"You mean grandma had you married without you even knowing it!?"
The woman shot an annoyed glare the the brown haired boy. "I was getting to that! It's not like I was awake by then, it was him who told me all that stuff!" She cleared her throat. "Now, where was I...?"
He followed Tsunade down into a meeting room. He remembered giving a report here after the attack of Pain. At the dimly lit table were three figure he didn't think he'd have to see again so soon. Danzo was among them. The other two were Hiruzen's old teammates and he didn't bother remembering their names.
Homura and Koharu, as their names were, looked up at him and promptly proceeded to ignore him as they started to talk to Tsunade. Danzo made no move to acknowledge either of them.
"Tsunade, you sure took your time," Koharu rasped. Homura nodded.
"This matter is important," Homura spoke, not looking at her, "The sooner this gets out public the better for us."
Tsunade's eye narrowed as she sat down. "I am sure you meant to say, for the village." She received no answer but she hadn't expected one anyways. "Matters have been settled far enough to proceed." She motioned for an ANBU. "Bring her."
Not a minute later the chamber doors were thrown open and a girl in a wheelchair was shoved inside. Naruto had only just turned around to see her when he felt it.
Ever since the seal was fixed (and subsequently altered, if not disposed of) by his father, thing were different. He could feel things. He could tell when someone was angry, or sad. But this girl, she felt something different, something so permanent that it clouded her mind. But he couldn't discern what it was.
Her hair was long, impossibly so. Red hair reached down to her ankles, even as she sat there in this wheelchair. Naruto frowned. Her legs looked... wrong, as if something was broken within them. He guessed that's what an entire forest does to you if dropped atop of them. She was clad in the standard grey prison uniform, baggy and surprisingly clean. Her skin seemed to be still damp and slightly irritated. They must have scrubbed her down hard to get her clean. His jaw set but he said nothing. Her eyes were a deep violet, if not amethyst. A beautiful color, visible even in the dim light, but they were dull, clouded by the permanent feeling he got of her.
The more she was rolled- shoved into the light, the more she saw how tired she looked. The bags under her eyes had nearly reached Gaara's level and her stature slouched harder than he had after he found out Jiraiya had died. Was this really someone responsible for the old man's death?
"Good," Danzo said, speaking up for the first time, "We can begin."
They shoved her into the space besides Naruto and he thought the urge to growl. Why was she in such a bad shape? He knew that prisoners were usually treated with a bare minimum of respect and all that but they weren't abused. She was one of the Sound Four, the personal guard of Orochimaru. She had upheld the barrier that prevented anyone from aiding the third Hokage in his fight. She was responsible for his death.
But Naruto had grown over the years, even though people wouldn't ever say the same about him. To them, he was just dumb ol' Naruto, the guy they throw at every threat too big for them to handle. But with all he had been put through, he had grown, grown wiser, grown patient, grown to understand. And he understood. He understood that ninja took orders from their superior and executed them to the best of their ability. But that made nothing easier.
Danzo and Tsunade had started discussing something but Naruto didn't listen. He tried to figure out those feeling that was constantly rolling of her. It felt familiar...
It's dread, human. Dread and agony. She's in pain.
He didn't flinch when the Kyuubi's voice rumbled through his head. How could she be in pain? he asked back instead.
Why would I tell you? Naruto had no answer to that. After all, the fox was still pissed that his escape attempt failed.
Naruto tuned out the others and looked at Tayuya's dead and clouded eyes instead. They were arguing about him only taking one woman. Inwardly, he scoffed. He hadn't even really taken her yet and the thought of forcefully taking her made him sick.
She was a former subordinate of Orochimaru. That meant, aside from the fact that she was most likely from the Sound Village, she was also bearing a curse mark and had endured severe experimentation. If he remembered correctly, she had used a flute and sound induced genjutsu to fight. Including that, she also summoned monstrosities to fight for her. Naruto knew that the prisoners weren't caused any pain. If she had been tortured for information, it had been a long time ago.
Naruto remembered how Sasuke received his curse mark. It caused him unbelievable pain. Was that going on here? Was her curse mark inducing her with so much pain for such a long time that her mind dulled down?
The Kyuubi's grumbling laugh resounded in his head. You are far more observant than I ever gave you credit for, human. You are correct. Her curse mark is trying to kill her.
He was silent again and Naruto was in no mood to have another scathing conversation with the fox with the anger problem-
WHAT DID YOU JUST-?!
Wincing, Naruto closed of the connection lest his head exploded. He returned his attention to Tayuya. Leaning forward slightly, he couldn't see the curse mark, but there was a patch of skin just above her shoulder that appeared inflamed. Was that it?
"-so he and her will sign the contract. Within two years we expect results, Tsunade." Koharu's raspy voice brought him back to reality as an opened scroll slid in front of him. He blinked and tried to skim through it.
It appeared to be a simple contract that stated that he, as clan head of the Uzumaki, would marry Tayuya and take her as his first wife. He frowned at that. They would reside in Konoha and represent the Uzumaki as such. Even their pace of residence was written down here.
"Sign just besides the Uzumaki symbol," Danzo instructed. Naruto looked up to see that he wasn't even looking at him.
This was it. Could he enter this marriage for the sake of the village? His stomach turned sideways. Was this his life now? Married to a woman that appeared to be mentally shut down because of her curse mark? Now question was, what would happen if he refused. What would they do then? Force him to do something? Kill the girl off? Breed her? Or even him?
He ground his teeth. Whatever he did, marrying her was the better choice for the both of them. The mere thought of her, of anyone, being used in such a way made him unbelievably angry.
But could he? Could he live with her? With this girl who helped kill the old man? He shook his head. She had her orders. She did what she was told to do. Just as he always had. But...
With gritted teeth he signed with a flourish. The ANBU that had led Tayuya into the room slid the scroll over to the girl. As Naruto expected, she didn't respond.
"Sign it, girl," Danzo snapped but she didn't even blink. Obviously annoyed he motioned for the ANBU to do something.
The guard stepped forward and pressed the pen into her hand, but she didn't respond and the writing tool dropped from her fingers. Again the ANBU grabbed her hand and moved it. Then Naruto heard her whimper and the feeling she radiated doubled. She was in even more pain than before.
Naruto's hand gripped the ANBU's forearm like a vice. "Let go," he whispered harshly.
The ANBU tried to ignore him and continue with his task but Naruto's grip tightened considerably. With one hard shove the ANBU was sent backwards a few steps. This girl, she was supposed to be his wife. His family and he would be damned if he'd let anyone hurt her, even if he couldn't stand her at the moment.
Tsunade glance at him but remained silent. Naruto stood up and gently took her hand, careful not to cause her anymore pain than she was already in. He guided her hand to the designated space and leaned over her shoulder.
He whispered into her ear. "I don't know if you can hear me but if you want to get out of here, I need you to sign your name here."
Her hand twitched and the pen jerked over the paper. It left behind an unreadable mess but it was enough. The scroll was snatched out from under her hands as soon as the pen left the paper.
"Good," Homura spoke as he put the scroll away, "That makes it official. The wedding will be held in three months at the Hokage Tower. Get her presentable by then."
With that the elders stood and left the room faster than their age should allow. Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. She looked at Naruto who stared at Tayuya with a calculating look in his eyes.
"She's in pain," he said, "Has been for a long time. The curse mark is trying to drive her insane, to kill her, but her mind shut down a long time ago."
Tsunade nodded. "I know, but I can't do anything about it. This seal is beyond me, keeping us from healing her correctly."
Naruto frowned. "You knew she was in constant agony and basically psychologically out cold and still let them force her into this? She can't even speak."
"That did not matter to them," Tsunade said sadly, "As long as she can have children she might as well be in a coma."
"How did you even let it come to this? Don't answer, I know that it is necessary... somehow. That doesn't mean I like it though." Naruto sighed and looked over too were Tayuya sat. "Well, for now I will see about getting her better. I can't leave her like this, no matter what she did."
Using the Body Flicker to get her into his apartment was easy. It also seemed to increase her pain only a little.
Naruto had not the faintest idea how he could possibly remove the seal from her neck. He wasn't a seal master and while Orochimaru wasn't either, he was still better than Naruto, who had begun looked into sealing only a month prior. Frowning as he carefully sat Tayuya down on his couch he tried to recall what exactly the cursed seal did.
It took him about twelve minutes of diving through his memories until he stumbled upon one of his more recent ones.
He was sitting at the edge of the nature toad oil pond, meditating as requested and trying to gather nature chakra inside his body though the oil applied to his skin. Naruto could feel it, the influx of it, the expanding of his own chakra within him to accommodate the nature chakra. He tried to lessen the flow but he slipped. He could feel his hand change as the chakra overran his cells but a sharp slap of a wooden stick snapped him awake, the nature chakra left his body and he exhaled.
"Aw, shit," he groused, "This is not getting any easier!"
A green toad with a black cloak and a tuft of gray hair complete with an equally gray beard hit him once more with the wooden stick. "Don't ya go cursin' round now!" it chided and jumped down from the stone statue of a toad he had resided on. "Boy, ya gotta get a hang of it. We ain't not doin' this like ya snake faced turd out there."
Naruto frowned. "What do you mean, Pa? Are you talking about Orochimaru?"
The elder toad nodded. "Sure am, boy. The old snake uses tha' mean thing of a seal tha' infuse his pawns with good ol' nature chakra. 'Cause their body ain't trained to handle that, the brats transform, but n' a contained way. Can't say tha' it makes em' strong as the usual way, but makes em' strong anyways."
Nature chakra... So The seal infused the body with Nature chakra. If that was the case, then he should be able to sense it, control it even. Naruto plopped down in front of Tayuya in a meditative stance on the floor. Within minutes he had gathered enough to allow him through inspection of Tayuya's chakra. And indeed, as soon as Naruto expanded his senses to feel her chakra he nearly recoiled at the vast amount of it that streamed through her. So much nature chakra would have him be a stone in seconds. So the pain comes from the seal fighting the transformation, there's no other way...
The fox suddenly scoffed in his head. You sure put a lot of effort into aiding her. Did she not help kill the third? Did she not lead Sasuke out of the village?
Naruto choose to ignore him. It was better this way. He could help her so he would. She was his family now. It was the right thing to do. Hopefully...
Is it? the fox questioned, What will you do if she comes to hate you? Konoha held her a prisoner for years. Do you really think she'd accept you? That is all just wishful thinking. You are desperate for a family. You always were. I can tell that you are happier with this than you would ever admit. But know this: She will leave you, hate you like all the others do.
"Shut up!" he growled back. He didn't need that damn fox to mess with his mind. He set about getting a grasp on the chakra in her systems. It was a bit different from his own but he should be able to absorb it.
He took a deep breath and prepared to take it all in. He needed to absorbs her's at the same rate as he expelled it. He took her hands and began pulling the chakra.
It sounded easier than it was.
The pain was excruciating. The nature chakra that came from the seal was like acid in his veins and burned the tenketsu in his back where he expelled it again. It became nearly impossible to contain the balance in his own system. He could feel his body rapidly degenerating before restoring again. He coughed, the taste of blood filled his mouth but he didn't let up. He was nearly there, the influx of nature chakra in her body was nearly gone. With a final gasp of effort, it was over. There was an audible crack behind him as the sheer mass of nature chakra broke his table and the wall behind it.