Chapter 35
Dual Purpose
Land Of Earth
Hidden Alcove
Naruto eventually woke up to opposite positions from earlier as Tayuya was awake and seemed to be concentrating on something in her lap, her back was facing Naruto and he also noticed he was in his own futon which was laid out a respectful distance from Tayuya's own.
The last thing he remembered was getting back after using the Chimera Jutsu and then there was just pain and black, he vaguely remembered collapsing but even that was hazy.
"Finally awake huh." Tayuya commented as she turned around to face him, she was still all bandaged up and had her flute clenched tightly in one hand.
"How did you know?" Naruto asked curiously as he attempted to sit up but the shocking pain in his stomach told him that it was a bad idea.
"I heard your breathing change." Tayuya said and pointed to her ear.
'That makes sense her entire Clan Ninjutsu is based around sound.' Naruto thought.
"So what the hell happened to you? One minute you're looking fine then after I wake back up you're on the ground spazzing out looking like you're about to die. What the fuck!" Tayuya asked aggressively in her usual manner.
"It was the aftereffect of a Ninjutsu." Naruto answered carefully, not lying but not telling the full truth either.
"After effects of a Ninjutsu?" She repeated staring at him.
"Bull shit!" She shouted at him and even pointed an accusing finger at him.
"I've never seen a Jutsu that drops a person like what happened to you! And what type of Jutsu did you use!? Where you fighting while I was out!?" She shouted at him and even stood up on shaky legs and walked over to Naruto who was just staring at her wide-eyed.
"A family one, A Hiden Jutsu." Naruto answered sharply, secretly hoping that she would drop the subject after hearing that. His father was a very famous and very feared man and Naruto was hoping that reputation would help him out here.
"Hiden Ninjutsu, huh. You're making that excuse." Tayuya said with hands-on-hips looking thoroughly unimpressed as she was canny enough to see what Naruto was going for.
"I'm not telling you." Naruto said with finality and he turned his head to look at the ceiling.
"Very fucking mature." Tayuya mocked him as he tried to steadfastly ignore her.
This was how the two teenagers spent the next 15-20 minutes. Naruto was ignoring her while Tayuya was staring at him in an attempt to annoy or intimidate him into talking.
"So what's your plan now?" Tayuya decided to let the question drop and instead ask a different question which if Naruto was the decent person he presented himself as, he would at least answer her that.
"I have one more thing I need to do in the Land of Earth then I'm going to the Land of Wind." Naruto finally said and turned back to look at the girl.
"What do you need to do?" She asked curiously, she already knew he came into the Land of Earth on his own secretive mission.
"Steal some scrolls, nothing big." He answered honestly and Tayuya could tell he was telling the truth this time.
"What are you going to do?" Naruto returned the question to her.
Tayuya paused at the question as if she had forgotten she had no Clan to return to, no missions to carry out for the good of her family.
"I-I don't know." The usually fiery girl whispered and looked down at her lap.
Naruto stared at her while tears began to well up in her eyes. Though he had not known Tayuya long he had the impression that she was a strong Ninja first and a girl second like a lot of the Kunoichi he had met before.
"If you want...You can travel with me if you want." Naruto offered her awkwardly with a small stutter.
Tayuya looked at him once again and then after a few seconds burst into laughter.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahah!" She laughed loudly and even hunched over from the exertion.
"What?" Naruto said offended by her sudden laughter he even got the energy to sit up.
"You save my life (Hah) from the Kazan after my dying sister begged you too (Hah) and you thought I wasn't gonna follow you?" She asked still laughing a little.
"You have to take responsibility for that Naruto." She said looking him right in the eye.
"Uh." Naruto completely lost his words from her words.
"Hah, look at you, It's not like you've knocked me up or something!" Tayuya laughed at the blonde's dumbstruck face.
"Hey! What am I supposed to say to that!" Naruto shot back in embarrassed anger.
"Maybe thank you Tayuya for coming with me on my mysterious journey." She mocked him.
"Well, it is going to be dangerous you know." Naruto tried to warn her away.
"Yeah? and being a Ninja isn't?" She replied sarcastically.
"Face it shit head. I'm coming with you." She told him like an emperor commanding his vassal.
"Okay, but I'm going to be going to dangerous places you know. You might get killed." Naruto warned her this time it was genuine to show that he really was going to get into more situations like before.
"You think I care about that? I'll stay with you until I have somewhere to go." Tayuya shrugged dismissively.
"All right." Naruto nodded.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH
Then his stomach growled, loudly.
"Ah! Erh. Could you boil some water for the instant ramen?" Naruto scratched the back of his head with a blush on his cheeks looking very embarrassed.
"No wonder you're so short if all you eat is ramen." Tayuya commented but she shuffle over to the water pot and place it over the small fire that she started while Naruto was out of it.
"I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet." Naruto argued with her.
"Keep telling yourself that Shit head." Tayuya didn't even bother looking at him as she prepared some food for herself and the bed-bound boy.
Both teenagers fell into silence after that remark and they remained silent until the water boiled and food was served. After that, it was just the two of them exchanging small snipes at each other though Tayuya's were always more foul-mouthed than Naruto's who shockingly came across as the more temperate one.
3 Days Later
It had taken a further 3 days for the both of them to recover to a state where they could travel, though they were reduced to eating through Naruto's rations as Tayuya's legs could not do the journey down the mountain and Naruto was still adjusting to a third Kekkei Genkai in his body.
Naruto had fully recovered from his use of the Chimera Jutsu while Tayuya had only recovered enough to travel as her legs, back and arms were still beat up and had ugly brown and purple bruises on them. The difference in their respective states simply came down to one thing; genetics.
Naruto is an Uzumaki who had strongly inherited the genetics of his mother's Clan while not inheriting their look, he had a high amount of Chakra for his age even before his use of the Chimera Jutsu. He had always had a strong and healthy body and the number of times he caught a cold or got sick could be counted on one hand. It was not quite a Kekkei Genkai but it was close as the Uzumaki hardiness was well known throughout the entire world and while it was true they could heal faster than other Ninja it was not like they regenerated lost flesh or any of the other dramatic story that was often passed around campfires when discussing the Uzumaki Clan.
Tayuya on the other hand was a back-line fighter who specialised in long-range attacks and favoured Genjutsu above all the other Ninja Arts. While she did have more Chakra than average for her age it was nowhere near as monstrous as Naruto's and as such her recovery took longer due to that and the extent of her injuries as apart from her legs it was mainly hundreds of small wounds from the scrapes and bashes on her arms and the trauma her back suffered from being thrown through the air and into the ground due to Menma's explosion. As such, she would take longer to recover back to full health compared to the quick healing Naruto.
Once they were healthy enough to travel to Oninoko they packed up the camp with Naruto sealing most of it away in his many scrolls.
"I still can't believe you're this good at Fuinjutsu." Tayuya commented as Naruto sealed the last thing which was his futon away.
"If you knew just what Fuinjutsu could be used for you wouldn't be so impressed." Naruto said standing up and sliding the scroll into his pouch.
"I did hear rumours that your Old Man uses Fuinjutsu to move faster than light." She said curiously, her legs were better enough that she didn't need assistance to walk and running was now doable though she was still covered in bandages. 3 days of rest was really good for her.
"Yeah he does but I don't understand it." Naruto told her stretching his legs. Being bedridden for 3 days had made his body stiff.
"So the plan?" Tayuya prompted him as they walked to the entrance to the cave.
"We're going to Oninoko to stock up on rations then move to the Land of Wind through the Land of Stone." Naruto told her as he pulled the huge cover down and winced when the light hit his eyes directly.
"About that. I have something I want to do." Tayuya spoke hesitantly as they began the long walk down the cliff.
"What's that?" Naruto asked as he kept his eyes on the surroundings to make sure there were no Kazan around.
"Can we go to the Land of Grass first?" Tayuya asked him.
"Why? That's nearly the opposite way we need to go?" Naruto was confused and even looked over his shoulder at Tayuya who looked very forlorn.
"I want to go home one last time." She said lowly, Naruto almost didn't hear it due to the wind.
'I forgot the Shiin were from the Land of Grass. Two people travelling is a lot less noticeable than hundreds, I can't believe I almost forgot that she's just lost her entire Clan.' Naruto thought and he wanted to smack himself for missing something so obvious.
"That's fine we can just cut through the minor countries to get there." Naruto said watching as Tayuya perked up a little.
"Good." She muttered and looked ahead.
Later
Oninoko Village
The rest of the journey to Oninoko was a quiet one with only a few words passing between Naruto and Tayuya, she was rather silent and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts a lot of the time and Naruto just felt awkward about pulling her into a conversation when she was like that so he decided to stay quiet and leave her to her thoughts instead.
They arrived at the bandit village and Naruto's face screwed up in disgust at the sight of the town while Tayuya looked at the town like someone might look at a giant slug, curious but disgusted.
"Stay close to me, the people here are rough and looking for a fight." Naruto warned her as they crossed the invisible border and entered the town proper.
"This place is disgusting." Tayuya's rose wrinkled at the smell of booze, smoke and sex it seemed to have seeped into every bit of the town.
"I know." Naruto agreed as they made their way further into the town.
With Naruto's guidance, they quickly went into a shop which was obviously for travelling Ninja due to how professional and clean it was compared to other shops in the area plus Naruto had during his stay in the town sent his Kage Bunshin all over the town to find out everywhere that was important.
They bought their supplies in bulk and Naruto had sealed them while Tayuya bought new clothes along with the standard Ninja tools all Ninja were expected to have. A good supply of kunai and shuriken along with metal wire, Zoketsugan, Flash Bombs, Hyorogan and 2 Fuma Shuriken.
Almost everything Tayuya bought as standard equipment except for the Fuma Shuriken which was more specialised equipment. This type of shuriken was of course created by the Fuma Clan and was for a long time used exclusively by them until other Clans began killing the Fuma Clan members and taking their shurikens to forge their own. This of course led to the Fuma Shuriken being used all over the world by every Clan but the Fuma still stood at the top of the mountain in the skill of actually using them.
'I wonder why she wanted those. Especially after what the Fuma did to her own Clan.' Naruto thought leaning on a wall inside the shop while Tayuya changed into her new clothes. There was a small changing room that could barely be called that as it was little more than a gap in the wall covered by a huge black cloth but it did afford privacy for Tayuya to change.
Naruto had, of course, bought everything for the girl, he still felt very guilty about what had happened to her Clan and especially about Sasame so he had, of course, dipped into the Kaguya's funds and got everything for the girl so she was ready for combat and travel.
"I'm done." Tayuya's words snapped Naruto out of his thoughts and he looked over to see the curtain was pulled back and Tayuya was standing there in her new clothes.
Her new clothes were very practical with a black shirt with short sleeves which was covered by a dark grey sleeveless jacket, she also had black arm-warmers on though she did not have gloves on. She had the traditional shinobi sandals in black along with calf-length leg black leg warmers along with knee-length skin-tight shorts which were partially covered by a tunic style skirt which was the same colour as her jacket.
She was also wearing a black hat that covered the top of her head and seemed to give her some control over her wild dark pink hair which was still in her usual style of being long with parted bangs framing her face along with one lock hanging between her eyes.
"Yeah." Naruto said dumbly as he took in her new appearance.
"What are you staring at?" She asked crossing her arms and was glaring at him.
"Nothing! If you're done, then let's go." Naruto said gesturing to the door.
"Have you already paid?" She asked as she adjusted the pouch which was hanging on her waist just above her rear.
"Yes." Naruto answered shortly and went right over to the door to leave.
Tayuya followed him out of the shop and gave the female shopkeeper a wave just before she left through the door.
"Where are you going?" Tayuya questioned as she rushed to walk beside Naruto.
"One final stop while we're here; the bounty station." Naruto answered her.
"Why? We taking a job?" Tayuya asked curiously.
"No. I'm finishing one, I had just finished a bounty hunt when I saw the smoke from the attack on my way back." Naruto answered calmer now that he was outside with the wind blowing in his face.
"Wow. I didn't think you had it in you." Tayuya commented.
"You'd be surprised," Naruto muttered thinking back on his mission to get Kekkei Genkai and how he killed 3 people so far to get his hands on them.
"We'll collect this bounty then I have one more thing I have to do but you're not gonna like it." Naruto said to her as they came to the huge marble dome that dwarfed all over buildings.
"What am I not gonna like?" Tayuya questioned him suspiciously, her brown eyes looked at him closely.
"I'll tell you after I've got this done." Naruto said as they entered the building which was as busy as ever, with a lot of rogue or independent Ninja and Samurai coming and going.
Naruto went right up to the same man from before and placed a scroll on the desk.
"Naruto-san welcome back." He greeted.
"Hello." Naruto returned but it was obvious he was in no mood for small talk and he opened the scroll and with a small application of Chakra, he unsealed the head of the dead rogue samurai.
"Can you please get me my money." Naruto requested politely.
"Of course. I shall confirm the identity and then get your pay." He said picking the head up by its hair and turning around.
"You were carrying around a head the entire time! Creepy." Tayuya told Naruto who looked at her completely deadpan and even raised a single blonde eyebrow.
"What! Just because I'm a Kunoichi doesn't mean I like the idea of walking around with a head in my pouch." Tayuya defended herself from Naruto's unasked questions.
"The identity was confirmed here is your pay Naruto-san." The clerk returned with a scroll of his own and handed it to Naruto.
"Thanks," Naruto said checking the scroll and realising it was the same scroll he handed over. So they probably just sealed all the Ryo into the scroll and took the head.
"Do you wish to take another bounty? We have many to choose from." He offered the Bingo Book which was open on the page for the Land of Earth.
"No thanks, I've got something else to do." Naruto answered him and then turned on his heel to leave.
"Remember Naruto-San you're always welcome here." The clerk called as he walked away with Tayuya at his side.
"Asshole didn't even acknowledge my existence." Tayuya grumbled angrily as she glared at the man over her shoulder.
"Ignore him, no one here is worth getting angry about." Naruto said making sure to dodge around various people in the crowd who seemed deadset on getting in his way.
They left the bounty station and Naruto walked through the town with purpose with Tayuya still following and eventually, they left the town altogether and now Tayuya was getting confused and annoyed.
"Hey! Where the Hell are we going?" She asked him as he took a sudden left turn towards the mountain.
"The Land of Grass is south-east from here not west!" She pointed out getting angrier.
"I have one thing left to do Tayuya." Naruto finally spoke to her while he checked the surrounding for anyone following them.
"And what's that!? You've been very fucking mysterious about it!" Tayuya nearly shouted at him.
"Here we go!" Naruto said and he jumped up followed closely by an irate Tayuya.
"Oh! Another cave! How fan-fucking-tastic!" Tayuya said sarcastically.
"Okay, Tayuya." Naruto turned to face her and she almost lost her composure at how serious he looked.
"What!?" She questioned defensively.
"I need you to stay here for 4 days while I deal with some business." Naruto told her seriously.
"What!? 4 days! Are you fucking serious!?" She spat out at him.
"I'm sorry but this is the reason I came here, and I have to do it alone." Naruto said apologetically holding up his hands.
"And I can't come with you because!?" She demanded an answer.
"Because you are still injured and this is a high-risk infiltration." Naruto answered her.
That answer made Tayuya calm down a little if it was something simple she could have come along but due to her still healing injuries a mission that required complete stealth paired with the high risk was not something she would be able to do.
"And how do I know you're not just gonna abandon me or sell me out to the Kazan, huh!?" Tayuya said defensively glaring at him.
"I didn't buy you all that stuff and promise to take you to the Land of Grass just to sell you out." Naruto said and then he reached inside his pouch making Tayuya tense until the item he pulled out was revealed to be a scroll.
"This is that scroll thing you were talking about earlier! Wasn't it!?" She accused him as she remembered what he said in the cave.
"Yes it is." He answered straightforwardly and Tayuya glared at him in response when he didn't elaborate.
"This is one of my most important scrolls, I want you to hold onto it while I'm gone." Naruto suddenly offered her the scroll he was holding as some sort of peace offering.
"Why're you suddenly offering me a scroll?" Tayuya was suspicious but she took the scroll and opened it to reveal a massively complex Fuinjutsu array.
"Trust me that scroll is important to me as my life. I will be back for it and you, I promise." Naruto swore to her.
"I don't believe you." Tayuya said in a flat tone.
"I never go back on my promises that's my Nindo." Naruto said to her.
"How could you trust me with this? I might just take it and run." Tayuya said rolling the scroll back up.
"Because I trust you. You could have left when I was out but you didn't. You could have run when we came here or even when you were in that changing room." Naruto pointed out.
"I'll be back in 4 days then we can run to the Land of Grass and finally leave this hell-hole of a country." Naruto told her.
"Fine." Tayuya gave in. "But if you're not back in 4 days I'm burning this thing and running for the border." She threatened.
"That's okay. I only need 4 days despite the risk it should be quick." Naruto said with a smile.
"Hurry up then! I don't want to spend more time in this shithole than I have to." Tayuya dismissed him with a wave.
"Inside the cave is my old camp, just be careful about patrolling Kazan." Naruto said before he disappeared in a burst of smoke.
'You best get back Shit head. You're the only person I have left in the world.' She thought looking out to the horizon where he was no doubt running towards.
Tayuya hoped that she wouldn't dream about her family tonight. It was far too heartbreaking to wake up and realise they were all gone forever. She didn't know how to deal with that kind of thing alone, at least with Naruto she had someone to bicker and argue with to take her mind off it.
AN:
Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 35 of Naruto The Chimera.
So Naruto finally has his third Kekkei Genkai but he is missing something, and that something is the entire reason why he has to stay in the Land of Earth just a little longer.
I'm hoping to bring this Land Of Earth Arc to an end next chapter so look forward to that.
Translations:
Zoketsugan=Blood Increasing Pill
Hyorogan=Military Rations Pill