Gaara stared at each other, each daring the other to make the first move. Gaara's sand hovered and quivered, Sasuke's fingers twitched.
Just like that it was over. Gaara's sand whirled, and then dropped. He was nowhere to be seen.
Not a half second later three ANBU back to a halt in the room.
"What happened here?" One of them asked.
"You would know if you showed up on time!" Sasuke lashed out at them. Naruto saw his face for the first time. There were black marks, not entirely unlike seals stretching from his neck, up to the right side of his face. Even as he noticed them, they were retracting. He wasn't even sure he'd seen it right, maybe his mind was playing tricks on him.
"There was an incident. We were the closest ANBU on call. Tell us what happened here." Sasuke looked like he was about to explode and attack the nearest ANBU, but Naruto laid a hand a on his shoulder.
"It's alright, Sasuke. I'm fine, thanks to you."
Sasuke didn't look like he wanted to drop it, but the look in Naruto's eyes told him there was more to it than what he stumbled in on.
He let it go, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. With some help, he got his bed turned over, and then plopped down on his, finally relaxing. He and Sasuke explained to the ANBU what happened. After a thorough examination, they left the room, but promised at least one of them would be outside the door and the window the rest of the night.
He and Sasuke didn't talk the rest of the night, but the Uchiha never left the room. If Naruto's suspicions were right, and they rarely weren't when it came to his intense best friend, Sasuke didn't sleep the whole night either.
—
3 weeks after the preliminaries.
Jiraiya still wasn't back. Naruto was worried, pissed, upset, and dismayed. After the initial week, he sent Jiraiya another message through their summoning contract. All he'd received back was a short note.
"Be home as fast as I can. Have a plan. Hold tight."
That was close to two weeks ago now, and Naruto was so going to kill the Pervy Sage when he got back.
Once getting out of the hospital, he'd distracted himself as best he could. Researching seals and practicing writing with his left hand since his right was so shaky. Chakra control exercises. Helping his two teammates training for the finals. Anything he could to fill the void that he was feeling in his soul right now. It wasn't enough.
He could almost perform his newest jutsu with just his left hand, but he wasn't quite there yet. Not that it would do him any good when he couldn't walk, let alone run. He found ways to be of use to his village in his now ample free time. Making exploding and barrier tags, helping comrades train, he even took a D-rank to help clean the academy storage room. He had nearly failed it.
He needed Jiraiya and whatever ridiculous plan he had concocted. And fast.
The Southlands of Kusagakure
Jiraiya had been traveling and gathering information almost literally nonstop since Gamakichi appeared in front of him. The last time he'd had this little sleep for this long of a time was the third great ninja war. At least then he had been confident in his abilities.
He was no slouch as a spy, but tracking really wasn't his forte, despite how well he knew his target. He'd been hot on her trail early, and then it had gone ice cold one night while he slept. He must have spooked her. Now he had to double down on caution, which meant he slept even less.
He's informants and tracking had brought him to a tourist town in the Southern part of Kusagakure. Even for how reckless she'd been in her life, wedging herself between Amegakure and Iwagakure was stupid. Even more caution he had to exercise. He couldn't help Naruto if was in Hozuki castle. He didn't strictly have permission to be crossing borders the way he was, seeing as he hadn't actually asked for it. There was no time though, Naruto needed him.
He strolled into gambling hall, one of the smaller ones that she was known to… donate her money to. He asked about her, gesturing to his hair and chest while describing her. On a different day, he'd laugh at what he was doing. Today he was all business.
They directed him to a bar, no surprises there. He thanked them with a few extra bills thrown their way, enough to please them but not enough to arouse suspicion, and moved on.
The bar led to another bar, which led to a gambling hall, this time a larger one. They directed him towards yet another bar. That was where he found her.
He moved as calmly as possible and slid into the booth she was sitting at. It was Tsunade who spoke first.
"Wow!" She exclaimed through her slur. "This one looked just like a civilian! Which one do you think Sarutobi sent after me this time, huh Shizune? How far do you think I can throw him?"
Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Sensei didn't send me, Tsunade." He said, letting his henge melt off of him. Brown hair turned white and grew in length. A round face turned broad and sharp. Red lines appeared on his cheeks, and a horned headband on his forehead.
Tsundae, despite clearly being drunk, reacted sharply. "I'm not doing back." She said. "I don't care what he needs."
"He didn't send me, Tsunade." He let the tight hold on his chakra loosen slightly as she turned her head. "Listen to me!" A few heads turned their way, but Jiraiya lazily waved them off, holding up a bottle of sake as an excuse.
"What do you want." She asked.
"I need your help. There's a genin, he's hurt and you might be the only one that can heal him."
"Why does a genin need my help? Can't the hospital just handle it?"
Jiraiya strained to tell her the full truth, but he had to be careful so close to Iwa. There could be spies anywhere. "I've taken an interest in him, trained him quite a bit. He was injured in the Chunin exams. A genin wielding sand crushed his leg." He hinted.
Tsunade seemed to understand that code at least. "What was he doing fighting one of them? He should have just forfeited."
The vain on Jiraiya's neck nearly exploded. "Let's head back to your room. I insist." When she didn't oblige, his voice became so sharp it could cut rocks. "Now." He couldn't risk loosening his chakra anymore, or he'd surely be discovered. He reseated his henge, feeling for imperfections, then got up out of the booth.
Tsunade couldn't recall a time she'd seen Jiraiya so upset. Upset wasn't the right word. Enraged was better. "Come, Shizune. Let's see what he has to say." She said cautiously.
When they arrived at the room, Jiraiya immediately went to work laying down seals. A privacy barrier, sound and chakra dampening. She saw the full works. She took a moment to use medical ninjutsu to clear the alcohol's affects out of her system.
The moment Jiraiya finished with the last of the seals, he let his chakra free. A pressure reigned down on the room that made it hard to stand. The pig in Shizune's arms squealed. "He's his son, Tsunade! That's why you need to heal him!"
"Who is? Who's son?" She questioned.
"The genin! Naruto! He's Minato's son! My godson, and I've raised him since he was seven! Seven! And I don't know why he was fighting A GODDAMN JINCHUURIKI IN THE CHUNIN EXAMS, BUT HE NEEDS MY HELP!" Tears began streaming down his cheeks, smearing his red paint. "HE NEEDS YOUR HELP. PLEASE!" He begged. He was huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath.
Tsundae knew one thing. She'd never seen him like this before. She'd hardly ever seen anybody like this. He was desperate, that much was clear.
"What's wrong with him?" She asked. Strictly business.
Her demeanor seemed to calm him down, if only some. He took a deep breath to try and center himself. "I don't know. He got his leg and arm crushed by the sand. They apparently can't heal it. He can't walk without crutches or do ninjutsu anymore. I haven't seen him. I was on a mission when I found out and came straight for you."
"You abandoned a mission?" She gasped.
"Yeah, I know." He chuckled without humor. "First time since that damn Inuzuka dog when we were genin." He sniffled. "Sensei left me tied to that damn post all night."
She would go then, she'd already been convinced. "I won't stay."
"I'm not asking you to. Tsunade-hime. Please."
"Fine." She huffed. "We can leave first thing tomorrow, I want to gamble some more tonight."
"I'll pay all the debtors in this town that you owe if we leave today." Jiraiya said, holding up his checkbook. "He's been on crutches for three weeks. I don't want to waste any time."
Jiraiya didn't wait for a response. He rushed out of the room with a "start packing!" Tossed over his shoulder. Tsunade could only shake her head in response. A small smirk found its way onto her lips. She was dreading the return to the village, but she would be lying if she said she didn't want to see who was causing Jiraiya to act like this.
It was only an hour before they were on the road. She had an odd feeling heading back to her former home. Maybe it would be good just to stop by for a bit.
Well, that was a long chapter. One of the three longest chapters in this story I believe.
Thank you for the reviews, they truly give me more motivation to write, that's why this chapter came out so fast. (I know I said it was done last chapter but it was only at 3000 words when I said that and I added 4000 more because it didn't feel like a good stopping point.)
Father Jiraiya is very worried about his son, and quite frankly I'm not sure how well it's going to turn out for him. I haven't even decided for sure what will happen, and I'll say there's no guarantee Naruto will return 100% from this. Of course that won't stop him, but he might be crippled forever. We'll see.
There was a lot of character stuff that was hard to balance both in this chapter and with the story as a whole, so if you liked it, please leave a review or follow it!