I'm glad so many people seemed to like this story. I wanted to thank everyone who's taken the time to review. It's greatly appreciated.
Naruto didn't have the face to return to Tsunade and ask exactly how he was supposed to find Guren and Yukimaru. He knew very little of Anbu beyond the fact they were a secretive and elite branch of Konoha's Shinobi forces. If they had a main location within the village, it wasn't exactly common knowledge.
It didn't help he wasn't exactly in the right state of mind to speak with her any further then. Not when he had so much to say, so many questions to ask. Hearing her mention his lineage was something of a wake up call to him.
How many restless days and sleepless nights had he questioned who his parents were? Too many to recount but enough for him to ask the Third Hokage if he'd known anything, and in hindsight, of course he had.
But Sarutobi Hiruzen never had a concrete answer for him, only obfuscations. He had been, however, curiously resolute in that they must have loved him dearly. It was a hope Naruto had grasped onto like a lifeline then, and even now, but it also eluded the man must have known the truth.
Tsunade's words confirmed this.
That, along with her ultimatum, was why Naruto was angry. Well and truly so, in a way he hadn't experienced in some time. And what was for the first time in a very long time, he chose not to deny it nor hide it.
All around people gave him a wide birth at the sight he must have made, stopping to stare when they were at what they deemed a safe distance. Naruto ignored them all as he made his way to the hospital, his one and only lead as to where they may be. If he didn't find them there he would track down Kakashi or any other Jounin to ask.
Fortunately, he encountered Yamato, or perhaps it was the man who'd sought him out, considering his abrupt appearance from an alley that didn't exactly lead anywhere. "I presume you are looking for them?" He said in greeting.
"Yes," Naruto answered simply.
There was no mistaking who he was referring to.
Yamato regarded him for a time, not a single emotion or thought betrayed in his dispassionate eyes. "Follow me."
Naruto did so silently.
"They've been revised and checked into holding," it was Yamato who initiated conversation. "They're in a holding cell together pending an interrogator for each."
"For each of them? Wait, are you saying Yukimaru's also under arrest?" Naruto was indignant at hearing this.
"Yes," Yamato's response remained as it always had, unfeeling.
"But he's just a kid!" Naruto was quite the opposite of that.
"He appears to be the same age, if not a little younger than you when you first became a Genin," Yamato said. "Age means little for Shinobi."
Naruto could not pretend he did not understand his reasoning, but by no means did he agree with it. "Interrogator? Are we gonna torture them too?"
"We won't have to utilize more advanced means of interrogation so long as they remain complaint," Yamato continued evenly, as if they weren't speaking about employing such gruesome means on a child.
It was in moments such as then Naruto was confronted with just how cruel their supposed civilization truly could be. It made his dream that much more important to him than for the childish means in which he used to see it as, opening his eyes further to just how much of a fool he really was.
It also made his decision that much imperative.
Their decision, he had to remind himself.
He couldn't imagine Guren, let alone any one woman would ever agree to marry him except under such circumstances. Sakura reminded him of this every time he tried to show his affection for her and it was a further indictment of himself.
"Is something the matter, Naruto?" Yamato asked.
Naruto hadn't expected the question, not from the stoic man of all people.
"Plenty," Naruto admitted but would go no further into detail beyond the obvious. "You're talking about Guren and Yukimaru possibly being tortured like it doesn't matter."
"It's like I said, it's up to them," Yamato remained ever composed. "It's the way it has to be."
"No!" Naruto snapped, no longer able to contain himself. "It's how it is, but not how it should be, or how it has to be!"
Yamato stopped to stare at him again with his unnerving expression but this time, Naruto did not turn away.
"Your feelings nor that of any individual person are enough to change the reality of how things are. I do not say this to diminish your outlook or antagonize you, Naruto. This world is dangerous and can be cruel. If you learn nothing else from our training, or your time as a Shinobi, you must at least learn to accept it. After all, how can you aim to change that which you don't understand?" Yamato said.
"I'm beginning to see that," Naruto replied honestly, but his feelings of frustration and incompetence did not diminish in the slightest. But neither had his conviction. "But I'll change it."
To his surprise, Yamato seemed pleased at hearing this, as expressed by the brief smile that, for once, finally reached his eyes. He only nodded, before continuing on.
Naruto was led through a twisting maze of side streets and alleys before reaching a nondescript building one could easily mistake for being abandoned. Within, a dusty old bookshelf slid aside to reveal a dark tunnel.
The long tunnel, itself twisting and only faintly illuminated via spaced out, dull yellow hanging lights, eventually led to a divergence of many other tunnels. Their trek was short thereafter, arriving to a room divided by a single pain of glass that looked into a room with a only one bed, an unobscured toilet, and a tiled floor with a drain in the center stained a stomach dropping shade of red.
On the bed was Guren, with Yukimaru sitting on her lap, sleeping in her protective embrace.
Naruto approached the transparent partition slowly. Placing a hand on the cold glass, he was reminded why he was strongly considering wagering his future.
"Are they okay?" Naruto asked quietly.
Yamato understood what he was asking. "The woman is, but it is as Shizune-san confirmed, the boy's chakra network is most likely irreparably damaged. He'd be fortunate to ever use it in any way beyond maintaining his body."
Naruto's hands became fists at his side at yet another example of Orochimaru's evil. "Can't Tsunade heal him?"
"I do not know," Yamato answered simply.
Naruto supposed he wasn't in any current standing to request that of her, but he would do so anyway.
"Can I see them?" Naruto asked, knowing they couldn't see him considering Guren's nervous glances never once showed any sign of recognition when they passed over him. "Before they're questioned."
"Hokage-sama has allowed it," Yamato said. "But keep in mind everything you say in there will be on official record."
"Yeah," Naruto figured as much.
"Very well then," Yamato pressed his hand to the door and it unlocked with a resounding metallic slam.
Within, Guren jumped and held onto Yukimaru tighter.
Naruto entered slowly and with a smile forced upon his face.
"Hey," he began awkwardly.
"Hey," she replied, just as awkwardly.
He found he couldn't think of what to say to Guren now that she was before her. This would would make it much more difficult to say what he had to.
"Are you two doing okay? Are they treating you well?" Naruto asked just as the door shut behind him.
Guren looked around the room, an answer in itself. "Better than I imagined, well, better than what I heard."
"Yeah," Naruto didn't know what to say to that either. "Just… when they come to talk to you, just make sure you tell them everything."
"I know," Guren nodded reluctantly. "I will."
Another heavy silence overtook them and he realized he could delay the inevitable no longer.
"So, I spoke to Tsu— eh, the Hokage," Naruto neared them and was given pause when she looked over to the place near her on the bed, and then back to him. He only hoped he'd interpreted her actions correctly as he took a seat beside her, but as far away as possible to afford her as much space as possible. This still couldn't have been more than a few inches between their shoulders.
"And?" Guren almost looked hopeful.
"She's willing to help out where she can," Naruto looked away seeing her relief and its immensity.
"That's good, right?" Guren seemed to take notice of his actions. "Right?"
"Yeah," Naruto palmed the back of his head as he studied the tiles. "But there are some… uh, there's a catch."
When he finally built enough courage to look at her again, he found her face had fallen.
"Yeah?" Guren repeated, leading.
"Yeah," Naruto confirmed, looking away once more. "She can pardon you fully, and you wouldn't be stuck in here but… but you have to do something first."
"What is it, Naruto?" The use of his name was intentional. Guren was growing impatient and he completely understood why.
"You have to, uh, marry someone," Naruto immediately regretted not being direct, but he was nervous, scared if he was being honest, of her reaction.
"Of course."
Naruto was forced to look at her hearing her dejected response.
"I should've known they'd make me pay with my body," she held onto Yukimaru tighter. "So what noble am I being sold to? Who do I have to fuck so they don't kill us?"
Naruto grimaced hearing her speak. Her reaction, of course, was warranted. His fears had been realized and what he feared more now was just how she would react once she knew.
More importantly, he was afraid of how she would come to see him.
"Answer me!" Guren demanded, doing so abruptly and with a ferocity that almost awoke Yukimaru. She seemed to take notice of this as well, her composure falling to that of resignation.
"Me," Naruto decided he could delay her hatred no longer. "You'd have to marry me."
Her initial response was that of surprise, and then absolute betrayal.
"How could you?" Guren's words were venom, infecting his heart immediately. "I trusted — I should've known there was a reason you were so nice. You never cared about me… about us! All you wanted was a piece of ass! Someone who would finally touch such a ridiculous example of a Shinobi like you!"
Naruto stood and moved towards the door, unable to show his face to her. And he couldn't because there were already tears building in his eyes, feeling her words tear him apart. Her anger revealing how she truly felt about him.
What was worse that her words were a mirror to his own behavior.
"I… it was't my choice," Naruto said. "It was… it's yours. You don't have to. I asked — "
"It's not much of a choice when the alternative is this!" Guren fully shouted at him.
"Asked for anything the Hokage could do," Naruto's head fell and so too did a single tear, but he stepped on it. "She said she'd do everything she could if you don't accept but it doesn't look good. It also depends on how useful your information is."
"Of course it does!" Guren continued, her anger untamed. "That's all you wanted, wasn't it? For a way to find your precious friend in exchange for our lives! You're just as evil, just as vile as they said your village was!"
"G-Guren?" Yukimaru was now awake and sounded afraid.
"Fuck you, Uzumaki Naruto! I knew I should've killed you when I had the chance!" Guren spat, heedless of anything and anyone. "I hate you!"
Naruto's hand was on the door, melding the steel handle around his fingers without having realized it.
"Think about it," he said, leaving, unable to face her again.
As the door shut behind him Yamato's hand was on his shoulder but Naruto couldn't face him either.
"I want to leave," he said simply, shaking the hand away.
"Very well."
Naruto returned directly to his lonely apartment and as soon as he shut the door, his composure broke fully. He fell to his knees, but he didn't cry. Instead he released all his emotions in a single shout that shook the windows, and a fist that shattered the floor.
The rest of the night was a blur. He didn't know if he'd even slept, only that when he blinked, it was already morning and someone was knocking on his door. He was tempted to ignore whoever it may have been, but sometime in a long night of self reflection, he'd come to a decision.
One that would finally see him shedding his every weakness. A necessary step in changing the cruel, unfair world in which he lived.
He had not been expecting Jiraiya.
His sensei had been grinning ear to ear until he took a full look at him, and then his expression became concerned. "Naruto?"
"What do you want, old man?" Naruto was too tired to conceal himself with the smile he'd practiced for so long. A smile he didn't usually have to force around one of the few people his revised outlook retained as truly precious to him.
"I take it your talk with this Guren woman didn't go too well?"
Of course Jiraiya was informed and aware of what was happening to him.
It seemed everyone knew more about him than even himself. Jiraiya was undoubtedly included amongst these people and that hurt him further.
It also angered him, an emotion he realized, he was becoming all too familiar with.
Jiraiya must have known who his parents were but he would refrain from questioning him for the moment less he loose the last of his teetering composure less he say something he'd come to regret.
"No, no it didn't," Naruto said. "What do you want?"
Jiraiya frowned at being presented with the question. "Well, I came to…" He seemed to consider what he was about to say, something the boisterous man didn't do often during their three years travel. "I came to see how you were doing. Tsunade told me everything. Can't be an easy choice."
"Yeah well, it's not like she gave me much of a choice," he muttered, leading the man inside. His sensei took note of the damage to the floor as he stepped over it with some concern. Naruto took a seat on his old sofa but Jiraiya remained standing. "And it really isn't mine to make. It's hers."
Jiraiya chortled, smiling again. "Oh it definitely is. But considering you don't think it is, is an indicator in and of itself."
"What the hell are you talking about, old man?" Naruto had no patience for small talk, much less cryptic talk.
"I'm saying you've clearly already made your choice," Jiraiya allowed himself to fall roughly next to Naruto, throwing an arm around his shoulder, his smile turning proud. "You've decided to stake everything on saving those two. Don't think that doesn't mean anything."
Naruto tried to shake away his arm but the man's hold remained firm. "It doesn't when she looks at me like I'm a monster! And I don't blame her! I've put her in a position where she looses her freedom either way!"
"Don't sell yourself short, kid," Jiraiya spoke affectionately. "Sure, the situation isn't what anyone, well, anyone with good intentions would claim to be favorable, but you're acting like it's a bad thing."
"It's not?" He snapped and it wasn't a question. "Sensei, Guren would be forced to marry me! Me! How the hell is that not a bad thing?"
"Well I admit, you're not quite as handsome as me but — " Jiraiya began but quickly changed his tune seeing Naruto's face. "But tell me Naruto, do you intend on forcing yourself onto her?"
Naruto shook himself free and stood, taking a step back, feeling his stomach drop further. "Do you think I would?"
His answer could break him. Despite feeling incredibly angry at the man, if Jiraiya believed so, then it would mean he was truly a failure of a person.
"I know you wouldn't," Jiraiya continued to smile at him. "That's what I'm getting at, kid. And it's what I need you to understand."
This left Naruto speechless because he truly didn't understand.
"It's like I said," Jiraiya continued. "It's a shit situation, no two ways about it, and I really am sorry you have to go through it, but consider this, Naruto. Is there anyone you'd trust with the task of marrying this girl?"
Yes and no.
Naruto could think of a few people from clans he hoped wouldn't force Guren to do anything she didn't want to do, but none he could honestly trust to take care of her and Yukimaru. None he wanted to take that responsibility from him.
Because their safety and well being was a responsibility that belonged to him alone.
Like a switch flipping in his mind, he understood completely.
Yet it brought him no peace.
"But she hates me now," Naruto could feel himself growing emotional again and his words reflected it. "Guren thinks I'm a monster, sensei. I… I hate it. I don't want her to see me that way. I only wanted to protect her."
"And you've done everything you could," Jiraiya replied sympathetically. "Short of raising the village for her freedom, there's nothing else you could have done. Believe me, Naruto, I wished it could be different, but it's not. Now I can't say exactly what you see in those two, but I know enough about you to trust your judgment. If you think they're worth fighting for, then fight for them. Don't let your situation get the better of you. Change it, make it work in your favor."
"How am I supposed to do that? She hates me," Naruto repeated. "I don't know what to do anymore."
"I imagine you've already proven yourself to them once, if they decided to follow you into enemy territory. So then do it again," Jiraiya offered, standing as well.
"It won't be that easy," Naruto denied.
"Does anything worthwhile ever come easy?" Jiraiya questioned. "Look kid, I'm not saying you have to love her, or make her love you. But you can at least prove to her you're not who she thinks you are. And besides, marriages end all the time. Just hurry up and become Hokage and then you can split with this woman and you'd be free to pursue that little pink haired thing you've always been after."
"Fuck you," despite his words, there was a smile on his face.
"Since when do you curse?" Jiraiya obviously didn't take any offense to his words, grinning once more. "But I'm glad I've finally gotten through to you. Ya'know, it's not an easy thing to do."
"Don't make me repeat myself," Naruto laughed, wiping away at his face. "But sensei, a favor?"
"Anything, kid," Jiraiya said.
"Train me."
"Hey, what the hell do you think I've been trying to do these past three years? It was hard enough to convince Tsunade the first time, what makes you think I can do it again? Especially not with you getting married!" Jiraiya said with faux indignation.
"That's not what I mean," Naruto sighed. "And it's not a sure thing. What I mean is I want to become a Shinobi. A true Shinobi, I mean. I want to learn more than just how to control the Kyuubi, or even more jutsu."
"Who are you and what have you done with Naruto?" Jiraiya jested.
"I'm serious, sensei. I'm starting to realize I haven't been taking my training as seriously as I should have," it was difficult to admit, but it was true nevertheless. "I have to get stronger if I want to become Hokage."
Any levity fell away from Jiraiya then. "You know there's more to becoming Hokage then just being the strongest Shinobi."
Tsunade had said the same.
"I know that," Naruto said, just as seriously. "At least I do now. And I mean it, sensei. I still want to save Sasuke, and I still want to become Hokage, but I can't do that if everyone sees me as some sort of joke."
"You know you don't have to change who you are to grow, Naruto," Jiraiya offered empathetically.
"I know that, sensei, and I'm not. But you can't tell me I'm mature enough to become Hokage as I am now," Naruto said.
Jiraiya chortled again before abruptly throwing an arm around his shoulder, pulling him into a semi-hug, ruffling his hair. "No, you're not, Naruto. But I believe you've just taken your first important step to becoming the man I know you can be. I really am proud of you."
Naruto thought then, as he had on more than one occasion, that what he was currently feeling must have been what most felt when sharing a moment with their father. In the absence of his own, it was how he truly felt for Jiraiya.
He only regretted not being strong enough to let him know.
Guren felt exhausted and sleep deprived after her last round of interrogation, which had lasted hours and consisted of many of the same questions reworded. Just how much time had eclipsed since arriving to Konoha was difficult to decipher in a room with blaring lights which never shut off or dimmed.
She'd been honest and held nothing back. Not only because her future and Yukimaru's depended on it, but out of her sheer hatred for the man, for the men who had placed her in her current predicament.
But there was none she hated more than herself for believing in Naruto.
It also proved to reinforce her own belief that there was only one person in the world she could trust, and that was the boy she was trying to protect. Because Naruto proved she couldn't even trust her own judgment.
Her very heart had betrayed her.
But he had just been so very convincing. The way in which he disregarded his own life to save hers, only to attempt to take it in another way. Because what was life without freedom? And there would be no freedom in being forced to be with one she didn't love.
It was a childish notion, to be certain, and one she thought to have buried, but one that resurfaced and persisted from her youth.
That of marriage and its sanctity.
There wasn't much Guren remembered of her mother, not even the sound of her voice remained. But she did remember her words regarding the love she was one day to find, and how she was supposed to give herself only to the one who would come to love her enough for the privilege, and one she loved equally.
It was a ridiculous and antiquated notion, to be sure, but it was one she couldn't shake no matter how she tried to now. And it was for this very reason she hated Uzumaki Naruto so much, and why she hated herself even more knowing that wasn't true.
Because she didn't actually hate Naruto.
It was something she tried so hard to convince herself of, and something she had told him, but it wasn't true. She simply couldn't understand why.
"We're done for the day," Yamato said. The man from Naruto's group, she learned, was a high ranking member of Konoha's Anbu forces.
What position that may have been, she truly didn't care. All that mattered was how everyone, even her crude female interrogator, seemed to hold him in high regard. It would not bode well for her to antagonize him or anyone else for the time being.
"Your terms of surrender," he presented to her a thick stack of papers and a single pen, purposefully dulled so as not to be used as a weapon. "I suggest you read every stipulation carefully before signing, or choosing otherwise."
"I'm already your prisoner. Don't pretend I have a choice," despite her own reasoning, Guren couldn't help herself.
"You do have a choice, believe it or not," Yamato said, allowing the papers to fall uncaringly at her side when she didn't accept them.
"Where's Yukimaru?" Guren asked again. Her previous interrogator didn't answer her and she wasn't expecting one from him. But she had to know one way or another.
"He's being well taken care of, I assure you," Yamato didn't seem to care one way or another. "At Naruto's behest."
She frowned hearing this because his assurances, nor did that blond bastard's mean a thing to her.
"I want to see him," Guren demanded, knowing full well she was in no position to do so.
"You will soon," Yamato answered impassively. "Depending on what you decide, that is. Agree to the terms, and you and he will be released once your interrogation concludes. Under strict restrictions, you'll discover if you read the terms. However, if you decline, you'll remain under arrest."
"And Yukimaru? What happens to him if I don't sell myself?" Guren questioned bitterly.
"Pending his own interrogation, if he proves to be innocent within reason, he will likely be released to the village's orphanage unless someone agrees to take him in," Yamato informed her. "If within six months, he's not adopted, he'll be deported to his native village."
Guren felt her stomach drop hearing this. Considering she'd all but eradicated that village, he'd have nothing to return to.
"And if I agree?" She asked, more reserved this time.
A fragment of frustration made its way onto his face. "It's all stipulated in the paperwork, but for the sake of expediting this, you'll both be under Naruto's care."
"In what way?" Guren persisted against her better judgment.
Yamato didn't answer immediately and she could clearly see she was quickly burning through is already thin patients. "Again, it is in the agreement, but officially, you'd be his lawful wife and he your official child."
This gave Guren pause of her own. "You mean I'd be his mother and Nar — he would be his father?" She hated how her own voice waned near the end.
"Officially, yes," Yamato said.
Guren decided not to press her already questionable luck and began to read through the terms herself, stopping when he spoke once more.
"You have one hour to read through and decide if you'll choose if you're to accept," Yamato said and abruptly turned to leave. He stopped at the doorway, just as Naruto had. "I doubt it matters but you should know it really wasn't his decision. This really is the only way."
"Is it?" Guren questioned in one final act of defiance.
"Yes. And for some reason, Naruto truly vouched for your freedom before knowing the conditions himself, and even after. He doesn't want this anymore than you, and like you, he seems to believe he has no choice in the matter. But you both do," he turned to her with a truly horrifying expression. "Personally I don't see what he does in regards to you both. If it were up to me, you would never see the light of day again for your crimes. In fact, I would be calling for your very execution. And I am not alone in this. But for some reason or another, Naruto deemed you worthy enough to throw away his dream. I suggest you not take this lightly."
"His dream?"
Guren felt her heart twist in her chest again. She truly didn't believe he was deceiving her then, his hatred of her was too apparent to think otherwise. But even so, she could never be sure. Although some traitorous part of her almost hoped he really was telling the truth.
But at what cost?
"Hey!" She shouted after him seeing him leaving. "What dream?"
She had to know.
"He wants to be Hokage."
With that, she was alone again with the most dangerous thing of all.
Her thoughts.
"He wants to be Hokage?"
Naruto was disappointed to discover that, beyond some instructional scrolls, his sensei couldn't actually train him. At least not as extensively as before.
With the Akatsuki beginning to make their move, Jiraiya would be far too busy maintaining his intelligence network to devote any meaningful time to further train him. And he couldn't exactly follow him into enemy territory considering the risk he would be placed in.
As much as Naruto didn't want to accept this reasoning, he did accept and understand it. Finally he did. Because it wouldn't only be his life at stake should he be captured. With the Kyuubi in their possession, the most powerful of all tailed beasts, the terrorist organization would have free reign to do whatever it was they sought to do should he be captured.
Death and destruction would one day reach their doorstep should this happen, throwing not only his now life away, but that of his precious ones.
Jiraiya, however, did offer a replacement in his stead, and it wasn't exactly who he ever expected.
"Ah, there you are, Naruto-kun!"
He was startled out of his thoughts by a boisterous voice.
Might Gai had arrived at Team Seven's old training ground now populated by two.
"Gai-sensei," Naruto returned the greeting respectfully and with a muted smile. "I want to start by thanking you for agreeing to train me."
"Think nothing of it!" Gai presented him with a thumb's up and a glinting smile. "Imagine my surprise when the great Jiraiya-sama approached me to train you! However, Naruto-kun, do not think for one second I'm only doing this for him! It would be an honor to train you, my rival's student, and my own student's very own rival!"
"Yeah — huh?" Naruto's sigh was covertly released in the form of a single nasal exhale. "I mean, uh yeah, cool! Great! Thanks again, Gai-sensei," he finished with a sheepish chuckle.
"Now, before we begin, Jiraiya-sama did not inform me of what you aim to learn from me. So I'll ask you this, Naruto-kun, what is it you seek to learn?" Gai asked, all levity from him now gone. His thick eyebrows furled as he studied him clearly.
Any deception or obfuscation would only prove to be detrimental in the face of who, at the end of the day, was a Konoha Shinobi. That of Jounin status.
"Well," despite this acknowledgment, Naruto wasn't exactly willing to share his own recently accepted shortcomings. "I've recently realized there's more to being a Shinobi than just flashy jutsu."
"Too true, my young friend!" Gai agreed proudly.
It was a step in the right direction.
"Right," Naruto's lips thinned. "I trained in the Old Man's — I mean, I trained in Jiraiya's own fighting style, but I know I have to find my own. What works best for me. I've never been one for weapons, so if my jutsu ever fails me, I know I'll only have my fists to fall back on."
Gai erupted in sudden boisterous laughter. "Yes! As expected of my rival's student! Very astute, Naruto-kun, very astute! It's a shame not everyone is of like mind!"
"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "But that's not all. I have to get stronger, and I don't just mean by knowing how to fight. I need to strengthen my body if I'm supposed to better control my chakra."
"Another great point!" Gai seemed to almost be radiating with excitement, and maybe even pride, and this only encouraged Naruto further.
"But more importantly of all, I wanna be able to protect everyone. And if I want to do that, I have to be better," he bowed before the man. "So I'll ask again, please train me, Gai-sensei." "How absolutely youthful!" Gai was positively grinning with twin thumbs up to match. "I must admit, I regret that we don't know each other as much as we should, but it would be an absolute honor to train you! So let us begin!"
"Yeah I — " Naruto watched the man disappear in a trailing cloud of dust.
"Our first lesson will be to improve your stamina!" Gai's words somehow carried despite the growing distance, but it was fleeting, leaving him no choice but to follow after the man.
What preceded was a long day of chasing the boisterous Shinobi in a dead sprint, only taking brakes in the form of hundreds of pushups, sit ups, and a few other core strength building exercises. After everything was done, Naruto was left absolutely exhausted and drenched in sweat. An eye opening experience, for certain, because he'd never considered himself lacking in stamina.
Even then, as he was lying in the very field in which they started, he couldn't seem to catch his breath.
"Very impressive, Naruto-kun!" Gai was standing over him, with not a single drop of perspiration visible on his face. "But you've currently have a ways to go. So allow me to give you this."
Naruto looked at a bundle of orange sweat bands held in his hands.
"I'll wear something lighter next time," he said, all while seriously considering his choice in clothing. Not only wasn't it exactly discreet, but his outfit wasn't entirely conducive to Fire Country's hot and humid environment.
"Quite the opposite, Naruto-kun!" He said, dropping the bundle into his outstretched hand.
"Oh shit!"
Naruto's hand dropped down beside him, becoming buried within the very earth beneath the immense weight.
"I'll ignore such an un-youthful choice in words because I know just how excited you are for our training sessions!" Gai said, his smile never once faltering. "Wear these from now on and you'll find yourself growing stronger in no time at all!"
Naruto then recalled witnessing Lee remove such restraints in his fight with Gaara, and just how much he'd wanted his own pair after seeing the impressive display of combat that followed. Though he'd since forgotten about it with just how fast everything seemed to happen shortly thereafter.
"You wear these everyday?" Naruto asked semi nervously. "Even when you're not training?"
"Of course not!" Gai laughed with his hands on his hips.
"Oh thank god," Naruto sighed in relief. For training purposes, certainly, but he couldn't exactly envision himself wearing them at all times. In fact, he found he couldn't even lift his arm for how heavy they were, and for how exhausted his arms already were.
It was slightly concerning.
"Those are only entry level weights!" Gai continued, shattering this illusion. "The weights Lee wears are currently five times as heavy as those, while mine are at least ten times that! And they are to be worn at all times, even when you sleep!"
"Sure, why not?" Naruto shut his eyes. He almost, almost, regretted having asked such a beast of a man for training.
Almost.
"I have a mission tomorrow but my student should be free to continue with your training," Gai offered him another thumbs up. "I'll go over your regiment with him so that he may fill in on any days I'm busy!"
"Sounds good," Naruto weakly returned the thumbs up with his free hand. "Thanks again, Gai-sensei, for everything."
"Anytime, my youthful young friend!" Gai's teeth almost blinded him then. "I look forward to working with you from now on!"
And with that, he was gone, leaving Naruto trapped beneath the weights.
"What've I gotten myself into?" Naruto asked, slamming his head against the grass at his back.
I admit, I always wondered how much stronger Naruto would be if Gai also helped train him.
Anyways, I don't have much to add here except for in regards to the pairing. I could go either way in this being a single pairing story, or a very small harem. What do you guys think?