After the pain eased a little, Qiuyang shakily fished Naruto out of the water just before he sank beneath the surface and carried him to shore.
A wave of dizziness hit him, and he collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
When Qiuyang opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in Konoha Hospital.
The aftereffects of using Susanoo hadn't faded. A piercing pain still throbbed deep in his bones.
He'd been woken by the sound of Kakashi and Naruto arguing. Kakashi was trying to talk Naruto out of going to Orochimaru's to bring Sasuke back.
There was someone else in the ward, too: his teacher, Jiraiya. He stood by the window, looking outside, lost in thought.
Qiuyang had planned to close his eyes and rest some more, but the argument between the teacher and student beside him only grew louder.
All he could do was grit his teeth against the pain and sit up, showing everyone that he was awake.
As soon as Kakashi saw Qiuyang wake up, he stopped trying to dissuade Naruto. With a sigh, he voiced the grim truth he'd suspected:
"Naruto, you and Qiuyang couldn't beat Sasuke together. Do you really think you can bring him back on your own?"
What? Kakashi-san, did I hear that right? You said I couldn't beat that kid Sasuke???
Qiuyang was dumbfounded. He was just about to protest, but when he saw Naruto suddenly fall silent after those words, he held back the retort on the tip of his tongue.
Fine, fine. I'd just put some pressure on the blond kid. It wasn't like it mattered if my image took a little damage.
At that moment, Jiraiya, who had been gazing out the window, saw that both his students were all right and suddenly spoke up:
"All right, Naruto. Since you're fine, go pack your things. I'm taking you on a special training trip tomorrow."
"Yeah! I'll go pack right now, Pervy Sage."
Naruto could think of nothing but getting stronger as quickly as possible so he could go to Orochimaru's and save his friend.
He sprang out of bed and headed for the window, planning to take a shortcut home and pack.
But before jumping out, he seemed to remember something important. He doubled back and shoved his face right in front of Qiuyang's.
"Hey, Uchiha Qiu Yang, I'm never letting you have the Hokage position! Just you wait!"
"..."
With that, he returned to the windowsill, leaped down, and hurried home.
Jiraiya held his forehead in exasperation at Naruto's chuuni antics, then told Kakashi to go with him in case the scatterbrained kid forgot anything.
"Oh, sure."
Kakashi agreed readily with his dead fish eyes. He closed Icha Icha Paradise, which he'd just opened and had only read a few lines of, then jumped out the window after Naruto.
Only after the two had disappeared from view did Jiraiya sigh and walk over to sit beside Qiuyang.
"Qiuyang, tell me: did something unusual happen? Otherwise, how did you end up collapsing too?"
"Didn't Kakashi-senpai already say? Sasuke beat me too."
Qiuyang replied sourly.
Jiraiya promptly thumped him on the head. "I'm talking business, brat. Try joking around again, I dare you."
Qiuyang clutched his head in pain. To avoid getting hit again, he told the truth.
"It was nothing much. I just fought Naruto while he was in Tailed Beast Transformation."
"What? You're saying Naruto went into Tailed Beast Transformation??"
"It was just the kind where he was wrapped in Tailed Beast Chakra and took on a human-shaped tailed beast form.
"Besides, Jiraiya-sensei, shouldn't you be asking about my injuries?"
Qiuyang looked at his unreliable teacher with a wounded expression. Naruto was your student, but apparently I wasn't?
Only then did Jiraiya realize he'd asked the wrong question. He laughed, covering it up with an excuse about trusting Qiuyang's abilities, then continued to ask for the details.
After thinking it over, Qiuyang decided not to hide anything. He told Jiraiya that Naruto had grown four tails and developed a skeletal frame, but left out the part about using Susanoo.
He only said that he'd barely managed to suppress the Nine-Tails' rampage with the Flying Thunder God Technique and the Uzumaki clan's Sealing Jutsu.
Jiraiya was naturally skeptical of Qiuyang's explanation, but didn't press him for details. Resting his chin on his hand, he silently analyzed the situation.
It seemed that as little Naruto grew, his emotions would have an easier time affecting the Tailed Beast Chakra.
Right. Taking Naruto on a trip after getting Tsunade's approval was definitely the right call. It would help him get better control over the Nine-Tails Chakra.
"Qiuyang, I'm taking Naruto away to train tomorrow. We'll probably be gone for quite a while. Sorry, but I can't take you with us this time, because..."
Qiuyang waved a hand, assuring his teacher he didn't need to worry.
"I understand, Jiraiya-sensei. You must think I'm already so strong that I've surpassed you, so there's nothing left for you to teach me."
Jiraiya punched Qiuyang on the head again, cursing his cheeky apprentice and telling him he still had plenty to learn.
But the matter of Jiraiya taking only Naruto on the training trip was settled, and that was that.
Qiuyang hadn't planned on going with them anyway. This made things even better; he wouldn't have to come up with an excuse to turn Jiraiya down.
Before Jiraiya left the ward, Qiuyang made sure to tell him about some security weaknesses he'd noticed when sneaking into Konoha the other day.
"I'll tell Tsunade about it. But you know that with your Sharingan, you'd find it easy to sneak into the village no matter what we did."
That was true!
After reminding Qiuyang to get some proper rest, Jiraiya hurried to the Hokage Office to tell Tsunade about Naruto's Tailed Beast Transformation.
Qiuyang listened as Jiraiya's footsteps faded into the distance, then lay back in bed and closed his eyes, feeling deeply troubled.
He might have seemed perfectly cheerful while talking to Jiraiya just now, but inside, he was actually filled with anxiety—
The moment he'd woken up and opened his eyes, he'd felt as if a film of glass were covering them and obstructing his vision. He'd rubbed them hard several times, but it hadn't helped.
Qiuyang understood: the aftereffects of using his Mangekyo's abilities and Susanoo had finally appeared!
But sometimes, he really couldn't afford not to use them. Like today, when Naruto had suddenly gone into Tailed Beast Transformation...
And then there was Naruto's return three years later, when the whole power scale would get an overhaul.
Half-Kage Level and Kage Level powerhouses would appear one after another. The Three-Tomoe Sharingan wouldn't be enough at all; only the Mangekyo could keep him from being forced into a passive position.
Unfortunately, the more he used those eyes, the faster he'd go blind.
For now, his best option was to quickly crack the Hashirama Cells sample Snake Auntie had given him.
He'd also have to consider how to evolve the Two-Tomoe Sharingan from his original body's older brother, which he'd deliberately saved all those years ago, into the Mangekyo.
From what had happened in the original story, Obito's Mangekyo hadn't evolved into the Rinnegan even after being fused with Hashirama Cells for so long. That suggested one of the conditions for awakening the Rinnegan was first upgrading the eyes to the Eternal Mangekyo.
Qiuyang slowly closed his eyes. With his teacher about to leave with Naruto, the beginnings of a plan for the future were already taking shape in his mind.
After that, only Tsunade and Hiashi came to visit him at the hospital, with Hanabi in tow. That evening, Qiuyang completed his discharge paperwork and went home to rest.
The next day, after seeing Jiraiya and the chatty Naruto off, Qiuyang threw himself back into his experiments with the Hashirama Cells.
Time waited for no one. He had to fuse with the Hashirama Cells as soon as possible.
Before you continue