(time skip)
It's been two and a half years now. Kagame, Tayuya and Yato have become something like a small family. During this time, Yato and Tayuya have completed various missions, three of which were even awarded S rank. Yato and Tayuya have become a real unit, much to the annoyance of a certain red-haired lady. Not because she had a good team partner in the fight that she can rely on, but because more was made of the two from the outside than it was. She accepted him as a team partner and a good colleague, but no more. Since word of their temper had got around and the two of them gained a certain prominence in Shizugakure and beyond, no one dared to address them as a couple, but everyone apparently thought so. So unofficially, the two were considered a couple, even if they weren't.
Only one guy was crazy enough to keep joking about the two of them being together. Their Sensei: Kagame Atsuka. In the meantime, he had complete confidence in his two students. They were reliable and extremely eager to train. However, every time he brought up a joke about the two of them, he got punched to the face from Tayuya.
Yato in particular had gathered quite a reputation and was a known name in the ninja world. His visual Kekkei Genkai combined with the Absolute Sharingan were not defeatable in battle. What also made him unpredictable was his ability to develop jutsus spontaneously during a fight. Developing his creativity in jutsus was generally very pronounced and that was what he did most of in his free time. A small group of religious, learned fellows from Shizugakure prepared a report of each fight - as far as possible - and documented all his techniques.
Through the Taijutsu training with Kagame-sensei, Yato trained a lot with Tayuya and improved her ninjutsu. Yato found out that she has an affinity for the fire element on her last attempt to leave the two of them. During the training, however, it became increasingly clear that she also had a high affinity for the Doton. She is now an excellent user of Youton. Her will has become even more unbreakable and she has grown into the strong woman that Kagame and Yato saw in her two years ago. Her newfound strength also includes showing weaknesses in rare moments. At least what she considers as a weakness. Tayuya's irrepressible will was also helpful during taijutsu training. She is now stronger at taijutsu than her companion. He still had difficulties sparring with her even if he was using his Sharingan.
"Well, you two, the two years of training have paid off! There is nothing more I can teach you!", Kagame said proudly, while the two were standing in front of his house and he was still on the doorstep. He was so proud of his two students that he shed a tear. "I hope you come to visit your old buddy!"
"Yeah, sure!", Yato replied. He was now six feet three tall (190 centimeters). His hair is short and brown, and two strands fell into his face, each close to his eyes. His gray-green eyes have not changed over the years and sometimes, when Tayuya looked into his face and noticed his natural eyes, she saw how beautiful they were. He had a light, rather low beard. At that moment he was wearing a short black shirt. Over it a thin pale beige waistcoat with a high collar. He likes to bury his lower face in it. He had gray-white armguards on his arms. He also wore normal, dark blue ninja pants and brown ninja sandals.
"In any case, we'll visit you again, old man!", assured Tayuya. In the two years she had completely freed herself from Orochimaru's fetters. Visually there was nothing left that reminded of the time from Otogakure. She now wore her hair down, without any headgear. In terms of height, she made a big leap. From four feet ten (148 centimeters) to five feet seven (170 centimeters). Her breasts have grown a little. She now had a C cup. Her upper body was adorned with a cloudy yellow, crooked combat poncho, which was completely free on the sides and gave her arm freedom. The poncho covered her upper body to the middle of her thighs. On the left breast of the poncho the letters T and Y were shown in black, which of course stood for her name. Below her belt, the Ying & Yang symbol was shown on the poncho in silver. Her arm warmers are now a shade of white that almost had a lilac cast. She had firewings of a phoenix tattooed on her inner right wrist. At the top of her right upper arm, she had the Kita Kanji (北) tattooed and on her left the Mon (門). She too wore ordinary dark blue ninja pants and brown sandals underneath.
When Kagame closed the door and the area around the training hall and the large pond disappears behind a chakra barrier and becomes invisible, both were briefly thoughtful.
"So, what's the plan now?", asked Tayuya.
"Hmm ..." Yato mused.
"You're oh so smart, don't tell our smart ass don't have a plan yet!", she poked.
"Hmm ...", now he played with her a little.
"Stupid dickhead!", she cursed.
Yato now came out with it: "Well ... I have a plan. I just don't know if it is so useful to you.", he said while holding two fingers under his chin and imitating a thinking pose.
"What do you mean?", she asked curiously.
"Hmm ...", provoked the young Ganan. He only turned eighteen a few days ago. Tayuya's hot-blooded temper boiled again, and she grabbed her partner by the coattail.
"Now listen up, bitch! If you don't come out right away, I'll give you hell, you bum!", scolded the redhead, the Youton fire visibly burning in her eyes.
"Hmm ...", he continued to tease her.
BAM
With a pointed fist on the head, Tayuya rammed her partner a few millimeters into the ground. Yato held his head in pain. Despite the booming skull, he couldn't suppress a hearty laugh.
"Wanker!", she cursed further.
"So... I'm planning to return to Konohagakure and ask them, if they could take me back,", explained Yato.
"I think neither you nor I will be gladly seen there.", she replied to him.
"You're probably right about that. But word got around that an organization called Akatsuki is now starting to take action."
"Akatsuki?", she asked.
"Exactly. They can be recognized by their dark coats on which red clouds are depicted. All members are listed S-rank criminals in the bingo book and therefore extremely dangerous. Itachi Uchiha, who massacred his entire clan, is also a member. I still know him very briefly from back then.", the former Konohanin explained.
"But what do they have to do with your resumption in Konoha?", asked Tayuya.
"If Akatsuki are really that dangerous, they can use any help. Especially since, in my opinion, there are less Jonin in the village and the ANBU units are all laughable."
"And you want to play the savior again?", she asked, exasperated.
"I don't know why you always portray me in such a derogatory way as a savior?", he moaned. Tayuya patted him a little briskly on the shoulder.
"Let it go, shithead! Come on...", the former Sound knew the direction and started walking.
"You're coming with me?", asked Yato, astonished.
"Where else should I go?", asked Tayuya with a certain equality in her voice.
"Well, didn't you want to confront Orochimaru?"
"I wanted to...", Tayuya paused and looked down, "... however... The last two years have made me a different person, you know. Even if you are a fool and you often enough get on my nerves, with you I have won a team partner that I can rely on when things get tough." Unusually enough for her to say, she made a determined fist. Yato was really touched, and his heart felt warm.
"That's nice!" He smiled at her. In his head he thought that it was a small triumph for good.
"Besides ... I'm the only one who will one day drive you to the grave!", Tayuya thus indirectly raised her claim to the young Ganan.
"Uh ...", Yato had no answer ready.
"So, what is it, you nut? Do you want to take roots over there?", she asked with a spirit of optimism. And so, the two marched off. As they were in the Secret Forests of the Land Of Fire, Konohagakure was not too far away. A two-hour walk was ahead of them, and it was just forenoon.
So up in the trees and jump by jump, the two would approach the goal of Konohagakure. The trip was surprisingly taciturn. Suddenly Yato stopped on one of the trees and Tayuya also slowed down. "Hey what is it?", she asked. She could see his thoughtful look on his face. "Hey, c'mon tell me!" She demanded impatiently. Suddenly Yato changes direction and instead of heading further north towards Hidden Leaf Village, he jumped west. Sometimes I hate him so much! What's going on in his pighead again? She cursed in her mind. She jumped after and knowing that she could not seem to get a singöe word out of him, she was silent and just followed. If the guy is lost in his thoughts, you can stab his parents next to him and he wouldn't notice... she was annoyed, to say the least. After only two minutes, her front man paused again, and she exploded inside.
"Ssh!" Yato said.
"Listen, you're not sshing me, that's for sure, dickhead!", she tried to regulate him.
"Look there!", Yato pointed with his finger at the walking path that was a few steps in front of the tree they were standing on. From there they could see two figures. Dark coats, red clouds. Tayuya began to whisper.
"Are they from...", she started to ask, Yato nodded softly.
"You are watching us!", said an emotionless, cold voice from right behind Yato. Tayuya jumped back.
"Nice to see you again Itachi Uchiha!", Yato put on a gleeful smile.
"I don't think we know each other very well!", replied Itachi.
"Better take a closer look!" Suddenly Yato was standing right behind Itachi with a kunai on his neck. Tayuya couldn't really keep up with her thoughts. The Akatsuki member dissolves into a flock of ravens. The other member of the Akatsuki jumped up on the tree opposite and ravens puzzled together next to him and Itachi now looked into two Sharing eyes of whose existence he didn't know yet.
"It's nice that you know each other, then I want to introduce myself here!", said the member, who has been less active up to now. The man with pale blue skin and gill slits on his face put on an evil grin: "My name is Kisame Hoshigaki and this is my sword Samehada, or also called Shark Skin!"
"I know exactly who you are!", Yato replied dryly.
"Nice if -... if you all know each other! Then I'll get into it: I'm Tayuya ehm... Tayuya ehm...", she began to stutter a little, uncharacteristically for her.
"I know who you are!", Itachi interrupted her luckily. However, she was not meant, because the Uchiha stretched out his index finger and pointed to her partner. "What does a Konohagakure shinobi like you do out here in the wilderness?"
"Hey, tell me are you alright, you bum?", Tayuya intervened. She was pissed off because she felt ignored. She grumbled in an angry, feminine-rough voice.
"It's a long story, but not that far from yours. Only shortly after you exterminated the Uchiha clan, I was attacked in the middle of the night by an unknown ANBU unit and because I was not yet under control of my visual jutsu at the time I was banned from the village! ", Yato replied.
"Well ... I'll try again: I'm Tayuya ehm ... Last name is not that important and-"
"We went to the academy together, even though you are two years younger than me!" Itachi remembered but did not stir any emotion. Tayuya was angry again that they hadn't heard her, and she was ready to take on Itachi. When she made the first movements of a jump, she interrupted an arm that was held from the right side in her probable jump path to stop her. "What do two ninjas like you want from us?"
"I want to have a little fight against you! On a sportsman level! No deaths, no major injuries!", Yato requested. Itachi was a little surprised by his statement.
"We don't have time for such nonsense!", interjected Kisame.
Suddenly Itachi got a nudge from behind and fell down the tree in surprise. While still in flight he managed a turn: "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A large ball of fire shot out of his mouth, forcing Kisame to evade. Yato didn't move at all. Itachi barely lands on his feet with a somersault and looks up. Kisame lands on the sidewalk a little way off. Tayuya shot out of the ground next to him and wanted to attack him. With her fist forward, she storms out of the ground. Kisame doesn't really look at it and blocks her fist.
Even before Tayuya could continue her attack, the fishy man spoke up: "Cut it, girl! We're not here to fight. It's surprisingly enough that I have to be the rational one of us!", comments the sword ninja.
"You're just scared, fish head!", Tayuya cursed. Without further action, the two stood next to each other and watched the Uchiha and the Ganan in their sparring match. Both had mixed feelings: a mixture of amazement, annoyance and being exited. Both Itachi and Yato were incredibly fast, and it was difficult to follow the fight with your bare eyes.
"It's amazing that someone like you has such Sharingan-related power and that your body bares it!", Itachi complained. "You really master the Defensive Sphere of the Absolute Sharingan perfectly, as Uchiha you can almost get jealous!", he continued. Yato made no comment on this. Itachi threw off his coat and it landed in some bush. "Then let's see how much your shield can take!" He had briefly closed his right eye. Then the closed eye began to bleed from the exertion: "Amaterasu!", a shrill crow's cry echoed through the forest and black flames seized the young Ganan. But the flames ricocheted off in the immediate vicinity of Yato and kind of evaporated.
"Itachi, that's too much! You shouldn't strain your eyes like that for a training match!", Yato yelled at him.
"That's okay! I just wanted to test the power of the Absolute Sharingan! I'm very impressed!" Said Itachi. "But that should be enough. We're not here to fight and we also have something more important to do!", he replied. Yato ran up to him and held out his fist.
"Glad to fight you! May we repeat that soon!", Yato smiled brightly at him. Even if the Uchiha shows no movement of emotions, he was still very surprised by the reaction. He has not fought a sportsmanlike match since he was considered a renegade! He knew only two types of fights: the fight for life and the fight for the eyes of the Uchiha clan. Orochimaru was his former partner at Akatsuki, and he had tried to appropriate his eyes before he left the organization again. Itachi struck but did not answer or otherwise show any reaction.
"Kisame...", he just said and the two jumped off. Yato went to the bush where Itachi's cloak was still lying. He put it on.
"I don't think it's a good idea to wear that!", replied Tayuya.
"But it is very practical for the fight! It covers the arms and the hands so that a potential opponent cannot see what's possibly hidden underneath...", he explained.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, can we go then?", asked the redhead annoyed and hectic. On the way, the two noticed that Itachi and Kisame were coming from the direction they were heading to again: From Konohagakure. "Tell me... they both come from this direction, didn't they? Do you think they attacked Konoha?"
"No. Itachi wouldn't, and he's more or less not allowed to...", Yato noticed at that moment that he had said too much.
"What do you mean by that?", asked his team partner.
Damned! He thought to himself: "Well ... Konohagakure is surrounded by a barrier. If he had passed through unallowed, there would have been a lot more commotion and we would have noticed!", he explained, covering up the fact that he probably knew something what he shouldn't know. Tayuya didn't notice that. About two minutes' walk from the main gate of Konohagakure, the two caught sights of four figures, one of whom they both already knew. However, as Tayuya and Yato approached the village through the woods off the sidewalk, two figures of them reacted alarmed.
The two lepers were attacked from above. A masked, gray-haired man jumped with Kunai aimed at Yato onto him. Yato dug out a Kunai himself while jumping and parried the attack. Tayuya was attacked by a slim, pale-skinned guy, who jumped at her too, with a short sword pointed at her. She blocked the blow with her Doton by simply hardening her forearms. However, both attack constellations crash into the ground.
"It's good to see you again, Kakashi-sensei!", Yato said politely. Kakashi took back his kunai.
"What are you doing here?", The young Ganan could not determine whether the Copy Ninja was annoyed, bored or exhausted by the tone of his voice alone. Yato never made sense of him. In the meantime, the other two Konohaninja joined them.
"Hello, beautiful woman!", said the pale boy with a fake smile. However, he was sent through the air to his colleagues hurrying with a punch in the face.
"You must be off your head? You attack me out of nowhere, like a fucking berserk and then you start flirting with me or something?", Tayuya was furious. "You're off your rocker, freak!"
"Hey, I know you!", shouted a concise voice histeriously. The boy in the orange jumpsuit took a leap and was about to assault the red-haired loudmouth. Tayuya was already preparing for a counterattack, but Yato jumped in between.
"Calm down, Naruto! We have no bad intentions!", Yato assured him with his cold voice. Kakashi viewed the whole situation with great skepticism.
"Oh, I see! The stupid weirdo is the substitute for this emo Uchiha weakling!", Tayuya commented. Kakashi's skepticism hardened.
"You're not talking shit about my friend, you hear me?!" Naruto glared at her while he bit his teeth angrily. The pale boy was amazed and puzzled by Naruto's reaction. The situation was tense, but Yato intervened verbally.
"Listen, Naruto, I can understand that you are mad and don't trust her. However, you can trust me that we have no bad intentions!", he explained intermediately.
"Who are you anyway and how do you know my name?", asked the boy in the orange jumpsuit.
"This is Yato Ganan, a former Shinobi from Konohagakure. He was banned a few years ago because his visual skills were seen as danger in the village and he couldn't control them.", Kakashi intervened. The doppelganger he had attacked fizzled out and the real Yato was now standing there, in the middle of his team partner, blocking Naruto's fist in his right hand.
"I know about you because I know about the power of the Nine-tailed, that's sealed within you. You must be Sakura Haruno!", Yato said, pointing to the young, pink-haired girl behind Naruto. She looked at him in amazement. "I haven't seen you in person yet, but word of your name as a student of Tsunade, one of the three legendary Sannin, has got around a little.", Sakura blushed slightly, being a little bit honored that she had already achieved a certain reputation outside of Konoha. However, her skepticism also persisted. "But I don't know who you are...", he pointed to the boy Tayuya just smashed through the air in rage.
"My name is Sai!", he replied, with the exact same fake smile from before.
"Pfft, Sai! Your name is just as weird as you look, you pale, gay-looking, weird-ass naked child!" The red-haired girl scoffed. Something in Sakura winced. She got angry at the language of Tayuya.
"What are you doing here?", asked Kakashi, who was getting tired of the situation.
"I would like to ask to resume myself! I have my visual power under control now.", Yato imitated Itachi's voice one on one.
That's... thought the Copy Ninja. The voice was still very familiar to him.
That probably means that they have not seen him or noticed him in any other way... Yato thought in turn when he saw Kakashi's almost horrified expression. At least what seemed so from the face that was not there.
"Pah! Tsunade Baa-chan would never accept a student from Orochimaru!", Naruto scoffed.
Yato held back the words of his counter-prepared partner and intervened verbally: "Naruto! I have already told you that you have nothing to fear. Orochimaru attacked her one night over the curse mark in a dream and caused her great pain... ", Tayuya clenched her fist when she was haunted by this painful memory again,"... she has freed from him. The only thing that remains and what I cannot take away from her are her feelings of revenge against him. ", Yato's cold voice soothed the tense between all.
"If that is the case. Since you are already here anyway and we must go to the Hokage's office to report on the mission, I will escort you.", Kakashi announced. Without further words, the group went through the main gate. At the main gate itself, Kakashi confidently communicated the situation with Izumo and Kotetsu. As a safety precaution, they were both tied to a rope and put on a leash by Kakashi.
"Hey Yato!", whispered Tayuya. He hmed at her. "The rope is a little loose, I could use the Katon-"
"Behave yourself, Tayuya!", he replied in an almost commanding tone. When the three of them got to the Hokage's room, a black-haired attendant looked extremely worried.
Oh dear... The Hokage won't like that at all. The assistant was already crying in her head. Her domestic pig, which she held in her arms, was also unusually silent.
"Kakashi, explain that to me!", ordered the Godaime Hokage.
"Team 7 returned from the mission a few minutes ago. We met these two a short distance from the main gate. They wanted to enter the village and what their concern… You'd better hear from them yourself.", the half-masked man explained calmly. Tsunade turns her annoyed look at the boy in the Akatsuki coat.
"My name is Yato Ganan..." he began. Tsunade was immediately pricked up, "I was banned from Konohagakure almost five years ago because I have special visual powers-"
"I know who you are, get to the point!", hissed the blonde woman. Yato showed no reaction and was extremely confident.
"I want to be accepted back into the village!", the fifth generation Hokage was shocked. "I have my visual power under control now and since there are few ninjas at Jonin level or higher in the village, I wanted to help out!",explained the young Ganan.
Jonin level or higher? Tsunade wondered. Who does the kid think he is? "Accepting two shinobi from the outside the village is not a process that is simply done. It will take a few weeks!", explained the Godaime, exasperated.
"That's how it should be...", Yato replied and leaned over in a respectful gesture.
"I'm going to call a council meeting with all clan heads tomorrow, but until then I'll have to put you in jail...", Tsunade announced with downcast eyes.
"YOU HAVE TO WHAT?", Tayuya wanted to burst out, but Yato covered her mouth and gave her an angry look. What the hell! He's never looked at me like this before... she was almost scared.
Well, at least he has manners. The Hokage thought with an inward smile. "You have to answer one question for me...", the Hokage scowled: "What makes a member of the Akatsuki join Konohagakure?", Tsunade asked seriously. Yato didn't quite understand the question and tilts his head quizzically. The Godaime points to his coat.
"Oh ... uhm ...", Yato now saw the light, where he understood what she was about: "I'm not a member of the Akatsuki. I caught this coat in a fight with one of the members...", he scratches the back of his head. Everyone looked at him in shock.
"You defeated a member of Akatsuki?", asked the Hogake's assistant.
I knew it was a stupid idea to keep that coat on! Tayuya muttered to herself.
"Not defeated... I fought a member...", Yato clarified. That didn't exactly help ease skepticism towards him. "If I were a member, she would have one too," he justified, referring to his red-haired companion.
"Anyway! Kakashi, please tell me about the mission, an ANBU is supposed to take them into custody!", the Hokage ordered. Out of nowhere, an ANBU appeared in the middle of the room and took the two newbies with him, who were still in ropes.
Great... I think I've seen enough prison from inside in my life! Tayuya wailed in silence.