from Academy to Anbu by theriku260

chapter 38

Last time, on ATA…

Naruto used dozens of shunshins to escape the bones and had chains going wild with tails, but he still got torn to ribbons. Eventually the torrent stopped, and Naruto was so adrenaline high he didn't feel any pain. His Kyubi chakra pulsed before receding, his max long spent.

"Naruto" Kurama said. Naruto could barely hear him. Instead he focused on the collapsed form of Kimimaro Kaguya. Grey eyes met red ones and the two opponents knew the end had passed.

"I-I will not." Kimimaro tried. Blood poured from multiple places, both from himself and Naruto's chains throughout the fight. With a final shaky breath Kimimaro died.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief and collapsed on his bottom, intent on getting up to help Tsunade or the other fights.

But he couldn't move. And he couldn't breathe, every intake feeling blood filling his lungs. His now cloudy eyes drifted down to his lungs, where right below his heart a thin spinal column went through to the other side. It missed his heart, the only reason he was still living, but when Naruto tried to raise his arm to grab it he couldn't.

It was like all his strength was sapped out, and his life was fading.

"K-Kurama" he choked.

"Naruto! Naruto, hold on! You have to pull it out- now! Naruto! Don't you DARE pass out! Naruto!"

But Naruto was already falling to the side. His last conscious thought was that Dragon-sama would kill him for dying.

"NARUTO" he heard. But he had no clue what that word meant.

With Tsunade…

When Tsunade reached the boy, who reminded her of Nawaki, she felt her insides turning to slush. All she wanted to do was throw up and forget about the growing puddle of blood and bone protruding out of his lung. Naruto had been impaled. If he was anyone else, she would be staring at a corpse. If he was anyone else, Tsunade would feel justified in running off to save Shizune.

But Naruto was not anyone else; he was a Jinchuuriki. Already she could see the Kyubi chakra attempting to close the hole and corrode the Kaguya's kekkei genkai away, though it was futile.

"Blood. Just like Nawaki. Just like Dan, like the war, the hospital. Blood, blood, blood! Oh God, all this blood. Can't do it. Blood. Blood. Bloodbloodblood"-

"Okay, Tsunade, you can do this," She muttered, like a mantra. Steadying her hands, she gripped the bone and pulled, slowly. Normally it would take forever, requiring her to saw the impaling object down and take out as another medic (Shizune) healed the damage left behind. However, she didn't have that kind of time and Shizune was who knows where. Thus, Tsunade yanked it out with little regard for protocol. Considering her patient did not flatline she took it as a minor victory.

"Argg" Naruto moaned, still unconscious. Tsunade instantly had both hands on his chest, using chakra to simultaneously siphon the blood out and mend the hole. She pointedly refused to dwell on the fact she was kneeling in blood, breathing in blood, covered in blood.

"Blood. Blood. Blood everywhere. Oh God, what was she thinking? She can't do this! Blood. Blood."

"SHUT UP!" If anyone heard Tsunade scream at her own subconscious she would kill them later. For now, screaming calmed her down and allowed her to continue her work. Minutes felt like hours. She connected blood vessels and inflated a lung trying to collapse. Tendons that were shredded in the chest got reattached.

Suddenly there was Kyubi chakra erupting from the wound once more, closing it up faster than should be humanly possible. Not even Kushina had healed this quickly, and her healing factor had been studied extensively. Tsunade mused it had to be from how well Naruto wielded the beast and moved onto other injuries. She would let the demon finish up the lung.