The Promise of Tomorrow

It took Naruto a full hour to regain consciousness. But when he did he jumped straight off the couch he was lying on and right into Tayuya's waiting arms. It hadn't been the first time he got himself knocked out after all, so Tayuya was aware of how jumpy he was, waking up like that.

"Welcome back, lover boy," she said with a grin. "Or should I call you Lord Uzumaki?"

He shot her a withering glare but tightened the embrace none the less. "Please don't...," he sighed into her hair.

"We'll see about that," Tsunade said, pushing a stack of papers away from her person as if it were a poisoned meal. "For now you will be just a civilian, given your probation. But once you rejoin the ranks you are officially head of the Uzumaki clan."

"Fuck me," Naruto hissed, letting himself fall back onto the couch.

Tayuya grinned deviously and zipped down her jacket. "As you wish," she whispered.

As Naruto struggled to take his eyes of her, Tayuya slowly lifted the hem of her shirt, revealing her porcelain skin to him.

Tsunade cleared her throat rather loudly, earning an annoyed huff from Tayuya. "As much as I'd appreciate the re population of the clan, for all that is holy don't do it in my office on my couch!" she admonished them with a stern glare.

With another huff, Tayuya pulled down her shirt again, much to the disappointment of Naruto, who had just decided to draw circles on her soft skin.

"Well, we're leaving, I guess," Tayuya announced and pulled Naruto up from the couch. "Come on, let's fucking go. I still want to go to the hot springs!"

"Whatever you want," he said with a smile.

"Oh, I'll hold you to that one, Lord Uzumaki!"

Naruto took the news about his parents better than she thought he would. Then again, really wasn't far from possible to have guessed that the fourth was his father. I mean, look at him! If not for the whiskers and the eye shape, he could have been his twin! Well, younger twin... child? Tayuya wasn't sure what to call it. The picture of Naruto's mother had been interesting. While her own hair were not as blood red as Kushina's and her skin was far fairer. That had most likely to do with the years in prison. Naruto was of course immune to that and still had his natural tan. Unfair, she would have called it, until Naruto showed her how much he loved her smooth ad pale skin.

A nice memory, that one.

The hot springs of Konoha were famous throughout all of the elemental nations. Subterranean chambers filled to the brim with molten rock were heating the water that gushed out of the earth here, keeping it warm naturally. It was said to have rejuvenating properties and stuff like that. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Tayuya hoped that that was false, she had no need to get any younger. Her chest had only just experienced a sort of growth spurt after all. No need to loose it before age would claim them, she thought.

"Mixed bathing, huh?" she mused aloud when she and Naruto stood in front of the entrance. She grinned. "Sounds like fun!"

He chuckled and bumped his shoulder into her. His much larger frame caused him to bump her head instead. It had been intentional, she just knew it! "I don't think we will have the privacy for that," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't need privacy." Tayuya grabbed his arm and pulled him down to eye level. "Let them watch," she purred.

Jiraiya could not believe his eyes. Aside from the fact that he had just now spied a beautiful redhead in the bath, she was also in accompanied by his student! He had dropped his pencil as he gaped at him. Holy damn shit! He had sent them the lacy underwear as a joke! He hadn't thought they would grow that attached to the other. But he had to admit, that Naruto looked terribly happy for someone who had lost three years of his life in prison.

...

Oh! The kid was going places! Three years confined to a small cell with nothing but a sexy redhead to entertain himself! He just had to write a book about this!

Jiraiya dug another pencil out of his robes and began to scribble away furiously. The names were easy, Sayuya and.. mmmh, Saruto? Baruto? No! Boruto! Yes, that's it! He giggled to himself. Oh, this was gold! The first page basically wrote itself, two former enemies end up in the same prison after the hero had been betrayed by his land! They loath each other, but the loneliness and the wounds of the past wouldn't heal with time alone... No, for their hearts sought out each other for comfort and in a cold winter night-

A piece of soap slammed into his head with the force of one of Tsunade's punches. In addition to what had to be at least a mild concussion he was showered with pieces of soap as he fell out of his tree and slammed hard down onto the ground. The redhead, Tayuya, grinned at him something vicious as she stood before him, naked as on the day she had been born. Jiraiya's head was spinning, but he caught the look of pity that Naruto shot him before a foot connected solidly with his testicles and he felt as if his very soul was leaving his mangled body behind.

"I thought you said it didn't matter," Naruto deadpanned as Jiraiya wailed in agony.

Tayuya shrugged and hopped over to him and sank into the water where she took place in his lap. "Normal people," she said, "Not some fucking pervert that's writing his sick porn with us as source."

Naruto sighed. He really would have liked to meet his teacher under more normal circumstances, though he couldn't deny that this had been the most likely way they'd meet again. "Well, shouldn't we throw him out?"

"Nah," Tayuya said, pulling him closer to her, "He knows better than to look at me again." She turned to the downed pervert. "Isn't that right?"

"As right as rain," Jiraiya squeaked, his voice at least five octaves higher than normal. "Nice to see you got out alright, Naruto."

Naruto snorted. "Good you didn't change, pervy teacher."

The Sannin merely groaned in response as he pulled himself up. "Gods, girl," he rasped, "You're nails are sharp!"

"As they were supposed to be," Tayuya snickered before returning to enjoying the water and Naruto's embrace.

Jiraiya grunted as he dragged himself towards the exit. "I'll see you outside, we have a lot to talk about."

Tayuya huffed before grinning deviously. "Then you better be prepared to wait, cause I'm not finished with lover boy yet."

Jiraiya had almost forgotten just how horny teenagers were. He waited outside the bathhouse till sunset.

"Seems like you retained your stamina," Naruto heard his teacher say once they left the foyer, leaving the heavily blushing attendant behind, who had asked them to leave for they were closing for today. She got an eyeful of just about everything and then some when Tayuya grabbed onto her in her haze.

"That he did," Tayuya said as she stretched in a way that drew all of Naruto's attention to her backside. Easy. She knew what she was doing. "And I'd say, if I wasn't used to it, I wouldn't be walking straight for a week now."

Jiraiya whistled lowly. Before giving Naruto thumbs up. "I am so proud of you."

Of course he would be. Tayuya was by now more amused than pissed, so Naruto supposed that talking to Jiraiya wouldn't land him on the couch. Not that it would happen anyways. Neither of them could sleep alone anymore. "Well, thanks, I guess. What have you been up to?"

"A lot," the older man sighed. "A whole lot of stuff. Do you remember how Itachi and his blue skinned partnered came after you?"

Tayuya knew he did. He had told her that the older Uchiha was fucking scary. "I do," he said, "What of it? Did they try to capture me again?"

"You never wondered why they wanted you?" Jiraiya asked him as they began to make their way back to their house.

Of course he hadn't, she made sure he had a lot of other stuff on his mind. Tayuya wasn't sure if she should feel guilty about that. She had basically used him to work though every damn problem she ever had, every trauma and every bad dream. She blinked as she felt Naruto grasp her hand. He lightly shook her head at her. That damn, lovable bastard! A side effect from pouring her everything out to him was that he just knew her. There was nothing she could hide. Not that she wanted to.

"Nah," Naruto dismissed, "Should I?"

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head. "Well, were you an average, everyday blonde with whiskers and a clingy redhead, no. Then you wouldn't have to worry about a thing." He scoffed. "But because you just happen to contain a walking calamity, you better should."

"What do you mean, clingy," Tayuya huffed. "I'm lovable, for fucks sake. Get the difference."

Naruto grinned at her before turning to his teacher. "So what? They want the Kyuubi?"

"Got it in one," Jiraiya affirmed with a tired sigh. "Look, I've spent the last three years trying to figure out how we deal with this. Good news, there's still time before they move. I heard that the container of the three tails got himself killed just a year back. I found out that it takes three years for the thing to reform and apparently the Akatsuki, which is what they call themselves, are content with waiting until the beast reformed before they move to gather them all."

"Gotta catch em' all, huh?" Naruto grumbled. "So?" he asked Jiraiya," What do we do about it?"

"Yeah", Tayuya added, "How do we kick their ass so they don't kick lover boy's? I'm the only one allowed to do that."

Naruto snorted a laugh as Jiraiya looked at her incredulously. "Right," he said slowly. "Anyhow, the standard plan is, like your other half here said, to kick their asses."

"Knew it," Tayuya laughed victoriously, bumping into Naruto, who rolled his eyes in response but couldn't hide a smile.

"But that ain't going to be easy," Jiraiya continued sternly. "Because of all this prison bullshit we lost three whole years I had planned to use to train you. So the standard isn't going to cut it. Three years aren't enough to get you into fighting shape to defeat over half a dozen S-Ranked missing nin."

"Not even if we spam shadow clones like crazy?" Naruto asked hopefully.

They entered the outer forest area by then where the Naruto and Tayuya lived as well as Sasuke sulked his life away. "You know about that?" Jiraiya asked in slight surprise.

Naruto glanced at Tayuya who grinned hungrily at him. "Well, we had a lot of time on our hands."

"Ohoho!" Jiraiyia laughed, "You two are worth gold!" He took some notes immediately. "How many clones did you use at one?" he inquired with a gleam in his eyes.

"He didn't get to fuck my ass, if that's what you wanna know," Tayuya deadpanned. "We figured that wouldn't go well."

"So you tried?" Jiraiya asked without hesitation. Naruto rolled his eyes and grumbled something under his breath.

Tayuya shrugged. "Sure. But it simply... wouldn't do for me."

"Is he that well endowed?" Jiraiya asked seriously.

"Better than you? Any fucking day," Tayuya shot back.

Jiraiya took a step back, bringing his hand to his chest in mock pain. "You wound me! Woman far and wide sing my praise! For they all-"

"-have been severely disappointed, I'm sure," Naruto finished for him. "Now, are you going to follow us inside as well or is there something you have to tell us?"

Jiraiya glared at him before clearing his throat. "Yes, well... as I said. Whipping you into shape isn't enough. You can't do this alone."

"As if I'd let him anyways," Tayuya threw in, squeezing Naruto's hand.

"Yes, right," Jiraiya recovered and glared at Tayuya, "You are going to need powerful allies, Naruto. People who you can fight with, who you can trust your life with. We'll have to put something against the Akatsuki."

Naruto and Tayuya came to halt at the crossroad that lead up to the house. He took a seat on the stump of an ancient tree and Tayuya sat in his lap without a second thought. The blonde sighed as he placed his head on Tayuya's shoulder, inhaling her scent. It always served to calm him. "So we got me, Tayuya, you and who else? Kakashi? Tsunade?"

Jiraiya coughed into his hand. "Well... I thought about, uh, Sasuke Uchiha."

And here Naruto had thought that he'd never have to deal with the emo kid again... "Kami... Just, why?" he asked his teacher.

"He has potential," Jiraiya said, "One almost as vast as yours. He changed a lot after you dragged him back here."

"I know," Nauto huffed.

"So what-?"

Jiraiya was interrupted by a growl from Tayuya, who jumped off Naruto and was in his face in the blink of an eye. "Don't talk about the fucker that almost killed him! I'll murder his fucking face! I'll gut him with my bare hands! I'll-"

She was cut off when Naruto pressed his lips into her neck and she sighed in relief. Jiraiya blinked at her with wide eyes and looked at Naruto for answers. "The seal is still strong," he explained, "That and she can't stand Sasuke. And, really, neither can I. Not at the moment, at least."

Jiraiya sighed. "Duly noted." Well, seemed like the beginning of an abhorrent cluster fuck.

"Yugure?" Tayuya repeated as they headed out the next day. "What kinda stupid fucking name is that?"

Naruto shrugged as he zipped the forest green jacket up. "Well, Akatsuki means Dawn, so the pervy teacher thought it would be fitting to call us Yugure, which means dusk or something like that."

"Dusk? That's fucking cringe," Tayuya scoffed.

"Hell yes it is," Naruto agreed laughingly, "But we don't ever have to call ourselves anything."

Tayuya captured his hand as they ambled down the big staircase. "I call you mine, lover boy, and you better don't forget that."

"How could I ever," Naruto said as he jumped down the last few steps, dragging her with him. "Well, let's get this shit over with. Hopefully he isn't as late as Kakashi."

"I'm not!" the voice of Jiraiya called though the door. "I've been here for almost an hour! I could hear you shag, you horny animals!"

Tayuya growled and kicked open the door in hopes of hitting the white haired man. "I swear to kami, I will murder you if you keep this up!"

The door did indeed catch Jiraiya flat in the face, leaving the distinct imprint of the doorknob on his forehead. Naruto looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Did you try to look through the keyhole?"

"No," the man instantly denied, "Why ever would you think that?"

Tayuya sighed and kicked at Jiraiya's shins. "Just a hunch, fucking doorknob face. Now, get a move on."

The Sannin huffed but obeyed nonetheless. "To the residential Uchiha it is."

"Kami have mercy," Naruto grumbled. "Well, at least he won't be as bad as three years ago if our, uh, meeting yesterday was any indication."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "You've met?"

"No, actually, Tayuya kicked his door in and tried to kill him," Naruto replied nonchalantly.

They rounded a corner and walked along the walls of the Uchiha compound. The white haired Sannin gave both of them a disbelieving look.

Tayuya shrugged. "It was just a door. Though... It may have hit him when I kicked it in."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Of course it did."

As if to proof the point, the big wooden door that had once closed off the gate was still lying in front of the house. "Seriously?" Jiraiya huffed. "We are trying to make allies here, not start another clan war."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hey, that seal is mad business. Besides, we reconciled. Somehow." He faced the house were Sasuke should probably be in. "OI!" hollered, "Get you ass out here, emo king!"

The reply was almost instant. "Don't be so damn loud, idiot!"

Jiraiya sighed. This may as well have been a terrible idea... In the end, the Akatsuki would laugh their asses off or get a show from Tayuya because she felt like it. Yugure, the Akatsuki's dawn, was off to a worse start than his own sage training. Kami have mercy on his soul.