The never ending game of go

Chapter eleven ~ The Fate of the Jinchuuriki

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ❤️
Word spread through the school about Naruto's condition, but not the true cause of it. Sasuke was forced to leave his bedside to trail morosely behind Harry. Neither liked the situation. Sasuke did not want to leave Naruto and Harry – along with every other student – found Sasuke's sullen silence and biting attitude frightening. Especially after what they had seen during the rather lopsided battle fought on the front grounds.

Tsunade had stayed for as long as she could but had to return to the Village. She left Sakura behind to monitor Naruto. Jiraiya stuck around to reinforce and monitor Naruto's seal.

The current shinobi population of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: four. Twice what it was only days before.

When Jiraiya was certain that Naruto's seal would hold he returned to Konoha – ordered to do so by Tsunade on pain of castration of he failed to comply immediately. No empty threat there.

Naruto woke three days later, his recovery slowed to just above normal rather than his normal right-before-your-eyes speed. When he opened his clear blue eyes he was confused. Where was he?

"Naruto!" a girl exclaimed, scurrying closer.

He turned his head to see who it was. Pink hair. Sakura-chan.

"Hey Sakura-chan," he croaked. Frowning he lifted a hand to touch his throat. "What happened?"

"You were hit with a deadly curse and it weakened the seal. Kyuubi's chakra exploded, probably to counteract the curse. Tsunade and I were brought by one of Sasuke's clones and it's been three days since you had surgery," she explained succinctly. Naruto's frown deepened.

"Surgery? I was that bad off?"

Sakura nodded grimly. Naruto muttered an amazed curse. He tried to push himself upright but found, to his embarrassment and dismay, that his arms would not hold his weight. With Sakura's help he was able to sit up.

"Where's Sasuke?" he asked, looking around the Hospital Wing.

"With Harry-san,"

Naruto nodded, wincing at the fact that he was still in pain. "This sucks," he complained, "I hope I killed whoever got me with that curse,"

"According to Sasuke," Sakura smiled, "the chakra outburst killed the army to a man,"

"Good. Because this sucks,"

"Well, stay in bed. I want you to get better as soon as you can and that won't happen if you strain yourself," his former teammate and old friend commanded. Naruto mock saluted her.

"Yes Ma'am," he said with a smile. Sakura rapped his skull lightly – very lightly – with her knuckles and smiled back.

"Never change, Naruto,"

"Make me some ramen and it's a deal," he begged. She sighed.

"Sure thing,"

It was another two days before Sakura would allow Naruto out of bed and only because he was getting on her nerves, begging her to let him train. He had to hobble around with a pair of crutches since he had sustained some nasty injuries to his legs that Tsunade and Sakura had not gotten around to setting until after working hours on his vitals. Sakura chaperoned his adventures out of the Hospital Wing with fierce disapproval.
Kyuubi's chakra was slow in returning but by the morning of the next day it had grown enough that Naruto was mostly healed. Sakura permitted him to return to most of his normal training routines but warned him away from anything overly strenuous. She offered to cover his guard shifts until he was fully recovered, an offer which he somewhat hesitantly accepted. He hated having to hand over duty because he was too weak, it made him feel like the dobe that Sasuke always called him. He hated that.