Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Juniper ❯ Recovery ( Chapter 3 )

Agent's Spiel: From here on out Naruto will be using alternate means of communication:

Single quotation marks `' will be used to represent sign language.

Back slashes // will denote Naruto writing what he is saying.

If anything else comes up I'll tell you when we get there. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Recovery

“I'll leave you with him for a while,” Sandaime said, looking at Naruto as he began to stir, “I'll be back later tonight to speak with him. You can explain the situation to him if you feel comfortable enough to do so; otherwise, I will do it when I return.”

Iruka barely nodded and refused to take his eyes off of Naruto as Sandaime closed the door behind him, leaving Kakashi with Iruka and Naruto. Iruka shifted his chair closer to the bed as Naruto's hand twitched. Without warning the blond shot up in the bed gasping for air. “It must be a reaction to waking up after the poison,” Kakashi muttered, trying not to alarm Iruka. “The last thing he remembers is not being able to breathe so he's compensating for it,” he added.

Iruka moved to sit on the edge of the bed and placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders trying to calm him down. “Calm down; you might reopen the wounds on your neck,” Iruka lied, trying to convince Naruto to stop panicking. Naruto immediately stilled as he recognized the figure in front of him. He opened his mouth to ask what happened, but Iruka stopped him. “Don't say anything right now,” Iruka stated, trying to avoid the inevitable explanation that would have to come when Naruto realized he didn't have a voice. “Mizuki and his partner escaped, but they didn't manage to find the scroll. We retrieved it earlier today so it's back in Hokage Tower,” he explained.

Naruto nodded after a moment and gazed around the room in confusion. Once more Iruka interrupted him before he could ask questions. “Kakashi found you last night and brought you here. You're in one of the spare rooms in Hokage Tower; it wasn't safe to take you to the hospital without knowing the whole of the situation and what had happened to you,” he claimed.

Naruto's brow furrowed as he glanced at the silver-haired man sitting near his bed. Kakashi appeared to be paying little attention to Naruto and Iruka as they caught up, and Naruto's eyes widened when he realized what the man was reading. “Close your eyes for a moment,” Iruka said when Naruto opened his mouth to shout at the Jounin. Naruto blinked in confusion, but obeyed Iruka's request. The academy sensei took a moment to glare in annoyance at the Jounin, before he reached back behind his head and slipped off his forehead protector. Kakashi raised his eyebrow inquisitively, but Iruka poignantly ignored him. “Sandaime is honoring Mizuki's promise,” Iruka stated, reaching around Naruto head and tying the forehead protector around Naruto neck over the scars.

Naruto blinked as a weight settled around his neck and opened his eyes as he tried to figure out what Iruka meant. When he noticed the lack of forehead protector on Iruka's head his eyes widened and he reached up to finger the object around his neck. Once he had identified the cloth and metal materials of the object, he cautiously glanced down and barely believed his eyes when he realized what Iruka had given him. Naruto beamed at Iruka and launched himself at his teacher with what was supposed to be a whoop of joy, only to descend into a fit of coughing as he landed against Iruka. “Don't strain your throat,” Iruka cautioned as he caught Naruto. He brought a hand up to the boy's mouth and wiped away a small amount of blood with a grimace.

Kakashi caught site of the blood and rose from his seat. “Apparently he hasn't fully healed. I'll go get the medic to check on him again,” he stated, sliding out of the room.

Naruto brought a hand up to his mouth in confusion as he coughed a bit more. He drew his hand away and Iruka sighed in relief when no blood was on it. “When Kakashi found you, your throat had been sliced three times. There was also evidence of an airborne poison that the medic believes was caustic enough to cause some internal damage,” Iruka explained.

Naruto listened patiently to what his teacher said, but blinked in confusion as he explained something about poison. “It damaged your lungs and throat,” Iruka simplified when he caught Naruto's baffled look. Naruto opened his mouth cautiously and attempted to ask how bad the damage was; his lack of voice seemed to answer his question.

Iruka watched cautiously as Naruto seemed to realize just what had happened to him. He was about to speak when Kakashi reentered the room with a medic in tow. The medic glared slightly at Kakashi when he saw Naruto sitting quietly on the bed. “I thought you said he reopened something,” the medic stated walking over to Naruto.

“He coughed up blood,” Iruka explained.

“Well that's not out of the ordinary. His lungs and throat are rather raw, any overexertion will disturb them and could cause bleeding,” the medic explained, tilting Naruto's head up towards him. “Open your mouth,” he said; Naruto complied without thinking. The medic held up a small flashlight and gazed into the boy's mouth. “It looks like it's already healing again, but try to avoid overstressing both areas for at least another week. Hopefully by then, the rawness will have decreased enough to avoid random coughing fits and bleeding,” he explained. He gazed at Naruto in consideration for a moment before saying, “Attempt to say something. Don't shout; just attempt a simple word.”

Naruto opened his mouth and attempted to say hello, but nothing but air exited his mouth. “Despite the damage to the throat itself, he should at least be able to whisper if that were the only damage. I wasn't positive when I treated him earlier, but by now I don't see an explanation for complete vocal loss unless the nerve was damaged,” the medic explained, standing back up and turning to Iruka and Kakashi. “His regenerative abilities don't seem to have corrected it, but I can't honestly speculate the reason behind that,” he added.

Naruto's eyes furrowed in confusion and he turned to Iruka, tugging on the man's sleeve to get his attention. Iruka placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder in reassurance, but turned back to the medic as he began to speak. “I'm sorry to say that as far as I'm aware, none of my staff has the capabilities of such a surgery to repair it,” he stated, nodding to them and turning to go. He paused at the door and turned back to look at Naruto, “For the next week avoid irritating your throat; don't attempt to speak and don't eat or drink anything too hot or too cold,” he instructed, “I'll check in later this week.”

Once the medic had disappeared, Iruka turned his attention back to Naruto. Kakashi reached under his chair and pulled out a small tablet and a piece of chalk. “Use this to ask any questions,” he said, handing the objects to Naruto.

Naruto blinked as Iruka took them from Kakashi and handed them to him. “Wait a minute,” Iruka said as he did a double take at the tablet, “where did you get this?” he asked, looking at Kakashi suspiciously.

“I snuck into the academy and took one from storage this morning after I heard the original diagnosis,” Kakashi said nonchalantly, as he pulled his book back out. Naruto snickered quietly and Iruka sighed at the Jounin. The book of course reminded Naruto of one of the first things he meant to say. /Pervert/ Naruto wrote before sliding the miniature chalkboard to Iruka and pointing to Kakashi. Iruka's eyes bulged slightly as he attempted not to laugh at Naruto's comment. “I agree,” he settled on saying, before quickly wiping the board clean and handing it back to Naruto.

Kakashi briefly looked up from his book, but shrugged when he saw Naruto writing his next question. /What next?/ he asked simply.

Iruka looked at the question before launching into the plans that the Hokage had informed them of shortly before Naruto had woken up that afternoon. When Sandaime walked up to Naruto's room two hours later, he was smiling at the success of his talk with the elders. He had managed to gain Team 7's exemption from the secondary Genin exam without proposing it himself - and more importantly without bringing Naruto's condition into light. “Kakashi for once you're reputation was a blessing,” he muttered as he opened the door, hoping to find Naruto awake.

He walked in to find Iruka chuckling at a rather put out white-haired Jounin. Naruto was scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “What did I miss?” Sandaime asked walking in.

“Naruto accidentally insulted Kakashi's hair,” Iruka chuckled.

Sandaime shook his head in amusement and sat down at the foot of the bed in the chair Iruka had abandoned. He studied Naruto's cheerful demeanor and pleased to note that the boy showed no signs of self doubt or real anger. Despite the fact that he could be covering them up, at least he appeared to be handling the situation rather well. “I'm not sure what you were told so far, but I'd like to explain at least some of what I feel should happen,” he stated, catching Naruto's attention.

“For the next week as you begin your recovery, I want you to remain here. Depending on your condition next week, I may allow your release into Iruka's custody - this is in no way punishment; I'm merely concerned for your safety while we get you back on your feet.” He assumed Naruto's nod meant the boy had already been told this. “Next week all those who passed the Genin exam will be meeting on Monday for orientation and to be assigned to teams. Judging by the forehead protector on your neck, you were already told that because of your behavior once you realized the true situation last night you've passed as well. However, I don't want you at the orientation. I'd rather keep your promotion and status quiet for the time being until we can gauge exactly what Mizuki and his partner's goals were.”

Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but Iruka slapped a hand over it. “Let him talk,” he instructed. Naruto wilted slightly and crossed his arms huffily over his chest, turning to pout at the Hokage.

Sandaime chuckled and continued. “Genin are split into teams of three and assigned to a Jounin sensei; you'll meet your teammates Monday afternoon. However, your sensei is sitting right here,” he said, pointing to Kakashi, “I am pleased to see that you two have gotten off on the right foot.” Kakashi turned to smirk rather evilly at Naruto, and the blond cowered slightly when he realized how angry the Jounin probably was at all the insults.

Sandaime allowed himself to chuckle briefly at their interaction before continuing. “Over the next week I would like you to begin studying sign language with Iruka. You're teammates will learn some as well next week, but I would like you to be able to converse with Kakashi and Iruka. I'll leave it up to them,” he said, gaining a nod from Naruto.

“Excellent,” Sandaime said, standing back up. “I'll check in on you again tomorrow in case you come up with any questions. Until then sleep well and don't let Kakashi annoy you too much.”

When the Hokage had left, Naruto turned to Iruka pouting. /I want ramen/ he wrote.

Iruka glanced at Naruto's request and smiled politely at him. “The medic said no ramen,” he stated.

Naruto looked up at him fearfully and shook his head. “He said nothing too hot. I suppose I could get you some ramen, but you would have to let it sit in front of you for at least half an hour as it cooled. Then you would have to very careful to eat it slowly, and I couldn't possibly let you have more than one bowl because that just wouldn't be healthy as you recover,” Iruka explained.

It was Kakashi's turn to chuckle as Naruto gaped helplessly at Iruka. “Why don't I go find something healthy for you to eat,” the Jounin offered, standing up still smirking at Naruto.

 

 

Agent's Spiel: Just a quick note about jutsu names; I'm gonna try to go back within the next week or so and change them from English to Japanese - I'll add the translations and maybe a description at the bottom. I've decided that there are too many inconsistencies in the different translations, so I'm just gonna stick to the original names - hopefully they'll be correct.

 

I'd also like to say again that by now the attempts to explain Naruto's condition with medical terminology is completely my opinion. I only know so much, so the medic's explanations are there basically because they work with the story.