This story was written by my brother. Sadly he's unable to write anymore due to an accident that paralyzed his dominant arm. He's recovering but it probably won't be anytime soon. He had this chapter mostly written and wanted me to upload it.

Why it took that lazy asshole so long to tell you guys, I have no idea. Rip his ass when he gets back.

Flashbacks

Something Jutsu

'Thoughts'

"Speaking"

'BIJU/SUMMON THOUGHTS'

"BIJU/SUMMON SPEAKING"

Hell.

What would you describe it as?

Fire… fire everywhere. Huge, massive, towering flames. Pungent smell of burning flesh. Demons moving here and there with giant iron "thingies" in their hands.

Well, Naruto had a different vision of it.

'Smell of phenyl-check. Hushed unintelligible mutterings and strange beeping sounds-check'

He cracked open an eye.

'Machines standing near me-check. Yup, I don't want to wake up just yet.' He finally determined the place he was. It was hell. However, for some reason, regular people seemed to call it a hospital.

'Like the two people in the room that do not belong here' he thought as his senses kicked in and were starting to make a mental image of his surroundings. 'Let's see who it is then. Kaa-san…' He mentally shrugged. He had a mountain of a headache thanks to a level 3 case of chakra exhaustion. His body hurt like a bitch. Overall, he was certifiably not in a condition to face a melodramatic (ex)-negligent mother.

Sighing at his current predicament, he shifted his senses to get a feel of the second one's chakra.

'The second one… who is that? Wait wait wait wait, she's the one from Lee's team if I'm not wrong. What was her name? What was her name?... Tenten! Alright… The hell is she doing here? Keeping an eye on me? If that was the case it would make more sense if Lee was here in her stead.'

The memories of the previous night were a bit hazy right now. Naruto remembered waking up in the middle of the night, talking to a speeding Lee, rushing headfast into a designated conflict zone, all for a stupid reason. To get his supplies back. His mind was definitely not in the right place if he was willing to make that decision. Sure an armory of weapons was available to him if he so demanded, cause why wouldn't they? Doesn't everybody want to kiss the Hokage's ass? Trying to escape from his dad's shadow and remain independent did seem to take his toll on the body. It didn't help the matter that he was the one who ended up taking care of the idiot brothers. Then falling face-first into the ground.

He chuckled to himself, what was the probability of running into a pair of villains when an entire village was on the hunt for them. Probably something to do with that luck of his. 'Though after that, I don't remember much. The signal I sent took way too long to gather back up. Bushy brow-sensei and his team were the ones on the scene.' He tried to remember as much as possible but his headache wasn't helping him much in that regard.

'Oh right! Tenten was the one who bought me here. I do owe her thanks, she was even considerate enough to stay beside me throughout the night. What a great girl she is! How caring. Well, got to thank her later somehow.'

Unfortunately, for Naruto, the machines monitoring his heart rate detected his pulse rate going just above those of an unconscious person and the resulting beeping thereof alerted the present medical attendee to his patient's state of consciousness. The medic rushed to Naruto's side and began taking notes on his condition. After a few seconds of scribbling, he kept his pad away and asked in a voice that Naruto's currently sensitive ears did not want to hear "Are you awake Namikaze-sama? How do you feel?"

The asked person had half a mind to smash this person's head halfway through the wall for screaming in his ear so loudly until he was made aware of his sensitiveness.

"Namikaze-sama, you have been given T-05, a promoter. It helps boost the reaction time of nerves in order to help patients avoid having to face a serious case of numbness. A side-effect is that it makes you hypersensitive for a short duration." The doctor said. "Now tell me are you feeling any numbness, pain, soreness, or are in any way uncomfortable? Besides the head on your lap of course." He added the last bit with a smirk well hidden behind his facemask.

"Yeah I get it, I'm sensitive right now, so do you mind lowering your volume a bit? You might as well be shouting in my ear at this rate." The doctor nodded in understanding and turned around to leave the room. "As for the other one, no I'm fine. Including that head of course." He added to make sure the doctor did not take this in the wrong way, just as a precaution. No one wanted a strange rumor going on inside the village involving the son of the Hokage and a girl he seemed to be dating.

*Yawn* His blood froze.

What great timing, Kushina was awake. With lightning-fast speed, Naruto's hand reached Tenten's head and began to stroke it.

His trickster brain went into overdrive and tried to think of a way out for his less than fragile psyche to deal –read as avoiding dealing- with this situation. "Only one way to avoid mom now…."

Make her uncomfortable. Naruto gulped, silently making a prayer to any god willing to hear that his intentions with that girl were pure. 'I'm so sorry Tenten. Please find it within your heart to forgive me for such trespassing. I promise I will face whatever punishment you think is appropriate.'

Kushina's mind was not yet awake completely. She had rushed to the hospital as soon as she found out her son had been admitted there. It was frustrating, to say the least. Imagine her condition, sleeping peacefully and suddenly waking up to the news that her son, who she thought was sleeping upstairs, was in the hospital with a level 3 case of chakra exhaustion. Overall, it was a very rude wakeup call.

When she reached the hospital a few minutes later, she found her son sleeping on the white hospital bed, hooked to a number of machines. A nurse briefed her on the situation, which lead to her son being in this state.

After hearing the heroic tale of her son, she dismissed the nurse and sat down on the visitor's chair.

'Stupid Naruto!' A tear rolled down her cheek. 'Not even thinking about himself, jumping into battle. It could have gotten him killed. Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped you if you so wanted to do that. Why did you have to risk your life? I know that we are not on the best of terms right now. And I refuse to let anything happen to you before I have you back. You are my son. You don't get to do such stupid things from now on.'

As Kushina sat on the chair, she absently took note of the other girl present in the vicinity, and the position she was in too. She smiled a bit, 'Seems like he does have friends other than his teammates'. She decided to wait here, with her son until he woke up.

This brings us to the current situation.

Let it never be known that the red habanero wasn't one to ignore the mood. Kushina cracked open one eye and saw the state that his son was in. On his face, a caring smile, and his hand on the head that had somehow managed to find rest on his lap.

Little grandkids with blond and brown hair ran around in her head as her eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement. Sparkling so bright, that Naruto had to practically squint in order to save his eyes. Deciding that she should avoid ruining this moment, she decided to play possum.

'And who does she think she is fooling with that act?' Thought Naruto with a deadpan. He sighed.

This was going to be a tough one to get out of.

It was late into the afternoon the day after, when he was finally able to get out of his house. Kushina just wouldn't stop babying him.

Seeing as there was nothing peculiar to do, he set out for his favorite spot to relax, the Hokage Monument.

Waving a quick hi to a passing by Honda, the blonde made his way to the top of the monument. Taking in a big waft of air, he smiled brightly at the seemingly fresh breeze of air and the gentle warmth of the sun that touched his skin. It all felt pretty warm and cozy. Scores better than the hospital setting at least.

Feeling pretty good about the spot he found under a tree, he decided to lay down there and close his eyes for a bit.

He sighed, just when were his friends supposed to be back? It had already been a week and he was reaching the epitome of his boredom. 'What can I do to pass the time? Dad had made it clear not to go off training my body so soon. Besides, mom would eat me alive if I did that.'

He chuckled to himself a bit at that. 'Guess that's what I was missing, huh? A doting mother… silly me' He let that thought linger around for a bit, reveling in the feeling. 'Onto the matters at hand, what should I do?' He thought, coming back to the problem at hand. 'Usually there's so much work that I need to use clones, but today… I can't seem to find a single thing to do…'

He got up and looked out at the village, his home. It represented literally everything. A look around the village made sure to drive each point home.

A busy market district. A symbol of prosperity and harmony. The people, going about their usual schedule, purchasing, selling, making a living. These were the people they are supposed to protect.

A further glance to the left showed the residential area. It reminded him of what he, and every ninja Konoha produced, served to protect. Peace. The Ultimate goal for which every ninja fought. Irony herself would have hung her head in shame.

Moving further to the commercial district showed dreams. Dreams of people making big in their fields. Be it a consultancy firm or the Kunai production department.

A little glance to the west showed of the cemeteries, a gentle reminder of the people who had given up their lives to protect this village. It represented the memories of those who had gone ahead, entrusting the future to the current generation.

Finally, looking past the forests, he saw the training grounds where ninjas of all age groups were practicing. Seeing them brought a smile to his face. His friends, the future generation who will be tasked with taking care of this village, their home and who will be the ones to carry on this legacy. This legacy, to protect all that is dear to them.

With a new resolve, and the will to make a change, Naruto walked to and peered over the edge of the Shodaime's head, and looked down.

The Hokage tower. The place to house the strongest ninja and the one responsible for all of this. But more importantly, his Dad.

'Guess I have to help you out, ne… otou-san?' He stepped out towards the very edge of the head. 'Don't worry, you can leave my friends to me. I'm going to make sure that they're able to live up to all of your expectations '

With that, he bolted off for the training grounds.

Physically he was all right. Still, the doctor had told him to take it easy for a while. And it goes without saying that Kushina interpreted it as something along the lines of 'He will be in grave danger if he even stepped out for a while'. Minato was much better as he had simply asked him to refrain from training.

The chibi prankster in Naruto's head deftly noted down the absence of a definite subject that Minato's warning was aimed at.

"I can't train myself, doesn't mean I can't help my friends" Roared Naruto as he zoomed past the rooftops.

"Now, now, where should I start?" he asked himself as he stood in front of the entrance to the training grounds.

Elsewhere,

"I've taught you literally everything I know in terms of experience" Said Kakashi to an extremely ruffled looking Hinata. "But this doesn't in any way imply that you are ready to face those situations yourself. This is essentially theory that I've taught you-"

"But practicing and perfecting are in my own hands. I know Kakashi-sensei." Finished Hinata as she struggled to keep pace with her legs slightly shaking as they jumped from tree to tree towards their home. Kakashi smiled at that. She was a very fast learner indeed.

"I've said it time and time again that in the heat of battle, nothing can trump a shinobi's instincts. But… instincts develop through experience, which is something insane to ask of a mere genin" Hinata winced at that tone.

"Henceforth the reason why I gave you the mock situations. You should have something as a base for instincts to act over. This will be your trump. The ability to handle any situation that I've been through"

"Hai sensei!"

With the Uchihas

"Sasuke-kun you should not sleep with that under your head" Chided Uchiha matriarch. A sleepy Sasuke just pulled that giant clothed mass out from under his head and pulled it to his side, spooning with it. Quiet the funny sight if one considered the curve of the weapon.

"Ohh god help us, our son is obsessed with that!" Mikoto sighed, more to herself than to her Husband.

Fugaku, of course, took that as a good sign and just laughed it off "Don't worry about him Mikoto, it's a sign that he was always meant to inherit that weapon. After all, it takes not just dedication but devotion to master a weapon that even Uchiha Madara struggled with."

"I get that, but…" Mikoto said with sudden goosebumps on her arms "I don't like the ominous feeling that this weapon carries with itself"

"That much is to be expected, the Gunbai is a feared weapon throughout the continent." Fugaku said, catching onto her feelings. "But then is there a reason why he didn't go with the standard version along with the sickle?" Mikoto continued, still stroking their son's hair absently.

Fugaku smiled, "The sickle is not the only weapon that the Gunbai can be paired along with now is it?" He said, for a moment taking his eyes off the road and onto his son. "Besides, I always thought that a sword would suit him better"

I'll be handling this account for a while till he gets back. I have no idea why he ghosted this for so long.

Over three years.

I don't think I'm qualified for the review response section. So there's that.

Other than that, stay healthy, stay safe, and he loves you guys. Probably... LOL