Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 25: A Reason To Become Stronger

Naruto currently laid in the middle of a field with his eyes closed. His memories were playing in his head of his battle with Itachi or in general with fighting recently. Every battle recently he had to start to tap into his Kyuubi chakra, this wasn't acceptable to him. His primary affiliation was with Wind Element so he needed to start to focus on working with it again. Though as he thought about that his mind went to a recent fight he had with Tayuya.

Naruto opened the door to their apartment for them, letting her go in first. Tayuya was looking at him with concern written all over her face. Though he had cheered up a little on the way back to the village as soon as it was in sight his face turned cold. Tayuya was extremely worried about him, she could feel that he was getting more and more upset lately since he wasn't able to avenge Jiraiya yet.

Naruto closed the door for them and then looked at her, he could still see how she was staring at him. He just continued to stare at her, "Whats wrong Tayuya-chan."

She just looked at him, "Your not acting how you normally act is what is wrong."

He turned and smiled at her even though it was a fake smile. She knew that it was fake and that was just pushing her anger a little further, "DO NOT! DO NOT GIVE ME A FAKE SMILE!"

His smile just went away as they looked at one another, "I am sorry Tayuya-chan.."

As the two of them just stood there for a moment he scratched the back of his head, "I am going to go okay.. I don't want to make you any more angry then you already are with me."

He put his hand on the door knob and started to turn it when he heard a low whistling sound. He felt his body going numb then knew what was happening, she was using her Siren Song genjutsu to make him freeze. She just came over to him and put her arms around him, hoping to make him stay and talk to her.

He just pushed his chakra through and broke the genjutsu as he looked again, "I am not ready to talk about it yet Tayuya-chan.. I can't stay because you will become angrier then you already are."

The blond haired man opened the door and took a step out then she said something that made his eyes widen in surprise, "If you leave and shut me out I won't be here when you get back Naruto..."

Tayuya stared at him as he stopped then he looked over his shoulder at her, "... why would you say something like that.. are you no longer happy with me then?"

The red headed woman just looked at him some more, "I am happy with you.. but you can't shut me out and expect me to stay.. I need to be there for you but you won't let me!"

He just looked at her for a moment then turned his head forward and clenched his hand tightly in a fist. As he said his next sentence her eyes went wide then he disappeared in a swirl of wind and leaves before she could say anything, "Its fine if you leave.. you'll be safer without me.."

When he reopened his eyes he saw that his red headed goddess was standing there looking at him. He gave her a small smile even though it was fake, "Hey Tayuya-chan, surprised you came to find me."

She just continued to look at him with a concerned look. Their eyes just stayed lock for a moment, "I need you to talk to me Naruto.. I know your going through something hard from seeing the Akatsuki Leader, the one who killed him but you can't start to shut me out now."

Naruto slowly sat up putting his hands on the ground to push him up off of the ground. He stood up and looked at her, he couldn't give her a smile because it would be fake and that would just make her more upset. He just stared at her for a minute, "Shutting you out isn't what I am meaning to do Tayuya-chan.. I just need to get my head straight so I can train to become stronger."

She took a step towards him putting her hand on his forearm. Naruto watched as she did something even he had rarely seen, she teared up a little. She looked at him, "I can help you then.. I know your a moron but even you have to see how your hurting me by being so distant.. then you tell me to leave.."

He just stared at her a little more, "You are the one who told me that you were going to leave me if I went to clear my mind. I needed to straighten my thoughts, I had to try and figure out where I stood on things. I wasn't ready to talk about how I felt but you wanted to talk at that moment, I would have just made you angrier.. you can hate me and leave me, but please stop crying Tayuya-chan. I don't like when you cry, your to pretty to cry."

He went to wipe away the tears but as his hand got near her cheek she nuzzled her head into his hand instead. She was going to at least try to convince him to talk to her, "Please.. I just want you to talk to me is all Naruto-kun.. I want to help you."

Naruto rubbed her cheek a little, "Tayuya-chan, this is very unlike you. Saying please and crying for me, I must have been really hurting you then."

She just continued to keep her eyes closed with her cheek still pressed against his hand. He looked at her then sighed, "... fine.. you win."

Her eyes opened and their gazes locked once again, "I have to become stronger to protect you Tayuya-chan, I have to be able to save you no matter what. Losing him was what made me realize that no matter what I have to be able to save you. Though.. the idea of you leaving hurts, it would be a solution for awhile. They would focus solely on me until they realized that no matter what happens I will always be in love with you, then you will be used against me."

Tayuya just stared into his blue fox eyes with her brown chocolate eyes, "Every time we have fought Akatsuki I have had to use Kyuubi, so I need to become strong enough with my own power to not need that. I only want to use Kyuubi to be able to keep you safe from Itachi and his genjutsus or in a dire situation. That is what is different with me, I have been trying to figure out how I am going to do this. I finally figured out my answers though, now you have your answers as well. If you still want to leave then I can't stop you.. though I don't want you to do it and I would possibly argue with you. I am sure that in the end I would probably end up getting a concussion while you still left."

Tayuya slapped his head multiple times, "Idiot, Idiot, Idiot! Of course I am not leaving! I was trying to get you to stay and talk to me!"

Naruto looked at her, "Wow Tayuya-chan, that is a pretty messed up thing to do.. I am a bit surprised by you. Of course, you once said you would do anything to keep us together."

That was when he put his hand behind her, she was expecting him to pull her into a kiss. Her eyes widened in surprise and anger though at what he did. Naruto tapped the back of her head lightly, "Bad Girlfriend."

He smiled as the normal Tayuya anger boiled to the top and he leapt backwards away from her. She just glared at him, "BASTARD! I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU! MAYBE I WILL LEAVE YOU THEN!"

Naruto cocked his head to the side before letting a small sigh escape as she went on a rant about how stupid he was at times. He flashed in front of her and brought his lips crashing into hers. Her eyes widened and a small blush appeared before she slowly closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen their kiss. When they broke she just smiled a little bit at him, "Your an idiot, but you are my idiot after all."

Naruto put his hand on her hips as he stood them back up straight, "I will always be your idiot Tayuya-chan, I meant it when I said I would always be in love with you."

She smirked that devious smirk she had, "Thats another things, 'in love with me' now huh? What is that all about huh, what happened to you being an incompetent idiot when it came to your feelings."

The blond man smiled as he released her, "I have to go and meditate Tayuya-chan, I don't know if I will be coming home anytime soon."

She just looked at him then grabbed his hand, "Then I will just have to go with you and make sure you don't do anything to stupid."

The blond haired man smirked, "Alright then Tayuya-chan, lets go to the spot that I meditate at then. Just.. your not going to be allowed to have your way with me while I am meditating, no matter how badly you may try."

They walked through the forest outside of Konohagakure until they approached a small waterfall that fell onto an island then splashed into a small lake around it. Naruto took off his shirt then handed it to his red faced girlfriend, "Hold this for me please Tayuya-chan."

She didn't reply for a minute and went to touch his chest but he leapt over to the island and took a meditating pose as the water hit his head. His mind went back to apart of his training with Jiraiya.

The younger Naruto sat there panting, "Jiraiya-sensei.. why do I have to train in wind element so much. I thought you wanted to train me with Kyuubi."

Jiraiya just smiled at his young pupil, "Though Kyuubi is a very valuable asset to you, you can not always rely on the power. The more you rely on it the more the Kyuubi can control you and eventually break its seal. Wind is you main affiliation so I want to try to train you with that, though I am not affiliated with it so I am not sure how I am going to train you exactly."

Naruto had stopped panting and just sat there looking at the elderly shinobi, "I guess that I could have you go into a deep meditation..."

The young blond teen just gave his master a confused look, "What would mediation do to help me?"

Jiraiya started to chuckle a bit, "Meditation is the key to chakra Naruto, such as with Sage Mode, you have to mold Nature Chakra. If you meditate and bond with your affiliation then your abilities will increase, though I am not sure if anyone has ever been able to bond with the wind element. I know that the Second Hokage was able to bond with the Water Element.. The Third Hokage was able to bond with the Earth and Fire Elements, something that had never been done before. He could have beat Orochimaru if his compassion for his student blocked his true powers."

Naruto just looked at his sensei, "What about you Jiraiya-sensei, have you bonded with any of your elements?"

Jiraiya sighed, "No.. I was to impatient as a student to actually sit still long enough for the meditating to work. In the end the most I was able to ever get near that level was Sage Mode with the Toad Contract I have."

The blond teen let out a sigh, "I would have to sit still.. that sounds like something I am not going to be able to do though.."

Jiraiya started to smirk, "We will have to see then wont we you little brat."

Naruto smiled as he went into a deep mediation deep within his own mind, though it wasn't his usual mindset. He stood in an open field looking around, "Hmm.. if Tayuya-chan was here she would say something about my mind being so empty.. anyways.. I achieved the meditation now what the hell am I suppose to do."

Naruto felt a wind blow past him then a figure appear in front of him, he looked at the figure to see what looked like Jiraiya only with light blue eyes. The figured just stared at him, "Why are you here?"

The blond man looked at the figure, "Why do you look like him?"

The Jiraiya looking figure shifted into a figure that looked like Tayuya, "I selected the form that I thought would be the easiest for you to accept. Is this more suitable."

The blond haired man sighed, "Depends.. are you going to start hitting me as well?"

The Tayuya looking figured shifted back into Jiraiya, "Why are you here Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto shrugged, "Jiraiya-sensei.. you.. I don't know what to call you but he told me that if I could achieve deep meditation then I could bond with you, your my wind affiliation right?"

The white haired man looked at Naruto, "The wind doesn't bond with shinobi, we never have and we never will. Why do you think the Land of Wind relies so heavily on sand and earth attacks?"

Naruto shrugged again, "I really don't care that much about most people in Sunagakure to be honest, there are a couple there I would like to protect but that is about it. My main priority is to protect Tayuya-chan, who I am sure is watching me ever so closely without my shirt on."

The wind looked at him, "I know you want to protect her but isn't that what you use the Kyuubi for?"

The blond man nodded his head a bit, "Yes I have often used Kyuubi to fight Akatsuki and most fights but Jiraiya-sensei once said that if I could bond with you then I would be able to fight without Kyuubis chakra."

The Jiraiya looking figure stared at him, "I will give you some tests then, we will see if you are worthy of being the first person I have ever bonded with."

Naruto nodded his head as the Jiraiya looking figure took a fighting stance, "Your first test is in Taijutsu, let us see how long you can last against me."

Naruto calmed his breathing as he was going to have to fight against an element affiliation. This wouldn't be all that easy but if he could achieve his goal then he would be much better off. He would be able to use Wind Style attacks while hardly using chakra and even more according to Jiraiya. He said that the Second Hokage was able to summon water and bend it to his will with basically the snap of his fingers.

The wind affiliation looked at him, "Come then Naruto Uzumaki, lets see if you are worthy or not."