She was awake, in general her body didn't ached, except of course for the stinging sensation on her wrists and arms, because she was tied, in a way that would not allow her to do any hand seals, but there was no pain in her abdomen even after being hit by that jutsu.
She did not open her eyes.
She couldn't mold her chakra, something was interfering with her, she only tried it a couple of times but it was enough for her to realize that any more attempts would have the same results.
So in the end she lost.
And she was happy?
It meant that Naruto-kun was alive!
That stick must be really, really deep inside of him.
She laughed.
She realized that now she would have to go back to Taki, be banished and start her trip all over again… really troublesome, but at least she didn't killed the blond.
"You will have to tell me what is so funny later, girl"
That was not Naruto-kun's voice!
Alarmed she opened her eyes and noticed the white haired man sitting on the ground with a scroll and a brush, Jiraiya of the Legendary Three had finally caught up to his companion apparently.
"I'm such an idiot" the fight with Naruto was to hide her status as a jinchuriki, instead she ended up using her biju's chakra against the blond.
'He must hate me now'
"Yet another thing you two have in common" Jiraiya's lips were curled up in a tiny smile.
"Where is he, is he OK?" she asked hoping she didn't hurt the blond to much before the sannin arrived.
"He is over there" he pointed to sleeping bag a couple of meters behind her where the blond seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
Relief washed over her body knowing that the blond was alive, then she noticed a small rock crash on the blond's forehead and he began to stir, then another rock hit the same spot with more force this time and the Naruto awakened jumping to his feet and pointing to the sannin he cursed silently.
He was completely healthy, his t-shirt was torn asunder and that was the only sing that they had fought "Damn you ero-sennin!"
He sat on the ground and looked at her in the eyes, "Idiot" he was talking to her.
After putting him thru a fight with what was basically her tenant she was surprised he wasn't calling her a crazy bitch.
"You have no idea of who's out there do you?" he asked her heatedly as if she was just plainly dumb.
"The Akatsuki!" she murmured, it made sense that the sannin apprentice would know about them, and it made it more meaningful that he tried to take her back to Taki… where he thought she would be safe.
"You knew about them and still left!?" he seemed amazed, as if he was wondering how she could be so stupid.
"And she did the right think" Fu looked at the sannin while trying to sit down with her arms tied to her back, he said it in a matter of fact tone that relieved her.
"You can't be serious pervy sage!" Naruto on the other hand still could not believe her leaving her home village was a good idea at all.
"Think about this kid, what would happen to Taki should Akatsuki invade It looking for your little girlfriend?" she blushed at being called the blond's "little girlfriend" she was barely shorter than Naruto! And she wasn't his girlfriend either.
But that seemed to do the trick, the blond became silent and put one hand in his chest while the other caressed his chin with his fingers in a somewhat funny "thinking pose"
As the blond rationalized what would happen If Akatsuki attacked her village and his eyes widened in realization.
"This makes her exile official" Jiraiya said handing a document with Shibuki's stamp on it to the blond.
"Hey that's supposed to be mine!" she could not help but feel offended, the paper was hers and she would be the last one to read it!
Regardless the blond took the paper and read it before sighting and handing the paper back to the sannin
"And when will I read it!?" Fu's rage was toned down when she felt the ropes on her limbs, she was a prisoner, she attacked the apprentice of the legendary shinobi and she was no longer a member of Taki, she was no longer allied to them, they could extract her biju, kill her in the process and take it back to Konoha and no one will ever know!
"Sorry" Naruto took the document back from his master and presented it to her so she could read it, it would have been funny, if she was not fearing for her life.
"What will you do with me?" she asked timidly, her freedom didn't lasted a full day.
"What would you do Naruto?" Jiraiya asked Naruto surprising her and him as well, she looked at the blond curious as what he would do if he was in charge on this situation, and he looked her back, but his eyes did not meet hers, they were fixated bellow her neck.
"Pervert!" she forgot for a moment that this was the same shinobi that two days ago was had gone out of his way to get a feeling of her body… perhaps she could seduce him… but then there was Jiraiya and she could never seduce such a legendary shinobi, he would certainly be immune to such tactics.
The blond looked away embarrassed for being caught while his master laughter filled the clearing.
When the sannin laugh stopped he repeated his question "What would you do Naruto?"
"Why do you ask me in the first place?" the blond deflected the question, she knew that whatever decision he recommended would not be final but she was curious what her "friend" would do.
"This is not something a Hokage would deal with in an everyday basis Naruto, this will give me insight on how you would deal this with 'unexpected opportunities'" she shuddered remembering her little theory, Naruto was indeed being groomed for the Hokage position in the future, the blond IS a possible Hokage.
Jiraiya's explanation seemed to make Naruto consider the options available for the situation, but it only took a couple of seconds for him to come with his answer.
"Take her with us, make her a Konoha kunoichi"
That was better than what she expected, she though he would just suggest to send her back to Konoha to extract her biju.
"You are thinking with wrong head brat!" Fu blushed… of course she forgot that taking her with them would give the blond lots of "opportunities"
"What?!" the blond yelled at his master with a red face "No!"
"Let's say you weren't, explain to me why it is a good idea to make her a Konoha kunoichi?"
The blond was silent and that made Fu feel uncomfortable 'so he was thinking about that after all'
"Konoha's power would greatly increase with a second jinchuriki. I don't know how to create a jinchuriki, but Suna did not gave up on Gaara when he was basically a murderer must mean it is not easy or fast" he looked at her as if evaluating her "She was ready to die for Taki, she could fight for Konoha!" Fu did not know who Gaara was but she could deduct it was another Jinchuriki easily enough.
The blond made good points but… becoming a Konoha Kunoichi? The idea never even crossed her mind.
"Those are the pros kid. Do you know what the cons are?" Jiraiya asked again and Fu could not get her eyes away from Naruto, this time he looked at the sky, the sun was on the western part of it, well past afternoon, but the blond did not want to know the time of day, he was thinking, thinking hard.
"Konoha will be a bigger target for Akatsuki" he finally said
"This was too much for you right now kid" Jiraiya spoke after sighting "Not just the Akatsuki, Iwa and Kumo will see it as a provocation and Suna will lose a great deal of prestige by becoming the one great village without two jinchurikis"
"The minor villages will also see it as Konoha stripping a weapon from its allies and it could break many alliances…" Fu caught herself speaking before realizing it, and what she said was detrimental for her own case!
Embarrassed she looked at the ground.
Jiraiya laughed at her comment "See kid? She is closer to become Hokage than you are!"
She wanted the earth to open and swallow her whole.
"Yet another point in my favor!" she was looking at the blond with awe, she didn't realized she had such a passionate advocate on the blond "Besides, she has better control of her biju than I do"
Fu lost her voice.
'What does he means with better control than him?' her mind was focused on what she just heard 'The blond can't be a jinchuriki, cant he?'
"That's not saying much kid"
"Shut up pervy sage!"
As the student and master duo continued bickering she finally found her voice "Are you really a jinchuriki?" she had to know.
The blond looked at her and blinked "Don't you remember?" he was confused "I used the Fox's chakra to fight you"
She looked at the ground again, she did not remember, her control was perfect in her one tail cloak, but she was unable to control it beyond that, Shibuki told her she went from one tail to three skipping the two tails cloak, she didn't knew why.
She was barely able to distinguish friend from foe in her three tails cloak and she can never remember her actions afterwards.
"I don't remember" she admitted, she was not easy to defend.
"Well… I'm the kyubi's jinchuriki" the blond admitted.
"You are like… me?" it made no sense for Fu, the blond was another container but the way he acted and the way he was pampered by his village, she could not began to compare how different there upbringing was.
"You two share the same status if that's what you mean" she could tell from the words of Jiraiya, they were nothing alike.
She was the village pariah.
He is a possible Hokage.
She felt… envy, had she been born in Konoha would she be the pampered one?
"Look, if we don't take her with us then Akatsuki will just get her, we can't allow that to happen!"
Could she trust the blond advocating for her?
She knew what he wanted from her and the price was honestly insignificant for the security of Konoha would offer.
Sure she would be Konoha's weapon instead of Taki's.
But still… she would be trading a frail cage for a true prison.
She could never escape from, Konoha the way she did from Taki.
Looking at the blond again she could not help but wonder 'would I be pampered by Konoha too?'
Unlikely, he was native from the village and she would be an outsider wielding a powerful weapon, she would be feared again.
But she would live, and life was full of opportunities, anything could happen while you are still alive.
"So it's pissing off Akatsuki more important than keeping our allies happy?"
The words of the sage were deliberately cold and they always struck the faults in his student's argument 'This is just another lesson he's teaching' never before she felt more objectified than at this moment, not even when she thought Naruto would get his way with her in the darkened streets of Taki.
Back in the streets of Taki she thought at first that he was trying to seduce her or simply create the required conditions to initiate coitus, it was not a nice feeling, but at least she could compare it to being a somewhat complex machine difficult to operate.
But now she felt like she was a boulder to them, without ears to listen or a mouth to speak, they just ignored her like she was just another element of the scenery.
She could only wait and it was humiliating.
"Our allies will complain but what will Akatsuki do with the Bijus?"
Naruto made an interesting question, she hadn't thought of it, but what could they possibly do with the Bijus after acquiring them?
The general answer was nothing good.
She looked at Jiraiya for the specific answer, waiting for him to describe the kind of horrors these S-class criminals would inflict on the world or even how it will affect Konoha
But the sage did not respond, not even he knows the answer.
"Our allies won't be happy, but they won't do anything, our enemies will still be our enemies but Konoha will be stronger, let's take her with us!"
She smiled at the words of the blond, he was making progress towards her survival, he had a point!
Sighting Jiraiya agreed "I'll send a message back to Tsunade, then we deliver her to Konoha"
She will live… but she dreaded her new prison.
"Are you stupid ero-sennin?"
This time she had to look at the blond, and she was sure Jiraiya was doing the same, Naruto basically won their little argument. Jiraiya would sent her to Konoha recommending her to be enlisted as a kunoichi of the leaf. And he still called his master stupid?
There was silence, Jiraiya said nothing probably expecting him to explain himself.
"Listen, I just fought her, she needs to train!"
This time she glared at Naruto, sure he won, but she wasn't exactly weak, she was one of the, if not the strongest ninjas in Taki.
"She can train in Konoha" Jiraiya said calmly pointing out the obvious answer to the blond's objections.
Besides it's not as if she needed to be told to train, she knows very well that her life it's on the line. She will need to pull her own weight in Konoha… or face the consequences.
Konoha won't stand for a weak weapon.
"We should take her with us"
Fu's eyes widened.
"I have enough with one student kid"
"You're just being lazy sensei"
She wanted this, she wanted to train with them, and she wanted to survive.
"Why should I do it?"
But what could she offer in exchange? She was already their prisoner, her life was not as important as the biju she contained, her future was Konoha.
But what about the future of Konoha?
She looked at the blond, the future Hokage.
"Master Jiraiya, if you train me I'll protect Naruto with my life. I promise"
Jiraiya laughed.
The sage's laugh filled her with uncertainty, does Jiraiya considers her not good enough?
"Untie her kid" Naruto did as he was told and cut the ropes restraining her without a second thought and helped her get on her knees, the blond had a small sincere smile on his lips "Now both of you go get something for dinner, take your time but get back here before sunset"
"Does this mean…?" she asked with hope, the sannin hadn't said that he accepts her promise yet, he could be just playing with them and she wanted to hear it to be certain.
"It means that you are my student now Fu, and I'll protect both of you. Now go!" Jiraiya dismissed her and Naruto with a shooing motion.
Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and with his head motioned to follow him to the forest where they could find some food.
She followed him closely barely believing he would show her his back after their fight like he was holding no grudge at all, and in no time they were on the forest she immediately used connection to the bugs all around them to locate a few preys.
There was a grass snake and one hare around thirty meters away, the hare would be good enough for one person but the snake while nutritious may be an insult to Jiraiya, spotting the hare she noticed she didn't had a kunai, it was logical to take away the weapons of a prisoner "Hey Naruto, do you have a spare kunai?" just one throwing weapon would be enough to hunt multiple preys.
The blond running ahead stopped and searched in his weapons bag for a kunai and held it by the ring in the handle offering it to her, she grabbed the handle of but he didn't let go of the ring and she looked at him in surprise, he wasn't so trusting after all. Her eyes found his unblinking, blue orbs to rely her message "I swore to protect you, you have nothing to fear from me" she pulled the handle once again but his hold on the ring of the kunai was still firm she looked at him in the eyes again but this time he talked first.
"I know, and while you are loyal to Konoha I will protect you at all cost, that is a promise of a life time"
0x0x0
'The pretty kunoichi with nice boobs has orange eyes! Did Kami made her for me and then hide her in Taki?'
Despite Jiraiya's impromptu lesson on inter-village politics regarding the ownerships of jinchurikis which didn't made him happy, despite waking up from a fight in which he he used more of the Kyubi's chakra than ever before and not remembering a thing after some point where he reached the third tail on his cloak, despite asking Jiraiya to train Fu and despite her promise to protect him the only thing he could think of was that the pretty jinchuriki with nice boobs has orange eyes!
It took him three days to lock eyes with her, so he could notice her eye color, of course she had other… distracting features no less appealing but he could not believe those orange orbs escaped his attention for so long.
When he heard Fu's promise to Jiraiya it was probably the most uncomfortable moment of his life, it was usually him the one who is makes the promises, uncomfortable it might been, but it felt nice to know there would be someone at your side helping you.
He wanted her to be a Konoha kunoichi, a loyal one and knowing that her recent promise more for her benefit than his he still wanted to make her understand that konoha shinobi look out for each other.
That it's why he made his own promise to her but he worded it to make her understand that he wants her to be loyal to Konoha. He would protect her the same he would protect any other comrade loyal to Konoha, with everything he has!
0x0x0
Jiraiya was clear with her before he left with the brat on their training trip, he wanted to show how much he improved all at once so he wouldn't be sending detailed reports on his progress he sent her once a month.
So she was used to very short reports that just stated that they were alright, keeping themselves busy and away from any possible Akatsuki.
So the length of this month's report didn't took her by surprise.
But then there was a second report a week earlier than it was supposed to come, and it had much more content on it too.
The situation with Taki was concerning, previous reports from Shibuki seemed to be inaccurate if Jiraiya was right their military assets are too low to properly do their job.
She would have to send a few genin soon and they will have to be fresh out of the academy because she cannot spare those with field experience, Konoha itself needs a boost on its numbers.
An additional document was sealed within the report, Taki's jinchuriki exile to be precise.
A fourteen year old kunoichi in possession of the Nanabi no Kabutomushi, she was actually surprised with Jiraiya's proactiveness, she half expected her old teammate to leave Taki to its own devices but instead he provided them information and then captured the free jinchuriki.
Well the report says it was Naruto whom chased after the girl and Jiraiya after Naruto and this led to the most interesting part of the report by far.
Both jinchurikis fought using their biju's chakra and according with her teammate the chakra and its effects could be felt kilometers away from the battle and when Jiraiya was finally within sight range of it…
It was all Naruto, he was jumping around, using his cloak's giant hands to hit the ground break trees like they were mere fire wood and using Biju-Bombs at random.
All the while the girl just hovered in the center of the mayhem using the wings her own cloak provided her, occasionally pushing Naruto away rather violently when he walked towards her.
After being pushed by the female jinchuriki Naruto resumed his random show of power without ever attempting to harm her.
Jiraiya at first thought Naruto was out of control but noticing he never actually attempted to attack this Fu girl decided to keep watching.
Naruto finished with his tantrum once more before walking towards the female jinchuriki, but this time she did not pushed him away but rather landed allowing the blond to come closer to her letting him gently push her to the ground.
She lay into the ground resting her weight on her elbows and opening her legs to Naruto who was kneeling before her…
At first she thought Jiraiya sent her a draft of his next book but the next part explained how her teammate used biju suppressing seals to knock out both of them.
Jiraiya believes both jinchurikis were out of control and as much as it pains her to admit it his theory seems right.
He witnessed a jinchuriki's mating ritual.
Jinchurikis are curious creatures, they are neither human nor biju, she always theorized that when they lost control of themselves while using their tenant's chakra they weren't exactly relenting control to their biju.
Instead they lost control of the higher functions of their brains allowing more basic process to take over. In a battle of course they would attack anything that may pose a danger to themselves, and every shinobi present was perceived as dangerous.
But what would happen if two jinchurikis were to lose control of themselves at the same time?
Or more importantly… what would happen if two jinchurikis of different gender were to lose control of themselves at the same time? With no apparent danger nearby?
Considering all the ruckus Naruto caused without ever harming his potential mate, he was clearly trying to show off how strong he was, showing his genes deserve to be carried on to the next generation… and the girl agreed.
In the final part of the report Jiraiya stated the willingness of this Fu girl to join Konoha's ranks and recommended her to be accepted.
Jiraiya also mentioned he accepted her as her student and stated their training trip would be resumed and they will be back on schedule.