Chapter 17

The impact of knuckles against hard stone could be heard across the entirety of the training field, loud as it was. As were the grunts of exertion and subsequent grunts of pain. Naruto might have been used to hitting hard objects, but the amount he had been doing was nearly unprecedented. Temari was needed for her duties as a kage, so she gave him the scant advice she could and sent him on a training exercise of his own.

Punching rocks. Ah, the noblest of exercises, no doubt. And also the most pain-inducing. Hitting the rock hurt like a mother, sure, but the worst part of it wasn't the physical. It was the frustration bubbling up as his subconscious filled his head with doubts aplenty.

Still though, progress was being made. He couldn't complain. Or, well, he could. He just had a sneaking suspicion that he shouldn't. Considering the heights of suffering Kurotsuchi or Fu went through, his complaints would seem paltry in comparison.

And so he stood, legs shoulder length apart, channeling chakra into his arms and hands to create cutting wind chakra, punching a boulder until he could split it apart. Over and over. Back and forth.

"Geez, kid, you really do go hard, don't you?"

Naruto took a deep breath and let his burning arms fall to his sides. They would be back to normal in an hour, tops. And he needed a break. Turning around to look at the bear of a man who accosted him, Naruto breathed out and said "Hey perv. Thought you'd be too busy chasing tail to talk to me."

Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest and smiled heartily. "A man can't make time away for his favorite student?"

Naruto shook his head to his self and sat down cross-legged. "He doesn't even deny it."

The old man laughed and sat down with him. "And why would he?"

Naruto shrugged and leaned back against the boulder he had been striking moments prior. "Are you here to bestow any tidbits of knowledge that I should need for my wind chakra training?"

Jiraiya's face turned slightly more serious. "No, kid, I'm not." He sighed to himself and put his palms on his knees. "I'm here to talk to you."

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and held a hand up. "I know how sex works; you don't have to tell me about it."

The old man didn't laugh. "You don't really have many confidants. So, I'm… well, I'm here for you, you brat. C'mon, tell me what's been going on in your mind."

"Like… what?"

Jiraiya deflated. "I can't read your mind kid. You need to tell me what's going on. It's not healthy to bottle that shit up."

"Should you really be a paragon of a healthy mindset?"

Jiraiya's eyebrows rose past his bangs. "Paragon? That's a big word. Am I feeling an influence from the newest kazekage?"

Naruto blushed a little bit.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Just… let me do a thought experiment. I'll tell you everything I see in you and you'll tell me how right I am." Jiraiya paused to let Naruto reject his offer, and when no rejection came, Jiraiya continued. "First off, you're in love. That's just about obvious in everything you've got going on with you. Definitely to Temari and maybe to Fu. You're scared and nervous as all hell. You're worried that what's happened before could happen again and that worse things could happen than someone getting hospitalized. Am I right so far?"

By the time he was done, Naruto was glaring at a piece of rock to the side. It irked him how Jiraiya could see through him like a piece of glass. "Yeah, well… you got it. You forgot how I'm avoiding talking to Kyuubi ever since I took too much of its chakra, so ha."

"Kid, you're too old for me to be telling you what you should do. That's something you're going to be doing for yourself. Let me give you some advice, however. I've lived longer than you have and I've made a fuckton more mistakes than you have, so learn from me."

"I don't know, you have been a pretty shitty teacher in the past."

Jiraiya held a hand up. "Then just… sit there and shut up for a few seconds, okay? You can ignore me later if you want. So, here, don't lie to the people you love. First and foremost."

"Well, duh," Naruto interrupted. "That's obvious."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Nope. It's fucking not. Trust me kid, there's going to be a time at some point in your life that you're going to want to keep shit away from them. You're going to want to play the big strong man that isn't affected by anything and that's the last thing you should do. Talk to your people about what you're scared about. If you don't, you will be eaten from the inside out. Trust them to stay no matter what's going on.

"Second, life's not fucking fair and don't ever think it ever was. Sometimes, you fall on your face and the world kicks you while you're down. All the love in the world isn't going to protect someone from, say, a fatal illness. You can change a lot, but you can't change everything. And you have to come to terms with that. Along with that, if you blame yourself for something you didn't have any control over, you will fall to depths that you didn't even know was possible. And it might be impossible for anyone to pick you back up from that.

"Third, meaning is what you make of it. It's okay to have goals, but if those goals don't pan out, you could find yourself drifting through life. Just do what you want to do. Meaning will come after that."

Naruto nodded his head and stared at the ground between the two of them. Jiraiya was acting more serious than the time when he had almost been killed by him. Perhaps, it would do him well to listen to the old man's rambling. "Okay. All of that sounds good. What about you though? Has meaning come to you?"

Jiraiya smiled and leaned forward to clap the boy on his shoulder. "More than you'll ever know, kid."

00000000

Mei stood in front of the 'boutique' with her hands on her hips and sighed. "This won't do," she mumbled to herself. "This village is so drab. Hidden leaf is much better for these things."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurotsuchi asked heatedly from the side of the woman. She was starting to regret allowing the older woman to push her around the town in her wheelchair.

"It means," Mei pressed. "That this village is far too militaristic for its own good. What if a woman just wants to feel pretty and get a nice dress? These double as shinobi attire," Mei said, hand sweeping over the window to the clothing store.

"It's practical," Kurotsuchi said indignantly. "And besides, what's wrong with things having more than one purpose?"

"Funny sentiment coming from a rock ninja."

Kurotsuchi turned in her chair to squint at Mei. "The fuck is that supposed to mean."

Mei lifted a single, unaffected eyebrow. "You know what it means. All Rock as ever done is fight, protect, and scramble for power, no matter the cost. You people only ever do the one thing."

The girl in the wheelchair swept her arms around to indicate her surroundings. "You see that? You see all that rock and volcanoes and mountains that nothing's growing on? Yeah, that's ours. As far as natural resources go, we've got jack all. We've only got ourselves. We're a big 'ol fucked up family."

Mei breathed out heavily. "I just wish some of the spoils could have manifested in dresses. Maybe then, you wouldn't be mistaken for a boy."

Kurotsuchi glared at the road in front of her. "I'm not mistaken for a boy."

"Oh, hun…"

"What? I'm not. I mean, I know I'm not the most drop-dead gorgeous person in this country, but, like… I don't look bad."

"I'm not saying you're unattractive. You're just attractive in the 'pretty-boy' sense of the word."

Kurotsuchi growled and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, well, fuck you. How about that?"

Mei giggled. "You know, I could help you out on that front."

"What front?"

"The 'you looking like a guy' front."

Kurotsuchi pressed her face into her hands. "Jesus, fucking, Christ. Have you no tact?"

"Coming from the girl who swears in near every sentence coming from her mouth."

"I DON'T FUC-" Kurotsuchi stopped, eyes open, and pressed her lips together. She was beginning to boil. "I don't… swear in 'near every sentence coming from my mouth'."

"Could have fooled me."

Kurotsuchi stewed in her chair for a couple seconds before sighing. "What did you have in mind?"

Mei smiled. "When it comes to make-up, there are none other better than me."

"Nope. Don't want to look like a painted whore, thank you very much."

"I'll let that one slide, but okay. I've a few dresses from when I was less endowed. You could try one of those."

"You talk so weird… okay, I'll try a few of those on, once I'm cleared to actually, you know, walk."

"And when will that be?"

Kurotsuchi shrugged. "Day or two. The doctors are just being super careful."

"That sure is nice of them."

"And I'm sure it's only because I'm the kage's granddaughter. Most other people don't get the same duty of care around here."

"You're selling yourself short. It could be because you've entered into a continental peace treaty."

Kurotsuchi sighed. "Same difference. Different day."

"Well you could hardly put it against people for wanting to protect the symbols of their ideals. You mean something to these people. Even if it was something you were born into. You have resentment for that?"

"I don't want to be treated like a princess no more sturdy than a piece of glass, how about? I just want to be normal."

"…Is that why you don't like make-up?"

Kurotsuchi shook her head. "Don't like how it makes me look. I like me. I like looking like me. That's it."

"And the wanting to try my dresses out?"

The girl remained silent.

"Is there a certain someone…"

"Oh shut the fuck up," Kurotsuchi said, eyes half-lidded. "Are you going after him next? He's already got everybody. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he fucked Tsunade next."

Mei chuckled to herself. "Oh, Yugito's not in on that. If they'd had sex, you'd be able to tell."

"Like how?"

"Like she wouldn't care quite so much as being caught in such a position. She'd probably still be mostly oblivious to the world."

"What? Does sex knock you out or something?"

"No, but love can."

Kurotsuchi turned to look Mei in the eyes when she said, "That's some of the prissiest bullshit I've ever heard in my entire life."

Mei giggled at the girl's response. "The world looks and feels different when you're in love. Ask anybody who's felt it. I'm sure you have, to an extent."

Kurotsuchi crossed her arms. "I might've. But then he fucked some other chick. And started fucking another one after that."

"I don't think he and Fu have done the deed yet. Call it intuition."

"Call it whatever the fuck you want. I don't want any part of it."

"Even though you loved him."

Her jaws clenched. "I wouldn't call it love," she said quietly. "If anything, I had a bit of a crush. No more. No less."

"Well, he's not gone, you know. Open relationships and all that."

Kurotsuchi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Can we talk about something else. Anything else?"

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"Like… how the hell did you become kage?"

00000000

Waking up was hard for Fu. Most times when she fell asleep, her body woke her up when it was rested, others she woke up forcibly. Her chrysalis state was different, however. It metamorphized part of Chomei's chakra into actual, usable flesh and repurposes it for whatever was needed. It was something she only had to make use of twice in her life. Once because of a bad accident while she was learning how to fly; and another because of a mission gone wrong. The thing about the chrysalis was that it wasn't resting her body. It was turning it back to normal. And it didn't know what normal was. She either had to will herself awake or wait until someone broke her open.

Seeing that she doubted anyone knew that the latter was an option, that only allowed her the first. And trying to tug her consciousness away from the soup of dreams and hallucinations was practically impossible. Though it only felt like seconds to her, waking up took a day and a half. And when she was awake, she had to breathe air, not sludgy material that she floated in while healing.

Fu's eyes shot up and she started scrambling against the slippery walls of the chrysalis. Her fists hit the walls over and over and her nails clawed at the soft, yet resilient coating to no avail. Frustration outpaced the fear and allowed her the wherewithal to push with all her might against the wall. With a swell, the chrysalis buckled and split along the seams.

Immediately, cold air impacted her face and chest and she shoved herself out of the purple encasement, which just so happened to have been perched on a table two feet away from the ground. Her body hit the ground with a wet slap and she started crawling forward, coughing up the purple sludge as she went. The world was spinning and she couldn't see or hear or even think.

But she could feel. There was an arm looped around her neck and shoulder pulling her up to a sitting position and a strong chest pressed against her back. It already made her feel safer because she recognized that chest. Dropping everything, she focused solely on her lungs, and getting the gunk out of it, coughing, spluttering, and choking it out one drop at a time.

When she finished and took a deep, shaking breath of clear, full air, her face started getting smudged around. A bit at a time, she felt her face getting cleared of the fluid and her faculties beginning to return. Hearing, taste, smell, and sight.

And god, what a sight to wake up to. Clear blue eyes smiling down at her bathed in a swallowing light. It made her feel warm. And not just mentally warm. There were tingles flowing from her face down to her extremities. She wanted to writhe and bask in that warmth.

"You feeling better?"

Fu blinked a few times and fully realized her situation. All thought was replaced with one, and only one, desire.

She brought her hands upwards and grabbed Naruto by the nape of the neck and pulled herself up to his mouth, taking his lips for her own. But it wasn't good enough. She wanted to consume him and to be consumed by him. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and started wrestling him down, both with her body and her mouth.

More. That was all she thought about. More and more and more and everything was what her body desired.

His back hit the ground and she was straddling him, kissing and sucking and grasping for more. She could barely see. She could barely taste. She could barely hear. But she knew. She knew what she wanted. More.

Her hands went to her chest. There was still clothing over her body. That was unacceptable. Her hands flew to her back and she tried unbuckling it, but her hands were grabbed before she could, holding them behind her in place.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Fu blinked a few times and crouched down on her ass, relaxing her body. She looked around. She was in a living room, bare except for furniture and a TV. There were no pictures or personal touches, like the house the six of them lived at before leaving hidden leaf. There were also people there. In fact, everyone was there, including Kurotsuchi's dad. And except for her face, she was completely covered in the purple sludge, which was getting wiped on the floor.

And Naruto was underneath her, pretty much completely covered in the same sludge. And he was also smiling humorously. "Looks like someone needs a shower," Naruto said.

"And a room," Kurotsuchi said with her head in her hand.

"And some water," Fu laughed out, her voice cracked and scratchy. She pushed herself up into a stand and got some more of her bearings. Yugito stepped forward with her hands out, but Fu held her hand. "Got this," she said. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, taking in the faces of everyone, and laughing at the end of it.

They were worried for her.

That made her feel so good.

Mei stepped up from behind and tapped her on the shoulder. In her other hand was a tall glass of water, which Fu took and drank from greedily.

Temari stepped forward and took her hand. "Come on," she said. "We have to get you showered."

Fu nodded and allowed herself to be led away, turning back at the last second and waving goodbye to them. There were even a few half-hearted waves returned to her.

Walking around made her realize just how much energy she had. Waking up was like a cold shower; it shocked her senses into needing to do something. "Hey Temari," she said after they were out of earshot. "Do you and Naruto use the anti-pregnancy jutsu?"

If Temari was taken aback by the question, she didn't let it show. "Of course we do."

"Can you show me how to do it?"

"Erm… sure, I suppose. You don't… are you…?"

She nodded. "Kinda wanna try it. In fact, I kinda really want to try to do it. Only if he's okay with it too, of course. God, I want him to be. I love him. I want him to love me."

Temari was nodding along with her brow scrunched. She couldn't tell if Fu was in her right mind or not. it was difficult to tell whether Fu was being abnormal or hyper-normal. "Well, uhm… good for you then."

Fu stopped and grabbed her hands in her own, staring at the girl in the eyes with a look of utmost importance in her own. "And I want you to be there too."

Temari blinked. "Huh?"

Fu shook her head. "I don't want this to be a couple of strangers sharing a husband. That's weird. Well, a lot of this is weird. But that's bad weird. I want to be okay with each other. No, that's not right either. I want us to like each other. Does that make sense? Is that okay?"

Temari looked away and retracted her hands, which were now slimy with Fu's cocoon sludge. "I don't…"

Fu took a deep breath and looked down, nodding her head. "Listen, if you're suffering for his sake, then please stop it."

Temari looked up, confused. "W-What?"

"This isn't going to work if you feel bad every time I kiss him or hold his hand or look at him, you know. If you're suffering through that so that he can feel happy, then just fucking stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying it's okay!"

"It is okay!"

"Then are you going to be there when I have sex with him? If I have sex with him, I should say."

Temari looked away uncomfortably. "I'm okay with you having sex with him; I just don't want to be there to see it happen."

"It's not like I'm asking you to participate."

"I didn't think you were."

"Then why not?"

"I… Don't…"

"Would it make you feel bad?"

Temari pressed her lips together. "I don't know. Maybe. Can we drop this? You're still covered in that shit."

Fu shook her head and crossed her arms. "It's not going to feel good for me if I know that you're not going to be 100% okay with it. And I've got a feeling the same goes for Naruto." After a few seconds of terse silence, she dropped her arms and hung her head. "I'm going to talk to him about it. You should too."

Temari nodded slightly and retook the girls hand in hers, leading her to the bathroom.

"How big is he by the way?"

Temari sighed exasperatedly.

"Like, am I going to have to prepare for something? Is he small? I'm okay with it if he is, by the way. I'm just going to have to help myself more along the way. But oh, wait. What if he's huge? I mean, I haven't really compared myself to other girls, because hey, anti-social Jinchuuriki over here, but I've got a feeling I've got a smaller vagina. Not proportionally, mind you. I'm just smaller in general. Do you use lube in that case? Should I use, like, a lot of lube. Or maybe just a little bit of lube. By the by, do you have any lube I could borrow?"

As Fu chattered on, Temari couldn't help but let a small smile come to her lips. She was an okay girl. Temari could see what Naruto liked in her.

00000000

1 day later

Kurotsuchi scowled at the mirror in disdain. Short, boyish hair; piercing eyes; plain, androgynous clothing. Mei might have had a point when she started talking about her less than feminine traits. Still, though, looking at the dress on the chair behind her, low-cut and with a big slit up the hem to show copious amounts of leg, she didn't think she'd have it in her to put it on.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in the ultra-feminine stuff, but she wouldn't be caught dead in front of people she knew, much less the populace of the hidden rock. But then again… she might as well try it on, right? What's the worst that could happen?

With a sigh of finality, she removed her own clothing as fast as she could and shimmied into the navy blue dress Mei had bequeathed unto her and looked into the mirror.

It was a little baggy around her tits, but that was to be expected. In fact, feeling around, it was a little roomy around her ass too. Kurotsuchi shook her head in amazement at the older woman. Even at her age, she had been packing. Even so, bagginess aside, it looked alright on her. Maybe if she wore make-up…

There was knocking at the door, shocking her out of her thoughts. "You decent?" Naruto asked.

"Erm, yeah," Kurotsuchi said before her mind could understand what she was wearing. The door opened, showing a Naruto with bandaged hands and slightly more formal wear walking in. He didn't look like himself in a collared shirt, but he did look more mature. Kinda really mature. And did he look taller too?

Kurotsuchi gulped her words down her throat and realized she was wearing the dress Mei gave her at the same instance Naruto did. They both blushed, though for completely different reasons. "Eh…" Kurotsuchi stalled. "I-I'm… Mei gave this to me," she finished lamely. "And…"

Naruto shook his head, cutting her off. "No, no, you look, like, good. Like, really good."

Kurotsuchi blushed and quickly got angry at herself for blushing. "Don't fucking bullshit me. I know I'm not 'filled out', like Mei. I look like I'm a crossdresser."

Naruto had to stop himself from laughing. "What? Like how? You look beautiful."

Her face went from blushing to a full red. How was he able to say that shit so easily? He wasn't even aware of it. She hated that. "Aren't you… god fuckit. You're with two people at once. Two! And you still say that shit to me."

He hung his head with a heavy sigh on his lips. "I really like you, but I sometimes I really hate talking to you. You want me to lie? Sure, okay. You look fucking ugly. Like something that isn't even human and super fat. There, you like that?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You know I don't."

"Well what do you like? What do you want me to do? You've been pissed at me for a while now and you don't tell me what's wrong. I can't read your mind."

"You really don't know what I'm pissed at you for?"

"Of course not! You don't talk to me anymore."

Kurotsuchi blinked. "You're not that dense, are you?"

Naruto paused and looked to the ground. "Temari?"

She wrung her hair with her hands and looked at him like he figured out an elementary riddle after puzzling it out for half an hour. "Of course Temari. I liked you. Like… I really liked you. I was crushing on you so fucking hard and you were too – don't deny it! And then you went and fucked some chick you knew next to nothing about. You didn't even… Gah!" she threw her hands up in the air and turned around.

Naruto breathed out, closed the door, and leaned against it. "I won't say I'm sorry. Because I'm not. Not really. I love Temari. And she loves me." Kurotsuchi scoffed at that, but Naruto chose to ignore it for now. "I did like you. Fuck, I still do. Oh, and by the way, this is me being the most honest I'm capable of being right not. So, yeah, there. I still like you. I think it's romantic, but… I don't know. I want to spend more time with you. I really, really do."

Kurotsuchi's nose crinkled up and her eyes squinted, water percolating at the corners. She turned around. "You're not playing fair, you know that? Whenever I think about you and her and Fu… I feel like my heart's getting stomped on. It fucking sucks. I hate it."

He slowly walked forward, hands out. "I can't help you with that. I love her. I love them both, actually. I'm not going to break up with them for you-"

"Didn't ask you to do that," she mumbled.

He paused to close his eyes and collect his thoughts. He put his hands on her shoulders. "I want you to be happy. I want everyone to be happy. But… I can't make you happy. Only you can do that."

Kurotsuchi looked away and shoved her body away from his hands. "It sounds like you're trying to induct me into some fucked up cult or something. Why can't things be normal? Why can't we fall in love and that be the end of it?"

Naruto shrugged. "Because that's not the kind of people we are. Besides, it isn't even that complicated. You're beautiful. I like you. Oh, and the announcement is happening in an hour."

Kurotsuchi crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. "I'm aware of that, thank you very much. Now, kindly exit. I need to do make-up."

One of Naruto's eyebrows went up. "You do make-up?"

"Just leave," Kurotsuchi said heavily, already turning away to her mirror.

Naruto nodded to himself and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"Horndog."

He nearly shouted out in surprise as the sudden comment from his side. As it was, he let out a slight whimper and threw his hands up in between himself and the sneaking person, only to realize it was his wife. Not only that, but it was the wife that most accurately fit the role. "Hey Temari," Naruto said, breathing out.

"For a ninja, you're not very aware of your surroundings," she said, pushing herself off the wall she'd been leaning on. She was wearing a black dress that hugged her body well.

He liked it.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to kiss her, planting his lips on hers. He quickly pushed down and deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue past her lips to play with her tongue. Pressing her against the opposite wall, he held her tighter as one of his hands reached down and grabbed her ass like a handhold.

Temari tapped him on the shoulder and he broke off. "As much as I might like what that could lead to, we're going to be late if we start."

Naruto came in closer again, whispering in her ear "We've got an hour."

"And I like to take my time," she whispered back, planting a kiss on his cheek and grabbing his hand to lead him around the house. "Anyway," she said "you're putting the moves on Kurotsuchi now?"

He shrugged, squeezing her hand. "I don't really have any moves to pull. I'm just myself."

"That's the problem," she said, smirking "you're sweet enough that anyone would get magnetized to you just by talking to you."

"You're going to give me a bigger ego than I already have."

"Is that possible?"

"Good point."

After a couple seconds of silent walking, he pulled her into a bathroom suddenly and shut the door. "Listen," he said, tapping his finger on his arm "I love you. And not just because we have sex. I like talking to you. I like… being with you. You're smart. And you think about a lot of things that I don't even think to think about."

She quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "What's this about?"

"I don't…" he grabbed the back of his neck with one of his hands. "I don't want you to suffer for me. If you're not-"

"Ah," Temari interrupted, putting up a hand. She closed her eyes and nodded to herself. "I guess Fu really does know you, doesn't she? When I was walking her to the shower, she mentioned something like this could happen. And I… I don't think I'm suffering for you. Honestly, when you're with her, smiling and laughing and having a good time, I feel good. Because you're feeling good. And then she kisses you or grabs your hand and… I get jealous. Like, that sort of jealously is well deserved, in my opinion, but I still feel good because you're feeling good. I've been wrestling with this for a bit now and…"

When she didn't say anything for a few seconds, Naruto tilted his head down to look at her. "And what?"

"And… next time we have sex, Fu's going to be there. And… Fu's going to be participating."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Uhm… are you sure about that?"

Temari hugged him close and leaned her head on his chest. "Of course not. My emotions are weird and I can't figure them out, no matter how much I try to think it through. Solid, actual, things happening will help, I think."

Naruto tucked her head under his chin. "Only if you're okay with it. And you have to be honest with me. Not just thinking about yourself, you get it?"

Temari nodded, "Oh, you won't have to worry about that. Now come on," she said, a smile tugging at her lips. "I want to get there early. You don't exactly have a good track record for these kinds of things."

Naruto smirked. "Guess I can't argue against that one."