A/N: So... yeah. Sorry for starting a story then letting it sit for more than a year. Life kind of hit me in the face with a sledgehammer, and I'm just now recovering the sort of free time needed for writing.
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Tayuya fiddled with the new hitai-ite hanging from her neck. Naruto certainly wasn't a cheapskate. He'd tossed her his wallet and pushed her into the market district.
"Get yourself some new clothes and anything else you think you might need. I've got my own stock of the more standard ninja tools at home, so don't worry about those. When you're done, meet me at Ichiraku's."
He'd pointed the place out on the map, then been on his merry way. She'd spent the last hour and a half re-outfitting herself. She now had some decent clothes and a new flute. The last one had been turned into a twisted hunk of scrap by an explosive seal.
She approached what she quickly identified as a small ramen bar just as Naruto was slurping the last of the broth from the bottom of a bowl. She sat down next to him as a cute brunette took the bowl into the back.
"Hey, Naruto-san. I'm done. And... thanks." It was difficult to muster up the respectful tone, but this guy could make or break her.
"Come on Tayuya-nee. No need to be so formal. I couldn't just leave a clansman high and dry now could I?"
Tayuya frowned a little. No way was she addressing him as "-nii" or "-kun". No honorifics then.
"How closely related are we anyway?" She asked. Naruto thought for a moment.
"Well," he began, "my mother was an only child, so the nearest relative we could possibly both descend from is a great-grandparent. At closest we're second-cousins. Odds are we're a lot farther though."
The waitress came back and Naruto passed her some bills. "Thanks Ayame-chan." He cheerfully chirped.
He turned to his companion. "You want any?"
"No thanks." She replied. "I'm still full from the take-out you brought me in the hospital."
They got up to leave.
"So... what are you going to be teaching me?" She asked hesitantly as they began walking.
"You're a long-range fighter." Naruto said immediately. Clearly he'd already given the topic considerable thought. "If an opponent with any sort of close-range skill manages to close the distance between you, you're through. The first thing we need to do is cover that weakness, so I'll be teaching you my taijutsu style."
Tayuya was a little irked, but knew it was true. "Alright." She huffed. "Which style?" She had some basic training in Orochimaru's signature Hebi style, but that was it.
"A style of my own design. I don't know if the Uzumaki had a signature taijutsu style before mine, but I named it after the clan. Uzumaki style. A lot of inspiration was taken from ju-jitsu and a lot was taken from baguazhang. Maito Gai helped me so much that he basically deserves credit as co-creator – the man's mastered hundreds of taijutsu styles. It's a heavily defensive style. It's based on redirecting your opponents' movements, moving around them, and quickly disengaging."
Tayuya nodded. That made a lot of sense for her. Her goal in combat was to maintain distance. "What about you though?" she asked confusedly. "Is that the style you used against us? You clearly won that battle at close range."
Naruto chuckled. "I designed the style specifically to work with a special technique of mine. A technique that I won't be discussing the details of in public. Let me point something out to you. Consider the average S-rank ninja."
"I don't think there is such a thing as an average S-rank ninja." Tayuya interjected.
"Fair enough. Still, among S-ranked ninja, what's a common trait?"
"They tend to be fucking bonkers?"
Naruto laughed aloud. "Also true. I mean, technique-wise."
Tayuya thought for a minute, comparing what she knew about various S-ranks. "No clue. They don't seem to really have many techniques in common."
"Exactly." Naruto said excitedly. "Most S-rank ninjas have a single technique that puts them in that cut above. A single technique that lets them dominate scores of other ninja. Tell me, how much do you know about Akatsuki?"
"A little bit." Tayuya said, intrigued. "Orochimaru talked about them from time to time. Seemed to really have it out for Itachi."
"Well a lot of them are good examples." Naruto continued. "Take Kakuzu. Without Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear), he'd be an A-rank. With Jiongu, he eats A-ranks for breakfast. Kisame is the same, but with his weapon. If he didn't have Samehada, Kisame wouldn't be an S-rank threat anymore. Itachi might still be S-rank even without his Sharingan, but it's his Sharingan that solidifies his status as S-rank. Deidara's entire fighting style is based on Bakuton (Explosion Release). Moving away from Akatsuki, take Minato Namikaze. He was probably still S-rank even without Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God), but Hiraishin put him into a cut above even for S-ranks. Tsunade Senju, our Hokage, wouldn't be the legend she is without her super-strength technique. The Sandaime Kazekage probably wouldn't even have been an A-rank without Satetsu (Iron Sand), but was easily S-rank with it. The current Raikage is an S-rank because of his Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Release Armor). He's still formidable without it, but not S-rank."
Naruto smirked at her. "There are exceptions, but most S-rank ninja have a single technique which bumps them up from 'just-another-jonin' to 'ninja legend'.
Tayuya nodded slowly. She was at least vaguely familiar with all the ninja Naruto had mentioned. "Alright. I'll bite. Where are you going with this?"
"Why Tayuya-chan," Naruto began, feigning drama, "I'm going to teach you my S-rank technique."
Tayuya blinked. "What?"
"What if I told you I'd fought all of the Akatsuki members I mentioned?"
Tayuya gave him a dry look. "You're bullshitting me."
"No I'm not. I was even by myself when I fought Itachi and Kisame. I didn't kill either of the bastards, but I did drive them off."
Tayuya stopped walking and gaped at him. "No fucking way! You have to be like, what, sixteen at the oldest? How can you swing with big cats like them?"
"By being the most badass ninja around." Naruto coolly replied. "Now come on, we're almost there."
Tayuya jogged for a few steps to catch up with him.
"Where I was going with all that," Naruto continued seriously, "is the technique I invented which puts me in the same class as them." He paused.
"Go on." Tayuya urged.
"Before I tell you anything about it, let me remind you to guard your techniques. It's okay if people find out what you can do, but never tell anyone how. Kakuzu's Jiongu is a good example. I know what Jiongu does, but I don't know how it does it. Even though I know what it does, I haven't the foggiest idea about where to start recreating it because I don't know how it works. It's the same with my technique. It's okay if people figure out what it does, but never tell anyone under any circumstances how it works. If you do, people will reverse engineer the technique. When I teach you, you will be the only other person in the world to know how Chakra Etching works. Not even Jiraiya-sensei knows how it works."
Tayuya nodded solemnly, understanding the seriousness. Still, she was getting excited. If Naruto was really being straight with her, she was probably going to become quite powerful herself.
"Obviously, I'm not going to talk about it on the street. But, what do you know, we're here."
Tayuya blinked at the building in front of her. It was a nice house, but not at all what she'd expect from "clan grounds".
"Um... these are your 'clan grounds'?" she asked incredulously.
"The Uzumakis were never really established in Konoha." Naruto explained. "This is just the house my mother, Uzumaki Kushina, lived in. Since Uzumaki is still an official clan though, this is its official clan grounds."
Tayuya paused and "hmm"-ed in understanding before suddenly going ramrod straight. "Did you say Kushina Uzumaki? Your mother was The Red Death?"
Naruto laughed. "I see my pedigree precedes me." He walked up to the front door. "Come on. Let me give you the tour."
She quickly followed him inside.
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"So what's the gaki up to? Has he told you anymore than he's told me?"
Jiraiya shrugged. "I doubt it. It's probably just a soft-spot for long lost family. She's the first person he's ever met that he has close blood ties too."
Tsunade frowned. "I have a blood tie with him."
Jiraiya sighed. "Yeah, but it's very distant. Senju and Uzumaki have some common ancestry. That's it. It's like how the Hyuuga are related to the Uchiha."
Tsunade began rubbing her temples. "I suppose."
Jiraiya smiled and adopted a cheerful tone. "You know Naruto. He's got a way with people. You of all people should know. If he's decided to be that girl's friend, I hardly think you have anything to worry about."
Tsunade's lips curled upward. "Yeah. I suppose you're right."
Jiraiya pulled out his notepad and began to scribble. Tsunade immediately frowned again. "What are you doing you lecher?"
Jiraiya donned his patented Pervy Grin ©. "I just got a great idea for a new story. The gallant Naruho captures an enemy kunoichi, Sayuya. He finds they're long-lost clansmen, and decides to take her in. She's shy - even hostile - at first. She doesn't trust her new caretaker or her new village. But over time and under the delicate ministrations of Naruho, she comes to like her new home. Naruho cares for her and nurtures her, and she grows to love him back. Finally, after a night of drinks, she gives into her passion and they make sweet lo-"
Thunk!
Crack!
Crash!
AAAHG!
Tsunade happily sighed as she slowly retracted her fist, savoring the sweet sound of Jiraiya's scream as he sailed off into the village somewhere. Then she noticed the damage to her office.
"Dammit. Why is it that every time Jiraiya visits I have to replace that wall?"
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Tayuya found she really couldn't complain about her new living arrangements. It was a helluva lot better than her little cell in Otogakure. The upstairs of the house contained two bedrooms, and now one was hers. It even had it's own bathroom. She was nearly giddy when she discovered that. The rest of the house was nice but plain. A decent-sized kitchen conjoined to a spacious living room took up most of the first floor, plus a little entryway.
It was when Naruto showed her the basement that she got really impressed. The basement looked like some dusty storage space, but hidden behind a shelf was a hardened panic-room, complete with suppression seals to throw off pesky sensor-nin and enough dry goods to feed a platoon for a year.
Now they were relaxing on the sofa in the living room of the house, sipping on some black tea.
"Alright." Naruto began. "Chakra Etching is what makes me an S-rank ninja. I will confidently assert that I am the most dangerous close-range fighter in the world; and it's because of Chakra Etching. I'll start by demonstrating."
He extended his hand and touched the coffee table. Tayuya watched intently as all of sudden squiggly black lines danced across the table, before settling into the Konoha leaf symbol.
"If I can visualize an outline in my head, I can place it on any surface just by touching it. This, of course, means fuuinjutsu too. Anything I can get my hands on, I can instantly put seals on, including humans. That's why I'm so dangerous at close range. If I can catch hold of my opponent at all, I can place a stasis seal, or a paralysis seal, or I can run 14,000 volts through them, just to give a few examples. I can place wind-chakra based sharpening seals on my kunai as I throw them. I can make fuuinjutsu based barriers just by touching the ground. I can pepper a room with explosive seals just by touching things. Anything fuunjutsu can do, I can do instantaneously; whether its creating instant explosives in the heat of battle or discreetly placing an electrocution seal on an assassination target as we pass each other on the street. That's what Chakra Etching does."
Tayuya almost dropped her tea. There was such incredible potential for power there. Most ninja understood that there was great power in fuuinjutsu, but it was unwieldy and cumbersome. Normally pre-prepared explosive tags were about all that saw use in active battle. Fuuinjutsu based traps were common too, but it just wasn't practical to carry around pre-prepared tags for every occasion. Not to mention, there was the problem of getting them to stick. Trying to stick an electrocution seal tag to an opponent was a lot harder than just touching them and imprinting the seal.
"Holy fuck..." she softly murmured.
"That's the part you're allowed to let people find out." Naruto said. "How it works is the secret. Tell me, what's your best guess as to how it works?"
It took thirty seconds of thinking for Tayuya to give up. She shrugged. "Some sort of ninjutsu that uses chakra to create outlines?"
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Naruto said, smiling wide. "Even the name, Chakra Etching, is designed to mislead people into thinking that I'm using a ninjutsu to place a fuuinjutsu. That's what it sounds like, after all."
Naruto held up his arms, and the squiggly lines of fuuinjutsu phased into the visible spectrum. His arms were so covered that it eerily reminded Tayuya of her level one curse mark.
"There are three primary arrays here. They're the most important to understand what's going on. The first array imprints whatever outline I'm thinking of. The second array is a storage seal for ink – I have enough ink sealed into my body to fill the Konoha reservoir twice, and I always top it off after I use any. The third array is basically an invisible brush; it draws lines with chakra - matching the imprint from the first array - then fills them with ink from the second array. That's how Chakra Etching works. I deliberately lead people to think I'm using a ninjutsu to quickly place fuuinjutsu, when really I'm using a fuuinjutsu to place even more fuuinjutsu."
Tayuya just stared. It was utterly brilliant. The extremes to which one could manipulate both their environment and their opponent with this technique was staggering to think about. She now truly understood what he meant when he talked about one technique making an S-rank ninja.
"That's why your taijustsu style is what it is." She murmured. "You place whatever sort of debilitating seal you want on your opponent as you redirect his attack, move around him, and disengage - already looking for your next target."
"Exactly." Naruto chirped with a smile. "The most important part of Chakra Etching is really just memorizing useful arrays. If you can visualize what the array looks like, you can place it on anything you can touch."
Tayuya nodded dumbly as it really started to sink in. Naruto was going to teach her this technique. Even as she was, that would make her incredibly powerful.
He's really going to turn me into an S-rank ninja. She realized, slightly dazed. It was at that moment that her loyalty began to solidify. In one day, Naruto had done more for her than everyone else she'd ever met put together had ever done for her.
"Are you ready to get started?" Naruto asked, snapping her out of her little trance.
"Hells yeah!" She replied enthusiastically.
"Then roll up your sleeves."
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A/N:
Anticipated question answers:
Q: How does Naruto know what so many Akatsuki members can do?
A: Naruto is familiar with the techniques of various Akatsuki members because he's already fought them. Remember this is AU.
Q: Naruto mentioned Minato, but not that Minato's his dad. What gives?
A: Naruto knows who his dad is. He's just not telling Tayuya yet.
Q: Why is Naruto sharing his best technique with a kunoichi who was an enemy yesterday?
A: Naruto is entrusting Tayuya with Chakra Etching so early deliberately as a way to build trust, loyalty, and camaraderie. Also, Naruto is confident that he'll completely win her over before long. Besides, even if he fails (which he's certain he won't), it's in her own best interest to keep such a powerful technique secret and Naruto knows that.
Q: Why isn't Tayuya bitching everybody out?
A: In case it wasn't clear, Naruto single-handedly pummeled all of Tayuya's team, including Kimimaro. That's why she's so subdued; she knows Naruto is leagues of power above her. That and she feels she owes him – he's given her a home where she's safe, a job with a decent paycheck, and really damn useful training. On a more selfish level, it's in her own best interest. Tayuya may have a potty mouth, but she's also Shikamaru levels of smart. Cussing out your retainers isn't the smartest thing to do.