I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.

A Price for Peace

Chapter 32 Late Night Training

"Three months," Karin sighed in frustration as she fell back onto her bed, "Three months we have been dating now, and still nothing."

The kunoichi was referring to her rather stagnating relationship with her blond housemate. It seemed to her that every time they began to become closer, and during the few times things became heated between the two of them, he would push her away, apologising as if he had done something wrong or harmed her in some way.

She could see the lust in his eyes during these increasingly rare occurrences, and couldn't understand why he would continue to shy away from them becoming closer. "I can't do everything dammit," she sighed.

To make matters worse Naruto had been training himself to near exhaustion almost every day. He started doing this not too long after they had their first date, only three days after they had moved into their new home to be precise. On that night Karin had a rather bad nightmare and crept into Naruto's bed, to which he welcomed her with open arms almost eager for the closeness. She had relaxed immediately upon him pulling her close to his chest, but just as she giving into the feeling of belonging... he left, sneaking out his bedroom window while assuming she had fallen asleep.

At first this only happened on the rare occasions, when Naruto and Karin had these intimate moments. But in the last month or so, every night when Naruto thought Karin had fallen asleep he would sneak out and head deep into the forest.

"He's being reckless again tonight," The redhead noted as she felt a large spike of chakra that she recognised with a flinch as belonging to the Kyuubi. "Someone else is going to feel that eventually. What's wrong Naruto-kun, why won't you open up to me?" There was a clear look of worry on her face as she gazed out the window in the direction of where she knew Naruto was currently training.

Out in the forest Naruto was standing across from a clone that looked almost identical to him, however the clone was distinctly different, the whisker marks on his face were much thicker and he even stood a few inches taller than the original with longer more prominent fang like teeth, most notable however was the clones bright red slitted eyes.

"Again?" the clone asked with a dark voice that had only the slightest hint of Naruto's own.

Naruto was panting lightly, the last three months had seen the blond really change. He had put on quite a bit of extra well defined muscle, while not overly bulky he was now filling out, with the T shirts he had brought in capital now more like muscle shirts showing off his biceps and pectorals as they clung to his chest and arms.

His hair had grown out so much since he had faked his death that he now needed to pull it back into a Ponytail that was slightly reminiscent to Jiraiya's, only much shorter. He had lost the last traces of baby fat, which made his face more angular and mature and was accented by the first traces of a stubbly beard.

"Yeah I can't stop, I need to get stronger," The real Naruto replied with mildly shallow breaths.

"Do you really think that? I would say that with the training you have been putting in, then you would be able to compete with most of the Jounin in Konoha, and that's without the power ups you gain from Sage Mode and my chakra." The clone reasoned.

Naruto smiled at the compliment but he still didn't feel much better. "My dad didn't need power ups like Sage Mode to be one of the strongest ninja alive, and neither did the Nidame Hokage. While I'm grateful to have both as backup, I don't want to have to rely on them in every fight with a strong opponent, just like you warned me not too."

"Well what do you know, you actually remembered one of my lessons. But for your age you are plenty strong you know. Your old scarecrow sensei couldn't match you when he was your age." Kurama chuckled, slowly falling into a low stance, almost on all fours like a fox. Naruto recognised this as a strong defensive position that was perfect for quick counter attacks from his frequent spars with the Kyuubi controlling one of his clones. "You know the rules, Taijutsu only, let's go!" The fox ordered.

Naruto nodded, moving in a blur in an almost serpentine pattern. Knowing the style that Kurama was using he wanted to avoid head on attacks at ground level. He leapt high, spinning in mid air ready to drop his leg down on the clone, but being Kurama and knowing Naruto almost as well as he knew himself already had a counter planed. The Kyuubi controlled clone used all fours to slide out of the way, spinning on his hands using his legs to strike back.

Naruto blocked at the last second but was still pushed back a few feet as he parried the quick spinning kicks, seeing that he was getting pushed on the defensive he knew he had to change something soon if he wanted a different result to the last few times he and Kurama had sparred in this way.

Blocking the next two strikes before Naruto slipped under a third, sliding in to aim a kick for the clones head. Kurama once more saw it coming and pushed up to vault over the blonds attack before he came back down slamming his fists into Naruto's stomach.

Naruto coughed up a small amount of blood as the clone hopped back waiting for the jinchuuriki to stand. "Why do you insist on doing this to yourself? There is no way you can win like this, your clone matches you in every way, then you have to add some of my chakra," Kurama lectured sadly. He had an almost pitying expression on his face as he watched Naruto rolled over onto his knees and slowly began to stand.

"Maybe, but when have I ever given up on a fight," Naruto laughed winshing slightly as he felt his cracked ribs healing in his chest. Once he got to his feet he finally cleaned the blood away from his chin and lower lip but he still looked far worse for wear.

"I have seen every fight you have ever been through. Don't forget that I also have memories from Mito and Kushina. I can almost predict your movements before you can even think them up. Granted it is far more difficult than it would be with anyone else, you at least make it somewhat difficult by being so unpredictable." Kurama replied with a small chuckle.

"Yeah you tell me the same thing almost every night, and I always tell you, I don't care... I don't care that my clone already matches my skills perfectly, nor do I care that by adding even the small amount of your chakra to give you control of the clone, it makes the clone significantly stronger and faster than I am," Naruto sighed in frustration.

Kurama wasn't impressed, in recent weeks his jinchuuriki had become more and more reckless, pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion every night. "You can't keep running from your problems like this Naruto,"

Naruto sighed his head hung slightly low as if embarrassed. "It's been working so far."

"Then let's go again, if you insist on on doing this then we may as well at least make you stronger."

Naruto nodded feeling the wounds that had been caused in their last spar had completely healed already, this time he didn't wait for the Kyuubified clone to prepare, he was relentless while on the attack he ran through the toad style taijutsu with flawless efficiency not giving the clone a chance to counter.

Despite Naruto's proficiency with his summon clans taijutsu style he still couldn't land a hit, Kurama was effortlessly blocking each strike. "You're faster than this, you're stronger too. Dig deeper, find your limit... and then push through it, don't let anything hold you back. I know you can do it!" The fox lectured, ducking under a quick jab from the blond.

Naruto scowled at the accusation he was holding back, but despite even what he thought he found the taunt did in fact motivate him to gain a little more speed in his strikes that hit with venom, he even noticed that Kurama was actually having a difficult time avoiding the bombardment of strikes that Naruto was dishing out.

"Much better keep it up, don't drop this intensity!" the fox beamed, as for the first time the clone that the Bijuu controlled needed to create distance from his container. Naruto didn't wait, not wanting to lose the initiative, he kicked forward spinning as he got close to get more power into his punch. Kurama sighed and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the vicious attack that caused the ground where he had been standing to explode into a smoke screen. 'Clever boy... but not clever enough,' the fox thought. He spun on the spot just as Naruto shot out of the smoke from behind him his fist cocked.

The Kyuubified clone fell back onto his back and used both of his legs to kick up at the blond, who had just missed his strike. To his surprise however Naruto spun in mid air, using the force from his own attack to carry him out of harms way, spinning to land low to the ground on all fours.

The fox kipped up and nodded in satisfaction at the blonds improvisation. "Not bad at all," the fox complimented with an approving nod.

"Less talk, I'm not done yet!" Naruto yelled, his eye gleaming with determination. He was pushing himself harder with each passing second, pulling more and more out of his body, determined to defeat the clone.

'Impressive, he's able to push his limits this far and I can't get anything else out of this clone. Looks like he might even win this one,' the fox thought approvingly. He was only able to block Naruto's furious strikes, there was no opening to counter at least not one that was open for any real length of time, even with the enhanced speed his clone couldn't match the determination and willingness to be the best that the original had.

It happened in an instant, a fake from the blond was mis-read by the fox, who's clone was slowing from the being active for so long. Kuubi went to block but found that Naruto spun his arm at the last moment, grabbing his clone and then unceremoniously flipping him to the ground where he dispelled in a puff of smoke.

With a large smile and a sense of accomplishment Naruto fell back, his breath haggard from pushing his limits so far, he lay there for a few minutes taking deep breaths. 'I did it, I finally beat you,' he thought triumphantly.

'Yes you did, congratulations Naruto,' the fox replied. The Bijuu was back in his mind, now that the clone was no more. For his part Naruto was surprised to find that even the fox seemed to be pleased for him. 'There is however, the pressing matter now that you are now so exhausted from your Taijutsu training, that your Ninjutsu instructer will probably be less than pleased. Not to mention what your mate would say if she saw you in such a pathetic state,' the fox added with a small laugh. He knew just how to push Naruto's buttons and this was a rather sore topic at the moment.

Naruto's smile faltered, replaced with a deep frown. 'She's not my mate, she's my girlfriend,' he replied in a melancholy tone.

'Is that so? Well you don't act like she is either, you haven't in months.'

'And why do you think that is? I almost can't control myself at times, it's infuriating,' The blond replied, lightly running his hands through his hair in frustration.

'Isn't that the emotion you humans call love? Mix that in with your late teenage hormones and there we have your situation. Though I do find your denial quite amusing, and you have become a far better shinobi in the last few months because of it.'

'You know that isn't the point... I- I'm scared, I know I have to tell Karin-chan about the whole mate for life thing. I don't want to put that pressure on her, so she thinks she needs to stay with me out of some obligation, but I also don't want to scare her off and risk losing her.'

'So your great idea is to ignore her advances and take your frustrations and energy out on training?' Kurama was less than pleased with his containers behaviour, that had been painfully obvious for awhile now.

'Yeah what of it? You can't say that my training hasn't been productive.'

'Yet you come here to train earlier every night. Those urges wont go away with training you know. The only way you could get rid of them would be to completely distance your self from the girl for good. You could also try attending one of those clubs your old master was so fond of when ever he got lonely, that might help with the... physical side of things.'

Naruto blushed at the thought, Jiraiya really had no shame when it came to women, but he was quite honest with the fact that from time to time he would hire an escort. 'Wouldn't that be a stupid thing for me to do? I mean if I supposedly have the fox trait to mate for life, then I don't think I could cope with that person being a prostitute.'

'You seem to have a misconception on certain things, there is no chance you would imprint on someone you just met even if you slept with them.'

Now Naruto was even more confused. 'I'm not following this at all anymore.'

'When you were traveling with Karin over the mountains I told you not to fall in love with her, not that you couldn't lay with her. It was only after you decided, consciously or not, that she was someone you could spend your life with, that you began to see her as your future mate,' the fox explained.

Naruto nodded feeling like he had a slightly better grasp on the situation, however the idea of seeking someone else just to ease some tension had not appealed to him, and he found that he could only do so much by himself, especially when the object of his desire was sleeping only a few feet away in another room, often it just made the infatuation worse.

'Oh just great, I come out here so I can clear my head and not think about Karin-chan, but you just had to bring her up didn't you,' Naruto complained as he realised where his thoughts were heading.

'Well it wasn't like I intentionally set out to upset you,' this was partly a lie, he enjoyed getting under Naruto's skin and teasing his container, but he didn't mean to actually upset the blond. 'I'm really just trying to help with the situation. If you want to know what I think, then I would say you have nothing to worry about with that girl, she's so attached to you that she may as well have imprinted herself.'

'Well it's a good thing I didn't ask you then isn't it,' Naruto spat back not taking the fox seriously, Kurama could feel negative emotions, but love was not one of those. He neglected to think of all the emotions that love can cause; possessiveness, jealousy, resentment, along with many more.

'Alright Naruto, I'll drop it. Now you better summon that old toad, unless you want to get hit for being late again,' Kurama suggested.

Naruto shuddered at the thought. 'Yeah you're right he might be small but one hit feels like I have been whacked by one of your tails' He chuckled. 'Oh and Kurama... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to react like that, I know you're just trying to help... but I still need more time.' He was already performing the necessary hand seals as he got to his feet. "Summoning Jutsu!"

"Looks like your on time tonight Naruto-chan, I guess there is no need for this then." Fukusaku said as he appeared from a small cloud of smoke holding his rather threatening looking walking stick. "Gah Naruto-chan, you look like you've been swimming in dirt, the fox should really go a little easier on you, especially when your clone knows all your moves and techniques anyway."

Naruto's response was now what the small toad had been expecting, the blond beamed, his maturing facial features made his fox like grin seem more feral than childish now but it still held that boyish charm. "Actually I won tonight Fukusaku-sensei."

"You what?"

"I said I won, I kicked Kurama's furry ass!" he beamed.

'Well I wouldn't go that far, considering in the four hours we were out here before that last spar I could have killed you countless times,' Kurama grumbled.

'Oh can't you let me have this. besides it's not possible for a clone to kill the original, they dispell before and life threatening damage is caused,' The blond retorted.

"Well I must say I'm impressed Naruto-chan. But don't cha think for a minute that means I will be going any easier on ya tonight, just because you were able to defeat ya own shadow clone," the small grey haired toad warned his pupil.

Naruto shrugged in understanding, he had quickly discovered that asking one of the toad sages for training was like asking to be punished, he knew once his training session with the small green hairy toad was over that even he would be low on chakra. "Yes Fukusaku-sensei. How many clones do you want me to make tonight?"

"Two hundred, I think, we will keep the same numbers as yesterday," the toad replied. "And don't have 'em all working on ya Fuuton jutsu's, no matter 'ow decent you think ya elemental manipulation might be, it can always improve, and don't cha forget the toad style Ninjutsu you have been learnin."

Naruto nodded and within the blink of an eye the field was filled with a swarm of Naruto's. "And what will we be doing?"

"Mental exercises, you mastered the sage mode transformation, even the frog kumite. But there are many more amazing things that sages can do. Now sit," Fukusaku ordered.

Naruto seemed a little nervous and was rather apprehensive about entering sage mode. "I don't want the people in the village to feel my chakra," he admitted hesitantly.

"Then this will be ya first lesson to truly master sage mode. It's the next step in your ninjutsu training as we have covered your Fuuton elemental Ninjutsu to the best of my ability, all you need now is to improve how you use tha jutsu, and the strength and precision of your manipulation of the wind. Now do as I say and enter sage mode so we can begin," the small toad replied.

From his tone Naruto could tell this was not a request, so without further argument Naruto closed his eyes and began to feel the world around him, he felt the small animals that were fleeing the destruction caused by his clones training, the warm late summer breeze that ruffled his long hair, then finally he felt the chakra that natural energy that was so vital to becoming a sage.

When he opened his eyes they were bright golden, he could see everything as clear as day even, the light of the moon seemed to be more than enough for him to go anywhere he wanted. "Good boy, now tell me what is ya chakra doing?" Fukusaku asked.

"Well the Natural energy is flowing out of me in the form of Senjutsu chakra, this is what allows me to use the Frog Kumite and the Rasenshuriken," Naruto answered unsure of what the old toads point was.

Fukusaku nodded his approval and hopped onto his shoulder. "That's right, now I want cha to stop the chakra from escaping tha area around your body. Control it, then turn it into a cloak that you can wrap around yourself."

This was not an easy task, scratch that, it was damn near impossible. Every time Naruto was able to get one area under control another would break down and he would lose concentration. "Damn it why can't I get this right."

"This is not an easy task Naruto-chan, it is one of the most advanced forms of Senjutsu manipulation," the small toad croaked giving the blond a light whack with his walking stick for complaining.

"I don't get it though, why is this important?" the blond asked as once again he failed to contain the chakra in more than one area of his body. Fukusaku rubbed his chin then with his cane smacked the blond, ending his time in sage mode. 'I forgot that he could do that, man I wonder what that stick is made out of?' he wondered.

"Sorry about that, but if ya need me ta explain this to ya, then it's better if you're not using Sage Mode," Fukusaku said before jumping off the young mans shoulders. "Tell me, what can you feel from me? I know you are not a trained tracker, but I know you have the ability to feel chakra if you really try."

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated he could feel his clones move about, a few of them cutting trees and chopping them up using wind manipulation, then his eyes shot open wide. "I can barely feel your chakra at all."

"Don't cha think that's just a little odd?"

"Yeah, I mean I know you're like crazy strong, it takes more chakra to summon you than if I wanted to summon all the giant toads put together."

Fukusaku nodded, he was one of the strongest summons in all the summoning clans, "On top of that, I am always in sage mode." Naruto quickly recalled the time he saw the small toad that was Fukusaku effortlessly pick up a giant toad statue during his first trip to Myobokuzan and his eyes widened in realisation. "Ah it seems you understand now. If you can stop the Natural energy from escaping your body, you can not only stay in sage mode for extended periods of time, you will also be essentially undetectable as no chakra signature will be able to escape the natural area around you, you can fight freely while at the same time conceal your strength."

"Well it's not one hundred percent fool proof, I bet people that can see chakra would notice it." Naruto reasoned.

"You mean like the Hyuuga clan from Konoha?" Naruto nodded his answer. "Yes they would be able to see you, but the chakra is so dense that it will mask your features, all that they would know is that someone is there, not who it is, or how strong they are. Not a bad compromise when you think about what those eyes can do."

Naruto had to admit he liked the sound of this, he had learned to suppress his normal chakra enough to become invisible when hiding, but this offered a way to hide his presence while fighting at close to full strength. There was nothing he could really do about his chakra when tapping into Kurama's endless reserves, but he could tell that this would be very useful. "Can I use some clones to help me practice?"

Fukusaku was not a fan of using the clones in Senjutsu training, a single mistake would leave the training party a giant stone statue, but he had the utmost faith in his pupil. "No more than three clones," he warned. "Now get started while I set up a barrier to keep ya chakra hidden,"

Sweat rolled down his brow a few hours later he and his clones had not made much progress but Fukusaku had said that was to be expected as it was a skill that could take years to master. But as the sun was beginning to rise he knew that Karin would be waking soon. He always tried to get home before she woke, he couldn't stand the disappointed almost angry look in her eyes when she caught him stumbling home exhausted in the early morning.

He let his real body leave Sage Mode first so that when the clones dispelled they wouldn't overload his natural chakra balance, then one at a time allowed the clones to disperse. "Not bad work today Naruto-chan, from what I could feel ya made a good start to tha exercise. We will continue next time... I take it that will be tomorrow at the same time?" Fukusaku asked.

Naruto who had now moved on to dispelling his clones in small groups of ten nodded. "Yeah same time tomorrow is fine, thanks Fukusaku-sensei," he called back waving goodbye to the small toad.

Once the the last of his clones were dispelled Naruto fell back, glad to find a soft patch of leaves that had been blown off nearby trees during his clones training. His whole body was fatigued both mentally and physically. He so badly wanted to just collapse on the spot but he forced himself to stand once more.

Knowing that he didn't have all that much time left before Karin awoke, the young jinchuuriki wasted no more time heading back to the village. The sleepy little town had changed the the past three months, there were now gardens that grew a wide range of vegetables and fruits, a few wild pigs had been caught and were now been kept in large pens where they could be bred for food. But the most noticeable change was the large village walls that stood fifteen feet high protecting the population from those who might try to steal the new found prosperity of the small riverside village.

This meant bandits and the so called tax collectors. They had twice since the walls had been erected been greeted by the sound of outsiders demanding entrance into the village, both times they were sent away, but with no more than the amount that they needed to pay to the empire in taxes.

The truth was even if they didn't pay it wouldn't have been that much of an issue, the empire took their cut from the bandits and if they failed, then they would be the ones that suffered not the villagers.

Even the threats to burn the village down if they didn't pay the gangs "protection fee"; or in other words 'let them steal anything of any value in the village', didn't work. After having studied how the hunters bows worked, Naruto had made a large number of them, not masterpieces by any means but they did the trick. Needless to say being confronted with a village full of arrows being aimed from on high was enough to persuade the gang that this village was best left alone, so long as others did not have similar ideas they could let one little town off the hook.

Naruto approached the village from the forest and had to walk up the side of the walls, all made from trees he had cut down during his training. Naruto sat atop the wall for a moment and looked down at the small village, in reality it was no larger than the Uchiha district in Konoha had been, before the unfortunate run in with Pein that is. Regardless Naruto had a small amount of pride for the now thriving village, once his and Karin's home was completed and the wall was up, Naruto began fixing the many dilapidated ruins that the villagers called homes and now if you put on a fresh coat of paint you would think they were brand new.

As always Naruto suppressed his chakra as he walked the street down to his home, his bedroom window out the back open just enough that he can slip inside quietly enough to not wake Karin. "Another perfect infiltration," he whispered to himself as he landed without a sound in the middle of his bedroom.

He froze a second later though when he felt a presence standing in his doorway. "You really shouldn't have to infiltrate your own room at all," came an ice cold response.

Karin was not pleased, that much Naruto could tell. "Oh hey Karin-chan I just woke up and went for a wal-"

"Shut up, you were out there training agin," she snapped, stopping him in mid sentence. "Your shirts covered in your own blood, your chakra level is dangerously low, and you were using sage mode. I don't know why you are doing this, but don't you dare lie to me about doing it."

Even in the pitch black room Naruto could tell Karin's crimson eyes were glaring daggers at him. "I'm sorry, I know you don't like me training with Kurama," he sounded genuinely apologetic about the situation.

Karin moved into the room so she could see the blonds face, he was still covered in sweat and small patches of dried blood. "Do you know what it's like to hear you sneak into your room every morning, knowing you're probably half dead from blood loss and chakra exhaustion? You can't keep doing this to yourself Naruto-kun, I don't want to lay in bed not knowing why you torture yourself in this way. Tell me whats wrong... please."

"I- I can't," he replied his shoulders folding in on himself as he couldn't find the nerve to tell her the truth. "I will tell you soon."

"I see..." she said with tears now forming in her eyes. "Do you wan't me to move out, or break up? I will understand if that's what you want."

Naruto's neck snapped up and took in her worried expression. "What, of course not, Karin-chan I don't want you to go anywhere. It's just I have something I need to tell you but I don't know how to bring it up... it's kind of embarrassing. But you have to know that I... I don't want you to leave."

The red heads expression softened slightly and she grabbed Naruto's arm to pull him into a hug relief flooding her system. "I won't go anywhere, but you need to be honest with me soon, it's killing me seeing you like this," she whispered.

"Yeah I should go clean myself up... do you want me to make us some breakfast after I have a shower, we probably have enough ingredients for Okonomiyaki, I know it's your favorite," He asked reluctantly ending their embrace. (N/B Okonomiyaki is a type of savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients)

"That sounds nice, but how about I take care of breakfast, in your current state, I doubt you could make toast," She said playfully as the first real light of the day began to illuminate the room.

"What ever make's you happy I guess," Naruto replied, he stripped his T shirt off and flung it into a dirty clothes basket as he moved to the back of the room where he had his en suit bathroom.

Karin paused for a moment to take the sight in, 'He's looking sooo good, still he's been acting like a real jerk lately' she thought. Her inability to decide whether she was angry or aroused was in the end decided for her as he lazily stretched his arms above his head and gave her a warm smile before closing the door to obstruct her vision. 'Well he had always been attractive. But now... just look at him I could eat off of those abs,' She mused in a mild daze, absentmindedly nibbling on her bottom lip.

End Chapter!

Okay small time skip, wanted to push the story a little further forward and I don't think that I needed to do a step by step of every little thing I wanted to do. I may use more time skips in the future chapters to spread the story out a bit. I also felt it was a decent way to draw out the progression of Naruto and Karin's relationship and add that little bit of tension that I may have been missing in recent chapters. Yes the early stages of relationships are usually the best when you are looking at everything through rose coloured glasses, but that isn't always true and I may have been focusing a bit too much on the fluff rather than the plot.

I also used this chapter to explore some ideas that I plan to use later in the story to much greater effect, I won't go into detail but I think that they are fairly obvious, if I do say so myself.

I have been asked quite a bit for information on the whereabouts of Tsunade, while I had initially planned on having her show up at some point when I felt like it, I may be inclined to give at least a hint of what she is doing. The same applies for Konoha, they may not be involved in the story at the moment but that doesn't mean I won't find a use for them later, A few ideas have crossed my mind about how I could use them in the future.

Anyway let me know what you think; what you want to see more of, or less of, and I will take your recommendations into consideration.

This chapter is coming out before the Manga this week so I guess there is no need for a spoiler alert where I air my growing frustrations about the how the story I have been reading for so many years, (too long to just give up on) seems to be causing me no end of grief now lol.

Thanks for reading.