Previously
"Come on," he started with a tired look to his eyes, "let's just get to Iwa and sleep the rest of the day."
His red headed partner nodded and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his, before the pair set off towards their destination again, never looking back at the scene for the almost-robbery that never happened.
It was unfortunate that neither looked back to make sure any trace of a fight was gone, because if they had, they would've seen the burning remains of the bandit disappear, not into ash, but into nothingness.
They also would have seen a calculating pair of eyes hidden deep within the trees.
Similarities in Opposites
Chapter 13
Two pairs of hands simultaneously flashed through a short chain of hand seals, skillfully twisting and turning through the motions as if it had been practiced several times before. Upon finishing, the two guards then pressed their fingertips to twin elaborate seals present on the natural hardened stone that protected Iwa from any and all dangers.
A massive rumbling sound was heard as the ground started shaking.
Naruto and Tayuya, as they watched a section of the mountain wall around Iwa seemingly sink into the ground, couldn't help but be impressed by Earth Country's ingenuity.
"Welcome to Iwagakure, Uzumaki Naruto," one of the guards drawled out in a bored tone.
Shrugging off the fact that he completely ignored Tayuya, neither of the guards had even acknowledged her presence yet, the blond thanked the man and silently led the way into the city.
The first thing Naruto noticed about his new surroundings was that it was a great deal warmer, most likely due to the mountain walls blocking out most of the late fall winds. The second was the material every single one of the buildings was made of, or rather, carved out of.
Everything was rock, and by the looks of it, ninja made. None of the surfaces inside the walls displayed the jagged, rough properties that the outside mountain had; all of them appeared smooth to the touch, but still retained their box-like appearance.
Overhead, the mountain ended in a volcano-like way, with an opening for some amount of sunlight to stream through.
The ground shook under their feet again, serving to shake both Naruto and Tayuya out of their observational stupor. The former sighed.
"Well, let's figure out where we live then."
With that he started towards the center of town, where he hoped the majority of the marketplace was located.
The pair found it with little problem, its loud atmosphere and bustling crowds stuck out amongst the quiet activities of the rest of the village.
With Naruto in the lead, they headed towards the closest shop, a book store.
Upon entering the building, one of the first things that the blond noticed was the fact that it wasn't the dusty brown atmosphere he'd been expecting. The owner had put up wallpaper and placed tile on the floor, making it look oddly familiar to the numerous shops of Konoha.
"Hello there, can I help you with finding something today?"
Both Naruto and Tayuya turned towards the voice, finding a middle aged man in commoners clothing standing a doorway that looked like it led to the back of the shop.
Naruto nodded and stepped forward. "We were actually looking for some directions, you see, we're new in town and can't find our place of residence." He paused. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my wife, Tayuya."
The man's eyes glanced first at the blond's hand, which thankfully had the ring on it, and then flickered over to Tayuya before settling on Naruto once again.
"I'd be happy to help you out." A smile, if a little strained, appeared on the man's face as he approached the pair.
Unbeknownst to either Naruto or Tayuya, an identical pair of the same calculating eyes they missed in the forest had just opened deep below the surface of Iwagakure. They were a light shade of grey, faded, as if the owner of them was going blind.
Currently, they were focused on a kneeling subordinate a few feet away from them.
"Tsuchikage-sama, what will you have me do?"
The leader of Iwagakure closed his eyes in thought and stayed silent for a moment, contemplating the situation at hand.
Seconds later, his eyes opened and he nodded to himself.
"I'm curious as to how it would perform in this situation. I will give you clearance for its release and leave the planning up to you. Do not fail me."
The kneeling figure nodded, before melting into the earth.
Naruto allowed the door to the shop he and Tayuya were to run swing open, revealing a decent sized room filled with shelves, a counter stretching across the far end. He could see a small layer of dust that had gathered about the place, but other than that, it appeared to be in good condition.
Satisfied with his brief inspection, he turned back to his partner/wife/girlfriend with a grin on his face.
"Tradition requires me to do something at this point."
Tayuya looked at him warily, one of her eyebrows arched in curiosity.
Naruto, grin still firmly in place, abruptly bent down and scooped her up, one arm supporting her back while the other was hooked up her knees.
The red head went without protest, her face a mixture of amusement, exasperation and happiness, as her boyfriend carried her over the threshold of the store.
Once she was on her feet again she turned to give Naruto an amused smile, her arms crossed snugly under her developing assets. The effect the latter action caused on her chest was not missed by the whiskered teen across from her, who, much to Tayuya's continuously growing amusement, had gone into a silent trance of sorts.
She knew she wasn't exactly drop dead gorgeous, but the fact that she could still have this effect on Naruto pleased her greatly.
The red head grew tired of the silence after a few seconds though, and snapped her fingers in front of the blond's face.
"Having fun?"
He opened and closed his mouth several times, no words escaping, as his face took on a red tint.
Tayuya smiled again, something she'd been doing a lot more lately, and leaned forward to lightly press her lips against his. She pulled back a few seconds later, ignoring the soothing tingling running up and down her spine, and turned towards the store.
"We've got our work cut out for us, eh blondie?"
A ninja bearing the symbol of Iwa whistled to himself as he patrolled the corridors containing jail cells that held some of the worst criminals in Earth Country's history. From mass murderers and rapists to all sorts of con-artists and thieves of the highest skill, all were held within the confines of this building, located deep inside the mountain that protected Iwagakure from its enemies.
His shift was always the same mundane task, walking up and down the numerous hallways and taunting the occasional criminal that still had enough awareness to actually realize they were being taunted.
The man stopped outside the steel door of prisoner #064, a favorite of his, and opened the eye level slot that was in place to see past the door.
"How ya doing ass hole?" He said, arrogance lacing his words.
The prisoner only glared back at him, just as he always did, while his grip around a stress toy another ninja had thrown at him as a joke tightened.
"Nothing to say? I was hoping for an intelligent conversation too…guess I'll just have to go find a smarter prisoner eh?"
The hand squeezed the toy tighter while the eyes of the graying redheaded prisoner started smoldering in rage.
The ninja outside the door laughed to himself and slammed the cover back over the slot in the door. #064 was one of his favorite prisoners to torment, he always had the best reactions.
The man continued ambling down the hallway, coming close to the end of his shift and patrol.
He passed countless doors and eventually rounded a corner; greeting his sight was the light of the office that led outside. As he came closer though, he heard a rather peculiar conversation taking place.
"-has authorized its use. I have the proper documents here."
The man saw his superior, the ninja assigned to keep track of all that happened in the prison, take the offered paperwork from the Tsuchikage's messenger and look it over. His eyes scoured the writing for a moment, before he nodded and grabbed a key from a hook behind his desk.
"The key to the cell."
The patrolling ninja, who had carefully been eavesdropping on the conversation in the shadows of the hallway, found his mind being overloaded with information.
Everyone knew of that forbidden cell, the one no one was allowed to be near. It had a door just like the rest of the countless cells in the underground facility, but unlike those other doors, this one was littered with seals and drawings of all shapes and sizes.
He was no fuinjutsu user, he barely knew how to do mundane things like storing equipment in them, so he'd never even been able to guess what was behind that door.
A yell from his superior shook him from his thoughts.
"-stop screwin' around and get over here!"
Apparently he needed to work on his stealth.
Nonetheless, he quickly made his way to the office to see what he was needed for.
"Since you've kindly saved me the trouble of having to explain what was just said, why don't you escort our guest to level six."
It wasn't a question, the ninja could figure that out easily.
"I will begin preparation to bring down the defense system, it should be safe by the time you reach the cell."
The man wasn't quite sure what his superior was talking about at that point, so he simply took the key and nodded. He knew he was to lead the way down to level six, the lowest level in the entire prison complex and location of the forbidden cell, so he left the office without another word.
It was a rather lengthy journey, traveling the equivalent of six stories into the earth's crust, especially with the stairways located on opposite sides of each level, but after nearly fifteen minutes of walking, the guard turned one last corner to find a long hallway ahead of him.
He stood quietly for a moment, his eyes warily traveling over every feature in the hallway.
A line of seals on each wall ran from his position to the doorway at the end of the narrow tunnel, all of them draw in what appeared to be blood. The kanji in the countless drawings looked vaguely like they represented the word "contain", but there were so many altercations to the figure that he wasn't quite sure anymore.
Those seals were also the only light source. Their kanji would glow red, coating the hallway in a blood colored hue, for several seconds and then dim back to their original dull state. All of them seemed to be doing this, it gave the otherwise pitch black hallway an eerie effect.
The man slowly started forward, his eyes never focusing on one thing for more than a couple seconds.
As he was walking, he realized just how quiet level six was. Absolutely nothing could be heard, except for the footsteps of the assistant behind him. The seals were completely silent as they went about their task, glowing and fading, and whatever was being held in the cell wasn't making a sound either.
He swallowed nervously and unconsciously quickened his pace. The closer he drew to the cell, the more unnerved he became.
The ninja didn't stop to observe the seals or drawings on the door as he had the ones lining the walls in the hallway. As soon as he came within arms' reach of it, he inserted the key and turned it in a jerky fashion. His skin was covered in goose bumps and the hair on the back of his neck was standing tall.
The grinding and clanking that signaled the cell door unlocking made him jump violently. There was something about the chakra presence, that when combined with the eerie silence and the glowing seals, made him dread what was contained within the cell.
The door slowly started to swing open.
The ninja didn't waste any time in turning around and sprinting towards the stairs, gone before he even got a glimpse of the cell's occupant.
Tayuya sighed in boredom for what seemed like the fifth time in the past hour. She was stuck watching the shop, which she and Naruto had finished preparing for business on their third day in Iwa, while the blond went off to find them something to eat.
It'd only been two weeks since they arrived, and she was more ready to go back to Konoha.
The Sandaime Hokage hadn't been lying when he said most of Iwa was sexist, even the little kids had taken on the mentality that-
"Hey! Woman!"
She sighed, again, while exasperation clouded her features. After fixing what she thought could pass as a smile on her face, she looked down to find the person who'd interrupted her thoughts.
A young boy that appeared to be twelve or thirteen was standing in front of her, a disgruntled look on his face.
"Where's the guy that usually runs this store?"
Tayuya arched an eyebrow, a lazy look in her eyes. "He's not here at the moment, can I help you with anything?"
"I don't think so, you probably wouldn't be able to answer any of my questions." His tone was one of dismissal and exasperation.
The red head seethed silently to herself, it wouldn't do to injure a customer, no matter how rude the little brat was.
"Try me." She grit out.
The boy, clearly a new ninja, got an amused look on his face.
"Why are these explosive seals different from all the other ones?"
Tayuya smirked, Naruto had explained this very issue to her just yesterday.
The blond had somehow found a way to add in an extra activation seal to set off the explosion while simultaneously strengthening the damage it'd deal. He told her that one was set to recognize the chakra of whoever was carrying it, just as the standard explosive seals did, but the other triggering seal would only react to him.
She hadn't exactly gotten what he meant by that, so he gave her one of the seals he made and told her to stand about ten feet away from him. He'd then gone and made a hand seal, which promptly caused the seal in her hand to catch fire.
She'd panicked and thrown it across the room, then frantically diving under the bed to take cover. It wasn't until Naruto, laughing uproariously, told her it was a dud that she came out.
The blond was still nursing several bruises.
Tayuya smiled to herself, amusement clearly plastered across her face as she thought about-
"Oi! Woman! Answer my question!"
The red head grimaced, she'd forgotten about the obnoxious brat.
"They make 'em stronger, kid."
The boy wasn't pleased with that answer, if the way his face reddened was anything to go by.
"Don't call me a kid you bitch!"
Tayuya's eyes narrowed dangerously, seconds from showing the brat in front of her just how to respect his elders, even if they were only a year or two older.
She was saved from potentially blowing her cover though, when a quiet voice spoke up from somewhere behind the obnoxious brat.
"Maku-san, maybe we should just leave. We're supposed to meet Sensei in six minutes… she wouldn't like it if-"
"I don't care if she has to wait a half hour for us, I want my question answered!"
"Some teammate…" Tayuya dryly thought as she watched the quiet girl fall silent again, eyes directed at the ground. She looked to be younger than the obnoxious brat and apparently got stuck on a team with him.
The red head started to turn back to berate the kid in front of her, Mako or whatever the hell his name was, when something else about his teammate caught her eye.
The young girl had lines running down each of her arms and legs, solid and black, that ended in circles on her hands and feet. She had a similar line running up the center of her throat and over her chin that ended in an oval-like shape outlining her mouth; there was a circle at the point where the line connected to the oval. Each circle had a kanji of some sort in it, but Tayuya couldn't make out what they said.
Her inspection of the young brunette girl was cut short when her loud mouthed teammate opened his trap again.
"Woman! Don't ignore me, I asked you a question!"
"And I already told you the answer, do I need to say it slower this time?"
Tayuya was pleased to see an angry blush form on the little shit's face, he looked close to completely losing it.
It was at that moment Naruto chose to return from finding lunch.
"Something the matter here?" He managed around the mouthful of whatever the hell he'd brought back. Tayuya grimaced, her previous anger forgotten when she realized he'd gotten ramen, of all things.
Maku immediately turned to the newly arrived blond, pointing an accusatory finger at the red head behind the counter.
"She wouldn't tell me the real reason why these seals are different from all the other ones!"
Naruto arched an eyebrow at her, a gesture to which she rolled her eyes in response.
The blond smirked. "They make 'em stronger, kid."
Tayuya fought to keep herself from snickering at the way the kid's mouth was opening and closing, not a sound escaping it. Ramen didn't seem so bad for lunch now.
Eventually the brat snapped his gullet shut and stormed out of the shop, completely ignoring his younger brunette teammate.
Said girl hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and looked up to meet Tayuya's eyes.
"I apologize for his behavior. I think he's still sour about having a female sensei."
Naruto snorted. "Male or female, any teacher willing to teach for the sake of improving their students is worth learning from." He turned towards the now blushing girl, her eyes were focused on the ground again. "Is she a good sensei?"
The girl nodded mutely.
"Then that kid has nothing to be angry about."
"Th-th-" She swallowed and look up to focus her eyes at Naruto's midsection. "Thank you."
The blond abruptly knelt in front of the girl, softly taking her chin in his hand and raising her face up to his. Her eyes widened at first then snapped shut, her entire body seemed to be trembling.
Naruto's brow furrowed in concern. "What's the matter?"
The tiny brunette, about two feet shorter than the blond, shook her head.
"I-I'm sorry for whatever I've d-d-done."
"You haven't done anything wrong." He softly responded, a hint of confusion in his voice. When the girl showed no signs of improving, he tried again. "Look at me."
If anything it just increased the girl's trembling.
"I'm not going to hurt you, you don't have to be afraid."
Slowly, the blond continued coaxing her from her nervous state until she'd opened her vivid green eyes to stare into his blue ones.
Naruto smiled and spoke in nothing more than a whisper. "There, now was that so bad?"
The girl shook her head, a light blush still tinted her cheeks.
"Now, what's your name?"
"A-Ariya."
"My name's Naruto, Ariya. Now, can you tell me why you're so nervous?"
The girl mumbled something under her breath, her eyes starting to drop to the floor again.
Naruto softly guided her gaze upward before she could retreat into herself again, and smiled warmly at her, encouraging her to speak up.
"W-women-" She swallowed. "Females are inferior to m-males."
The blond seethed inwardly, disgusted at what Iwa's society had done to this girl's confidence. He'd felt sympathy for her since he first laid eyes on her when he entered the shop, after all, he used to be in a similar position.
He managed a genuine grin for the brunette's sake and raised himself to his full height. "That's not true! I don't know what I'd do without Tayuya." He swung his hand up to gesture towards said red head while he spoke, not realizing that it was the same hand that held the bag containing the ramen he'd brought back.
Tayuya ducked under the food, leveling Naruto with an amused glare.
The blond smiled sheepishly in return and leaned forward to give her a peck on the cheek. "Sorry love!" He said distractedly, a lopsided grin on his face.
Tayuya remained silent and snatched the bag from his grasp, quickly pulling out a ramen cup and bringing it to her face to hide the soft smile that was developing on her lips. She'd show the blond her opinion of his actions later, after the shop closed, but until then she wanted to keep it a secret.
While the red head was busy making sure what she had planned for her "husband" later remained a secret, said husband had turned back to the tiny brunette.
He gave her another smile and extended his hand to her. "Now, I think I remember hearing you say something about meeting your sensei?"
Ariya nodded.
"Would you like me to help you find her, after all, I held you up for at least ten minutes."
The brunette had just smiled at him when another voice entered the conversation.
"I believe I can take over at this point."
Naruto turned to find an older kunoichi, a jounin by the looks of her vest, standing in the doorway.
"Sensei!"
Ariya rushed over to the woman's side, all the while apologizing for making her wait.
The woman waved off the small brunette's apologies and told her to make her way to their team's training ground, where the other two members were apparently sparring.
The green eyed girl nodded and made her way to the door, but stopped as she got close to it and turned to wave.
"Bye Naruto! Bye Tayuya!"
The pair smiled at her and waved their good byes before she run through the door and disappeared into the crowded street.
The girl's sensei stared after her for a moment, a small smile pulling at the edge of her lips, before she turned towards Naruto and Tayuya.
"I want to thank you for what you did, Naruto. She just recently joined my team with a graduating class two years her elder. She's already picked on by several of her peers for that reason, and the fact that she's a girl just makes it worse." A disgusted look appeared on the kunoichi's face.
Naruto nodded. "I can sympathize with her, in a way." He turned to his red headed girlfriend. "We both can, actually. Weren't too popular in our old village."
The jounin gave them a pleasant smile. "I've been trying to get her to open up from the moment I laid eyes on her. Too many young girls in Iwa are being influenced by older generations with sexist mindsets, to the point where they believe they are truly inferior, and accept it." The woman shook her head.
Silence reigned over the trio for several seconds, only the sounds of other customers going about their business in the shop could be heard.
The kunoichi sighed. "Well, I should go find my team, make sure they haven't killed each other." She nodded to both Naruto and Tayuya and started towards the door.
She turned at the last second though.
"By the way, my name is Tsuchi Ranki."
Naruto sighed in contentment as he burrowed under the covers of the bed he and Tayuya shared. Sleeping was the part of the day he most looked forward in Iwa, mostly due to the fact that he was supposed to be a civilian.
It was annoying, having to pretend he had no ninja skills whatsoever.
The blond shook those irritating thoughts from his head, deciding to focus more on sleeping instead. He reached out and wrapping his arms around Tayuya's waist, pulling her flush against him.
A content smile appeared on his lips as he felt the red head in his arms release a relaxed sigh.
He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, reveling in the shiver it sent down Tayuya's body, and spoke softly into her hair.
"What'd you think of Ariya and her sensei?"
The red head shifted around in his embrace to face him before she answered. "They seem nice enough, makes me hate Iwa even more after seeing what those fuckers did to that girl though."
Naruto nodded silently, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend's temple. "The markings though, what do you think of them?"
Tayuya shrugged, silently enjoying the fact that the blond became more affectionate as he grew tired, and buried her head in his shoulder. "Thought they were clan tattoos or something, like those stupid ass cheek swirls the Akimichi have."
She felt Naruto's body vibrate as he chuckled.
"Actually, I think it was all one big seal. Each of those circles had a kanji in it, and they all looked like they led to the same spot on her body."
The red head shrugged again. "Speculate tomorrow blondie, right now," she put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down into a quick kiss, "go to sleep."
A/N: Well well, seems my plot line for the Iwa mission just got a bit thicker. Didn't even mean to do it either, but I like the version I have in mind much better than my original one.
The way Naruto and Tayuya reacted to the "bandit" last chapter was written mostly because they were still quite a few hours from Iwa. They weren't in sight of the gates or anything, so technically they didn't blow cover…as far as they know.
I've been going through a lapse in my interest of writing this story lately, but as I wrote this chapter I felt the majority of it return. Typically, I come up with far more interesting scenes and plots when I get excited about a story too, though most of em aren't exactly planned.
Well, that's chapter…whatever number it is, can't be bothered to scroll up and look. 'Till next time.