It didn't take him much time to find them because they hadn't moved. "What the hell was that about?"

"We wanted to help you train."

"By scaring the hell out of us?"

"It worked didn't it, you were swinging the sword around with ease."

"You were only joking, but the would actually do that shit to you and maybe even more. We don't want anything to happen to the two of you." He turned down the hallway. "As for you Tobi."

Tobi just appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry, but I couldn't miss a show like that."

"You knew what they were going to do and still you went along with it. If they found out about them, they'd be after them too."

"Actually, they wouldn't be, they want the strongest from each type of demon, since she is also a fox, they would still come after you."

"Aren't I special. Don't do anything like this again, no matter what the reason. We found out something about the bodies Kiku and Kyuubi use out here, they can feel pain." Tobi headed back the way he came and Naruto turned his full attention back to Ino. "What was that about?"

"I already told you."

"And it was the same thing then as it is now, bullshit. So?"

'Should we tell him?'

'He told you the truth after you caught him, it's only fair.'

"Fine, we were trying to get you and Kyuubi riled up so you two could spar and hopefully learn to respect each other."

Kyuubi laughed through Naruto's mouth. "We have a mutual respect for each other's power, determination, and even stubbornness."

"Then why don't you use Naruto's name? You use everyone else, even mine."

"The same reason he rarely uses mine. Just because we respect each other doesn't mean we like each other."

Kyuubi's voice faded. "At least we like each other enough to trust one another. Over time we may grow to like each other more, but that's enough for now." Naruto smiled. "I must say, those were some strong clones, each were at least as strong as Kakashi. So, shall we meet Kiku face to face now?" Ino just nods. "Okay, let go back in to give us some room."

--------------------------

Naruto explained the changes that he had made to Ino, and gave her some space to perform the jutsu.

He summoned Kyuubi again once he made it the wall. "What going on kit, why are you so far back?"

"I'm not sure if she come out in her fox form or her human one, and I prefer not have her summoned on top of me."

"Aren't you worried about her then?"

"No, clones are summoned around the original, not on top of them. In fact, I think I'm gonna move away from you too. I know what she'll do as soon as she sees you."

Kyuubi laughs as Naruto moves toward the door of the chamber. He never made it all the way there. Ino had crossed her fingers and made a cross. "Kage Kitsune no Jutsu."

There was a loud roar and when the cloud of smoke cleared, a large white fox with dark violet, cat-like eyes sat next to her vessel, six tails circling Ino on the ground. Kyuubi smiled and walked over to them. "Kiku remember where you are. Your voice in that form will deafen us all."

She nods and her appearance changes to a slim woman, about the same height as Shizune, with long white hair that reached her mid-back, and, like her fox form, dark violet eyes with silted pupils.

'Holy shit, that was one hell of an understatement you made Kyuubi, half the men in Konoha would kneel over just seeing her like that.' Kyuubi smiled, hearing Naruto's thoughts. He wasn't smiling for long, because Kiku ran up to him, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. His arm wrapped around her waist and he returned the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Kiku smiled. "I really missed that, and a couple of other things." She winked at Kyuubi, who smiled.

'Kit, you should pay attention, you might learn something you can use to make a good impression on Ino.'

'Like I need pointers from you.'

'Better me than the perverts… hmm, if we can feel pain in these bodies, I wonder what else we can feel.'

'God damn, I don't want to hear shit like that!'

'I told you before, there are some thoughts that shouldn't be eavesdropped on.'

'Are you senile? I didn't eavesdrop, you said that to me.'

"It's getting late, the two of you should turn in soon. We start the real training tomorrow, and after Ino's little trick, she needs to recover her chakra."

"Where are we supposed to sleep?"

"You could sleep in our chamber, since we won't be using it. Of course it's up to Kyuubi."

She winked at him and he knew what she thinking. "I agree. It would be better than having you sleep on the stone floor. First though, kit you still have clones in the armory, and you should see if they've found that scroll."

"That's easy enough." He made a hand sign and a popping sound echoed through the halls. "They found it, and placed it in the main chamber."

"Good, then tomorrow I'm going to teach you how to use it. Now, to get to the chamber you take the only passage you haven't been down yet, it's on the left."

"You never said that about the others, so what on the right?"

"A hot spring. If you plan on eating before sleeping, you can make a fire in the main chamber. Kiku and I have something we have to discuss, so go do whatever you're going to and then get some sleep." The two blondes left and once the two kitsune were sure they were gone, they started laughing. "Kiku, you haven't lost your touch, I can't wait to see their faces when the see that room."

"I do what I can my love. I don't think I kept my thoughts from Ino though. She is adept in seeing into minds."

"If she knew, she wasn't complaining."

"That could just be because she loves the boy."

"Then they'll both be happy, embarrassed as hell, but happy. We could seal them in there. It would have to use a pretty powerful seal though, otherwise it would disappear when we did."

"I don't think we have to do that. We just have to get one of them to admit it to the other."

'I'm going to kill you, you bastard!'

Kyuubi smiled. "It seems our fun is over for tonight."

-----------------------------

"Naruto, you want something to eat?"

"I'll probably regret it later, but I think I'm gonna just go to bed."

"Just leave some room for me."

"Given Kyuubi's size, I don't think that will be hard."

'You'd be surprised.' "You're right, what was I thinking?"

Naruto walked toward the chamber Kiku had mentioned. 'That was odd." He shrugged and kept walking until the passage split in two. He went down the left one and stopped again when he saw the room. It was bare wider than the hallways, in both directions. The floor covered with hay, and the walls were covered in seals.

'I'm going to kill you, you bastard!'

He heard Kyuubi laughing in his head. 'You got there faster than I expected Kit.'

'What the hell is wrong with you, there's barely enough room for one person in here.'

'That the point. You're too dense to see it, but she loves you Kit. You've already admitted to being attracted to her, so we decided that it's in both of your best interests that we make it painfully obvious.'

'I was wrong, you're not as bad as Ero-sennin, you're much worse. He's never went this far, even he knows where to draw the line.'

'Quit acting so damn innocent, we both know how you really feel about her. Don't forget that I know more than you do. Tell me, do you remember the dream you had last night?'

Naruto's eyes widened. 'You're an asshole, you know that don't you?'

'Kind of hard not to with you reminding me daily.' Kyuubi laughs again. 'That wasn't the first time you've dreamt about her either, even back when you were chasing after the other bossy female you dreamty about her.'

'Go to hell bastard.'

'I'm quite content right here, now that I know my mate's not there. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get back tER.'

'I could always cut you leave short.'

'You could, but then you'd be stuck with me annoying the hell out of you.'

'How's that any different from any other time?'

'If you leave me out, you'have a few hours without me.'

'I'm going to sleep anyway, you won't last long.'

'Assuming you get to sleep.'

'What are you getting at?'

'Oh nothing, except the fact that Ino's on her way to join you.'

'Great, she'll be even more pissed you dumb ass.'

'She already knows. Kiku couldn't keep her thoughts from her.'

'Why didn't she say anything?'

'Are you deaf or just stupid? I already told you she's in love with you. Whatever deities that watch over you must have decided that you deserve something for your pain and suffering, so be grateful brat.'

'And the fact that she contains your mate is just a coincidence?'

'No, it's a bonus.'

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"It's a pretty small room for the two of us to share."

"I guess it is small."

"You should sleep in here, I'll go out in the main chamber."

"I don't mind sharing this room with you. Or is it that you don't want me to share it with you?"

"It's not you, it's the room. I don't think I could be comfortable sharing such a small space with anyone."

"You already do. Both you and Kyuubi share the same body, which is even smaller than the room."

"I suppose that's true. Are you sure you want me to sleep here too?"

"If I wasn't comfortable with it, I wouldn't have offered. Besides, it was nice being so close to you last night."

"Alright, but this can't get back to Konoha, people will say things about you that I won't stand for, and Hinata would be devastated."

Ino was shocked by this statement, since it came from Naruto. "Why would Hinata care?" She knew the reason, but she like everyone else thought Naruto too dense or stupid to see it too.

"Don't give me that bullshit, you know why. She's had a crush on me for some time now. You being one of the biggest gossips in Konoha probably knew longer than anyone else, and if you didn't Sakura or someone else would have told you."

"You knew and still played dumb?"

"No one told me, so I was able to play dumb. She's not really my type, but I didn't want to break her heart by telling her. I didn't think that she would hold on to those feeling so long."

"Then I have some good news, she isn't anymore. She's dating Kiba, turns out that he's had a thing for her longer than she had for you."

"I know, he asked me why I never noticed her and I told him. He was pissed and I didn't try to stop him when he started to punch. He had every right to be angry with me, he didn't do anything too bad, but I had to rest up for a day or two. He probably told her."

"You're an asshole, you shouldn't have let her continue on like that. If you would have told her yourself, it would have been easier than hearing it from him."

"I know, and for that I'm a coward, but I couldn't bare to do that to her. I do care for her, but not in the way she wanted me to. It was the same thing between Sakura and me." If only for a moment his mask fell, but was back up just as fast. "Since you're here, I assume you ready for bed."

She nodded. "You should lay down first, I'm lighter than you."

He did and shivered. "Damn, all the hay does is make it soft. The floor is fucking freezing." She laid down next to him and found that he wasn't exaggerating. She snuggled up to him and felt the warmth of his body. "Hey Ino, Kyuubi said that you knew how big this room was, why didn't you just say that before?"

He could feel her heartbeat quicken as her chest was against his side. "I wanted to be here with you. When I was sitting with you last night, I felt like I belonged there. I didn't want that time to end. When I found out about Kiku, I thought that she and Kyuubi were the cause. That's why I asked you about our feelings being shared, I wanted to know if it really was her emotion."

"She told me something that made things clear for me, I was happy to be near you when Kyuubi wasn't there, her feelings are directed at him, not you. I guess what I'm saying is that I have feelings for you Naruto, I'm not sure if this is love, but what I do know is that this is nothing like how I felt towards Sasuke during the academy."

"I'm at least grateful for that." A small smile crept to her face and she playfully hit him on the chest. "I have to admit, I felt the same way last night and I do now as well. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that Baa-san agreed to let you come with me. It would have been only me and the damn fox and we would probably have never found the one person who could make us both happy."

"Ino, that 'diet' your on, you need to stop it. You're going to be malnourished and I honestly don't understand why you would want to starve yourself."

"Guys want skinny girls."

Naruto laughed. "No they don't, or at least I don't. I want someone I can hold without having to worry about hurting her. Guys don't want girls that are as thin as posts. Some might, but the ones I know don't."

"For you, I'll do it." Naruto smiled and wrapped his arm around her before falling asleep.

------------------------

The next morning when Naruto woke up, he found Ino lying almost completely on top of him. While he could think of a coupled things he could do in this situation, he was content to stay still and admire her beauty a while longer. 'I don't understand you Kit, why don't you tell her what you think about her?'

'If I rush things, I might scare her off.'

'After what the two of you have been through already, I doubt she'd be scared off by you admitting you lover her.'

'I guess you have a point. We have eight days including today before we're supposed to be back in Konoha.'

'And you will be, but you'll also be training here all eight days While you work on your physical strength, your clones will learn from the weapon summoning scroll and learn the jutsu I used to carry your message.'

'So you're finally going to tell me what it is?'

'No, because there is no name for it, or at least not one I can recall.'

'Then we'll just have to come up with a new one.' He felt Ino start to move and wrapped his arms around her. When he did, her eyes shot open. "Morning beautiful."

She blushed at his comment. "Morning, you just wake up?"

"Nah, I've been up for a little bit."

"Why didn't you get me up?"

"You looked so peaceful I didn't want to wake you up, I was also talking with Kyuubi and, of course, I just had to enjoying the breath taking view." Her blush deepens and he smiles. "Come on, we should get up before our furry friends get upset and give us headaches from hell."

She laughed as they headed to the main chamber for a light breakfast before training. When they started training, they put some distance between them and followed the instructions of their demons, until Ino noticed that Naruto had a clone reading a scroll near the entryway. "Naruto, what's the point of having a clone read the scroll, you'll just have t later."

He looked a little surprised for a moment. "I can't believe I forgot to tell you. Kage Bunshin are special not only because they're solid, but also in that when they're dispelled, all the knowledge they had is passed to the user of the jutsu. You can have them practice techniques, with enough clones, you could master things that would take years in months."

"Is that how you learned Rasengan so fast?"

"If I had known, I might have been able to master it in the three days I originally told Obaa-san I could. No, Ero-sennin didn't tell me until about a week after we left, it did help me learn to make the Rasengan in one hand though." The clone behind him disappeared in smoke and Naruto paled slightly. "Well at least I'll know that I won't forget where I put it."

"What's that mean?"

"He wants me to seal the sword on me instead of in a scroll that could be lost or stolen. He made some other points too, but the only reason I'm going to do this is because another down side to scrolls is the amount of time it takes to get them out and unseal something."

"Naruto, you have clones in the armory again don't you?" He nodded in response. "Could you tell me if they find more weights, Kiku wants me to work on my speed."

"Sure." He gave her a foxy grin and they went back to their training. When they sat down for dinner, Naruto had the name of his sword written in ink on his leftt arm and both Ino and himself looked exhausted. "Damn that bastard, the sealing hurt like hell." A clone came running down the hall and handed Naruto a scroll before disappearing. He opened it and started reading.

"What that one for?"

"Gravity Seals, according to this, they work kind of like weights except they're quicker to release the weight. They basically trick your mind and body into thinking that you weight more than you actually do, making it work harder to compensate, and thus making your muscle stronger. It also seems that they'll fade into your skin so no one will know you have them until you take them off or change the field again, problem being that they have to be placed on every part of the body that you want it to affect. The biggest seal goes on the chest to affect the torso and another on the back, otherwise they're all fairly small, total amount is ten unless you only want to work the bottom half of your body."

"Why can't you just have them on your arms and not the chest or back?"

"It doesn't say, but if I had to guess, because your brain thinks your arms weight more, a lot more stress would be placed on your back. And if you were to place one on your back too, you could break your back by not having a counter balance on your chest."

"But you said the extra weight isn't real."

"It's not, but like he said earlier Ino, your mind and body think it is, so it will react as if it was." She glared at Tobi. "You're just embarrassed that you would have to be almost naked for them to be placed."

"If that's what this is about Ino, it doesn't have to be me, Kiku could put them on as easily if not easier than me. While we're on the subject, I would like to get a look at the seal that contains Kiku, to see why you didn't get any of the attributes that most demon vessels get, like the large chakra reserves or any visual characteristic like my whisker marks. Problem being we don't know where it's at and the easiest way is…" He closed his eyes and braced for pain. "For you to be naked a channel chakra though your whole body."

"Does every suggestion you make have to end with me getting naked? And I was actually starting to think that you weren't a pervert like your last two senseis."

"I don't like the idea anymore than you do." He stopped for a second under her glare. "Okay, I maybe I do like it a little more than you, but that doesn't make me pervert, it makes me a straight guy and I'd appreciate it if you didn't do anything rash because I rather like the idea of having kids. And like I said it can be Kiku, but if it's in an appropriate place I would like to look, because it's easier to know what a seal does by looking at it than it being described."

"I can't believe I'm doing this, but fine. We'll do it in the morning though, I doubt I could even gather enough chakra at the moment." She got up and left with a dark blush on her face.