CH 55

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."

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