Naruto: The New Sealmaster

Aoshi felt himself wake up. He didn't feel like he had dreamt, in fact he didn't even feel rested. But he woke up nonetheless and slowly opened his eyes only to be met with a very bright room. The brightness caused him to open his eyes even slower as he squinted to only let in a little light at a time. As he realised the state of his body he let out a slight grunt as well.

"Ao?" it was a girl's voice. "AOSHI!" The girl grabbed his hand but although it was rather uncomfortable he weakly responded by holding onto her hand back. It was Tenten. With a raspy voice he talked to her. "I'm right here, no need to yell." He cleared his throat. "Where am I?"

By now his eyes had opened up and gotten accustomed to the light levels of the room. Everything was white and considering what was around him, only one option was valid. "You're in the hospital Ao-kun." She held on to his right hand with both of her hands and gently squeezed it.

He figured as much. He remembered what put him here bit by bit. How he had been betrayed and then used his final bit of chakra to save his other teammate. He didn't know why he did it really, she wasn't in any mortal danger. It just felt like something he had to do in the moment, and he stood by that. "How's Akiho?"

Tenten pointed at one of the corners of the room. Akiho was lying asleep on a sofa, clearly fine. He let out a sigh of relief. "That's nice..How long was I out?"

It was with a saddened voice she answered "Three days. Chakra exhaustion is no joke.." It was now he got a proper look at her. She looked like she had just woken up, and she went to sleep wearing those clothes. Now that he thought about it, Akiho slept on the couch wearing her normal clothes as well.

"Have you been staying here this whole time? You have to take care of yourself" He let out a slight chuckle at her but she just pouted at him. "I was worried!"

With great effort, and a little pain, he brought her hand up to his face and kissed it. He looked her right in the eyes and showed pure gratitude as he gave her the most sincere of smiles. "Thank you Tenten. It means a lot to me." She got a slight blush but smiled back at him with her sweetest smile. "What are best friends for? It wouldn't feel right leaving you here.."

He let their hands fall to the mattress and slowly tried to sit up. He was stopped by Tenten who laid him down again. "Not yet. The medics said you would heal quickly once you got out of the coma because your chakra could do the work, but it'll still take a day before you're ready to leave the bed."

Aoshi sighed and suddenly they heard some grumbling. Turns out it was his stomach. Tenten giggled and stuffed a nutrition bar into his mouth. "Snack on that for now, I'll get Kurenai to bring you something good for lunch."

She went over and woke up Akiho. "Wake up! You entertain him while I go tell his aunt, okay?" Akiho waved her off "Yeah, yeah.."

But then she jumped off the sofa and ran over to his side. "You're awake? Oh I'm so sorry Aoshi, I'm so sorry. If I had been a little better you wouldn't have been in a coma, and then-"

"Shhh…" He shushed her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I chose to jump in front of you because it was the right thing to do. Don't worry about it. It's not your fault anyway.." That got him thinking. "What happened to Tetsuo?"

Tenten had gotten ready to head outside and nodded to Akiho. "You tell him what's happened since he fell asleep. I'll be right back." And so she told him. She told him about Kakashi bringing him here, about them going to the Hokage with Tetsuo and how he was punished.

"So out of the three of us, Tetsuo and I have already failed Kakashi-sama's test. He's not allowed to take an apprentice so he was going to discuss with you about what you wanted to do. He hasn't officially failed you after all." That put a smile on Aoshi's lips. Tetsuo's punishment was nice to hear and all but the fact that Kakashi, whom his aunt warned him about, hadn't failed him, was a pleasant surprise.

"It's a shame you didn't get through Akiho-" but she waved him off. "I didn't deserve it. I just hope you get the chance you deserve." They smiled at each other in gratitude, and Aoshi went on. "Then I guess you'll just have to succeed in half a year instead. Class B won't stand a chance!"

She giggled but nodded. "I'll try my best Ao-kun."

It was at that moment Kurenai got into the room. She ran up to him and started kissing the areas of his face which seemed like they'd hurt the least. "Don't scare me like that! I know it wasn't your fault this time but I don't want to see you in this hospital again, you hear me?" She said the last words in a false authoritative voice.

He just gave her a gentle smile back. "Of course, auntie. I wouldn't want you to age any faster." She came in closer to him and gave him the most tender hug possible. "I love you Aoshi. I can't imagine living without you anymore. At first you were the last piece of my sister, and you looked so alike her as well. But these last few years I've loved you for who you are. And you can't leave me Aoshi, promise me that."

This had him completely baffled. Kurenai had taken care of him for years. He was sure there was some kind of familial love there but they never talked about it, not really. He had always been afraid she was repeatedly reminded of his mother, and therefore couldn't love him for him. But that wasn't the case. Tears started welling up in his eyes as he used every bit of effort he had to hug her back. "I love you too Kurenai. You're the best auntie I could ever wish for. You're more of a parent to me than father ever was, I owe everything to you. Even my life. I'll promise you to try my best to always come home, to our home."

She kissed his forehead once more. It was only then she realised they had a crowd watching them, but she didn't care. Tears fell from her face, ruining what little make up she had on. Nothing else mattered to her, her little boy meant the world to her. She wondered if this was what her sister was talking about all those years ago, with love so strong you didn't know what you'd do without it. But enough was enough, they didn't need to keep crying to show their love anymore. Kurenai tried to wipe away her tears but failed miserably as she got off her nephew and looked towards the door.

"Kakashi, here to talk to my nephew about his future?" With gentle joy in his eyes, Kakashi nodded. "That's exactly why I'm here. If we decide something today, I've been told you can leave with me tomorrow. The medic nins will be in here to check on you as soon as we've had our talk as well."

Aoshi nodded and the girls made room for Kakashi to step forward. "Aoshi...you've impressed me, a little." Aoshi's eyes lit up at the compliment. Rarely had he ever been complimented by anyone aside from Kurenai, Tenten, Tenchi and Hinata.

"I can't take you on as an apprentice, but considering your show of both character and skill..I can't fail you either." He tilted his head, waiting for Kakashi to explain what he meant.

"As it stands, you have two options. Either you join Akiho in going back to the academy for half a year. At which point you will definitely graduate. OR…" Aoshi waited for the other option, hoping it would be better.

"Or, I could convince the Hokage to give you a chunin access to the library in compensation for not having a teacher of your own. I will be able to help you out every now and then but I've already sorted out a taijutsu teacher for you, who will definitely focus on developing your body. For the following year you would be a stand-in genin. You'd join any squads who for some reason needed an extra genin, or perhaps stand in in a squad which lost a member. It's not optimal but I believe it's the best I can do. Your education would be choppy at best since it'd be done by several senseis but I think-"

Aoshi interrupted him there. "It sounds wonderful Kakashi-sensei! I've been wanting higher access at the library anyway so if I get this it'd solve a lot of problems. My dad actually sold many of our techniques and I believe most will be chunin level fuinjutsu. I'd bow down and thank you but you'll have to forgive me."

Kakashi waved it off. "It's alright. You embody what I believe in the most. I told the others earlier, but my most important motto is 'those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.'. You proved to me that you believe something similar when you spent every ounce of your own chakra to protect someone you didn't even consider a friend yet. You were even prepared to try and save Tetsuo before he did what he did! I'd gladly have you as a student, but since I can't..I'll try to make it up to you somehow."

And so, they decided to go together to the hokage's office the next day. With his things said, Kakashi left to take on a small mission for the day. When he left, he called in some medic nins which would make sure that their earlier prediction of Aoshi being able to leave tomorrow, was still correct.

A brown haired older Lady was the one who checked up on him this time. "Everything seems in order. Your chakra is doing its job and you'll be able to walk out of here tomorrow, not fully healed mind you, but enough to take care of yourself."

Everyone in the room was happy to hear the news and Tenten had an idea. "Since he's constantly using his chakra to heal himself, couldn't he take some of mine to speed up the process."

The medic thought for a second but nodded. "Yes, that could work. Do you have a chakra transfer technique?" Tenten shook her head and pointed at Aoshi. "No but he does, he can also absorb it!"

The medic smiled and called in another bed to place it next to his. "Lie down there and use the technique. Neither of you have a large pool of chakra so you might get a bit dizzy at times. I'll leave you to it! But be careful.."

And so she left the room. Tenten happily jumped up on the other bed, pleased to be able to help her friend in some way. Kurenai just stood in the corner of the room and smiled at the two best friends who slowly joined hands. "I'll leave you two to it. I'll be back for lunch, and I'm bringing Hinata this time. She's missed you.."

They both waved her off as she left and suddenly Akiho stood up. She pointed at Tenten. "I won't lose to you next time..but right now Aoshi is the priority. I'll leave the games I brought for you if you feel like playing something, but I'm off to the academy. I won't fail next time!"

At that last sentence she gave Aoshi a determined look and he gave her a smile and a nod in return. "Of course! Good luck!" And so they waved off another. Now they were all alone, holding hands in what was basically a double bed.

"So what did she mean when she said she wouldn't lose to you next time?" He tilted his head at her and clearly looked confused.

Tenten shrugged "I don't know, but I think she wished she was the one to share her chakra.." Aoshi blinked in confusion, trying to figure out why that is. "Huh.."

Suddenly, they both realised that they were rather tired. They tried over, and over again to find a comfortable way to keep in direct physical contact. It ended up with her sleeping on his chest with his left arm around her, holding her left hand with intertwined fingers.

They slept like that for hours, Aoshi unconsciously absorbing chakra when needed to keep up a high tempo with the healing.