Pushing Through the Limit Chapter 22: A Much Needed Conversation (Patreon)

Escorting Iruka to the hospital had gone pretty well. We talked for a bit, mostly about how impressed Iruka was with my growth, but other than that, not much else had happened... Well, there was the whole thing with Mizuki transforming back into a human that looked like he was in his 80’s while my clone carried him, but I doubt that had anything to do with me.

In the end, I left Iruka and Mizuki at the hospital with a clone and signaled an exhausted Shizune down to let her know that Mizuki was one of the escaped convicts.

Once everything was done, I suddenly felt nervous. I had to report to Tsunade and let her know that the mission had been a success… more than that, I needed to have ‘that’ important conversation with her. Stopping at the entrance to the Hokage tower, I took a breath and steeled myself before entering.

It was chaos. Shinobi were running all over the place like headless chickens, each with different bundles of paperwork, Barking orders at each other and rushing off.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath. Seeing Jugo was beginning to get stressed, I placed my hand on his shoulder and steered him towards the Hokage office. Opening the door, I was greeted to even more chaos.

There were several more desks in the room, but it wasn’t enough for all the Tsunade clones. They all were working frantically on the paperwork and when they finished it, they passed it off to one clone that looked entirely overworked, what with the heavy bags under her eyes and her stressed demeanor.

“I leave for one day and this whole place goes to hell,” I commented out loud, trying to draw the real Tsunade’s attention.

“If you have time to joke, then you have time to work,” The Tsunade at the main desk replied.

“I am,” I replied. “Once I entered Konoha, I made several hundred clones to comb through the city and find any escapees… Not to mention that I caught Mizuki who somehow gained access to a lesser version of sage mode and temporarily turned himself into a furry. I thought it was important that I brought Jugo directly here.”

For the first time since I arrived, Tsunade looked up from her desk. “I see… You made the right call on that.”

“I have the mission scroll right here,” I announced, holding the scroll up for Tsunade to see. “And Jugo has agreed to be completely compliant so long as we go fetch his friend, Kimimaro from one of Orochimaru’s hideouts.”

“That’s an acceptable term,” Tsunade nodded before turning to Jugo. “Once this little outbreak is dealt with, I’ll have Naruto here go on another mission to retrieve your friend.”

“Thank you Hokage-sama,” Jugo bowed deeply to her before turning to bow to me. “And thank you Naruto-sama.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that. “Naruto-sama, huh?”

“I was able to stop him mid rampage,” I shrugged, before turning to Jugo. “And you really don’t need to call me that.”

“I’m sorry, Naruto-sa… Naruto,” Jugo apologized.

Tsunade let out a small snort. “So, should I expect you to bring in a Hozuki next time I send you on a mission?” Creating another clone, Tsunade gestured for Jugo to go with it, but he remained, almost afraid to leave my side.

“You can go, Tsunade is both the Hokage and one of the legendary Sannin. Even a clone of her could stop you from rampaging,” I reassured Jugo. Once Jugo left the room, I turned back to Tsunade. “Uh… Tsunade, I think we need to have a talk about the other day.”

“Say no more, I’ve been waiting for this conversation,” Tsunade said. Standing up from her desk, she raised her hands and stretched, pushing her breasts forward.

“Hold it right there,” Another Tsunade, sitting in the desk besides me announced. “I might trust you clones to handle all the paperwork, but I don’t trust you to be alone with Naruto, especially with your little stunt last time.”

“Hm, damn,” The clone in front of me pouted. “And here I was wanting to embarrass you a little.”

“Wait, so I’ve been talking to a clone this entire time?” I asked.

“Yes,” The real Tsunade replied.

That was… pretty smart actually. I hadn’t even realized it. Most people entering the office would think the real Tsunade is the one at the main desk, but having her mixed in with her clones massively decreased the chances of a successful assassination attempt and even kept her somewhat safe from Danzo using Kotoamatsukami on her due to the sharingan being incapable of differentiate the clone from the user.

“So about that talk,” I said.

“Sorry Naruto, but I’m too busy right now,” Tsunade apologized.

“She’s lying,” The clone gave a catlike smirk. “We’re more than capable of keeping up with all the work. She’s just nervous about having this talk with you because she li–“ The clone wasn’t able to continue as it burst into smoke.

“See! Very busy and stretched thin, even my clones are beginning to pop from sheer exhaustion,” Tsunade replied, talking in a hurry. “So why don’t you go out and help your clones or even go relax and I’ll stay here and handle this work load.”

A smile came to my face. “You know, I’ve been nervous about having this talk with you, but now that I know you’re nervous too, it somehow doesn’t feel that bad anymore,” I explained, feeling a bit better. “We’ve already seen the best and worst of each other, so this talk… it might be awkward, but it’s not insurmountable.”

“F-Fine,” For the first time since I’ve met her, Tsunade stuttered, a light blush bloomed on her face. “If that’s how you see it… then we don’t even need to talk at all.” She finished and held her fist out to me.

Oh… She wanted to connect through Ninshu. We’d done that quite a few times when I was helping her get over her hemophobia, but something about this one felt different.

Knocking her fist with mine, the connection was established and her emotions flowed into me as mine did her. She felt… nervous, excited, accepting and apprehensive. It seemed that it all came down to the age gap again.

“You two are ridiculous. It’s only a forty year age gap. If Humans could live for as long as I can, there would be even greater age gaps.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re a thousand year old fox that’s never been in a relationship,” Tsunade shot back.

“That is true, but I have been sealed in your grandmother and Naruto’s mother, I’ve seen their relationships. Mito was nearly thirty years older than Hashirama and she still ended up marrying him and having children. Kushina Hated Minato at first and then became obsessed with him after he saved her from Kumo Shinobi.” Kurama explained. “And also, talk through your thoughts. Talking to me out loud makes you look like an idiot.”

“Idiot?!”

I rolled my eyes, Tsunade was doing that thing again. Faking outrage to avoid the subject. This conversation was going to end in one of two ways, rejection or acceptance… I guess that also made me feel nervous, but at the same time, whatever the outcome, I felt relief. At least after today I could go forward knowing where our relationship stood.

I smiled as Tsunade began blushing and looked away. It was kind of cute. She was currently the strongest woman alive and was capable of easily killing me if I didn’t use any of Kurama’s chakra, but there really was just something about her acting embarrassed that was incredibly attractive.

“Naruto, we’re all currently linked through Ninshu. We can all hear your thoughts and inner monologue,” Kurama explained.

‘Oh,’ I thought back as my face began to redden. That explained why Tsunade began blushing.

‘Yeah, oh!’ Tsunade replied through the link. ‘Maybe we should rather talk properly, this link is making things even more awkward.’

I didn’t really want to do that. This was going to be an awkward conversation regardless of if it was done through Ninshu or out loud.

‘Tsunade, just tell me this. Do you want to give it a shot?’

‘It’s not that simple,’ Tsunade shook her head. ‘Although there are no actual laws that a relationship between us is illegal, others would see it as immoral.’ There were rules stating that a Jonin sensei wasn’t allowed to date one of their students unless that student had become a chunin and the Jonin was no longer their sensei, but other than that, Shinobi were mostly held to a set of relatively loose morals.

‘Do you want to give it a shot?’ I asked again.

‘People would talk. The village would think less of us.’

‘They don’t need to know, we’re two capable Shinobi,’ I argued. ‘Forget about everything else and just go with what you feel. Do you want to give it a shot?’

‘…Yes.’

“Finally,” Kurama breathed. “I was almost afraid that this whole back and forth thing with your feelings was never going to end. The two of you can work this out on your own now.”

‘Thanks,’ I deadpanned. Pulling my fist back, the link was released. “Sooo… Want to go talk about this somewhere more… private?” I asked, gesturing towards the Tsunade clones we had been ignoring. I had no doubt that they were listening in.

“They’re all me,” Tsunade smirked, having regained her confidence. “What, you afraid that they’ll find out that you’re now my boyfr–“

“TSUNADE!” Jiraiya yelled as he entered through the window. “What’s going on, I leave on one little S-rank mission and return to a village that’s overrun by escaped prisoners!”

Tsunade’s mouth snapped shut and her face reddened slightly.

“Damnit Jiraiya, you know how to ruin a moment don’t you?” The Tsunade clone at the head table that had taken the place of the dispersed clone yelled as she smacked the table. “The situation has almost been completely resolved. There are just a few stragglers left and the mastermind behind this has already been apprehended.”

“That’s good,” Jiraiya chuckled, before looking around the room. “Wait, why do you have so many clones… and Naruto?!”

“Sup,” I waved to Jiraiya. “It’s been about a week since I last saw you.”

“Yes… Things have gotten busy since Tsunade became Hokage,” Jiraiya explained, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“You’re telling me, I’ve already completed an A-rank mission and am likely going to have to go on another one soon,” I replied.

“Oooh, an A-rank. It seems you’re moving up in the world, Naruto,” Jiraiya said praisingly.

“Enough. Jiraiya, don’t you have something important to report?” The clone asked, before turning her gaze towards Tsunade and myself. “And you two… Get out of here, you’ve already got something else to do!”

“Right,” I nodded and turned towards the real Tsunade. “Well, you hear the boss lady. Shall we get going?”

“Yeah,” Tsunade sighed. Placing her hand on my shoulder, we disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a blur of speed.

…PTL…

My vision blurred as the world rushed by and just as fast as it started, it stopped and I found myself looking down on the village from the Hokage monument.

“Damn… I thought we were just going to talk in an empty room, not several kilometers out, on the Hokage monument.”

“I thought that too, but then Jiraiya arrived,” Tsunade shrugged. ”Others can’t know about this relationship… at least not until you’re a little older… And I almost blew it at the first moment.”

“Jiraiya would probably keep his mouth shut,” I replied comfortingly. “And hey, you don’t have to worry about it that much. There aren’t many people in Konoha who would believe that the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and Tsunade of the Sannin were in a relationship, they’d have to see it for themselves to believe it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Tsunade sighed, before her gaze snapped up. “Alright, since we’re out here, it’s time we made some ground rules. Although you’re mentally older, your body’s still young. I don’t feel comfortable doing anything too… adult with you, so don’t even ask about that. We’re going to have to take our relationship slow.”

“I’m okay with that,” I said. Stepping towards her, I had to look up as Tsunade was still taller than me, but oddly, not by much. Placing one hand on her shoulder and one on her waste, I swept a leg behind her and held her as I lowered her down with my face in front of hers.

“I said nothing too adult.”

“Kissing’s not that adult of a thing to do,” I replied, lowering my face to hers.

“If you wouldn’t do it on that mock date with that Karin brat… then it’s too adult,” Tsunade argued weakly.

“Then I guess you’ll just have to forgive me,” I said as I brought my lips to her own.

Tsunade let out a moan as the kiss deepened, her eyes clenched shut and her arms wrapped around my neck. This kiss was different from the one I had with her clone. Where Tsunade’s clone was rough and dominating, Tsunade was nervous and excited.

It didn’t last that long and soon we found ourselves coming up for air. Tsunade glared at nothing in particular as her cheeks flushed a pretty pink.

“Fine, but kissing is as far as we go for now.”

I smiled down at her. “I’m alright with that,” I replied and went in for another kiss.

…PTL…

A day passed and I stood in Tsunade’s office alongside Anko and Shizune. As much as I wanted to just spend time with Tsunade, I couldn’t… at least not right now. Konoha was in a bit of a dire situation and needed all its capable Shinobi to be running missions right now, not to mention with Orochimaru dead, his bases needed to be raided fairly soon if we were to retrieve anything worthwhile.

It had been about two weeks since I killed Orochimaru, so time was of the essence. We were being sent to retrieve any useful documents and, more importantly, to retrieve Kimimaro if he was still alive. It was a relatively straight forward mission. Assuming that Kimimaro was alive, Shizune was to stabilize him, Anko was there to help find anything Orochimaru had hidden and I was there to support both with my clones.

Unofficially I was there to make sure that nothing went wrong. Kimimaro is extremely devout to Orochimaru and pretty powerful regardless of the fact that he’s on his deathbed. There’s a good chance that he would try and attack us simply because we’re Konoha Shinobi.

So I was going along to make sure that everything went smoothly. Even if Kimimaro was to die a week after being brought back to the leaf village, the mission would still count as a success. Not only would we then have access to a body that contains the dead bone pulse bloodline, but Jugo would be compliant knowing that we did everything we could to care for Kimimaro. Jugo’s bloodline is the one I was more interested after all.

“Any questions?” Tsunade asked.

“Yes, Tsunade-sama,” Shizune replied immediately. “Are you certain that this mission requires my help? I’m still highly needed in the hospital, I’ve just finished organizing everything and I was about to start cycling the medical Shinobi through a program to better their knowledge.”

“The Shinobi I’m sending you to fetch is dying from some form of disease and can’t be treated properly due to the unique nature of their body. I’m sending you to assess him. Make sure that he’s not contagious and get him into travel worthy condition,” Tsunade explained tiredly. “I’ll make a clone and have it overlook the hospital in your steed.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? You’ve already stretched yourself so thin as is!” Shizune looked around the room to all the other tired Tsunade’s.

“I can handle it,” Tsunade grunted.

“Very well,” Shizune nodded.

‘Kurama, I have a favor to ask of you.’

“I’ll do it, but only to save myself from having to listen to your incessant worrying.”

‘Thanks buddy,’ I grinned.

“Oi, Naruto. Stop daydreaming, we’re heading out now!” Anko snapped.

“I’ll meet the two of you at the gate,” I waved her off. “I just need to talk to Hokage-sama about something important.”

“Fine, but if you’re not at the gate in ten minutes, we’re leaving without you!” And with that Anko left the office.

I saw that Shizune had stayed behind as well, but I didn’t make an issue out of it.

“What do you need, Naruto? I’m a little busy right now,” Tsunade asked as she started going through her paperwork.

“Dispel your clones, I’ve got a  little present for you,” I said simply.

“If I do that, the exhaustion is going to keep me from being able to recreate my clones,” Tsunade argued.

“Just trust me on this,” I replied, locking eyes with Tsunade.

“Fine,” She grunted and then burst into smoke, along with the rest of the Tsunade clones in the room.

“Tsunade-sama?” Shizune jumped, having not expected for the Tsunade that gave her orders to be a clone.

I turned to see the real Tsunade and immediately noted how exhausted she looked. Her skin was clammy, there were deep bags under her eyes, her transformation was slipping as several wrinkles were showing and…

“You’ve been using your seal?!” Shizune noted in horror.

… The seal on Tsunade’s forehead looked diminished.

“Only to help maintain my clones,” Tsunade said weakly. “Enough of that! Why did you want me to dispel my clones, Naruto?”

“I just needed to know which one was the original,” I replied and stepped in front of her desk. Placing a hand on her shoulder, pure chakra funneled into her body. “Reforming your clones now should also keep them from being exhausted.”

The bags under Tsunade’s eyes disappeared, her henge was reapplied, the blue diamond on her forehead filled out… all in all, Tsunade looked completely refreshed. “You gave me chakra?!”

“Yep,” I smirked. “We’re a lot alike. When we feel it’s necessary, we push ourselves and end up going beyond our limits… only, you don’t have a fox that will help pick you up when you fall, so I guess that job falls to me.”

A soft smile came to Tsunade’s face. “Thank you, Naruto.”

“What’s this about you picking her up when she falls? That was my purified chakra that you gave her!”

“Right… well, to correct myself. We will pick you up when you fall.”

“Better,” Kurama grumbled.

“We?” Shizune asked quietly.

Tsunade let out a snort of laughter. “Well, thank you, the both of you. Once things are a bit more stable, I’ll be sure not to push myself too hard, but if I could rely on your assistance for now?”

‘Kurama?’

“Fine. It’s not like that tiny amount of chakra would actually make a difference to me and I wasn’t using it anyway.”

“You can rely on us,” I replied. I was really beginning to see why Minato called Kurama a tsundere.

“Great,” Tsunade said, before refilling the room with her clones. “Now, I believe you two have a mission to go on.”

“R-right,” Shizune nodded and turned to leave.

I followed suite and immediately jumped when I felt a sting on my ass. Turning around, one of the Tsunade clones winked and waved as Tsunade flushed red and let out an embarrassed groan.

“Naruto, are you coming?” Shizune asked.

“Yeah, sure,” I replied.

…PTL…

Unlike the previous base hidden in the mountains, this one was hidden in the ground… literally. There was again only one entrance and it was a small hole in the ground in the middle of the forest. Even with the location given by the sound four, it was incredibly difficult to find the base… In fact, the only reason why we hadn’t spent a full day looking for it was due to Kurama sensing negativity underground.

“So, same as last time?” I asked Anko.

“Pretty much,” she nodded. “Retrieve any important documents, find the patient and then destroy the hideout.”

“Great,” I cracked my neck and then made several hundred shadow clones to search through the base. “I don’t think I’ll be as subtle as I was last time.”

“Subtle, he says,” Anko chuckled, before turning to Shizune. “Did you know that last time he pretty much made an invading force to act as a distraction and then after the base was demolished he wanted to be thorough and pulled out an absolutely bullshit Jutsu that wiped out any trace of the building.”

“Oh… Um…” Shizune began, unsure of what to say. “Not… not everyone needs to be subtle.”

“I suppose you would know all about that, what with your master being the current Hokage, Tsunade,” Anko smirked. “I’d heard about her and how destructive she could get.”

Shizune puffed up in anger, before immediately losing steam. “Yes. When Tsunade-sama gets angry, there’s usually not much left standing.”

 “It’s different in person,” I pitched in, clenching my right hand. “When I first met her, she punched me and I nearly died… I would have if it hadn’t been for the Kyuubi.”

“When did that happen?”

“During...” I paused. One of my clones had just found Kimimaro. “I’ll tell you later. Shizune, I’ve found Kimimaro, he’s still alive, but he seems to be unconscious and there’s a mostly empty drip attached to his arm.”

“Lead me to him.”

And I did.

The methods that were being used to keep Kimimaro alive were almost Frankenstein in nature. He had several tubes attached to his head, spinal cord and abdomen, a paralyses seal was placed on his head and there were also several unknown wires attached to his body.

Shizune’s hands glowed green as she placed them on Kimimaro’s chest to examine him. “What… his body is unusual.”

“He’s a member of the Kaguya clan, he can control his bones and grow them as he pleases,” I explained.

“It’s not just that,” Shizune shook her head. “He has different nerve endings… his organs are all coated in calcium and his blood cells feel weakened. It’s difficult to get a reading on him.”

“Maybe you could–“

“I’m sorry Naruto-kun, but I need you to be quiet while I concentrate!”

I silently stepped back into the hallway and stood next to Anko.

“Someone got scolded by the big scary medical Shinobi,” Anko grinned.

“Yeah well, you would have gotten scolded too if you went in there,” I replied softly.

“Hence why I stayed out here,” Anko said. “You know, I don’t even know why I’m on this mission to begin with. You’re perfectly capable of finding and raiding this place on your own, while Shizune can handle stabilizing that brat. Me… I’m just hanging around doing nothing.”

“Well… there are some people locked up a few levels down. Maybe you could,” I motioned to her Kunai.

“So I’m just here to prevent you from popping your kill cherry?” Anko asked. “Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better.”

“I’ve killed people before,” I argued.

“Who? Orochimaru? He doesn’t really count as a person, he was more of a monster or a thing!”

“There was also the Sand and Sound Shinobi that were invading,” I replied. “They count as people, right?”

“Which brings us right back to the same problem! If you can kill people and handle everything else as well, why am I even here?”

“Maybe Tsunade wants you to have some closure,” I shrugged helplessly. “To help put Orochimaru behind you and move forward.”

“Orochimaru’s dead, that’s as far behind me as he can get.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” I replied. “You can still have issues with a dead person, I mean, I had some issues with the Yondaime.”

“Why would… Right, he sealed the Kyuubi into you.”

“Yep,” I said, popping the p. “So maybe you can get some closure by destroying Orochimaru’s bases and stealing his life’s work.”

A contemplative look came over Anko’s face, before she grinned madly. “You know, when you put it that way… how could I resist?”

Just then, Shizune appeared in the hallway with a grimace.

“We weren’t disturbing you, were we?” I asked.

“No,” She shook her head. “Kimimaro’s body… I can’t get an accurate read on him and if I can’t do that, I can’t stabilize him. The chakra in his bones and the calcium surrounding his organs is too strong.”

“If you had stronger chakra, could you do it?”

“Yes, but… I saw what you did with Tsunade-sama, but refilling my chakra won’t help me. It’s a quality issue, not a quantity one,” Shizune explained.

“And If I could give you some extremely potent chakra to work with, would that help?”

“Could you actually do that?”

Placing my hand on Shizune’s shoulder, I grinned. “Don’t freak out, alright?” And suddenly a bubbling red cloak of Kurama’s chakra engulfed her.

“Wh… what is this?” Shizune asked, looking at the bubbling chakra.

“It’s a mixture of my chakra and the Kyuubi’s chakra,” I explained. “I doubt there’s chakra anywhere near as potent as that in the whole world.”

“But… you need to take this off right now,” Shizune said in an alarmed tone. “I’m not a Jinchuriki, my body hasn’t had time to adjust to this kind of chakra.”

“That’s why it’s my chakra as well,” I replied calmly. “It’s shielding you from any harmful effects the Kyuubi’s chakra might have on your body.”

Shizune’s eyes widened. “That’s… ingenious. You could technically allow anyone to use the Kyuubi’s chakra so long as their chakra is compatible with your own. You’ve created a whole new branch of Ninjutsu.”

“Yeah, well,” I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. Shizune was really enthused with being able to use the one tailed chakra cloak. “I’m… glad you like it?!”

“I need to go see if I can examine Kimimaro properly now,” Shizune said, before rushing off back into the room.

I suppose even Shizune can act giddy when being energized by Kurama’s chakra. Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turned to see an amused looking Anko.

“IT WORKS! I CAN GET A PROPER READING NOW!” Shizune called out excitedly from Kimimaro’s room.

“Oi, Naruto. When I start destroying this place, I think I might need a little pick me up, if you know what I mean.”

“Fine,” I sighed. It was only a one tailed cloak after all, what’s the worst that could happen.