The Shadow's Fox

Chapter 21

It took a couple hours to get back to the village, and the whole way, Naruto was constantly looking at Shikamaru, who was still unconscious on Choji's back. Shizune would check on Shikamaru every few minutes, and Kurama's chakra cloak was still covering him, so he didn't really have a reason to worry, but the fact he was still unconscious made him uneasy.

When they passed through the A-Un gates, Naruto started to go with Choji and Shizune towards the hospital, but Asuma grabbed the blonde's arm. "Nartuo, we have to report in."

Naruto frowned at Asuma, who lowered his hand. "You guys can do that. I want to go with Shika."

"Naruto, he's probably going to be unconscious for a while still. We'll need to repair the rest of the damage, but thanks to Kurama's chakra, which did most of the work for us, it'll go a lot quicker," Shizune said. "He's going to be fine."

"I know, but I still want to be with him," Naruto replied.

Shizune gave him a small smile and placed her hand on Naruto's arm. "I'm afraid you won't be able to be with him until after we've fully healed him, so there's no point in you being there right away. Go report in and by the time you get to the hospital, we should have him patched up."

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru and furrowed his brow, but nodded. Shizune squeezed her hand on his arm before she turned and left with Choji. He stared at them until they disappeared, then Asuma placed his hand on Naruto's back.

"Come on. It shouldn't take that long to report in."

Naruto just nodded and the five remaining headed towards the Hokage Tower. When Asuma knocked, they heard a man's voice call out.

'Shikaku?'

When they entered the office, Shikaku looked up at them from behind Tsunade's desk. He had a few papers in front of him, pen in his hand. "Asuma. You're back," the Nara said. He frowned as he looked at the people in front of him. "What happened? Where's the rest of your team?"

Asuma frowned, but stepped forward, pulling the scroll out of his vest pocket and handing it to the man. "Our mission was a success. We took down the two akatsuki members we were after, the one called Kakuzu is sealed inside this scroll, but Shikamaru was severely injured."

Shikaku's frown seemed to deepen as he took the scroll. "How injured?"

"He was pierced by the three-bladed scythe that Hidan carried, piercing both his heart and one of his lungs. Shizune and Kurama's chakra managed to stabilize him enough to get him back to the village, Kurama's chakra keeping him in a stable condition. Shizune said they should be able to heal the rest of the damage when they get to the hospital, which is where they headed after we got here," Asuma explained.

Shikaku nodded and looked down at the scroll in his hand. "Good."

"I take it Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya already left for the Hidden Rain Village?" Kotetsu asked.

Shikaku opened the scroll to examine it. "Yes. They left not long after you guys did. She asked me to watch the office and help her with what I could while she was gone."

"Have you heard anything from them or the other teams?" Izumo asked.

Shikaku shook his head, closing the scroll and placing it to the side. "No. It'll probably be tomorrow before we hear anything from Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya, hopefully we'll hear something from Kakashi soon since he left yesterday to meet up with Itachi and Kisame, and there's been no word from the Raikage about their fight."

Naruto shifted from foot to foot, impatient for all of this talk to be over. "Ok. We reported in. Can we go now?"

Everyone looked at him. "You may not be able to see him even if you got there now, Naruto," Ino said. "Shizune said they need to heal the rest of the damage and that you couldn't be in there with him while that happens."