Capítulo 854: 31
Chapter 30: To Be The Shield or The Sword
Tsunade stood on top of the Hokage Tower looking up at the sunset drenched mountain that now bore her visage, "You need to go see the brat. His house is starting to look like the inside of a hodge-podge file cabinet. Get him to calm down some."
Jiraiya looked at her from the corner of his eye as he looked out onto the village, "Get him to calm down? He isn't losing it about the whole Akatsuki thing is he? I figured that he would be taking it way better than that."
Tsunade shook her head, "He's not losing it. I mean it isn't like he's scared of them, or scared of them taking him, nothing like that. He seems more tense these days though, more along the lines of the way he used to be when I first met him."
Jiraiya looked at her as understanding washed over his face. That was enough proof that he was feeling the squeeze of the situation. When Naruto was with Jiraiya looking for Tsunade he was scared. He would never have said so, he would never have even shown it but Jiraiya could feel the fear on him no matter how well he hid it. He was weak, he had just been attacked by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, and a few days prior to that he had just been unsealed and had a multitude of questions and concerns to work out. That had to have been a stress tidal wave hitting right after a simultaneous stress earthquake and volcano. Coming back to Konoha to see the boy mellowed out after the failed Sasuke Retrieval really did Jiraiya's mind good.
Tsunade continued, "Every wall of his apartment living room is plastered with all kinds of amassed information; patterns of known movement, hot points of contact, eyewitness reports of known members, personal files on whatever he could get on each, which for more than a few isn't very much. He has a room full of clones going over this information and either spends the rest of his time studying with Hamako or in the Forest of Death, and that would concern me if he hadn't been using it as his own personal playground for the last few years."
Jiraiya made a noise of acknowledgement, "Maybe I should take him with me again? A trip elsewhere should do him some good. Maybe I can get into what his deal is once we get away from the village, maybe he's just nervous… it's understandable, he has a lot on his plate."
Tsunade took a moment to think about it, "A trip to where though? I don't think I can swing another training mission. I barely got the last one through the channels since I was sending him alone. The elders sure loved that idea." Tsunade said sarcastically.
Jiraiya waved it off, "Just give us any old rinky-dink chore. Preferably one that takes us out of the country for at least a week, that kid can be one tough nut to crack when he wants to be and I have a feeling he isn't waiting for someone to spill his guts about his anxiety to."
"Alright then." Tsunade said as she turned to face him at last, "I'll get it set up soon after a go over what we need done. He just got back from a short courier run earlier today so I'll leave it up to you whether or not to see him now or later."
Jiraiya scratched his chin, "Where is he now?"
Tsunade smirked, "The Forest of Death if I would hazard a guess."
Jiraiya let off a sweatdrop, "I'll go see the kid later."
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Outside of Training Area 44 a.k.a. Forest of Death)
The light of the moon bathed him as Naruto was on his hands and knees dripping sweat after his most recent episode with his most prolific adversaries, the giant spiders in the Forest of Death. Naruto panted and glared at the sword in his grip on the ground, "*pant pant* You certainly crap out at the absolute worst times imaginable. I swear you do it on purpose." Naruto then proceeded to flop face first on the ground to give himself a moment of rest.
He went directly into the known nest area of the spiders to test the limits of the Sen'nen Kougake transformation of the Sen'nenki no Ken the best way he knew how; with wanton slaughter, and the endless waves of spiders that had become his favorite targets/the bane of his existence were the perfect test dummies for him and his bladed gauntlets and grieves.
The good part about the training; the blades were as good as he assumed they were. He cut right through the spiders like a hot knife through butter, it was absolutely effortless. His senses, reflexes, and physical attributes were heightened exponentially just from wearing them, and it seemed that the longer he had them on the stronger he seemed to get. Every spider he cut down was seemingly replaced by two like always, but he couldn't have cared less at the rate he was slicing them apart, he was moving so fast by the end that the blades didn't even get any spider gore on them.
Then came the bad part. That little feeling of supreme authority and superiority over the eight-legged lower life forms came at a price as it always had. The power growth was apparently something of a supernova as it just left him all at once, no fading, no waning of energy. When it decided to go, it took everything with it all at once. The euphoria of showing those stupid spiders who exactly the boss of that woodland area was and who ran things with an iron fist in the Forest of Death caused Naruto to lose track of time. Now he had painstakingly prolonged the amount of time he was able to keep going while using the Sen'nen Koukage from the pitiful five minutes he displayed against Sasori to fifteen. Still pathetic… supremely pathetic, but time flies when you're cutting down mindless drones by the dozens.
When the fifteen minutes that he lost track of time of elapsed it took everything he had to not instantly drop to the ground and black out. By all rights he should have been devoured by the damned plagues of the forest, but he saved himself at the very last second with a quick boost of Kyuubi's chakra so that he could…
A human sized orange toad in a blue jacket poked at Naruto with a slight glare on his face, "Don't you ever, ever, ever do that again aniki. I never want to see another goddamn spider for as long as I live. I should bodyslam you."
…Summon Gamakichi.
Naruto rolled over slightly, "I never make you do anything. I can't remember ever making you actually fight anything. Ever. All I ever make you do when I summon you is either train with you, or get you drunk and feed you. Cashing in all of that goodwill for you running a few kilometers to get us out of a forest is nothing."
Gamakichi frowned, "Well… I did get to test out the blade the old man gave me." He grumbled to himself for a moment, "Next time call Gamatatsu to do the hard work."
Naruto scoffed, "If I had summoned Gamatatsu he probably would have just sat there and watched me get eaten before asking the remains of my spider violated corpse for a snack."
Gamakichi was about to respond before he dropped it, "Okay, you've got me there, but you owe me big next time you summon me."
"Oh for sure." Naruto said as he tried to push himself up onto his elbows, "And I'll repay you by not telling Gamabunta that you blew up his stockpiles of sake when you were practicing Katon: Gamayu Endan (Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)."
"Asshole." Gamakichi complained, "I told you that in confidentiality."
Naruto let out a weak laugh, "You told me that in a bald-faced alcoholic haze. Gamatatsu may be dumb but at least he holds his liquor better than you."
"Whatever." Gamakichi dismissed, "Summon me to hang out later, or to meet that silver-haired girl you live with that has the nice ta-tas again. You were right, they are great." Naruto opened his mouth to curse Gamakichi out and ask how the hell he knew he said that when the toad grinned at him, "I'm not the only one that says confidential stuff when I'm smashed Mr. Gropey no Hentai. Catch you around Naruto-nii." He then dispelled in a puff of white smoke to return to his mountain.
Naruto sighed and rolled over onto his back, looking straight up at the stars, "Come out Sai. I need you to drag me back to the apartment anyway… I'm wiped out."
Sai appeared from the tree line inside of the gates of the Forest of Death with a plain look on his face, "You have groped Hamako-san?"
Naruto glared at him, "She's always coming in my bed to sleep with me and I tense up at night, fratricide of a grabby nature is par the course if she keeps doing it."
"Whatever you say Naruto-senpai." Sai said, getting a growl from Naruto, "Danzo-sama has sent me to inform you that he's already given you everything he could conjure on the Akatsuki."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Everything he could or everything he would? Don't give me that crap Sai-kouhai, I know Danzo-jiji knows more than he's giving me."
Sai blinked emotionlessly, "He has handed over everything to you that corresponds to your current situation. Nothing else he has on Akatsuki is relevant to your plight. I made sure to push your suspicion to the contrary on him to get him to say as much."
"That's bullshit…" Naruto said as he looked back up at the night sky, "Fine… He's given me more than the official records have forked over at least, that's for damn sure. You know Hamako has been asking when she would see you again, I think seeing one of her first friends would make her happy."
Sai walked over to the downed Naruto, "I don't have friends Naruto-senpai, you know this. You know how we are supposed to be."
Naruto sighed, "Yeah I tried telling her that but she didn't listen. She thinks she's friends with you, and from the way we both met her I can see why she would, even if you don't think so yourself. Just drop in and say hello if nothing else one of these days, it would make her smile."
Sai put one of his creepy fake smiles on, "You can make yourself smile without emotional provocation senpai. She can smile without my presence."
Naruto let off a sweatdrop, "I mean a legitimate smile, you know, because she's happy to see you." Naruto sighed when Sai gave him a blank look, "Nevermind… I forgot who I was talking to. Damn it you're going to get the concept of happiness and all of the other emotions even if I have to beat it into you at some point."
Sai kicked a prone Naruto eliciting a grunt from him, "It doesn't look like you can beat anything into anyone at this point in time senpai. Would you like me to inform a medic-nin of your condition?"
Naruto paled, "No just drag me home. Tsunade-baachan said that she would kick my ass if she found out I was overtraining in the Forest of Death again." A smile then came to his face, "Hey this would kill two birds with one stone. You can get me to the apartment and see Hamako-chan at the same time. Chop-chop kouhai, get me out of here."
Sai would have rolled his eyes if he had the emotional inclination to do so, "As you wish Naruto-senpai…"
XxX
Instead of dropping Naruto off like a normal human being would, i.e. getting the key from him, opening the door, setting him on the couch, you know, things that a friend would do, Sai dropped Naruto in a heap at the front door of the apartment and knocked on the door before disappearing in an ink shunshin. Naruto groaned from his spot on the ground, "Sai-kouhai you asshole…" Naruto mumbled.
After a moment a pair of familiar amber eyes opened the door, looking around curiously before seeing Naruto on the ground, "Naruto-sama? What are you doing on the ground?" Hamako asked with a slight tilt to her head.
Naruto looked up at his assistant with a dry look on his face, "Didn't you know? One of my favorite things to do is get chakra exhaustion and lay down on concrete floors directly outside of my apartment door."
Hamako puffed her cheeks out indignantly, "Well if that is the attitude you're going to have about it then I guess you can spend the rest of the night outside." Ignoring the indignant face Naruto had put on at that point, she shut the door.
"What? This is my house. How in the blue hell are you going to lock me out?" Naruto got over his shock after a second and inched his way closer to the door with his chin before slamming his head into it, forgetting completely about the security measures on it that rejected his 'forceful' endeavor and sent him flying into the back railing, sounding a massive clang out as he smacked the metal with his body, "Ugh… Like that obviously, because it may be my house but they aren't my seals. Hamako-chan let me in!"
Her muffled voice sounded out from inside, "If I let you in Naruto-sama you wouldn't learn anything. I'll get you in the morning."
Naruto blinked in confusion for a moment before yelling, "What the hell am I supposed to be learning?"
"What the hell was that?" The door next to Naruto's apartment opened to reveal the confused red-haired neighbor of his that finally looked upon his form, upside down, heaped against the railing, eyebrow twitching. An amused grin crossed her face as she sauntered over to him casually and kneeled down to him, "Having some trouble Uzumaki?"
Naruto let a mildly amused smirk adorn his features, "I've graduated to you using my surname have I Tayuya-chan? I'm so happy." His smirk turned to a frown, "I pissed off Hamako-chan and I do not have the energy to open my door due to me blowing all of my chakra heedlessly. Open it for me would you?"
Tayuya raised an eyebrow, "Hell no. I've tried opening your door before; the first time it shocked me, the second time I lost consciousness and woke up in the Forest of Death, and this time after seeing what happened to you I'm not touching that door."
Naruto looked up (or down depending on your point of view) in thought, "It sounds like Hamako's rotating seal works. The first time you tried to open it during the morning, the second time you did it while I was training and it 'helpfully' directed you to where I was at the time, and this time the seal just wanted to get rid of you. If I had punched the door instead of hitting it with my chin to get a knock it would have sent me flying all the way to the Hokage Tower." He rolled his shoulders and slid down the railing, ending up on his back on the ground, "Just get the key from my pocket and you can just open the door."
Tayuya gave him a long hard look, "Can't you just cancel the seal yourself?"
Naruto sighed, "Two reasons why I can't; I can't move my hands or generate the chakra to make the 21 hand-seals to cancel the security, and Hamako-chan changed the password. Right Hamako-chan?"
"Yep!" She chirped cheerfully from inside.
Tayuya shrugged and reached into both of his pockets, "Hmm… Let's see; gum, frog wallet- frog wallet? Nevermind; piece of paper with an address on it… in women's handwriting… I'm keeping that."
Naruto glared at her, "Oi!"
Tayuya ignored him and kept perusing his pockets, "Receipt for… seventeen large bowls of beef ramen from Ichiraku; not particularly surprising at this point but still disturbing, handwritten note for 'the usual order of Mt. Myoboku Firebrand Sake' along with 'the usual payment', and… *whistles* Nice size Uzumaki."
Naruto blushed and growled at her, "Get the key damn it…"
Tayuya freed her hands from his pockets, "Yeah, yeah. Oop, um bad news Uzumaki." She opened her hand to reveal that Naruto's house key had been broken, "Sucks for you."
Naruto sighed, "For Kami's sake." He rolled his eyes and adjusted himself in a laying position on the floor, "Well then I'll see you tomorrow Tayuya-chan, that is unless someone gets lucky and actually takes me out tonight because I can't fight back against a damn civilian as I am right now."
Tayuya stood there looking down on him for a moment before grabbing his ankle and dragging him inside of her apartment, getting a look of surprise out of him, "Don't give me that look asshole. You're the entire reason I'm alive right now so if I didn't help you out that would make me one miserable bitch, right?"
The red-head dropped his ankle outside of her bedroom door and pointed at him, "I'll get you set in a moment. Can you even move?"
Naruto wiggled his fingers and toes, "This is all I can do for at least the next few hours."
Tayuya grumbled to herself and lifted Naruto up before walking into her room and dropping him halfway onto the bed, "There, now be a good idiot and stay there for a moment."
"Yes ma'am…" Naruto said as he took the time to look around Tayuya's room. As he thought, it was pretty par the course for a room. He didn't expect anything else from her, like a room full of stuffed animals or something… because that would have been girly, and the only thing girly about Tayuya was that she was a girl.
Combat flute on the nightstand, yep he expected that. A few pictures of her and some of the people she had met in Konoha like Sakura (which surprised him), Shikamaru (Surprising seeing as how he thought his attitude would cause her to strangle him), and Ino (polar opposites, enough said). It was good to see that she had some friends besides him, perhaps the fact that she was so close to him helped her get their trust.
Tayuya reentered the room with her hat off and now wearing a long t-shirt, "Shirt off shithead." Upon seeing Naruto's questioning look she sighed, "Unless you would like to stay fully and perfectly dressed while sleeping."
Naruto acquiesced to the request, removing his shirt and sword slowly because he could still barely move. Tayuya grinned at him at how long it took to accomplish the action, "You're a helpless bastard aren't you?" She said as she took his sandals off, "Anyone could do anything that they wanted to you if they wanted, couldn't they?"
Naruto's thoughts kicked into gear with the way she said that, 'Okay, from personal experience, whenever someone comments on how helpless I am bad things have happened… like in my Root training. I'm going to find that personality and physical conditioning bastard and kick him in the balls one of these days. What was I thinking about again?' He asked himself right before Tayuya planted kiss on him and forced him back onto the bed.
After a moment she broke away and moved her hair from in front of her face, leaving Naruto looking up at her with a largely unchanged look on his face before he smirked, "Oh, so that's why you said that. You're going to rape me now."
Tayuya's eye twitched, "Well if you don't want me to fuck you, just say so."
Naruto looked at her amusedly, "What in Kami's name gave you the idea that I didn't? After that, if I had the energy to I would have flipped us over and showed you who was boss. I'm going to ask what brought this on though."
Tayuya blushed slightly, "Well… honestly I was going to do this a long time ago. Like when we had that clusterfuck mission to Kirigakure, yeah, I was going to try this then, but you left the entire time and came back beat up and with Hamako."
"Oh." Naruto said in understanding, "So the whole 'me-coming-back-with-a-girl' thing threw you off from saying that you lo-."
Tayuya cut him off sharply by jabbing him in the chest, "Do not fucking finish that sentence because I fucking don't. You will never ever hear me say that to you understood? You're a decent looker, you're a nice guy, and you're a hell of a lot more reasonable to choose than any other guy in this place. I mean who else my age is there to choose from that might actually be a decent lay?"
With that, Naruto grinned, "Oh so you have an itch that you need me to scratch do you?"
Tayuya stared at him, "Why are you not flustered by this? You haven't had sex before, have you?"
'That was the one part of the training that Danzo-jiji never had the time to get me to finish, damn seal…' Naruto gave her a robotic look, "Nope, but still… I have seen you naked before." He grinned when he saw her face, "I snuck around Oto's original main base in Ta no Kuni for nine months and went everywhere and saw everything. Do you really think that the women's showers weren't one of the places I hit? Spies don't have dignity."
Tayuya mouthed at him silently before settling for glaring at him and sitting on his chest, "I'm going to make you pay for that." She leaned down with a smirk on her face, "And the best thing is; you aren't going anywhere whiskers."
(Lemon Start)
Naruto blinked at the intent of her tone before looking up at the hitae-ate on his head, "Could you take that off for me Tayuya-chan?"
She looked confused at why that mattered at the moment but did as he asked. Upon lifting the cloth from his forehead a pill fell from the folds and landed in his mouth, "What the hell was that?"
Naruto grinned and swallowed, "Emergency soldier pill." With renewed strength and vigor, Naruto flipped Tayuya over, getting a yelp of surprise from her, "Now, what were you saying about you making me pay?" Naruto's fingers crept along her sides until he finally pulled the shirt off, revealing that she had nothing on underneath. He spoke to her with a smile on his face as he gently squeezed her C-cup breasts, "I still don't know why you wear those bulky clothes Tayuya-chan, your figure is killer. What's that scar on your shoulder?"
Tayuya writhed beneath him, "You did that when we chased you out of Oto you bastard." She let out a yelp that turned into a moan when he switched to pinching her nipples.
"Well then we're even Little Miss Scar-my-face." Naruto said as he let one hand go to take off his own pants and boxers. Showing his ability to multitask he took one of Tayuya's erect pink nipples into his mouth while finishing undressing.
Tayuya pulled Naruto down into a searing kiss and broke away just as roughly, "Kimimaro did that you teme. Don't blame me."
"You were an accessory." Naruto said as he picked her up and placed her roughly against the wall, getting a loud bump for his trouble while continuing with the kiss. Naruto switched from her lips to her neck and collarbone, at times leaving shallow bites.
His actions forced Tayuya to bite her own lip lest she keep moaning and possibly inflate his ego, "W-What the fuck are you doing? Where are you taking me?" She asked as she noticed that he was moving closer to the door of the bedroom.
Naruto kept silent until he brought her into the bathroom and stepped into the shower still holding onto her, "I never got to shower after training, so I'm killing two birds with one stone here." His hands found the cold water faucet first and turned it on, laughing to himself at her yell of surprise at the cold water while feeling the goosebumps on her skin.
Tayuya growled and slapped him hard on his wet back, leaving a red mark, "Turn the hot water on ass!" The smirk that formed as he obediently did as ordered turned to a look of contentment on her face when the steam from the shower began to cloud the bathroom, "Fuck me already you lightweight, or can you not keep holding little old me up?"
Naruto scoffed, "Testy aren't we? You're so lucky that I always thought you would be a violent lover in the first place and knew this was coming. I'm surprised you didn't bite me yet- Ow goddamn it!" Naruto exclaimed as the brown eyed redhead bit down on his earlobe, "That's it… payback's a bitch Tayuya-chan." Naruto positioned himself carefully at her pussy before inserting himself slowly until he found himself buried fully, "No hymen?"
Tayuya adjusted to the feeling of the blonde inside of her, "No, I broke it years ago. Orochi-teme's training was a- Fuck!" She cried out as Naruto sharply thrust into her.
"Stop talking Tayuya-chan." Naruto said as he held her up against the wall of the shower and pounded into her, "I would rather hear you scream."
Tayuya bit her lip and glared out of the corner of her eye as she held onto him tightly, 'Like hell I'll give you the satisfaction of thinking you're a stud. You've got another thing coming.'
The time from that point forward was split for Naruto between marveling at the way Tayuya felt wrapped around his cock and studying her facial expressions. Naruto lovingly kissed the scar on her shoulder before shifting his grip from her hips to under her thighs, pushing her legs up over his shoulders. As he started plowing into her from this position he felt her nails dig into his back, and after looking at her face he saw her eyes shut tightly as her breaths became pants. His thrusts slowed when he felt his lady friend's body tighten in his grip, signifying that she had reached her climax.
"Did you come?" Naruto asked, getting a tired nod from Tayuya. Naruto let her down and kissed her, still holding her soaking body against the wall of the shower.
They broke once again and stood in place while Tayuya caught her breath, placing her head against Naruto's chest, "But you didn't…"
Naruto rubbed her back soothingly, "I know." Naruto said turning off the shower and grabbing a towel to dry himself and her as well, "I'm surprised, apparently I'm a fucking juggernaut."
Tayuya let the towel drop and she took Naruto's hand, dragging him back into the room and throwing him on the bed. Before he could verbally or physically respond she had climbed on top of him and started kissing his chest, one of her hands working his shaft slowly to keep him hard. Tayuya wasn't going to let this lie. There was no way she was getting hers and he wasn't getting his… she was benevolent like that.
Tayuya swung her leg over him and positioned herself over his cock before descending and placing Naruto's hands on her waist, "Mmm, help me out here Uzumaki. I'm not doing this by myself." Tayuya started to bounce up and down on him, with Naruto helping her momentum. Tayuya's hands were placed on his chest keeping her upright when Naruto pulled her down for a kiss.
Naruto started pumping upward into her from the bottom more aggressively than he had in the shower. Tayuya moaned and held Naruto's head in her bosom as her blonde lover kept up a furious pace while holding her down. Tayuya threw her hair back and looked down at Naruto's face to see that his pupils suddenly dilated. After spending a lot of time around medic-ninja like Sakura she knew what this was a symptom of, "U-Uzumaki… your eyes." Her comment was kept inside as Naruto rolled over and fucked her furiously.
Naruto's eyelids started fluttering, "I know Tayuya-chan, the soldier pill is crapping out on me."
"Don't you dare wuss out on me here!" Tayuya cried out as she buried her fingers in his hair, "You haven't come once and I'm about to do it again, now finish- mmp!" Naruto once again cut her off by burying his mouth onto hers, Tayuya wrapped her legs around him to pull him deeper inside of her.
Naruto let go of the kiss only for Tayuya to bite his bottom lip, "Ow! Damn it, I knew you were a violent fuck, and I couldn't care less. Let go Tayuya-chan, I'm going to come."
"Not on your life…" Tayuya breathed out from underneath him, "It's alright I promise, go ahead."
Naruto rolled them over into a sitting position and held Tayuya close to him while bouncing her up and down on him. Naruto buried his face in her collarbone as he finally shot his seed inside of her, and the the force of his climax was the trigger for Tayuya's as she followed him shortly thereafter.
Naruto collapsed backwards with the girl still on top of him breathing heavily. With the last of his energy, Naruto lifted Tayuya off of his cock with a pop and set her down next to him. The blonde yawned and pulled her close to him, smiling to himself when she didn't fight the intimate contact.
Tayuya rubbed her cheek against his chest, "Next time you better go longer."
Naruto shut his eyes, chuckling weakly to himself, "Next time huh?"
(End Lemon)
XxX
The next day, Naruto emerged from Tayuya's apartment far more chipper than he had entered. So much so that he felt giving Tayuya a morning wake-up was called for, a wake-up that was more along the lines of a repeat shower session. Heading directly next door he found the security seal disabled, allowing him back in. Sitting on the couch in the living room was Hamako, going over her sealing notes with a smile on her face, "Good morning master."
'Yes, yes it is.' Naruto smiled and walked past her towards his room, "Good morning Hamako-chan."
The house was in comfortable silence for a moment before Hamako shut her notes and looked at Naruto who had returned to the living room, "I guess I need to teach you how to make privacy seals again huh master?" She said with a sly smile.
Naruto stopped in his tracks and stared at her like a startled deer, "You heard us last night?"
Hamako giggled, "I really doubt that anyone in the entire complex didn't hear Tayuya yelling at you last night. At least you had fun, right?" Hamako laughed out loud at the look on his face, "If I were you, when you leave today I would take the window."
Naruto silently nodded in agreement and pointed his thumb back towards his room, "Right… well I'm going to shower and get some new clothes on."
"Okay." Hamako said cheerfully, "I will have breakfast ready when you get out." Naruto retreated out of the living room and after a moment, Hamako turned to an empty corner in the room, "You got all of that didn't you Jiraiya-sama? The job is done."
Jiraiya dropped his transparency jutsu and had a smile on his face as the shower turned on, "Well I told you to get him to take the edge to get his mind off of Akatsuki and he ended up doing what I thought you would set up, but I thought more along the lines of you doing it yourself."
Hamako shrugged, "If it were me he could have simply told me no and I would have had to listen. He basically had to do what Tayuya said to do and since he was exhausted in the first place he wouldn't have fought back if he wanted to at all, besides she has known him longer than me, it is only fair that she gets him first."
"First?" Jiraiya said as his smile turned into a perverted grin, "And that means?"
Hamako showed no real reaction to being teased, "It means what it sounds like Jiraiya-sama." She then moved towards the kitchen without missing a beat, "*sigh* If only it were that easy to get master to stop eating ramen for the bulk of his meals…"
Jiraiya opened the front door and left before pulling out a small notepad and writing down speedily, "This brat is going to be my muse for the next decade!"
XxX
(That Afternoon)
Jiraiya looked over at his blonde apprentice who simply couldn't find it in him to put any kind of scowl on his face, "You seem to be in an unusually good mood today gaki."
Naruto looked over at Jiraiya as they walked and looked forward with a small grin in place, "Many, many good things have happened."
Jiraiya nodded in understanding, "Yeah I assumed you would end up doing the Oto chick first. All of the factors were there; she knew you closely, you dominated her already outside of the bedroom, you live right next door, you might be a sucker for aggressive redheads like your old man due to genetics… yep, all there."
Naruto glared slightly at Jiraiya, "And you are aware of this because?"
Jiraiya patted him on the head, "Tsunade got a list of noise complaints from your complex this morning. Oddly enough, your apartment and hers were conspicuous from that list." He sniffed a fake tear, "I. Am so… Proud. You make an old man happy to be your godfather."
Naruto pushed his hand off, "I'm not a sucker for anything, don't be creepy Ero-kyofu. And where are we going anyway? Tsunade-baachan didn't even want to make eye contact with me when I walked in today and you already had a busted up mug before you shooed me out and we got going."
Jiraiya's face turned serious, "After your little episode in Suna we're going to start reaching out to the other nations to see who would like to join forces to deal with Akatsuki. Right now they only have two of the biju, but this is going to become a much bigger problem very soon with the players we have in action."
Naruto frowned at how he remembered that he was barely able to fend off the two body doubles of Hidan and Kakuzu until Gaara arrived. If he fought Hidan he was sure he could win, but Kakuzu he wasn't that sure. The next time he would be hitting harder, moving faster, and the fight would be going to a finish. He looked at his godfather, "But why am I coming? Aren't you way more important in the grand scheme of things than I am? How would bringing me even help you?"
"Because kid. You're the jinchuuriki that has had the most run-ins with the Akatsuki and has survived so far, you even took one of them out." Jiraiya explained, "No matter what anyone wants to say to you about it, your input is important."
"So…" Naruto started, "Where are we going?"
Jiraiya pulled out a map and pointed, "To probably the only place with a jinchuuriki that is on good terms with you besides Suna. We're heading up to Kumo to start. At least we know that they'll listen to what we have to say before they kick us out of the country."
Naruto nodded but had his mind elsewhere, "What do I do from here Ero-kyofu? I think I've hit the wall. I don't think I'm going to get much better than I am now, I can't seem to use anymore of the Kyuubi's chakra, and from the way I was rag-dolled in Suna that won't be enough for a guy like Kakuzu, and he's not even the leader."
A questioning look came from the old sage, "What about the other one?"
Naruto waved him off, "I already know how I'm going to beat that teme. But between Hidan, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Kisame this is looking like one steep mountain to climb. Then there's that Deidara that got away. He knows how I fight so he'll be more dangerous if we meet again." Naruto sighed to himself, he had never asked this before, "I… need your help."
"You what now?" Jiraiya asked, genuinely surprised. Naruto had never asked for his help, not once. Not to learn the Rasengan, not for training to improve his atrophied attributes, not to find out his lineage, not even on how to get a better rapport with his summons, not anything. To be honest he had been wondering when this would come up if it ever would. The kid seemed like a problem solver, "You need my help? For what?"
Naruto looked at his hands and balled his fists, "I'm supposed to be Konoha's ace in the hole, the village's ultimate tool to protect it. Well what good is a tool if it gets stolen by someone else? Gaara's stronger than me now. He's a kage, and I'm just a chunin. I was losing that fight against those two in the desert, it wasn't even a matter of being powerful. I was pumping out three tails worth of the Kyuubi's chakra and they kept coming. Kakuzu just seemed to step his game up that much better to compete and Hidan just would not stay down."
Naruto shut his eyes and walked ahead, "People like to refer to jinchuuriki like me as monsters, as inhuman. Well then what do you call guys like that? Definitely not normal. They're all freaks, and they just get freakier as you run down the list of them… they're all prepared on how to fight me, they can find me anywhere in the entire world, and they can attack anytime they want to." He stopped and looked back at Jiraiya, "How am I supposed to win when fighting at my best wasn't good enough?"
Jiraiya stayed silent until Naruto was finished before walking up to Naruto and punching him square in the jaw. The shot sent Naruto flying off of the path down a hill into a field on the side of the road. Naruto pulled himself to his feet, wiping the blood from his lip and planning to retaliate when Jiraiya spoke, "That's how."
Jiraiya stood at the top of the hill looking down at Naruto who finally stood up, "You want me to magically show you what you need to do? Or do you want me to give you some miracle move that will kill all of your enemies in a split-second, find the answer to world peace, and make it shower down gold coins all across the landscape? I can't give you the answer of how to stop these people, of what you need to do to beat them. If I had that don't you think I would have told you, or better yet used it myself so that you don't have to put your neck on the line?"
He pointed down the steep slope at Naruto, "You walk up here right now. I don't want to see you jump, and I don't want to even sense you channel any chakra or you're going back down there."
Naruto did as told and walked up the slope he was knocked down, climb was more of an accurate description as by the time he reached Jiraiya at the top he had to use his hands to keep from falling back down. Jiraiya jerked Naruto by his collar and set him back on the road, "This isn't supposed to be easy Naruto. If it was then someone else would have already solved the problem for you, if it was easy then there would be a bigger problem out there that you would have to face. The only way to do this is to claw your way to an answer. You need to lower your head, grit your teeth, and plow right on through. You move along. Stop worrying about what will happen if such and such shows up whenever and you're doing who knows what and you aren't good enough. You get good enough, you find your own way to handle things and I promise you, you can do this. I believe in you kid."
Jiraiya patted Naruto on the head and walked on down the road, "You take it one step at a time. Just keep climbing, do not stumble, and you're going to make it. That's how you're going to win. I'll be here to help you as much as I can, but if you ever give up like you were just about to again I'll beat you back into your old brain-dead self, because at least he was stubborn enough to never quit. He had guts."
Naruto followed Jiraiya in silence like a zombie from that point forward.
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Hokage Tower)
A knock on the office of Tsunade's door brought in Shizune with an uneasy look on her face, "Tsunade-sama. Danzo is here to see you."
Tsunade then understood the look that her assistant wore. Danzo was always a subject that she was sore on. She knew of his clashing of values against her sensei and predecessor Hiruzen Sarutobi, mostly over how Konoha handled its foreign affairs, but the thing with Naruto she didn't know quite what to feel about it. Without Danzo training him and placing him in Root he would never have been as strong as he was when she first met him, but she was well aware that Danzo's detestable training methods were quite harsh. Ino Yamanaka's mental cleansing by her father after her match against Naruto years ago revealed what Naruto had to go through in training.
There was also the fact that he had been very quiet, not bringing things to her or even being seen in public outside of council gatherings… it was odd, the old war-hawk not stirring anything up the way Jiraiya warned her he would the entire time he briefed her when he first brought her back to Konoha.
Tsunade dismissed Shizune and informed her to send Danzo in as she schooled her expression for her meeting with the bandaged man, "Danzo. What can I do for you today?"
Danzo stood in front of her desk, steadying himself with his cane, "Tsunade-hime I've come here today to discuss one of Konoha's assets with you, one that you are very well aware of. One Naruto Uzumaki."
Tsunade planned on nipping this in the bud before anything could happen, she had been planning on this for years, "I will not let you take him Danzo. He is doing just fine, he's more than powerful enough without your training."
Danzo actually let out a chuckle, "Would you send your ANBU out so that we can discuss this properly?" Tsunade gave him a hard look before making a vague hand gesture. The atmosphere of the room changed, signifying that her guards were gone. Danzo cleared his throat and took a seat, still with his hand on his cane, "You and I both know that the reason he is so powerful in the first place is my training, but that is neither here nor there. There is not much more that I can teach Uzumaki other than a few jutsu, but they don't seem to be much along his avenue of usage."
Danzo tapped his cane on the ground, "I do not want the boy. I simply wish to ensure his safety, with all of the business of the Akatsuki that you and I both know will do whatever it takes to obtain him it is of the utmost importance to keep his well-being as a priority of sorts."
He hadn't overstepped any boundaries, laced his words with any subtle threats, and he had been speaking the truth the entire time. Tsunade could afford to continue to hear him out, "Please continue."
Danzo nodded and did just that, "I would like to assign one of my personal best to work alongside Uzumaki. I can assure you that he is the brightest shinobi I have trained besides Uzumaki himself, but then again being a jinchuuriki that would make it hard for him to compare to."
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, "Do not attempt to jerk me around Danzo. I'm warning you, let that boy be. I don't need any treachery against him from within the village when we have more than enough against him from outside of it."
Danzo kept his face steady, "I agree, which is why I am putting this offer on the table. I do not want to cut back Uzumaki's growth or hold him back in any way. He is a jinchuuriki and is destined to be one of the most powerful men in existence with the biju imprisoned inside of him. Having him be captured by a group of rogues simply because he had insufficient backup would not keep our village safe or powerful in any way, especially when that power ends up turned on us and the rest of the world."
Seeing that she had her eyes firmly on him, but not saying a word, the elderly man stood up and turned to leave, "Well I will leave the final decision up to you. Until the next time Tsunade-hime." With that, the only sound in the room was the sound of Danzo's cane thudding off of the floor as he left.
XxX
(Two Days Later – Gates of Kumogakure no Sato)
After Naruto and Jiraiya were confronted at the entrance to the village by posted sentries, Jiraiya flashed a message from Konoha that he was to deliver to the Raikage, important information necessary for Kumo's consideration he called it. With that, both Konoha ninja were watched carefully as they made their way to the main building.
Naruto simply peered around their surroundings and took in the village. Nothing that he could see had changed over the course of the time he had been away from Kumo, but being here for business he passed that thought off to the side. Jiraiya was getting sick of walking in silence, "You need to stop worrying about the Akatsuki gaki. Calm down a bit."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "It's going to be kind of hard to pull that off when we're about to talk about it with the Raikage isn't it? And they really don't care whether I'm in a hidden village or not, if they want me badly enough they'll find a way in."
Jiraiya sighed, "I've got your back if anything goes down you know that. Now focus, we need to convince the Raikage what a threat the Akatsuki are and how joining forces with Konoha and compiling our collective forces alongside Suna would be the best thing to handle this."
Naruto shook his head, "No way. No way in hell this is going to work. We have about a snowball's chance in hell of getting one village to work with us. Iwa already basically told us to go fuck ourselves, Kiri's just getting over the civil war, no way we're getting help there, and Kumo is basically the only shot we've got, but this isn't going to work either."
"And why not you skeptical brat?" Jiraiya asked as they neared the tower.
Naruto rolled his shoulders, "The same reason that the Tsuchikage told us off; because as of now it isn't his problem. Kirabi and Yugi-chan haven't been targeted yet so the Raikage won't make a move or else it might upset the status quo."
Jiraiya shook his head, "There has to be a leader out there with some foresight. If they come for you what's to stop them from going after someone else? But you're right… the problem is going to be in explaining it to him."
XxX
(Three Hours Later – Raikage's Office)
Standing in the background, Naruto listened as the conversation between the two elder shinobi droned on.
A sat at his desk, decked out in the traditional Raikage garb of Kumo, listening to Jiraiya intently. The sannin in question was seated in front of the desk with a look of seriousness on his face, "The organization is beginning to make emboldened moves. They have made three attempts on Naruto since I've uncovered their existence and may have the Nanabi of Takigakure and the Gobi of Iwagakure as I speak. Soon enough they will come for either your Nibi or Hachibi jinchuuriki. Some of the most notorious ninja in the world gathering together to capture demon vessels, you know that this can't possibly be for a good reason."
The Raikage sat in thought for a moment before sighing, "Jiraiya-dono, as grateful as I am that you have brought this concern to me instead of keeping the threat to yourself I don't think I can put my support behind an alliance just for the sake of stopping a group of less than nine shinobi, no matter how talented they may be. Kirabi and Yugito are powerful enough to defend themselves and their comrades in case they are attacked, and clearly Uzumaki-san is to if his still being alive and in one piece right before me is any indication."
Naruto frowned from his spot in the background by the door. This was going roughly the way that he expected it to, and from the look on Jiraiya's face he wasn't expecting things to go much better when they walked in himself. The two Konoha ninja shared a glance before turning their attention back to the Raikage, "I cannot commit Kumogakure to a coalition at this point in time for this reason. I'm afraid you have both come here for nothing."
XxX
(That Night – Kumogakure Hotel)
Jiraiya had turned in soon after they had bought a room for the night as they had to get up early tomorrow and leave to return to Konoha to report on the results of their mission before Tsunade would decide whether or not reaching out to the remaining villages was a worthwhile endeavor. Naruto could not bring himself to sleep and rather decided to sit out on the roof until he grew tired or sunrise hit, whichever came first.
Naruto simply sat against the ledge of the hotel, pulling the sword on his back out of its sheath and placing it back in just so he could hear the sound of the metal sliding. The monotonous sound and action brought Naruto into a state of lucidity drifting between consciousness.
"You sure look like you're having fun." A voice broke Naruto from his trance. He turned and saw an older Yugito standing on the ledge he was sitting against waving cheerfully, "How have you been for the last few years Naruto-kun?"
Yugito sat down beside Naruto against the ledge and pulled her knees to her chest as she looked him over. He didn't look that much different other than being naturally bigger that came with aging through puberty. Naruto looked over Yugito as well, coming to the same conclusion except that she was over 18 now, "Busy. Very busy. We came here to talk to your Raikage about something, but since you found me before I left I might as well tell you myself. You're aware of the Akatsuki right?"
Yugito nodded, "Not a whole lot is known about them but I'm aware of the name."
Naruto looked at her seriously, "You need to look out for them. Black cloaks with red clouds… if you see people wearing that then you had better either prepare for a fight to the death or get in gear to hightail it. They want the Nibi from you just like they want the Kyuubi from me. They'll pull it from your body and leave you a lifeless husk… don't let them take you alive Yugi-chan, better yet don't let them take you at all."
Yugito frowned at the way Naruto was talking about them. Something was different about him here. He didn't seem to be as confident as he had been back when they had first met, "What's wrong Naruto? Something's changed about you. Is it Akatsuki?"
Naruto rubbed one of his exposed arms, "These aren't normal people Yugi-chan. You need to expect the absolute worst, most twisted things that you would never think humans could do to themselves or others. These are the boogeymen of the ninja world."
Yugito turned away from Naruto and looked up, "So you're scared…"
Naruto sat in silence for a moment, "Yeah. Yeah I am. But not for myself. If they can catch me then it isn't my problem anymore and there's no need to be afraid of what happens from that point because I'll be dead. I'm scared for all of the people close to me, I'm scared for Konoha itself. If anyone is looking to utilize the power of the Kyuubi for any reason whatsoever it will be destructive, and it's going to kill a lot of people. I would be stupid to think that if I die and the Kyuubi is extracted that things are just going to be alright for everyone in Konoha. My friends, hell everyone, they'll all be doomed."
Yugito took in his words in silence and looked up at the moon with him, "You know if Bee were here he would call you a punk-ass and then cut you down in that terrible rhyming rapping he does, and I think I would have to agree." Naruto's head snapped over to her as she kept looking up, "The moon is full tonight. It's giving off a very good light here on the mountain Naruto-kun."
She turned her slightly slitted eyes to her blonde companion, "The light from the moon reflects in your eyes and I can see your fear as clear as day. Not on your face but in your eyes, the light reflects it as if you were saying it out loud to me. If one of them were to show up right now and fight us your heart wouldn't be in it, you would be too afraid of the widespread consequences should you lose."
Naruto clinched his fists, "If I lose then my village, the entire Elemental Nations are screwed Yugi-chan. Even one of the biju under their control would be catastrophic, not even mentioning that I have the most powerful one. To get all of them would mean Armageddon pure and simple, no other way around it."
"So don't let them get you." She said simply, "Sometimes it isn't one big maze to find the answer Naruto-kun. Sometimes it's just as simple as saying this is what's going to happen, and this is why I'm not going to let it happen. Just don't give them the satisfaction of getting you. Fight them tooth and nail. Do everything in your power to ensure that they don't take you and if you fail, so what? You handled the situation the only way you could, but the thing about it was that you weren't scared out of your wits to fight back. They're human too. They can be beaten just like you or I can. We have demons in us and we've been beaten, it's just a matter of going out and getting it done."
Naruto laughed humorlessly, "You say it like it's that easy…"
"Because it is." She asserted firmly, "When you fight, fear isn't necessary or even reasonable for us in that situation. No victory against an enemy of that magnitude can be born of fear. When you dodge, you won't let them hit you. If you protect something, you won't let it die. And if you attack, you will kill them. After all…" She said giving Naruto a faint smile, "When you fight them you'll sure be seeing their resolve to kill you, and to harm everything you care about."
Naruto stared at his fellow jinchuuriki as she stood up and stretched out widely before kneeling down to his level with a smirk, "Think about it Naruto-kun. Because when I fight them I'll be thinking the same thing." Yugito leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, "I won't let them harm you." With that, the Kumo jounin left Naruto alone on the roof to his thoughts.
Naruto turned his eyes back up to the moon for the longest time after being left alone. He thumped the back of his head off of the ledge and sighed to himself, 'What the hell is wrong with me? One little lackluster fight and I can feel my nerves slipping. What kind of shinobi am I? What kind of protector am I?' Naruto growled softly to himself.
XxX
The late night streets of Kumo were traditionally empty as a village-wide curfew was in effect on most days due to Kumo's constant militarization. Shinobi would patrol the streets, keeping watch over the citizens and ensuring their safety. This was what Yugito had been conditioned to know as a fact as she strolled through the streets alone on her way back home.
The feeling of being followed is common for most people, but when you are a ninja you kind of have to give that feeling a little bit more attention instead of chalking it up to simple paranoia, because in that line of work your paranoia is based on a well-founded fact that you are never truly safe, not even surrounded by shinobi of your own home.
Yugito stopped in place and bared her teeth in annoyance, "Okay. I'm tired, it's been a long day, and I need to get up early tomorrow. Whoever it is that has a problem with me can come on out and either do something about it or go away."
Two men in red cloaks and straw hats revealed themselves from the shadows, one with a three-bladed scythe on his back, "You're Yugito Nii are you not?"
Yugito smirked as a nervous sweat worked its way to her face, "Well then… it looks like I have some admirers. A friend of mine told me you would be coming, now let me show you what I do to stalkers."
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