"As I won't either," Naruto replied as Dosu left. The blond turned back to the others and was about to say something when he noticed something off, "Hey has anyone seen my shirt?"
Several face-faults went around with those still conscious just now wondering how he had not noticed that.
"Naruto-kun."
Naruto turned his head to see a red faced Tenten walking up to him, oddly enough, she was looking anywhere but him, "A-are you alright?"
"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I be?" he asked tilting his head slightly.
"It's just that you're um…" not able to continue she merely pointed to the bandages he had wrapped around his torso.
"Oh these!" Naruto tore the bandages off to reveal perfectly healthy, if a little blood smeared, skin. He patted where the wound had been a few times, "Yeah I'm good; I've got a pretty good healing factor so there's nothing to worry about." Naruto looked up at her and smiled, before noticing the redness staining her cheeks.
"What about you? Your face is all red?" he put a hand on her head, causing her face to turn even more red. "Huh, that's odd…you don't have a fever, but your face looks like a tomato. Are you okay Ten-chan?"
"O-Of course!" Tenten squeaked as she stepped away from the blond, her face feeling as if it had been burned with a Katon jutsu, "A-anyways, I'm glad you're not hurt."
"Thanks," Naruto said with a smile. It was then he noticed Tenten's spandex wearing teammate sleeping on the ground a few feet away, "Is your teammate okay Ten-chan?"
Tenten turned around to see her teammate passed out and drooling on the forest floor, "Oh hehehe, yeah he's fine, just taking a little breather," She backed away from the blond, causing him to raise an eyebrow, "Why don't I go wake up now!"
Naruto watched in a mixture of shock and amusement as Tenten began to slap Lee awake. He turned his attention back to Sasuke who was now being fussed over by Sakura. He reached into his pouch as he walked over to them. Rummaging through it for a little while Naruto found the scroll he was looking for and unsealed a spare shirt and cloak.
He began to put his shirt on and frowned as he found the shirt didn't seem to fit. Grunting a bit he continued to try and make his shirt fit, only to rip it when he zipped it up, "Gah! Stupid shirt! What the fuck is wrong with you!"
Everyone once again turned their attention to Naruto who had lost the epic struggle of trying to put his shirt on and sweat dropped, "Why doesn't it fit!"
Sasuke's right eye twitched while the others either sweat dropped, or in the case Tenten blushed at seeing the blonde's shirt rip over his muscles.
"Um Naruto…" Sakura said unsurely, getting his attention, "Haven't you noticed?"
Naruto blinked at her, "Noticed what?"
"You're different, physically I mean," Sakura blushed a bit, even she could not deny that whatever had happened to Naruto had made him fill out nicely.
Frowning Naruto looked at his arms and noticed they looked a little bigger than before, bigger and more defined, though they still held their lithe whipcord quality, "Huh?" I guess this is something I gained from becoming a Hanyou. "So I have."
Sighing he decided to forgo trying to get a shirt to fit and instead just put on the cloak, which now came up to his calves.
Finished with his clothing crisis, Naruto turned his attention back to his teammates, "Since we have both of the scrolls necessary we should probably head over to the Tower. No sense in wasting our time here."
Sasuke grunted as he stood up, "You're right dobe, we should get to the Tower as soon as possible, especially since we don't know what the rest of this stage might entail."
Nodding Naruto said goodbye to Tenten and Team Ten before the three began moving towards the Tower in the center of the Forest of Death.
"Naruto stop jumping around!" Sakura shouted as Naruto shot back towards them after having been flying through the forest at speeds faster then she could properly track.
Coming back Naruto brought himself towards Sasuke and Sakura who had been jumping at a more sedate pace and watching the blond with some annoyance, "Sorry Sakura, it's just that I've never felt so good before!"
After they had left the others and began making their way towards the Tower Naruto had been noticing all the differences he had with this new body of his. For one, all of his senses were now through the roof, he didn't even have to channel chakra into them, and they were just naturally powerful. He had also noticed an increase in his physical capabilities, his strength, speed, stamina, reflexes; everything seemed to have gained a bit of a boost, though he would have to test his physical capabilities out to see the full extent of his growth. Even his mind seemed to have been affected by his new change, he noticed it was nothing major, but he could think much more clearly now, like some kind of blocker that had been in his mind had been released and unlocked his potential.
Another thing he noticed was his chakra felt different. It was much more chaotic than before, yet at the same time it flowed through his coils far more smoothly, allowing him to access it more easily.
All in all he felt great.
"Whatever, let's just get to the Tower," Sakura sighed, not quite able to blame Naruto for being so energetic. Nor would she, Naruto had proven himself to her in the Forest, risking his life for theirs; the least she could do was be nice to him.
With Naruto calming down and guiding them, the group made it to the tower two hours later. When they walked in the trio looked around and frowned when they saw it was empty.
"Damn it, no one's here!" Naruto grunted in annoyance, "I thought someone would have at least been here to greet us and take the scrolls."
Sasuke grunted a bit as he stood up a little straighter, untangling himself from Sakura who had been helping him move since his cursed seal had disappeared, "I'm alright now Sakura."
"Oh…ok Sasuke-kun," Sakura said with a smile, though on the inside she was crying at the loss of holding her Sasuke-kun.
I CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAD TO LET GO OF HIM! SHANNARO! Inner Sakura shook her fist in anger.
"So what do you guys think we should do now?" asked Naruto.
The other two blinked as they tried to figure out what they should do as well.
"Hey look at this!" Sakura said as she pointed to a large poster on the wall opposite of the entrance.
Naruto read the message on it several times over before nodding, "I think it's telling us to open the scrolls."
The other two agreed and Naruto and Sasuke each grabbed one of the scrolls, "Alright we'll open them on three." Sasuke and Naruto looked over at each other, "1...2...3!"
The two opened the scroll and looked to see what was inside. Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized the complex seal on the scroll. "Sasuke, it's a summoning jutsu! Toss your scroll now!"
The two tossed the scroll away where they landed on the ground in an X. A few seconds later the there was a puff of smoke, signaling someone had been summoned.
When the smoke cleared it revealed Iruka standing there, "Hey!"
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said with a grin. "I didn't realize you would be a part of this."
Iruka looked over at Naruto and blinked for a second before he spotted the whisker marks, "Naruto! What happened to you?"
Naruto shook his head, "To be honest, I don't really know myself. I had passed out after…" The blond frowned for a moment, "That's right! Iruka-sensei, you need to inform the Hokage that Orochimaru is in the Forest of Death!"
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