Leaving The Clouds!

Jiraya sat in a chair next to narutos hospital bed. It was only a day after the blond had managed to win the chunnin exams and after the blond passed out and was taken to the hospital, the medics told him that naruto was suffering from severe chakra exhaustion and likely wouldn't wake up untill tomorrow.

Jiraya let a small frown cross his face as he stared at the sleeping boys left arm, or lack of a left arm. The doctors said that the arm was cut clean off at the elbow and that it was possible for the arm to be reattached- after they had found it, which jiraya had it sealed away inside of a stasis seal now- but hed have to find a very skilled medic in order for them to remove the charred skin from the wound before they would be able to even think about putting the boys arm back on. If he had a kumo medic do it then theyed run the risk of damaging the nerves in the rest of his arm. He made a mental note to find tsunade soon.

As for the move naruto used to beat the partially unseal bijuu.. well the boy had come up with it during their month of training with the toads..

-flash back-

It was the middle of the second week of their month long training trip for the finals of the chunnin exams and jiraya and naruto were currently working on narutos sealing.

They were in the middle of a small valley and naruto was looking at a seal from minatos notebook. Naruto closed the book and set it aside before rubbing his head.

"Whats on your mind brat?" Jiraya asked the boy.

Naruto looked up at his sensei and sighed." I was just thinking, all jinchuriki can access their bijuu cloaks right?" Naruto asked.

Jiraya set his own sealing supplies aside and gave the boy his full attention." Yeah, usually they unconsciously tap into their bijuus chakra when their emotions are running really high. Why do you ask?" Jiraya questioned curiously.

"Well its just that, kumo has two bijuu containers. The jonnin bee holds gyuki, the eight tails and is whats considered a 'perfect jinchuriki' and then theres yugito. She holds matatabi, the two tails. I know that yugito is training to fully control matatabis power and I have no doubt that if we fight she'll bring matatabi out." Naruto explained." And I have nothing to combat a jinchuriki that's in either a cloaked state or a full transformation ."

"I see your concern." Jiraya replied with a frown." Well what about seals? I have a few seals that could block bijuu chakra but youd have to be able to apply it." He told the boy.

Naruto hummed and shook his head after a moment of thinking." I love sealing, I really do but regular civilians and villagers wont understand the process. Plus, the real reason for the exams are to attract clients and the only real thing they look for is power and flashy jutsu." Jiraya had to agree there.

"What if.." naruto spoke up after a few minutes of thinking." What if I found a way around my seal in order to get kuramas chakra?" Naruto asked curiously.

"That's a highly dangerous thing to do. It could end up killing you." Jiraya told the boy. " but we wont know unless we try. Talk to kurama, he knows your bodies limits better than even you."

"Yeah, ill go in a speak with him. See if we can come up with something." Jiraya gave the boy a nod and naruto closed his eyes and delved deep into his own mind.

-inside narutos mind-

Naruto appeared in front of kuramas cell. His mind was still the same sewer looking area. He sighed and looked inside the cage and sweat dropped.

Kurama was passed out and lying on his back. His legs were sticking up in the air, twitching occasionally. And he was snoring lightly.

Naruto walked up to the bars and cupped his mouth with his hands." GET THE RABBIT BOY!" Naruto shouted into the cage.

"Rabbit!" Kurama shot up to his paws with wide dazed eyes and ran directly into the cage bars in an attempt to catch the imaginary rabbit.

Stepping back from the bars and shaking his head in an attempt to stop his ears from ringing, kurama looked down at his jailer and frowned as he saw the boy on his knees laughing so hard he was crying." It wasn't that funny.." kurama mumbled out.

"Y-you-" naruto laughed again." You hit the bars so hard!" He laughed again." Stop please, i-I cant breath!" Finally after a few more minutes of laughing naruto managed to stand up and wipe the tears from his eyes, catching his breath.

"What do you want brat?" Kurama asked harshly, both in annoyance and a bit of embarrassment.

"Ah" naruto managed to finally breath normally again." I came to talk to you about something." Naruto told him." Is there a way for me to access your chakra without the seal getting in the way?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Trying to prepare incase you have to fight matatabi?" Kurama asked, getting a nod from the boy. Kurama hummed in thought for a moment before speaking again." It could be possible I suppose, though youd have to figure out a way for my chakra to connect with yours, after that I have no idea what will happen."

"Well.. what if I made a chakra rod in your cell?" Naruto asked curiously." Its my mind so I should be able to added one right?" He asked.

Kurama just shrugged his shoulders." I don't know kid, we might as well try it." He told the small blond.

Naruto closed his eyes a took a few deep breaths before he began to concentrate. Kurama felt the ground shake a bit before it broke to the right of him. The giant fox watched owlishly  as a large sharp looking chakra rod rose out of the ground next to him.

Naruto snapped his eyes open and breathed heavily. That took a lot of work to make. The boy looked through the bars and examined the large rod before nodding.

"Ill head back out and we'll try this. Just like.. impale your hand on it or something?" Naruto told him a bit awkwardly, kurama nodded and the boy vanished.

-back in the real world-

Naruto snapped his eyes open and grinned as he stood up." I think we might've figured something out sensei." Naruto in formed the sage.

"Well lets see what you came up with." Jiraya motioned for him to began.

Naruto ran towards the middle of the valley and sat on the ground with his legs crossed. He rubbed his hands together before resting them on his knees.

"Alright kurama, let do this." Naruto spoke aloud.

The bijuu nodded and quickly impaled his hand on the rod. Narutos body straightened and went stiff as he felt a rush of the foxes chakra enter his coils. The young blond was suddenly surrounded by orange chakra that took the shape of a fox with one tail.

"Y-your chakras over taking mine, dial it b-back a bit kurama." Naruto spoke through gritted teeth. The boy felt his own chakra rise as kuramas went lower.

Kurama felt the boys chakra enter his system and the bijuu felt.. weird? He didn't know what the feeling was but he could tell that it wasn't supposed to feel like that.

"Keep your chakra at that level naruto, I wanna see what happens if I added the same amount of my chakra into your system." Kurama got a strained nod from the boy before he slowly filtered his chakra into the boys system.

Narutos eyes were closed so he didn't notice all the toads that had showed up to investigate the sudden rise in chakra.

Naruto felt kuramas chakra match his own level of chakra and the two chakras began to mix. Naruto snapped his eyes open and grunted before his vision was suddenly split into two. He could see both inside of his mind and the outside world.

"Kurama, whats happening?" Naruto asked as he closed his eyes, now only seeing inside his mind.

"Brat, I can see what youre seeing while also seeing the inside of this cage." Kurama was just as confused as the boy. 

Naruto tilted his head a bit, he saw that the picture of his mind tilted in the same direction as the outside world.

"Did you just turn your head at the same time I did kurama?" Naruto asked curiously .

"Yeah, I just did it without thinking. Wait let me try something." Inside the boys mind, kurama used his left hand and tapped the ground four times." Did you hear that brat?" He asked.

"Yeah, you tapped the ground four times." Naruto answered.

"With what?" Kurama asked.

"Your finger." Naruto answered plainly.

"How do you know? I didn't looked at my hand so for all you know I used my tails." Kurama stated and narutos eyes widened.

"I-i.. I don't know how I know, I just know. Like I felt it in my finger." Naruto told the bijuu honestly.

"It seams our minds our connected like this, how interesting." Kirama grinned and looked down at his feet. Naruto looked down at the ground at the same time. But when they saw kuramas reflection in a water puddle that was at the foxes feet both of them yelped in shock.

"K-kurama! Your eyes!" Naruto said out loud.

"What the hell?" Kurama asked as he and naruto looked into the puddle. Staring back at them was kuramas head, but instead of the blood red eyes with slitted pupils, the fox had narutos rinnegan.

" Kurama, the red cloaks gone." Naruto stated as he just noticed the red chakra that was around him had vanished.

"Okay, we'll figure the rest of this out later, for now lets focus on helping you. Lets both slowly raise our chakra output as much as we can, ready?"

"Yes."

"Go."

Both of them began to slowly raise their chakra output while keeping them leveled with one another.

Jiraya and the toads watched naruto closely as his chakra output rose. Pa and ma were both seated on jirayas shoulders staring at the boy.

"Whats naruto- boy doing jiraya-boy?" Ma asked curiously, the other toads listened in on the conversation as well, hoping to get some answers.

"Hes trying to find a way to access kuramas chakra, so far I think hes doing well." Jiraya told them.

"What if he loses control?" Pa asked with a small frown.

"I have chakra seals ready just in case." The sage told them, easing their fears a bit.

Everyone took a step back as gold colored chakra suddenly surrounded the boy. Jiraya was about to step in but pa stopped him. They all watched as narutos body changed to a bright yellow color. His shirt flew opened and began to grow until it was a golden flowing cloak, black marks appeared across the boys body and even though they couldn't see it, narutos whisker marks darkened and grew thicker. His hair grew longer with more spikes, making it appear as if the boy had horns.

"Keep going naruto, slowly." Kurama spoke out, the more chakra they let out to mix with one another, the clearer their minds became. It was as if their minds were becoming one. Every small muscle twitch that naruto had, kuramas muscles would twitch in the same spot.

"Okay." Naruto replied calmly.

The toads and jiraya felt the boys chakra output continue to rise. Then they all saw his golden chakra cloak flare up before it exploded outwards, blinding everyone.

After the light cleared away and everyone regained their ability to see, they all gasped and had to look up. Sitting in front of them with crossed legs was a giant golden transparent nine tailed fox. It had the same black markings on its body as naruto had.

Slowly the foxes eyes opened and everyone saw the rinnegan instead of the kyubis normal blood red eyes.

Jiraya took a hesitant step forward and looked up at the giant fox, he could see narutos body sitting inside of the golden fox head.

"Can you hear me naruto!?!" Jiraya called out. They saw the foxes ears twitched before it looked down at jiraya, said sannin gulped a bit.

"Yeah sensei, I can hear you. Don't worry everyone, im still in control." Naruto told them.

"But this is a very odd state to be in." Came the deep voice of kurama, making everyone step back a few more feet.

"Kurama?" Jiraya asked, getting a nod from the fox." What is this?" He asked the two.

"I put a chakra rod inside of kuramas cell." Naruto began." He stabbed his hand on it and sent his chakra into it, turns out that it went straight into my coils." Naruro told them.

"At first I added to much so it made the usual chakra cloak witch is that red chakra." Kurama picked up where his container left off." After leveling our chakra output and letting it mix together it sort of.. combined our minds? I don't know how to explain it but were in perfect sync right now." The bijuu told them."I recon that given a few more years for narutos body to grow, we could remove the seal and naruto and I would probably be able to hold this form much longer than what im sensing now. The seals currently sucking my chakra back into it and this form will lose its stability soo-" the golden transparent fox vanish into thin air and a now back to normal naruto fell out of the sky and onto the ground with a thud. His own golden cloak was gone as well.

Naruto jumped to his feet and clapped his hands." That was awesome!" Naruto stated as he buttoned his shirt back up and quickly ran up to his sensei." Man my mind was so clear! And I could see through kuramas eyes and he could see through mine! It was like our brains were connected an-" naruto passed out in mid sentence.

Jiraya quickly caught the boy before he hit the ground. The toads circled around them and whispered to one another.

"Is he alright jiraya-boy?" Ma asked.

"I think so, his chakras really low. Holding such a chakra output level must've drained him." Jiraya answered as he picked up the sleeping boy." He held it for about three minutes before the seal kicked in, we'll have to check the seal and see if its damaged at all. But for now we need to let the boy sleep."

Pa and ma agreed as they hopped back onto jirayas shoulders. Ma spoke up.

" we also need to limit naruto- boys use of that. His body isnt developed enough for him to keep using it over and over. It could do a lot of damage to his growth." She stated wisely.

"I agree with you ma, but we will have to take some time out of our training schedule about every two days in order for him to train with kyubis chakra. He very well may need a trump card like this during the exams, especially if he fights yugito and the girl lets matatabi out to play." Jirsya told them as they entered the village. 

Both ma and pa just hummed in agreement as they headed home to let naruto rest for the day.

-end flashback-

Jiraya let out a soft sigh as he sat back in his chair and stared at the form of the sleeping blond. Jiraya shook his head and snorted.

He doubted even minato would've been able to recover as fast as naruto had when he got his arm chopped off, let alone close the wound with lava! Man that was gonna be a real lady catching story.

He was brought out of his musing as he heard a small groan. He focused back onto naruto and saw one of the boys ringed eyes open up slowly. The boy groaned and looked to his left before looking to his right and locking onto the form of jiraya.

"Oh man.." naruto groaned out as he looked up at the ceiling." Waking up to your ugly mug definable didn't make me feel any better." Naruto jabbed at his sensei.

"Haha, we got ourselves a real comedian here don't we? " jiraya asked sarcastically before he got serious."how are you feeling kid?" He asked the boy.

"Better." Naruto answered." Kuramas chakra has taken care of most of the pain, I can walk if needed, possibly run for a bit but if I have to fight then ill die." The boy added truthfully.

Jiraya gave him a small nod." Do you think we could leave today?" Jiraya asked the boy. Naruto looked at him and nodded.

"Get me my clothes and some warm food and ill fallow you anywhere." Naruto chuckled out.

"Yeah yeah." Jiraya grumbled as he unsealed a stack of cloths for the boy before heading to the door." Ill be waiting for you out in the hall, call if you need anything." And jiraya was gone.

Naruto sat up and looked down at the hospital gown he was currently wearing. He looked at his freshly bandaged left arm and frowned a bit. There was still a small throb every now and then but nothing he couldn't deal with.

Getting up from the bed and throwing the gown off him, naruto checked his chakra levels and gave a satisfied hum. His chakra reserves were about halfway full, so that was good. 

He reached for a pair of orange boxers and put them on, then his usual black jeans. He struggled a bit with pulling them up and buttoning them but he managed to do it after a minute of trial and error.  Next he grabbed his dark grey button up shirt. He managed to button it with no real problem but had to have jiraya come in and roll his right sleeve up, he left his left sleeve hanging down as there was no real point in rolling it up. Jiraya also had to put the boys mask and headband on him as he couldn't do it with one hand. After attaching his weapon holsters and putting his sandals on, naruto was ready to go.

Fallowing jiraya out of the hospital and into the cloud village, they took some time to stop and eat, along with talking to a few villagers who congratulated naruto on winning the chunnin exams.

After an hour or so, naruto and jiraya were just exiting the cloud villages gate, when they heard a voice call out from behind them.

"Wait!" They both stopped and turned around. They watched as yugito ran up to them and tried to catch her breath." Ive been running around looking for you after I heard you were already out of the hospital." She told them as she looked at naruto. " I wanted to say that im sorry for cutting your arm off!" She bowed her head low to a surprised naruto." I don't know what came over me, please forgive me!"

Naruto reached up and patted the bowing girls head gently. Yugito slowly looked up at him and saw the boy eye smile at her.

"I forgive you." Naruto told her with a nod." Accidents happen and I know you didn't mean to do it in the first place. You were angry and unconsciously drew on more of matatabis chakra, sending you further into a cloudy rage." Naruto chuckled a bit.

"Anyways-" the two looked at jiraya as the sage spoke." After we get naruto here back to konoha, ill be going out to find tsunade. She'll reattach your arm." They didn't need to know that hed most likely have to drag her back kicking and screaming. Meh, details.

"I-im glad then." Yugito said as she looked at the blond." Youll be alright soon."

"Yeah, though I still need some rest. But ill be all right." Naruto replied with a small tilt of his head. He held his right arm out to the girl." We will meet again yugito nii. When we do I expect you to be stronger, I cant have my rival getting weak on me now can i?" He watched the girl blush lightly as she shook his hand.

"When did we become rivals?" Yugito asked curiously.

"The moment you cut my arm off of course." The boy chuckled out. He gave her hand a small squeeze." If I hadnt been able to bring kurama out when I did then you would've no doubt won. The way I see it, you are every bit my equal and I cant wait until we meet again." Naruto let go of her hand and he and jiraya began walking away.

Yugito blushed light as a feeling of pride flowed through her. It felt great knowing that naruto saw her as an equal and rival." Just you wait naruto!" Yugito shouted out." The next time we meet ill be your better!"

Naruto didn't turn around or stop walking. He waved his hand over his shoulder and replied." We will see, we will see. Goodbye yugito!"

"Goodbye!" She replied. She stood there and watched the two disappear into the sunset before she turned around and made her way back into the village. She needed to rest as she had to train tomorrow.