12

Chapter 11: Only Human?

Naruto sat in his hospital room two days after returning to Konoha from the failed mission to retrieve Sasuke. Naruto was pleased to know upon their return that Rock Lee would be fine, and that the only other member of the retrieval team that needed to be hospitalized other than himself and Lee was Kiba, and he was doing just fine himself.

Kiba had a stab wound to his stomach that he had inflicted on himself. Rock Lee had many miniscule injuries to his muscles, chakra exhaustion, and a wounded shoulder from Sasuke's Chidori that mostly healed after he activated the fourth celestial gate in the battle. Naruto had to chuckle when Lee had recovered enough to tell him exactly how Sasuke had missed anything vital with the Chidori.

(Flashback – Valley of the End)

Sasuke stood across from Lee, the black marks of the cursed seal spread out across his body like fire. He had a cruel smirk on his face as he looked at Lee, who was set in his Gouken stance with a determined look on his face, "Just come back with us Sasuke-kun. I do not want to fight you, not like this."

Sasuke chuckled darkly, "But Lee. I want to fight you, ever since you first defeated me during the exams. Didn't you say you wanted to prove yourself against a genius? Well this is your chance."

"Very well Sasuke-kun. If this is what it will take, then I will defeat you if I must to bring you home." Lee launched himself at Sasuke to begin engaging.

(Flashback end)

Rock Lee however, was not as healthy and ready for combat as he had led most to believe. He had lost a considerable amount of his speed and mobility from the time he had off due to his injury and Sasuke with the use of his curse seal was too much for Lee to handle in his state, even after opening the first gate and attempting the Omote Renge (Front Lotus). The toll it took on his already battered body left Lee a mess, and a sitting duck for Sasuke's Chidori.

(Flashback)

Sasuke's hand was charged with electric chakra as the chirping of Chidori signified his next actions. Lee tried to will his body to prepare a counter or just dodge, but he knew Sasuke would track his considerably slower movements and adjust, either way he was taking the brunt of the attack somewhere vital.

Sasuke charged at Lee intent on ending his life and moving along to Otogakure, "This is the end Lee! Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!" Somehow both boys were able to ignore the streak of red soaring to the earth from the sky.

BOOM!

A loud explosion shook the entire valley, crumbling chunks of the cliff and sending them into the water below. The ground where Lee and Sasuke were fighting was ripped asunder by the force of the following tremor coming from whatever caused the explosion.

Sasuke who was charging at Lee, intent on ending his life, slipped on his suspect footing as the ground began to crack and crumble. The combination of Sasuke's broken concentration and his face-forward trip made sure that not only would his aim be off, but the attack would not penetrate too deeply.

Lee shouted in pain as Sasuke's electric fist forced itself into his shoulder, but he was still alive. Alive and still able to fight as Sasuke would soon find out.

(Flashback end)

Lee proceeded to activate the necessary gates to utilize the Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus) on Sasuke, (3) but Lee still lacked the necessary force to aptly send Sasuke towards the ground hard enough for the finish, for when Sasuke activated level two of his seal he used his wings to taper out his fall and skid along the ground until he came to a stop. By the end of Lee's barrage he could no longer move and Sasuke simply left him there.

Lee blacked out and was found by Gaara who could not track Sasuke's trail in the downpouring rain that had fallen in the valley and carried him to where Naruto's battle had taken place before carrying them both back to Konoha.

Which brings us to Naruto sitting in his bed at the hospital. Naruto's entire skeletal frame had cracked due to the stress that activating the Kitsune Trigger placed on his body. Tsunade had to do the analysis version of a double take when she went over his injuries at the hospital. She stated that Naruto had to be in excruciating pain due to the extent of his injuries that he neglected to mention were self-inflicted in a way.

After the first day he had attempted to leave, feeling well enough to walk without falling down in agony. But was blocked by Shizune who stated that he was to stay put until released, that was two days ago, and now he was beginning to go stir crazy. But a little bit of boredom was nothing compared to what Tsunade claimed he would have to do on this day.

(Flashback – The previous day)

"You mind repeating that? I think I had something crazy in my ear." Naruto was giving Tsunade a dead-pan look.

A sigh came from the ample bosomed woman as she looked at the bed-ridden boy apologetically, "You heard me brat. The council wants to hear from you about the mission. They got the information from my Anbu who investigated the battles after it was all over. They know of the reports from Shikamaru on the matter. He listed how it was you that took down three of the ones that took Sasuke."

Naruto looked up at the ceiling blankly, "I'm guessing that there's more to this than me just beating a few Oto jabronies."

"Right kid." Tsunade sat by his bedside, "They also got wind of the fact that the epicenter of the little earthquake that hit the surrounding area came from a crater with a forest of bone, a place where your scent is thick. It didn't help that there are faint traces of demonic aura in the area as well. They might try to reason that the Kyuubi could be escaping."

Naruto looked at her in a stunned fashion, "What do you think they'll want from me?"

Tsunade shrugged, "Who knows for now? All you can do is head over to the council chambers tomorrow and we'll find out then."

Naruto scoffed and looked out the window, "Well excuse the hell out of me for being a jinchuuriki trying to use his biju. Kami, everywhere else expects their own jinchuuriki to do so. This place is ass backwards baa-chan, I swear."

Tsunade patted his hand and stood to leave, "You can check out tomorrow for the meeting and then you can go on home. If you're well enough to get chewed out then you're well enough to sleep in your own bed."

(End Flashback)

XxX

Naruto arrived at the doors in front of the council chambers to find the bear-masked Anbu standing out front, "Uzumaki-san, the council is inside waiting. Hokage-sama said to wait as long as you need to in order to prepare for their questions."

Naruto waved it off, "No need Kuma-san. I do my best when I'm on the spot, I just want to get the gripe-fest inside over with so I can go home and watch my shitty closed-circuit TV."

A snort came from another corner of the hall as Kuma moved and allowed Naruto entrance into the council chambers. As he walked inside he noticed the conversation drop off and most of the focus fell on him. There were almost unanimous glares from the civilian council, and when he turned to bid them a jaunty hello he almost broke down in laughter as they tried their hand at their pathetic excuse for killing intent.

Naruto saw that all of the clan heads were looking at him and he could read their expressions as he made his way to the table he was to remain at. The Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara clan heads were pretty objective, the Nara and Akimichi clan heads were actually giving him looks of acknowledgement, obviously being told by their sons about his actions during the mission.

The Inuzuka matriarch was smirking at him with mirth evident on her face, a smirk that he readily returned. The Hyuuga clan head was just looking at him, he couldn't tell what was going on behind those white eyes, damn, Hyuuga's have a great poker face, likewise for the Aburame clan.

Naruto saw the council elder advisers and saw Danzo, but let his face betray nothing, as did Danzo. Naruto knew they would never openly get a chance to speak, not for a long time, and if Danzo found that opening he would find Naruto if he really needed to, there was no need for Naruto to act like a lost puppy right now.

Taking his seat at the table he looked at the elders as if to state, 'can we start yet?' Tsunade then cleared her throat to speak, "Chunin Naruto Uzumaki, you have been brought here at the behest of Konohagakure no Sato's village council for your details on the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha." She turned to the elders, "Those of you that have questions on what happened, you may ask."

Naruto turned his attention to the elders themselves who opened the floor with questioning. Koharu Utatane chose to go first, "Uzumaki-san, if you could, would you give us a verbal description of your experiences during the mission?"

Naruto nodded, "I set out from the village during the morning to catch up to the retrieval team in order to provide adequate assistance to them in case they wound up being outclassed by their opposition. After picking up a trail within the first half-hour I proceeded to give pursuit for about three hours before catching up to Choji Akimichi who was engaged in battle against, now identified, Jirobo of the South. Choji was on the verge of taking the third of the secret Akimichi pills in order to combat his foe when I stepped in and sent him to go catch up with the rest of the team. I then proceeded to swiftly dispatch Jirobo and follow suit in catching up to the team."

The old man next to Koharu, Homura Mitokado nodded, "This much was revealed by young Choji's report and by the Anbu that found Jirobo's corpse following the mission. You may proceed."

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Then why did you fucking ask me then?' Ignoring that voice in his head he continued, "I then found Neji Hyuuga in the middle of fighting Kidomaru of the East. He seemed to be doing fine on his own, it was an even deadlock, but Kidomaru had yet to unlock the second stage of his cursed seal so I decided to intervene. Neji was able to keep Kidomaru's attention until I was able to launch a stealth attack from a distance that ended his life."

Naruto licked his lips in pause before continuing, "Both Neji and myself then caught up to Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi who had rejoined the main force. Rock Lee and Kiba Inuzuka had been separated from the team while Shikamaru and Choji were being held up by Tayuya of the North. I sent Neji off to find Kiba who had fallen from a cliff into the river below and fought Tayuya along with Shikamaru and Choji. She caught them in a genjutsu, and knowing how much trouble a skilled genjutsu specialist usually has against a close-range specialist, I closed the distance and defeated her, freeing Choji and Shikamaru. I captured her and Shikamaru along with Choji returned her to Konoha as a prisoner."

Naruto then looked at the elders as if expecting comments. Tsunade motioned for him to go on, "Proceed Uzumaki."

Naruto sighed and looked at all of the people. No doubt everyone in the room knew what was next, "I ran ahead and then made contact with Rock Lee who was fighting Kimimaro Kaguya at the time. I sent Lee off ahead to retrieve Sasuke while I stayed to keep Kimimaro from assisting Sasuke's escape. After a prolonged conflict and timely momentary assistance from Sabaku no Gaara I was able to outlast Kimimaro and defeat him, however I was too injured to continue with the mission and had to be assisted by Gaara who had also found and retrieved an injured Rock Lee."

A civilian council member stood up, "So you let the last Uchiha escape did you boy?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, 'You already know he got away you son-of-a-bitch. You just want to use me as your whipping boy on the matter.' Naruto spoke evenly, "I did not allow anything. He may have gotten beyond the border, but the team and myself did everything we could to prevent that from happening."

Another council member stood and pointed at him, "But you already defeated the Uchiha in combat. If you had just left the battle with the Kaguya to that Rock Lee person then you could have personally stopped Sasuke yourself."

Naruto bristled at the insinuation, "Listen. Kimimaru Kaguya was far beyond any of their levels. He was sick, he was weak, and it still took everything I had to put him down. Nothing that Rock Lee is capable of would have beaten him. No one else on the retrieval squad or the relief team from Suna could have fought and defeated him. He might have even found a way to overwhelm me had he not used the last of his chakra on his final technique, or does a giant forest of bones not register as potentially hazardous to a team comprised of genin?"

The civilians sat down seething at Naruto explanation when Hiashi Hyuuga's firm voice was heard, "The forest of bones… was also inside of a massive crater. The crater was the epicenter for the tremors that struck Konoha. What can you tell us about that?"

Naruto knew there was no need to lie at this point, "Yes, I did it. It was necessary to keep up with Kimimaro Kaguya after he activated the next level of his seal. It's a high price to pay to use that much power however, the force of my technique cracks my entire skeletal frame."

Inoichi Yamanaka was curious as to the nature of Naruto's maneuver, "Would you mind showing the technique to us?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Yes. Yes I would, actually. Not only is it something that really shouldn't be used outside of combat, it's not something that I want people to know about, let alone actually see. You all have your own clan secrets and all of that, well consider this something that none of you have any right to coerce out of me."

Another arrogant civilian stood, "We are the council boy. You are a ninja of this village and therefore your secrets are ours to know."

Naruto gave him a look as if to say 'are you serious?' He looked up at Tsunade, "I work for you. Not some petty merchant with a superiority complex. Keep him out of shinobi business." He turned to the council, "The only ones that have even the slightest amount of authority over me are the clan heads, and that's because they're all jounin. Outside of the field the only person here that can tell me to do anything is Hokage-sama. Do any of you have the title of Hokage-sama?"

He got a unanimous shaking of heads, "Do any of you have that kick-ass pointy hat?" Another round of no's, "Well then you can all respectfully stuff it. My techniques are my own, you don't need to know them, you couldn't perform them anyway so the knowledge would be useless."

The civilians broke into an uproar while the clan heads started looking at Naruto with amused respect. The main yells from the civilian council were calling for Naruto's punishment until one of them changed the subject altogether, "You should be punished for allowing the Uchiha to escape! He was the last of our most powerful bloodlines and you send another genin to get him instead of yourself!"

Naruto looked at the ignorant man coldly, "Like I said, Kimimaro Kaguya was far beyond anything Rock Lee could have done to him. Kimimaro would have killed him for sure had I not stepped in, which was my job in the first place. I was sent as back-up, to get them out of unfavorable situations, and that was as unfavorable a condition as they were going to face on that mission."

Naruto stood and began pacing, "Kimimaro could have beaten Sasuke without trouble. Sasuke only had Chidori and a few katon ninjutsu as something that could slow Kimimaro down, and that wouldn't have stopped him. What I did to make that crater, Kimimaro survived it and launched one final attack. As far as I'm concerned, none of them could have kept up with him. And besides, I was sent to make sure they could carry out their own mission parameters, my own were different from theirs and I did what I thought I had to do to achieve both. Rock Lee had not told me that he wasn't in prime condition. I don't know what would have changed if I had known, but that is moot at this point."

"Get back to the other topic! What did you do to cause the crater!"

The room once again got loud on the civilian side as cries of 'the Kyuubi is escaping' among other asinine remarks were being made. The shinobi side were looking bored, most of them knowing full well that jinchuuriki should be able to utilize the power of their demons so this wasn't much of an issue. Tsume Inuzuka even let out a loud yawn signifying how bored with the proceedings she was.

Naruto made subtle motions to the shinobi council signaling 'blah blah blah' and pointing at the civilian side, getting a few smirks on that side. He looked up at Tsunade, "Can I be dismissed Hokage-sama? I've already spoken my peace, anything from this point forward and there's nothing I can do or have any part in."

Tsunade nodded, "You are dismissed chunin Uzumaki." Naruto bowed to her and left the room. As the door closed shut she sighed as another uproar from the civilians broke out.

XxX

Naruto sighed in relief as he jumped along the rooftops towards his apartment, "Well that wasn't as unpleasant as it could have been. Hopefully baa-chan can block any of their powerplay bullcrap against me."

Naruto arrived and opened the door to his apartment to find Kankuro raiding his fridge. Naruto's eye twitched as he grabbed Kankuro by the collar and dragged him away from his food, "What the hell are you guys still doing here?"

Kankuro looked at Naruto smugly as the boy let go of him, "Don't you remember Naruto? You told Gaara we could stay here after he got you to the hospital."

Naruto looked around his apartment, "Does my place look like it can accommodate all of you and me at the same time? Why don't you all go and get a hotel you rich bastards?"

Kankuro chuckled, "Well we got the call to leave so quickly that we didn't have any time to go home and grab any money. We were fortunate Gaara asked you."

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head, "Gaara asked me when I was hopped up on so many painkillers I couldn't tell that there was a catheter in me! Nothing I could have possibly said in that state of mind could possibly be held as a valid statement!"

Kankuro shrugged, "It's done man. Temari swiped your bed, I'm hitting the couch, and Gaara doesn't sleep so it worked out just fine for everyone."

"Except for me…" Naruto had a perturbed look on his face, "Because you probably ate me out of house and home! I ain't made of money here you know!"

Temari came from the back with a sad frown on her face, "But Naruto… When you stayed in Suna you stayed with us we didn't say anything. Am I really that bad that you can't live with me for a few days?" The look on her face appeared as though his answer would end up breaking her heart.

Naruto was slack-jawed and sputtering, "I-. But-. You guys-. My food-." He eventually threw his hands in the air in exasperation and went to grab his wallet, "Fine whatever, I'm out of here. Don't eat all of my food!"

A grumbling Naruto turned to leave the apartment, shutting the door roughly behind him. Kankuro smirked at his sister, "That was messed up Temari. Playing with the kid like that. You shouldn't mess with his head like that, he might think you like him or something."

Temari shrugged and walked back to Naruto's room, "Maybe I do. I'm going to take a nap for a few hours."

Kankuro sat blinking in place for a moment, "Wait, Temari are you serious?" Temari said nothing as she shut the door to Naruto's room, "Temari!"

XxX

Naruto grumbled as he left his apartment, "I can't believe this crap! What the hell is going on around here? Can I get a little me time?" Naruto decided that since he wasn't going to get any alone time he might as well get some food in him. Going to the place that he was most accustomed to going for his meals, Naruto ended up taking a seat at Ichiraku Ramen.

As he plopped down in his usual seat Naruto sighed, "Can I get some ramen you guys… I really need some relaxation food right about now."

Ayame giggled as she came over with a pen to write his order, "Ramen is a strange food to relax with Naruto-kun even for you. So what do you want?"

Naruto pulled out a full wallet with a wide grin, "Give me one of everything to start, let's say I have money to blow today."

Ayame nodded and wrote out his order before noticing the look on Naruto's face, "What's the matter? You look terrible."

Naruto chuckled slightly before looking up at her with a tired grin, "I'm tired Ayame-neechan, damn tired. I'll be fine I just need some rest, I haven't just relaxed in forever. I can't remember the last time I just sat back and did nothing. I'd say I've earned it."

Teuchi came from the back and greeted the young boy, "Oh, Naruto! I thought you were in the hospital. When did you get out?"

Naruto grinned at him, "About four hours ago. Come on, did you really think that an entirely cracked skeleton could keep me down for long? Who do you think I am?" Naruto's eyes shined as they placed a bowl of ramen in front of him.

Teuchi chuckled at Naruto's expression, "Enjoy kid." He went off to begin washing dishes while Ayame took another customer's order. Naruto began to dig into his meal and ease his mind. He made it until his seventh bowl when a familiar head of pink hair sat beside him.

Naruto turned to Sakura with a face full of noodles and slurped them up while making eye contact. Green met blue as Naruto stayed silent and finished his bowl. Upon finishing Naruto set the bowl aside with a sigh and motioned Sakura to proceed, "Go ahead."

Her eyes trembled, "Naruto, Sasuke-kun I-."

Naruto held up his hand, "You should be asking Lee about this more than me. I wasn't here when he left, I wasn't there when he ran after getting out of that barrel, and I wasn't there to fight him. If I had been then he'd be in traction, sitting pretty in our hospital right now. All I was there for was to make sure the others didn't get in too deep, I never saw him at all."

Sakura looked as if tears would come to her eyes. Naruto sighed and stood up, "Which way do you live Sakura?"

She looked up at him, confusion evident on her face, "Why do you want to know?"

Naruto paid for his food and looked over at her, "Because in the time it takes us to get you home, I'm going to listen to everything you have to say on this matter. When I get you to your door I'll tell you something from me that you need to hear."

Sakura didn't really understand but he was offering to listen so she couldn't really tell him off. So she told him about how she had seen Sasuke attempting to leave, how she confessed to him and what he had said before he knocked her out. Naruto walked and kept his mouth shut, much to Sakura's surprise as she had still yet to adjust to the new Naruto. The walk to Sakura's house took thirty minutes at the pace that they were moving.

Throughout the walk Naruto's face betrayed none of his thoughts. Sakura thought he wasn't listening until at one point when she stopped he instructed her to carry on. He reassured her that he was indeed paying full attention and was working out what he would say when they arrived at her home, so she kept going.

Sakura's throat was dry and she was slightly out of breath because of the amount of talking that she had done, but she had put it all out there. Now she was simply waiting for Naruto to speak as was their agreement. He stood in front of her for a moment saying nothing as he finished thinking about his dialogue. Finally believing that he had worked it out enough, he began, "You really love him? Seriously? No bullshit?"

She nodded and looked in his eyes without falter. Naruto smiled slightly at her, "That's a pretty big claim for someone as young as us to say Sakura. Are you sure? Things can change over time you know? You might not feel this way tomorrow, next month, hell, three years from now you might not."

"I am not flighty about things like this Naruto. I made this commitment a long time ago that I did love Sasuke, and I would prove it to him." She looked away, "I-I really would have left with him that night Naruto."

A frown worked its way onto Naruto's face, "That isn't something you should be saying out loud Sakura. But now what? He's gone. Gone to Orochimaru, the ultimate traitor of Konoha for power, what will you do now?"

Sakura clinched her fists at her side, "Then I'll get strong enough to save him. I won't give up. I'll get strong and then I'll bring Sasuke-kun back myself."

Naruto looked at her for a long moment, "You know that you actually have to take an active interest in your training right? What I did to you in our match was terrible Sakura, you have a lot of work to do. Sasuke might not willingly return even years from now, and if it comes to that, and you don't get far stronger he will tear you apart."

Sakura looked down at the ground sadly as Naruto's footsteps signified his leaving her doorstep, "But, who am I to cut down someone's goal? It's going to take a lot of training Sakura, you really need to up your skills, but it's far from something that's impossible to do. And who knows? If you get your chance to go after Sasuke, I might just want to tag along too."

Sakura raised her head to see a faint smile on Naruto's face as he walked away. Sakura turned and entered her home with her resolve for the future set. Naruto took to the rooftops to head towards the Hokage Tower.

XxX

"Yo baa-chan."

Tsunade looked to see Naruto hanging around her window with a lazy look on his face, "Can you take the door brat? I already have Jiraiya jumping on the sill every time he comes by, I don't need you doing it too."

Naruto shrugged and hopped inside of the office, "It's easier than the door." A smirk came onto his face, "Unless you like it when I kick it open because I personally love it. I would have no problems with doing that for you."

Tsunade's eye twitched as Naruto flopped on a chair in the office, "So what are you doing here brat? Other than trying to get me to put you through the wall?"

Naruto's jovial face fell as he got business-like, "How do you feel about starting up a program for combat medics?"

Tsunade's eyes widened before she went to normal, "I proposed that idea years ago during the last war, but Sarutobi-sensei shot it down. He said there just weren't enough resources to go around then for it."

A grin came onto Naruto's face, "Well why not do it now? You are the Hokage aren't you? Or is that pointy hat something I can buy somewhere for myself? Set it up, and I have someone you should look up first. She doesn't have much going for her except chakra control."

Tsunade laid her face in her palm, "Then why would I want her in the program brat?"

The grin never slipped from his face, "Yes, she's pretty raw. But that's the beauty of it. If there is one thing that I know from personal experience, it's that a blank slate is probably the best thing for a ninja to be when they go into any kind of training. Give her some time and teach her right, she'll be just fine. And did I mention the chakra control?"

"Who is it brat?" Tsunade was interested in the program, and if Naruto had an idea of just who could be receptive to the training, why wouldn't she listen to him, "Is she one of the genin in your class?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, my teammate that didn't end up ditching the village, Sakura Haruno. Check her out, see if she's what you're looking for, and if she is get in touch with her."

Tsunade looked at him as he stood to make his way to the window once more, "What are you going to go do brat?"

Naruto yawned as he turned to face her, "I'm tired. I need some sleep and some time off. Give me at least a week and then give me a new assignment, the cracked bones really do suck for someone who runs around all day."

A smile came onto Tsunade's face, "I put you on medical leave for a bit anyway after you got back. I'll call you when I think you're ready again. You're getting at least a week off. Get some rest. But stop in later this week, I have something for you to do."

Naruto gave her a weak salute and jumped out of her window to exit.

XxX

Naruto arrived at his home that night as the stress of the last few days finally caught up with him. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement to Kankuro who was eating one of his cup ramen and watching his TV. The puppeteer almost choked on his food as he saw Naruto heading back to his bedroom and rushed to stop him.

As he stood in front of Naruto he could feel the killing intent radiating off of the haggard blonde, "You better have a damn good reason for blocking my way or my foot will have a damn good reason for sticking itself up your ass."

Kankuro pointed back towards his room, "I told you Temari took your bed. Well she's in there right now sleeping. If you value your testicles kid I wouldn't go in there."

Naruto looked at Kankuro, then to the room, then back to Kankuro who was shaking his head. He shrugged and moved Kankuro aside, "I'll take my chances. I'll be damned if I'm sleeping on the floor in my own damn house."

Kankuro went wide-eyed as he watched Naruto enter the room and shut the door before running back to the couch, planning to feign ignorance when the fireworks went off.

Naruto took a look around his room to find it far less cluttered, "Well, she picked my crap up while I was gone I suppose."

Turning his attention to his bed he found his fellow blonde from Suna sleeping soundly on his bed, 'How can she sleep so well on my piece of crap mattress? I thought she would have been spoiled by their expensive, comfortable beds at home.'

As he edged closer to the bed Naruto's thoughts were telling him that it would be a damn shame to potentially disrupt the sleep of this girl. Temari looked way too peaceful for him to normally awaken. Too bad he was too tired to pay attention to his logical thoughts.

Naruto edged her to one side of his bed, which she actually did in her sleep quite easily, she must have been a pretty heavy sleeper. He took off his shirt and slid in next to her, turning away and quickly fell victim to the comfort of sleep.

(3 hours later)

A cold feeling was placed against his face, forcing Naruto to open his eyes and deal with the nuisance. As his eyes cracked open he saw Temari's metal fan placed against his cheek. Figuring that she wouldn't hit him while he was asleep he quickly shut his eyes and slowed his breathing. Naruto snapped his eyes open when she shook his face with the fan.

"You're awake! That's good, did you have a nice nap?" He could tell that the fake sweet voice meant that he was screwed, so there was no reason for him to not be a smart-ass at this point. What else could she do after this? Not beat him?

Naruto sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking at her with a dull face, "It was alright. But it wasn't meant to be a nap. It was meant to be a twelve to twenty-four hour hibernation of sorts. Thanks for that. You woke me up…" He checked his clock, "…Nineteen hours early, great."

Temari had a scowl on her face, "I woke up looking at your bare back! What the hell are you doing here?"

Continuing to poke the bear he raised an eyebrow, "I live here. Didn't you know that when you got here?"

Temari pushed him back down on the bed with her fan, "I meant what are you doing in the bed you ass."

Naruto couldn't prevent the smirk from going on his face before he responded, "This is my bedroom. As you can see there's only one bed, mine, and you were kind of in it, so I figured, hey! Roomates!"

Temari began to unfold her fan with an angry look on her face, "Give me one reason why I shouldn't blow you from here to the Hokage Tower?"

Naruto rolled over on the bed and shut his eyes, "I'll give you two; because I just came from there, and because I haven't gotten a non-drug induced sleep in over three days. Now if you're going to use that thing to beat my ass, go ahead, because I'm too tired to care, just don't fuck up my bedspread."

Temari dropped her fan, "Where will I sleep then? And how did you get here without me noticing?"

Naruto cracked an eye, "Where were you sleeping before you knew I was here?" He then pointed at himself, "And, ninja. It's kind of in my job description to be able to sneak up on people."

Silence reigned over the room as Temari thought of something else to say until shallow breathing let her know Naruto had fallen back asleep. With a sweat-drop on her head Temari left the room shaking her head.

XxX

The next day Naruto awoke a strange sound. Not so much strange as it was utterly terrifying.

"NARUTO-KUN, YOSH! YOU MUST JOIN US ON OUR YOUTHFUL MORNING EXCERSICES!"

"YES NARUTO-KUN! YOU MUST TRAIN WITH US TO KEEP UP YOUR YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE DURING YOUR TIME OFF!"

Naruto woke up, stirring Temari from her own sleep while the voices outside kept yelling, "Naruto, what the hell is that?"

Naruto groaned/growled as he sat up, scratching his hair, "Temari-chan go back to sleep. I'll deal with this myself. This is a local problem…"

Temari did as instructed while Naruto stomped to his front door finding Gaara silently watching TV and Kankuro mashing one of Naruto's couch pillows over his head, "Naruto, get those idiots to shut the hell up before I slit my wrists to make the voices stop."

Naruto looked at Gaara who didn't seem to be affected at all. Gaara felt Naruto's eyes on him and turned to face him, "I have plugged my ears with sand to block out the noise. Otherwise I would have killed them by now."

Naruto nodded in understanding and headed to the door where Gai and Lee were outside still shouting about Naruto's 'flames of youth'. Naruto opened the door and inhaled sharply, "SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Gai and Lee stopped at the sound of Naruto shouting at them. The boy was radiating killing intent with bags under his eyes, "I am on leave damn it… This is the first decent sleep that I've had in days… I have no problems training with you both, however I will train with you at an hour that is populated by creatures that are not nocturnal. Now beat it! I'll see you later!"

"YOSH NARUTO-KUN YOU ARE-!"

Naruto turned and blasted them both with murderous intent, "Get away from my apartment building or I will get Gaara to kill both of you! He's in here I swear to Kami! I'm tired and delusional!"

With one last shout about Naruto's youth, both Lee and Gai decided to go off for a few hundred laps around Konoha to wait for Naruto to wake up. Naruto shut his door with a sigh, "Well at least I know what I'm doing today…"

Kankuro sighed in relief, "So now that you're up, what are you going to do?"

Naruto rubbed his head on his way back to the room, "What else? Finish sleeping with your sister. She's very clingy in her sleep, it's awesome." Walking away with a thumbs up, Naruto ignored the look on Kankuro's face.

XxX

Later that day Naruto made his way towards the field that he knew Lee and Gai were using. How did he know where they were? Well all he had to do was run around town and listen for faint, or not so faint, smatterings of shouts for youth, or for repeated yells of 'Lee' or 'Gai-sensei'… It didn't take long.

Naruto arrived in an open field to find the all of Team Gai amassed together, "Oh for fuck's sake…" Just to arrive smack-dab in the middle of one of Gai and Lee's genjutsu moments. As the waves crashed in the sun-setting background Naruto walked over to Neji and Tenten who were stuck staring at the genjutsu.

Tenten shook her head while Lee and Gai got their bro-hug on, "It's like this every day… They seriously can't keep this up every single day. It's a phase… It'll end eventually. Right?"

Neji had his Byakugan on as he tried looking away, but couldn't bring himself to do so, "I can't see through it… What is this? … Oh, Naruto's here."

They both turned to find Naruto trying to avert his eyes from Gai and Lee, "So what got them started with that crap today?"

Tenten smiled at him, "Oh, it was about how they got the 'youthful' Naruto to agree to train with them today."

"Well they were shouting down my door at 4 a.m. so I just wanted them to leave." Naruto picked up some rocks on the genjutsu beach and skipped them across the water, "That's impressive."

The sound of the stones hitting the water snapped Lee and Gai out of their moment, "Ah, Naruto-kun, it is good of you to show up."

The boy in question shrugged, "I didn't have anything else to do today so why not?" He looked around blankly, "So why am I here? I can't even spar with anyone, I'm on medical leave."

Tenten walked up to him, "Medical leave? What's wrong with you? You look fine."

Naruto grinned foxily at her, "I cracked every single bone in my body on the last mission! It's great. I'm in excruciating pain just from getting here!"

Neji activated his Byakugan to look at Naruto and nodded in confirmation, "Yes it's true. Naruto has small cracks on the majority of his skeletal frame, some areas lack damage, but the most used areas of the human body still have some going through them, like his arms and legs."

Naruto cut in, "Which is why it hurts like a bitch to walk. I'm not fighting any of you today."

Neji let his Byakugan fade out, "Why does your face not register the pain that you should be in then?"

Naruto looked at Neji lazily, "Never let 'em see you sweat."

Tenten noticed something strange about Naruto, "Naruto, where is your sword? I see your sheath on your back but not the sword. Did you lose it?" Her eyes had a dangerous glint in them as she stared him down.

Neji backed away while Naruto turned to answer, "Yes, but it wasn't my fault. I lost it fighting the strongest of those guys that took Sasuke." He was then forced to dodge as Tenten threw projectile weapons at him, "Hey! I'm hurt here!"

Tenten held up a fist full of shuriken, "You lost that sword! All of that crap you were saying about me being a user of many weapons and a master of none. Even I know that you should never lose one of your close-range weapons!"

Naruto grabbed Neji and hid behind him, "Hey! I know exactly where it is. It'll just take a few hours to get out there. You can all come with me, Gai-sensei can consider it a field trip or something." He turned to Gai, "Do ninja have field trips?"

Gai's teeth shined as he smiled at Naruto, "A most wonderful idea Naruto-kun! The forest of bone is something that many of the Konoha jounin have heard about but none have seen! What a youthful idea! I will get permission to take you all out that far, for I would be happy to accompany you with my team to retrieve your blade!"

XxX

Gai got them out of the village and headed off in the direction of Naruto's battle with Kimimaro. Throughout the trip Lee, Neji, and Naruto told them the stories of their battles during the mission. Lee told Naruto how he wished he could have tested himself against Kimimaro the way he did and that it would have been better for everyone if Naruto had gone after Sasuke and left him.

Naruto almost fell from the trees they were jumping through in laughter. After he calmed down all of Team Gai asked him what was so funny. Naruto replied with, "You'll see."

Upon arrival Tenten tried to push through the last of the brush to reach the clearing Naruto told them the fight took place in when he grabbed her around the waist. Tenten blushed heavily, "W-What are you doing Naruto?"

Naruto smiled at her, "Watch your step." Naruto then pushed through the foliage to reveal the massive barren crater that he had caused during the duel with Kimimaro. Naruto helped Tenten slide into the pit while the men all jumped down themselves.

Tenten got Naruto to let her go when they landed, blush still intact on her face, "I could have gotten down here myself."

Naruto looked at her with a grin, "I know, but I'm a chivalrous bastard sometimes." He looked around and shook his head, "I thought it was bigger during the fight… maybe it was just the smoke playing tricks on me." He looked back at Lee, "Still think it would have been better to stay behind?"

They all marveled at the sight of all the wreckage until Naruto pointed ahead at the jagged wall of white, "And that's where my sword is."

Their jaws dropped as they got closer to the results of Kimimaro's Sawarabi no Mai. The sheer scale of the jutsu was impressive until Naruto spoke, "Yeah, it surprised the hell out of me when I first saw it. It all sprouted up in like one second, I thought I was dead. I had to Kawarimi with the sword to escape. I'm glad I could see it from the top of the spikes."

They all looked up where Kimimaro's body was still sticking out of one of the spikes. They looked down at Naruto with respect as he started squeezing through the tightly packed bones to reach the area where he dropped his weapon. After a few minutes a loud curse rang out. Followed shortly by Naruto emerging from the bones with the pieces of his broken sword, "Oh man… I have to get it fixed now… Poor sword, you were so great."

Naruto put the broken pieces of his sword into his sheath and started to exit the area to return to Konoha, "Well this was one way to spend the day eh?" He jumped out of the crater and began making his way back towards Konoha.

Neji watched as he left and spoke to Gai, "Gai-sensei, if Naruto was able to do this to the landscape, how strong is he?"

Gai patted Neji on the shoulder, "That's not what you should be asking. Remember why he was in the hospital. After knowing that it happened here and after seeing what the results of such power was capable of, do you really want to find out?"

Lee spoke up at this point, "And if he is anything like myself or Gai-sensei he will not allow this to be his limit either. And that is what is truly scary."