What's up and welcome back to another chapter of 'Immortalized'! Time is flying as we're already on the 12th Chapter! As always, thanks to all you out there who not only read my work, but take the time to leave a quick review. You guys are doing an outstanding job of helping me improve my writing, and I really appreciate it. You guys are the best. Onto the chapter!

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Chapter 12

Taking Sides


"Shithead, we need to talk."

With those words, Tayuya had captivated Naruto's attention completely. In the time that the two had known each other, the former ANBU Captain and the redheaded kunoichi had learned a lot from and about each other, so much so in fact, that they had even begun to learn the intricacies of each other's minds. With as close as the couple was, it was only natural, and unknown to each other, each one had been keeping a rather large secret from the other, their final defense.

That was about to change, though. In light of all of the recent events, the former Oto Kunoichi had finally decided to reveal the last of her secrets to the blonde. She knew that she trusted him completely, and regardless of whether or not she would admit it to herself, Tayuya loved him. The shinobi who had originally been her captor, had become her closest confidant and most trusted friend. He had held the hot blooded woman while she cried, had hoisted her fist when she won, and he had shown her compassion and kindness when nothing was required of him, continuing to meet with her while she had been a prisoner long after he had been required to. Naruto was the whole reason that she was even alive, able to live her own life in Konoha, and he had even go so far as to remove the curse mark her former Leader had so graciously put on her, a feat not even Jiraiya had been able to achieve.

"Tayuya, let me change out of this. Then I'll listen to whatever you have to say, alright?" The foul-mouthed kunoichi was shaken from her thoughts when the object of her affection spoke, and after she gave him a quick nod, he left the room in a slightly subdued walk as he headed off to change out of his "Old" ANBU Uniform (That he now technically wasn't even allowed to wear, considering he was no longer in the Corps.) Tayuya turned and took a seat on the large couch, and in one of her few uncharacteristically patient moments, she waited for her boyfriend to return. She wasn't waiting for long though, as soon after she had sat down, the blonde walked down the stairs, dressed in a simple pair of black sweats and a green tank top, and as he walked around the couch itself to take a seat next to the redhead, she noticed that his left shoulder no longer had the standard tattoo of an Agent.

Instead, the shoulder and bicep he had once proudly bore the title on was laid bare, as if he had never even been in the organization. While he understood why it was this way, to protect the secrecy of the group and the identities of its members, it was still a painful and hard task, walking away from the group he had been a member of for so long and so diligently. Naruto had gone through a rapid change, and his return into the normal Shinobi forces of Konoha wasn't looking like it was going to be a smooth one. But all this could wait, he thought to himself, all of his musings flashing through his head in a matter of seconds as he changed and walked towards his girlfriend, taking in her form as he moved towards her, ready to listen to whatever she need to get off of her chest.

The woman in question was looking up at him, her usually dark chocolate eyes already slightly cloudy as she scooted over on the sofa, making room for her blonde counterpart. Currently, as she steeled herself for what was to come, she was wearing nothing but one of Naruto's large gray t-shirts (she knew her boyfriend loved seeing them on her, and they were quite comfortable, in her opinion), and a pair of her own form fitting tight black shorts. The blonde raised an eyebrow slightly as he sat next to her, his arms automatically finding their way around her as he leaned back, pulling her with him, the redheads back pressed into his chest, her hear just off to the right of his own, his arms around her waist as her own rested on top of them, playing with his hands.

Tayuya breathed in and out deeply as she traced the lines along the blonde's hands, feeling every inch and contour of them as she squeezed them gently, just enjoying the feeling of her being in his arms. She'd never tell anyone else, such was the redhead's outlook on life and interaction with others, but she lived for the moments like these, when both were off from missions and could simply just be with each other. She sighed softly to herself. It was time. She leaned over to her left, pulling Naruto into a chaste kiss that left her heart in flutters as she began talking, spilling her guts to the blonde behind her, and hoping for the best.


Flashback-Tayuya

The redheaded woman felt the explosion before she saw it, and out of curiosity had walked over to the window of the bedroom she shared with Naruto, looking out of it into the early morning air, and gasping in a brief moment of recognition, followed by fear, and then anger, and then most surprisingly, concern. Before her was the iconic Hokage Tower, and while it was billowing smoke, missing sections of its infrastructure, and quite literally quaking, the most notable difference from the normally quiet tower was the four large walls of violet flame that had exploded from the top. Tayuya would have recognized that technique anywhere, she had originally been one of the four corners of it, after all.

Before she even registered what she was doing, the woman had changed into her ninja gear, wearing something quite different from what she had during her time in Oto, and was out the window, speeding towards the barrier. Like most kunoichi, she wore standardized black combat sandals, choosing to keep her feet bare, having only a small amount of bandages wrapping her ankles for support. Moving up past her long slender legs was a pair of tight black spandex shorts, with a brown combat skirt that had a slit up the center over it, stopping at her mid-thigh. The skirt was held up by a thin combat styled black belt that had been custom made (per order of Naruto) to have a specially designed holster for her Flute, as well as the normal pouches for her shuriken and kunai. Her upper body was clothed in a looser fitting gray half-sleeved shirt, slightly reminiscent of the one she had worn in Oto, but smaller, and with a black compression shirt on underneath. Her hair was held in its usual state by the Konoha Hitai-Ite that she proudly wore in honor of her new village.

However, the barrier itself was quite some ways off, and as she was closing with it, only a few streets away, it collapsed, before five figures exited in separate directions. Tayuya didn't even need to think as she changed her direction, running on autopilot as she switched directions, homing in on her target, the familiar chakra signature all the confirmation that she needed to push herself forward, channeling her own chakra to he feet as she sped along, soon gaining ground on her prey just outside the gates of her home. Then, all too suddenly the chase stopped, target and pursuit coming to a halt in a small clearing, and Tayuya stared into the dark eyes of her older sister for the first time in nearly two years.

"Tayuya. You're looking well. How's Konoha treating you since you betrayed Oto, since you betrayed me?" The purple haired kunoichi sneered, cocking her head to the side, glaring at the younger woman, and growling as she took in the woman's appearance. "How dare you even look at me, especially wearing…that!" The woman practically spat, her face contorting in anger as she pointed at Tayuya's Hitai-Ite. The woman was seething, her body practically shaking within the light green dress that she wore, her right hand clenching tightly around the thick rope that served as a belt.

Tayuya, was doing her best to hold back tears. Her sister, Guren, her own flesh and blood, was calling her nothing but a traitor, and in reality, it was true. She may have betrayed the horrible person that was Orochimaru, but nonetheless, she was a turncoat. In those brief few words, Guren had destroyed her resolve to attempt to bring her in to the fold. Being the only other person she cared about in the world besides Naruto, Guren had a great deal of power of the fiery tempered redhead. However, being in the constant company of a man who had the resolve to shake a mountain had also served to strengthen her.

"Shut the fuck up, Guren. You don't know a fuckin thing. They respect me here. People care for me, here, I have friends, even." Tayuya paused, looking into her the last living member of her families' dark irises as she walked slowly forwards, coming face to face with her before reaching out to touch her shoulder, not failing to notice the woman's visible flinch as she pulled away, the redhead's hand hanging briefly in the air before she resumed speaking, softly this time. "There could be a place for you here too. I know a guy, he can get you in safely, even protect you from him and-"Tayuya was interrupted as her outstretched hand was slapped away, before she was roughly shoved back by Guren, a dark look in her eye.

"And why the fuck would I want protection from Orochimaru-Sama? You stupid bitch, I'm the next vessel. I get that honor. And nothing is going to take that away from me. Not you, not that bastard ANBU you've been fucking, and certainly not the old fuck that Orochimaru-Sama just killed. You're dead to me, Leaf-Whore. You died the moment you never tried to come back." And before she could respond, the purple haired kunoichi of Oto shattered into a thousand shards of pink crystal, Tayuya instantly recognizing the "Shōton: Shōto Bunshin (Crystal Release: Crystal Clone) technique that her sister had inherited from their mothers Kekkie Genkai (Bloodline Limit). For whatever reason though, only Guren had gained the ability to utilize the release.

"Fuck you too, then! You didn't do shit for me in Oto! You stood by and fuckin' watched as that bastard put his seal on me, you watched when I was weak and those assholes fucking raped me! Don't even try and take the high ground on this now that I've found somewhere I'm happy!" When she finished, Tayuya stood up, and watched the silent forest around her for a few moments, before heading back to Konoha to Naruto's house, wanting nothing more than to cry. She did her damndest to hide it, but what her Sister had screamed at her hurt. No one could kill their emotions, and no matter what, Guren was her family, no matter how twisted she had become.

The redhead never acknowledged the tear that fell from her eye as she ran.

End Flashback-Tayuya


Tayuya finished her story in a soft monotone voice, taking small solace in the fact that blonde's muscled arms only tightened around her waist, pulling her closer into his body as they laid on the small couch. "And that's it. I came back here, and found out that the Hokage had been fuckin' killed, the tower blown to shit, and everything going to hell. And then you came back after a couple of days and now there's going to be a war an-mmph!" The brown eyed beauty was cut off from her sentence as Naruto turned her in his arms, connecting his lips to those of his redhead's, effectively silencing her.

The blonde former ANBU smirked a little bit when he felt the girl melt into his arms, her inhibitions about telling him about her sister's part in the attack quickly falling away through his actions. If Naruto was concerned with the change, he hadn't shown it, simply allowing the redhead to talk until she began to ramble at the end. There was no sense in worrying over something that hadn't happened yet, and the blonde felt it was his job to comfort the girl, even if she didn't ask for it.

He pulled away slowly, opening his eyes to gaze into her own with his cerulean orbs, taking in every aspect of her expression of confusion and surprise, eyes still half lidded from the soul searing kiss he had just bestowed upon her, and committing it to memory. Naruto breathed softly, his breath dusting her parted lips as he reached a hand up to gently push a stray strand of hair behind her ear, before she leaned up and gave him a quick brush of her lips against his own, almost like a signature to their longer kiss, as she pulled away and settled back into his arms, and waited for the blonde to speak, for now just content to lie in his arms.

"Tayuya, while we're sharing, there's something I have to tell you, too." The redhead leaned up from the blonde's chest, turning to look him in the eye, giving an inquisitive look as he sighed, apparently fortifying his resolve, as he finished. "I'm pregnant, it's yours." The blonde had barely gotten the words out before an annoyed and laughing Tayuya was punching him in the chest and arm, the man raising his arms to defend himself, inwardly pleased that he was able to lighten the mood and get the woman's thoughts to be a little more uplifted. He let her go until she tired herself out a little bit, before pulling her back down to lie with him as he legitimately strengthened his true resolve, sighing to himself, before metaphorically throwing all his cards on the table. "Actually, there is something I've been meaning to tell you, and I'd rather you hear it from me than someone else."

The redhead raised an eyebrow from her position on the blondes chest, not bothering to turn over this time, simply pulling his hand up, an beginning to trace the contours of it once again, tracing the veins and lines wherever they traveled. "Well, spit it out, Shithead. As much as I love sitting here talking, we could be doing something else…" She began, pushing her ass into him and wiggling slightly, feeling the reaction below her and grinning mischievously as she slightly bit her lip, hearing the man groan out softly in pleasure.

Naruto smirked, he loved it when she was like this, and while the sex was phenomenal and he greatly enjoyed it, there was something he actually needed to get off his chest. "Maybe later, Red." He joked, hearing her soft 'huff' of annoyance at his chosen nickname for her, or his withholding of sex, he didn't know which, before he finished.

"Just over sixteen years ago, the Bijuu known as the Kyuubi no Kit-"

"Kitsune attacked the village, your Dad fucked it up, and beat its ass into your stomach and the rest is history. I already knew, Shithead." Tayuya said simply, after interrupting the blonde as she scooted a little deeper into the crook of his arm. She looked over her shoulder slightly, catching his eye and couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the look on his face. The usually unfazed shinobi was staring at her, his mouth opening and closing dumbly, no words forming from his lips. "The old fart that was the last Hokage told me I came to live with you, Shithead. Something about "keeping each other in line" or something."

The blonde finally regained control of himself, closing his mouth and fixing his girlfriend with an appraising eye as she lowered herself back down to cuddle with him in the early evening air. The redhead in his arms grinned slyly as she laid there, all of the couples recent troubles laid bare. An idea began to form in the woman's mind as she let her partner hold her there on the couch. The war would be beginning in earnest in a mere few days, and with Naruto playing a pivotal role in it and her being an official Konoha Shinobi, it was guaranteed that they would both be on the front often, and would likely go long periods of time without seeing each other. As much as the redhead loved being held by her Naruto (She idly noted that she liked the sound of that), but there was something much more fun that she would rather be doing, and if her suspicions were correct, they soon wouldn't have very much time to be alone together anyways, so she may as well make the most of it.

Tayuya began to slowly grind her hips back and forth against the blond she was cuddling with, grinning from ear to ear as she felt her motions begin to elicit a response from him, namely in his arms slightly tightening around her waist and the length that began to grow behind her. The former ANBU Captain let out a low growl, right next to the girl's ear as she continued pressing herself back a little harder than before, loving the sheer rush she got from hearing him like this.

Naruto, not ever to one to just sit back and let things happen though, began actions of his own, leaning his head forward and kissing along his girlfriend's jawline, and down her neck, biting gently at the juncture between the redheads neck and shoulder, and smiling as he felt her shudder in his arms. Tayuya's arms reached up behind her, finding the blondes hair as she pulled him into a fierce kiss, the blonde pulling back when he needed air, the girl grabbing hold of his bottom lip between her teeth, smirking.

The blonde shinobi, still thinking somewhat clearly through the haze that was beginning to cloud his mid, broke free of the redhead, standing up and picking his girl up in his arms, flashing them both to the Hiraishin seal in his bedroom, unceremoniously throwing Tayuya onto the bed, before relieving himself of his shirt and climbing onto it as well, forcing the woman who had begun to sit up onto her back as his hands began to roam her body, her hands upon his chest as he did so, their smiles never wavering the entire time.

It wasn't long before the two lost themselves to their passions, each one attempting to show the other through purely physical contact how much they cared for the other.


Naruto was awoken from his sleep by a tapping at his window. Opening his eyes slowly and adjusting them to the dark, the newly minted Jounin of Konohagakure blinked slowly before raising himself slightly and turning his head to look at the offending noise, frowning as his fears had been confirmed. There in the windowsill was an ANBU, Panther, if his mask was anything to go off of. Making eye contact with the man, he watched as the agent placed a scroll onto the windowsill before vanishing in a shunshin. Sighing to himself, Naruto looked down at the sleeping form of Tayuya, her beautiful body rising and falling with her breaths, her head still resting on his chest as they had fallen asleep soon after the previous night's activities.

The woke shinobi hated this. He absolutely hated himself as he disentangled himself from her body, not neglecting to take a quick, mental snapshot of her naked body under the covers. He sighed as he stood up, walking to the window and not bothering to hide his modesty due to the late, or was it early, nature of the morning. He knew no one else would be awake, so he didn't care in the slightest. That is, he didn't care until he opened the window to retrieve the scroll, the cool night air splashing like waves across his body, his now shrinking manhood included. Cursing softly, he closed the window, before moving back towards the bed, sitting down on it as he began to read.

He was about halfway through the scroll, his thoughts completely focused upon it when the soft voice of Tayuya found his ears as she sat up, sitting behind him. The redhead wrapped her arms around his body as she pressed her chest up against his back, her still sleepy eyes shut as she laid her head upon one of the blonde's broad shoulders, her hair falling around her shoulders and back like a maroon waterfall. "What's going on, Shithead?"

"There's been an attack. A large Kusa force broke through the garrison we had near the border, and pushed them back a good way. I'm to lead a force there, and turn the tide, pushing them back to the town of Tenzikii." The blonde let out softly, one of his hands finding its way behind him to one of his girlfriend's smooth legs, stroking it gently as he continued to read the orders and information that was sent to him.

"The Hokage issued a return order for Senju Tsunade, 'The Legendary Sucker' and outstanding medic of the Sannin. He's sent Jiraiya to find her, under threat of making her an S-Class missing Nin if she refuses." The blonde whistled softly, he was very happy he wouldn't be tagging along for that one. "The group I'm to lead is of a few Chunin, we're to be an immediate response force for this attack, with the reserve unit following in a few days. Looks like they're all some old friends of mine from my year at the academy a while back. It says here it's "Team Seven", the Hokage's old unit. Members are Uchiha Sasuke, a brooding dick back in the day, Haruno Sakura, a decent medic but otherwise nothing special, and some kid named 'Sai', says he uses something called 'Ink Jutsu', we'll see what that's about tomorrow I guess."

"You don't sound too happy about it." The redhead replied dryly as she tightened her grip on him momentarily. "When do you leave?" Naruto sighed. He didn't like this at all, he kept his voice stead as he placed the scroll down on the bed next to him, absentmindedly holding one of the girl's hands.

"An hour. The ANBU are probably out distributing the orders to the others as we speak. If we move quickly we should make contact with the enemy forces around midday tomorrow if we're lucky." The blonde raised one of his eyebrows absentmindedly as he found one of his girlfriend's hands snaking downwards, ghosting across his skin as she found her way to his member, grasping it in her hand and beginning to stroke it softly. Naruto smiled softly, leaning his head back and grunting quietly, enjoying the ministrations of his by now expert-handed lover, before gasping abruptly as the pressure on his length ceased when he was nearing his finish.

"What the fu- why'd you stop?" He blatantly questioned as he turned around, glaring halfheartedly at the redhead he had come to love, his only response a grin as she laughed coyly at him, winking as she leaned in for a chaste goodbye kiss, whispering in a quite sultry tone.

"Come back to me safely and you'll get all that and more, Shithead."


The trip out from Konoha had been fairly uneventful, with only light bickering between the squad mates as they moved. Team 7 had become a well-oiled machine under the tutelage of the quite competent Hokage, and it appeared as though he hadn't neglected in their training, as the two he had known were quite different from when he had known them, with the third member rounding out the team somewhat nicely, he had to admit.

Sasuke had giving him a little bit of a problem at the beginning of their trek through Fire Country, but that had soon subsided when Naruto had unfortunately reminded the teen of his place by pulling rank. The dark haired Uchiha may not had liked him, but it didn't really matter. Naruto was the ranking Ninja, so that was that. This wasn't the time to be causing problems, and Sasuke had fallen into line, granted it was a grudging respect.

Sakura had seemed happy to see him again after such a long time apart, and while the two hadn't exactly been close friends when he had gone through the Academy, they had always been on good terms. He had found out through brief conversation that Sai had actually been one of the higher ranked members of Danzo's ROOT, though with the man's fall, Sai had been captured, and eventually released back into the normal ninja force, though he had been under supervision for a considerable amount of time.

The pale boy seemed to still be having trouble expressing himself sometimes, but it was quite apparent that he would come around, and if he knew that it was his new squad leader who had killed his old master, he either didn't hold any ill will towards him or he was very good at concealing it. All in all, the soon-to-be rallying symbol of Konoha wasn't too upset with his temporary team, and he figured that between the four of them they could probably handle anything that the attacking Kusa Nin threw at them, or in the very least hold out until reinforcements arrived.

The four man cell hadn't stopped all night moving swiftly through the Land of Fire, and it wasn't long before they would come to the position that the Kusa Nin were last known to be at. It was odd though, the last intelligence the Leaf had gotten had clearly stated that some of the members of the original friendly force had survived the initial attack and managed to retreat where they would wait for reinforcements, but so far no friendly ninja had been spotted, or any ninja, for that matter.

It was as they traveled, and this thought weighed heavily that all hell broke loose. In the short matter of a few seconds Sasuke, who had been in the lead found a Fuuma Shuriken launched at him from dead center, while a man and woman appeared to the left and right of Sakura and Sai, who had been in the middle, all three Chunin turning to fight their aggressors and only then realizing that their squad leader was gone. They didn't even have time to look for him though, as suddenly there were several copies of him on all sides, each clone taking the hit that was meant to kill one of the Konoha Nin, but not poofing out of existence until after they had managed to 'tag' each person with a Hiraishin seal.

In a rather rapid flash of blue lights, the three Konoha Chunin had found themselves transported to the ground and out of harms way, each one just as curious as the other two as to how they got there, before Naruto himself appeared before them a few moments later, wiping a bloody, three pronged kunai on the grass before turning to them. "Uhh, sorry about that. I had noticed those guys tailing us and setting this up a while back, but because I was in the rear I wasn't able to signal you without them knowing and them springing their trap earlier. The matter has been settled though, and we need to keep moving, albeit more cautiously this time. Same formation."

The team nodded, and Sasuke, having gotten a brief demonstration of his de-facto team leaders skill, while still not happy with the choice, had to admit it was impressive with the way that the blonde had reacted. Sai had taken the brief ordeal with a matter of indifference, while Sakura, ever the inquisitive mind, had questioned him and how he did it, with his only response being a joking, "It's a secret!" as the team moved along, now more than ready for combat.


Arisako Jin was bored. It had been a couple of days since he and the group of Kusa Nin he was with had made the push into Konoha, breaching their perimeter and destroying their reinforced Command Centre that had only been manned by a few members of ANBU. The agents had gone down swinging though, and while they had all eventually fallen to the sheer numbers of the Kusagakure Shinobi, they had managed to deal quite a decent bit of damage to their ranks, killing many, but not nearly enough to stop them. But that had been several days ago, and now the remaining force was just sitting around and waiting, sending out a patrol or scouting party every so often, but there was just nothing to do in the meanwhile.

Having had enough of sitting around with his friends in their cramped little tent, Jin got up, heading outside to smoke a quite smoke to try and take the edge off of all the monotony. Whistling a soft and jaunty tune to himself, Jin thrust his hands in his pockets as he walked up to one of the sentries that was guarding the camp, a man he recognized as Hirako Masaki, intent on just shooting the shit with the man and giving both of them a couple minutes of entertainment during the otherwise dreary night.

"Hey Masaki, you got a light? My lighters out of juice and I'm shit at Katon Jutsu." Jin began, standing next to the man, Masaki turning and holding out a lighter to his friend, smiling in the darkness as the two ninja began to talk, swapping a couple of stories as they smoked. "…So then after twenty minutes of Kensho nailing this girl, right, she looks up at him and says, and I shit you not man, she says 'You gonna put it in or just keep rubbing against my thigh?'" Masaki finished, both men breaking out into a fit of laughter, Jin doubling over and wheezing from the combination of that and his cigarette.

Having heard a small, muffled grunt and what sounded like coughing, Jin quickly stood up, his eyes widening as he noticed the rather odd kunai that was now sticking out of his friends throat. His cigarette falling from his mouth and the joke he had been about to tell forgotten, Jin had already begun to suck air into his lungs to raise the alarm when there was a flash of blue light, his head falling to the ground before he even knew what had happened.

Naruto knelt next to the two dead men, making sure that they were in face, dead. The other members of his squad were all in separate positions, all awaiting his signal to wipe this outpost from the map. As he created some Kage Bunshin to begin moving from tent to tent, hendged as one of the two men he had killed, to begin the silent takedown of as many people as possible before the alarm was raised, he checked his team's positions once more. Sasuke was with him, the two being the best suited for close combat and maneuver warfare, Sai was above them, circling on one of his ink birds, ready to provide mid to long range support when necessary, and Sakura hanging back, as the teams acting medic, ready to deploy aid if need be. Naruto motioned to the stoic Uchiha, and the two began moving through the compound with practiced ease, a rhythm having formed between the two in the several times that they had done this during the last couple of days.

This marked the fourth enemy encampment that they had come across, and with any luck, it would be the fourth one that they destroyed, hopefully without incident. So far, they had been lucky, with only the first camp they had come across having provided a small hiccup, but they had all come out unscathed, and in Naruto's opinion, better for it.

It had been a matter of pride that caused the mission to nearly end in disaster, and at the very beginning no less. It seemed as though a small part of the Uchiha prodigy had still been angry and jealous at Naruto for the defeat he had been given so many years prior, and during the raid, Sasuke had neglected to listen to orders, which soon led to a very large problem as he had found himself, Sai, and Sakura captured by the enemy nin when they had attempted to take it out all on their own, when Naruto had gone off to do some scouting of a nearby position.

The Uzumaki heir had returned to an empty camp, and thanks to his time in ANBU, he had soon tracked down his three wayward Chunin, in the heart of the enemy base. In what had been a cunning display of recklessness, or a genius display of strategy, Naruto had revealed himself in the center of the base, directly in view of Sasuke, Sai, and Sakura. After gaining the attention of all the ninja in the base, and gathering them into view, 'Naruto' had exploded, revealing himself to be a clone, the resulting explosion having fired his signature tri-tipped kunai all over, some even killing off guard nin. In the resulting panic he had utilized the Hiraishin to the fullest, massacring the entire enemy encampment, before returning to his team.

Afterwards, he had taken each of them aside and talked to them separately, and eventually, he took Sasuke on a short walk with him. The young avenger had been angrier at himself than Naruto (something which the blonde accredited to Kakashi, making a mental note to thank the Scarecrow for beating a sense of responsibility of actions into his subordinate), to which the blonde had told him not to worry, and that every made mistakes. He had left Sasuke for the night with a piece of advice, telling him that Itachi had always kept a level head, even when in the face of insurmountable odds. If Sasuke were to ever avenge his clan, he needed to be apathetic, for if he rushed in with blind emotion like he had tonight, he would most certainly not come out the other side.

This wasn't to say that Naruto and Sasuke were suddenly best friends after the incident, but after several more times of watching each other's back, they had built a rapport with each other. Such was the inevitability of working with someone for an extended period of time, especially in a hostile environment where trust is key. After that infraction, the rest of the operations had gone smoothly, the three Chunin and Jounin managing to make short work of their opponents, due in part largely to Sai's ability to scout the bases from an aerial view, and the large boon they gained by drawing on Naruto's ANBU experience, though none of them knew for sure where he had gained all this knowledge, such was the secretive nature of the Black Ops Division.

As he slit the throat of the last shinobi in the camp, he stood, turning to Sasuke and was about to congratulate the teen on another successful raid when his Sharingan flashed and in the blink of an eye the Uchiha Survivor had thrown a kunai with blinding speed, Naruto just barely able to move his head to the side in time, though the knife still nicked his cheek. He was on the black haired teen in a flash of blue, appearing at the Hiraishin tag he had placed on him earlier, a Rasengan already charged in his hand and inches from the boy's torso when he heard the distinct sound of a body falling behind him. Snapping his head around, he was greeted with the sight of a Kusagakure Ninja lying dead on the floor where he had been seconds before, Sasuke's kunai sticking straight out of the man's forehead.

Immediately canceling his jutsu and smiling sheepishly, Sasuke simply smirked and mutter a quick 'don't mention it' as he walked off to rejoin his comrades who were nearby. As he walked away, Naruto lightly chuckled to himself, shaking his head lightly as he followed, over to his team. Sasuke would live out the rest of his life believing he had saved Naruto, thus repaying his debt to the Blonde Jounin, never knowing that the ninja that had snuck up behind Naruto was merely a Kage Bunshin of himself, henged and overloaded with chakra so it would last until well after the team had left.

Naruto was a good team leader, after all.


All in all, the Naruto led Team Seven had taken over a grand total of six enemy outposts in the span of the week it took for the much larger relief force to meet up with them, after which they helped to set up the new Forward Command Centre, for which the main attacking force would be using. They had attributed their success to the relative low skill of the opponents they had been facing, the small number of enemies, and that they had the element of surprise, and it also helped that Naruto was quite the fearsome Ninja in his own right, but he refused to take away from a team success for personal glory.

In the wake of their complete mission, Team Seven had made a leisurely trip home arriving later in the evening after a couple of days. After passing through the gate and having a quick conversation with the two Chunin that were somehow always on gate duty, Kotetsu and Izumo (the latter of which was still convinced that the former still had his prized picture of Yugao, no matter how much he denied it), Naruto had dismissed the three Chunin to their own devices, tell them that he'd make the report to the Godaime in their stead.

His report to the Hokage had been fairly quick, and he had been ordered to the hospital the following morning, even though he insisted that he was perfectly fine. The Godaime had simply given him his trademarked eye-smile from behind his mask, not once looking up from his precious Icha-Icha the entire time the Uzumaki had been there, before he finally had disappeared in what was becoming his own trademarked flash of cobalt.

Naruto appeared in his bedroom, expecting to find Tayuya in there, maybe even waiting for him, only to find it empty. Dropping his gear, Naruto exited the room, calling the name of his beloved and walking down the stairs, still getting no response, and he soon began to check the entirety of the moderately sized house, before he eventually came to the kitchen, empty handed. Walking into the cooking area, he noticed a piece of paper on the countertop, folded in half with the word 'Shithead' eloquently written out on top of it. Idly noting that the redhead actually had pretty good handwriting, Naruto wasted no time in flipping the piece of paper open, absent mindedly creating a Kage Bunshin that began to get a small, meager meal of instant ramen together for the original as he read, a frown becoming evident as it creased his forehead.

Shithead,

I'm writing this in case you get back from fuckin' those Kusa assholes up before I get back from beating the shit out of some Taki pussies. Shouldn't take too long, because I'm a fuckin' badass kunoichi. They have me filling in for one of those people with the weird ass white eyes, so I'm workin' with a weird dude with bugs, a guy who fights with his dog, and some woman who apparently uses Genjutsu (She seems alright, Genjutsu's the shit), apparently they know you, friends from the academy or some shit. If you get back before me, don't do anything stupid. I'll try and kill these fucks quick so I can make good on my promise.

Fuck you, Asshole,

-Tayuya

Naruto placed the note back down on the counter, and sighed. The note was dated from a couple of days ago, so he doubted his redhead would be back anytime soon, he mused as he idly stirred his ramen, moving from the kitchen to the couch, kicking his feet up and eating in the awkward silence that is an empty home. He had never truly realized how much he just appreciated having someone else in the house, especially when that someone was his foul-mouthed hot blooded lover. Simply put, he missed her, and because of the war that had now kicked off in earnest, the two didn't really know when they would or wouldn't see each other, just because of the uncertainty that is war itself.

The Jounin raised the cup of ramen to his lips, drinking down the delicious broth of the makeshift dinner he had made, before throwing it away and sighing softly to himself as he walked up to the main bedroom of the house, intent on grabbing a quick shower and then heading to bed, and as he climbed in between those sheets, he thought briefly of just how much he had taken having Tayuya around for granted as he laid there alone, painfully aware of the empty feeling he had in his chest in the absence of the familiar warmth of her head on his chest, her legs entwined with his.


The blonde walked into the hospital at around nine in the morning the following day, striding lazily past the receptionist at the front desk, barely acknowledging him as he handed the decorated shinobi a folder filled with various information that they flipped through, stopping in their tracks, and turning back to the receptionist briefly, before speaking in a strong, feminine voice.

"Takune, it says here you already admitted Jounin Uzumaki?" The powerful figure of Senju Tsunade asked, crossing her arms under her considerably large one-hundred-and-six-centimeter bust, staring down at the young man as he explained to her that the man was already awaiting his inspection in Exam Room Fifteen, prompting the Sannin to leave the waiting area, heading straight for the aforementioned exam room, sighing to herself once before opening the door and stepping inside, the blonde Jounin turning from his spot looking out the window to greet the new arrival.

"Good Morning, Tsunade-Sama. I see that Ero-Sennin (Pervy Sage) was able to convince you to return?" Naruto greeted good naturedly, no point in angering the woman who had been known to destroy buildings with a single punch. The woman in question merely grunted in response, it was still quite early in the morning, and 'The Legendary Sucker' had been getting absolutely trashed drunk every night since her return, and despite her apprentice Shizune's best efforts, a hangover was still very much present within her.

"Yeah, get your laughs out while you can kid, I only agreed because he agreed to pay off my debt with his own cash. Now, the Hokage wanted me to check your chakra coils for possible damage from the influx of Youkai Chakra that's been being steadily released into your system…


The next several days passed somewhat slowly for Naruto, with them ending up with him spending most of his time either training in the various ninja arts, various meetings with the Hokage concerning the war effort, of with the blonde shinobi simply lazing around, doing his best to merely pass the time. He had even visited the newest additions to the village, Tsunade and Shizune, with all three coming to enjoy each other's company a great deal.

Naruto had even found out after one particularly long conversation with Tsunade about his heritage, discovering that she was something like a long lost aunt to him. So not only was he the Godson of one of the Sannin, he was the Great-Grand Nephew of another, but through her he was also very distantly related to the Shodai and Niidaime Hokage's, and he was the son of the Yondaime, with an honorable mention of serving as a Captain in ANBU directly under the Sandaime and Godaime Hokage's.

That had to be some kind of record.


Author's Note:

The war is on! I tried my hand a small amount at writing a little bit of a lemon here, not a full one per say, but a little bit more into detail than normal. Anyone see that twist I had going with Guren? No? Cool. And yes, the Konoha 12 are back! And what's more, their sensei actually taught them shit, instead of sending them out halfcocked like in canon. Anyways, I appreciate it if you guys take the time to leave a quick review if you can, helps me make the story better if you guys can give me a little insight here and there. I'll try and keep up with the speedy updates, but work has been picking up so no promises on my end.

That's all I got. Out.