Author's note:

I've decided to change my user name, for personal reasons. Before you decide to kill me for taking so long to update, I've got two words to say: Writer's block! Btw, this chapter is also slightly longer than the other two.

Italics represent inner thoughts. Jutsu names will be in English except for the very mainstream ones like Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Kushiyose no Jutsu etc.

Reached the 2000 hits mark (yay!). Please review to let me know if you liked or hated the chapter and if possible, give me some tips on my writing style as I try to improve every day. Also, please let me know if you prefer I write this fic in a first person point of view or a third person point of view? Now, without further ado, on to the story!

Chapter 3

'What did I do to deserve this?' was the thought that flashed through the Godaime Hokage's mind over and over again as she scribbled furiously with one hand while her other hand was occupied stamping these so called 'important documents' related to the villager's petty problems and worst of all, the stack of paperwork resting on her desk kept on growing.

One particular document caught her eye. Unlike the rest of the documents which were written in script writing, the writing on this particular piece was nothing short of unreadable, to put it mildly. The writing appeared to be written haphazardly and only one shinobi was daring enough to address the Hokage as Baa-chan.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at this because as far as she knew, Naruto was still in the hospital, recovering, as she received no reports from the nurses of any patient missing from the hospital.

Letter still in hand, she shunshined towards Naruto's allotted room in the hospital. She sighed in relief when she found Naruto to be sleeping, a blanket covering him from neck to toe, but she knew better to just believe her eyes.

Careful to not make any noise, the Hokage took out a kunai from the weapons pouch strapped to her knee and made her way towards the bed. She then poked Naruto, only for Naruto to poof away leaving a small cloud of smoke behind. This caused a vein to throb on Tsunade's forehead.

Curious, she averted her eyes from the empty hospital bed and took out the letter from the envelope and started reading….

'To Baa-chan,

When you read this letter, I will be long gone by then so don't bother sending anyone after me. I intend to keep my promise to Sakura-chan before I face her, as I never go back on my word! In order to bring Sasuke back, I will have to train so it may take me around 2 years before I set foot in Konoha again. I'll not give much details of where I will be going but I may give Gaara a visit. Please, don't worry the rest of the rookie nine by telling them this and just inform them that you sent me on a mission. If you can, try to keep the council from labeling me as a missing nin and if you can't, I'll understand. This is very important to me. I will miss all of you guys but I intend to follow my nindo so you can't persuade me to return to the village.

From,

Naruto Uzumaki'

A tear escaped her eyes but she promptly swiped at it from the back of her sleeve. There was no time to be moping around when duty called.

"Anbu, REPORT!" She bellowed. Not long after, two Anbu wearing a cat and bear mask shunshined into the room, "Cat, summon Jiraiya in my office and if you find him outside a hot spring, you have full authority to give him a beating on my behalf. Bear, inform the shinobi council that there is a meeting in an hour that requires all of the clan head's presense as the matter to be discussed is of utmost importance. Do not let the civilian council hear of this, understand?"

Bear nodded and then both Anbu leapt out of the window to perform the tasks assigned to them, causing Tsunade to contemplate the invention of doors.

Snapping out of her musing and becoming angry at the situation, she gathered chakra in her fists before she punched the unlucky wall closest to her. This caused said wall to crack from the pressure.

Meanwhile, the patients in the hospital were wondering if an earthquake had occurred.

XXXXX

'Damn, I'm hungry!' was the thought that greeted her when Tayuya opened her eyes, only to see the 'small sun' shining on her face, causing her to shut them again. Wait! Since when is the sun small? Am I dead? Is this hell?

To satisfy her curiosity, she blinked, a bit reluctantly, before facing the source of her discomfort. What she had assumed to be the sun was actually a lamp. This made her confused. What the hell?! Sakon and Ukon must have forgot to switch if off last night, seeing as how they love the darkness and all. Fucking masochists...

She waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light and before long; she was scanning the room she was in. The memories before she had fallen unconscious flashed through her mind. That explains it, but I swear I fell on the floor, not the couch. Nah, I must not be in my right senses just yet.

Despite telling herself this, something was not adding up. She tried to think of a situation which had left her in her current predicament, but a searing headache was preventing her from thinking straight.

While all this was going through the girl's mind, she failed to notice that the pain in her legs had dulled, the pain being only slightly uncomfortable instead of the intolerable pain she had experienced before passing out.

The sound of footsteps halted Tayuya's thought process. She turned her head slightly and saw a boy wearing a comical orange jumpsuit walking out of a room, which she assumed to be a kitchen, if the fridge in the edge of her vision was anything to go by. The boy looked like a shinobi, something she concluded after seeing a weapons pouch strapped to his waist. The said boy had cerulean blue eyes and spiky blonde hair with a hitai-ate tied on his forehead, but from which village he was from, she could not see. Something told her that she had seen him somewhere before but exactly when and where, she could not remember. He was not particularly impressive, shorter than even her, which was saying a lot! Hell, she was the, no, had been the shortest girl in her village. She could have easily taken him on, if her legs weren't do fucked up, that is. She now became wary because if the boy tried to anything to her, she wouldn't be able to stop him, but Kami be damned if she wouldn't put up a fight!

She tried to get up, but failed as she had no strength in her now frail body. Even if she could get in a sitting position, it wasn't like she could run or anything. She still hadn't noticed her 'not so mangled up' legs.

She now thought of intimidating the boy so she put up the fiercest glare she could muster on her face before glaring at the boy. The said boy glanced at her for the first time since he had entered the lounge, as if noticing the killer intent the red headed girl was radiating. She noticed, with slight satisfaction, that the blonde was paralyzed. She was about to smirk in victory before…

"You're awake!" Naruto exclaimed, recovering from his initial shock of seeing the red headed girl awake, "Finally, you lazy ass!"

Tayuya grew a tick mark on her forehead and forgetting all about the danger the boy might pose, "Who the fuck do you think you are to call me a lazy ass, you faggot." She retorted

Naruto just grinned as if he hadn't heard her which made Tayuya even madder. "Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage, at your service!" He said with a salute, still grinning. Then Naruto finally remembered the 'insult' she had thrown at him just now. He blushed, "And I only kissed Sasuke teme ONCE," Naruto retorted, his voice an octave higher than before, "Also, it was a damn accident, for Kami's sake!" He finished, almost screaming now.

Tayuya sighed, her anger at the situation already forgotten, not getting the usual pleasure she usually did from riling someone. 'What the hell! Why did I throw my plan of intimidating him down the drain so quickly? And it was working… I think…'

Unknown to Tayuya, Naruto's charm of bringing the best out of people had already begun working on her as her resolve of resisting weakened. Tayuya contemplated, "What's the point? If that damn snake bastard still hasn't sent someone to get me, he has already given up on me. Orochimaru doesn't take failure lightly and as soon as he comes down from cloud nine after finally getting his filthy hands on the Uchiha brat (she couldn't remember his name), or more accurately, his Sharingan, the snake will probably send someone to finish the job the sand bitch couldn't. He's probably noticed that I'm still alive thanks to his curse mark on me. Fuck you, Curse mark!' She absentmindedly touched the region between the neck and the shoulder through her top… 'If I let shithead over here take me to Konoha, then I'll probably get interrogated and abused before finally getting executed. Even if I do manage to escape from shithead, I'll probably not last long seeing as I have no place to go. Geez, nice options to choose from! Why does Kami hate me so much?'

Ironically, the idea of a quick and easy death had begun to appeal to her after she had weighed down her options. It was now that Naruto decided to interrupt her line of thought. Naruto had just been standing there as a thoughtful look had appeared on the girl's face and remembering Ero-sennin's advice of giving a girl her space (Unlikely right? sue me) was polite but after she had remained quiet for at least 5 minutes, he became frustrated. "Look Tayuya, I'm not going to harm you."

"Humph!" Tayuya said, "Like I'll believe tha-"

Recognition dawned on her. She remembered that voice. "You're the shinobi that kept on exclaiming about how we captured your Sasuke-Kun, aren't you. Ha, you weren't able to retrieve him, were you, shithead. So much for your nindo you kept shouting abou-" The glare Naruto sent towards her told her that antagonizing him any further would not be a smart move on her part, so she decided to stay quiet.

After a while, Naruto's face again turned into a smile as if this had never happened, "Believe it, I won't harm you. As a matter of fact, I'm going to take care of you an-…"

"So, basically you're going to take care of me so I'm all fit and healthy for the interrogation?" Tayuya interrupted, huffing a bit because she had become tired after all that thinking and talking and more thinking on a completely empty stomach, "Cuz I sure ain't going to that shitty village of yours willingly!"

Tayuya's guard dropped for a second and Naruto now saw pain and loneliness in her eyes that resembled his own when he looked at himself in the mirror when he was alone in his apartment. She now whispered under her breath, so low that Naruto wouldn't even have heard her speak if Kurama didn't grant him slightly enhanced senses, "It would be better if you just kill me now…" She regained her façade and continued glaring at him.

Naruto replied, careful to not make her any more wary now that he knew she had good reason to be suspicious of everyone. She must have led a hard life filled with betrayals, "Ok, listen well and don't interrupt me this time. You aren't going to die on my watch, ok? I didn't spend 3 damn days taking care of you without even taking a break to sleep just so you could give up on life. I'm not going to take you to Konoha. I'll take care of you until your legs are feeling better and you can go wherever you want to go, I won't stop you."

For the first time since she woke up, she glanced at her legs and found them bandaged. She almost gasped at surprise because of this. No one had ever shown any type of concern for her well being before, till now, and the person who finally did was her enemy. She almost laughed because of the cruel irony. She also now noticed that there wasn't any pain. Her legs were stiff and sore, if anything. Tayuya eyed him warily, searching his eyes for any signs of betrayal and when she found none, she sighed and hung her head. "Fine. I'll believe you for now, since I have no other fucking choice but if you betray me, I'll…" She let the threat hang.

Naruto chuckled nervously, "I won't. You can count on me."

A moment of silence followed this. Not liking the eeriness, Naruto said, "Sooo… you planning to go after Orochimaru after your legs are fully healed?"

"Hahahaha…Nice one shithead!" Tayuya said while laughing sarcastically, "I've failed him so I count myself lucky that I'm even alive… the moment I show my face to the snake bastard, I'm dead."

Naruto nodded, having expected this type of answer. After all the things he had heard about Orochimaru from Jiraiya, he wouldn't put it past the snake to treat even his own subordinates like scum. "So where will you go?" He inquired

"I do- don't know," Tayuya stuttered, having not thought that far ahead. 'Damn it…what's wrong with me? Why am I showing any type of weakness to this shithead? I must be tired…yeah, that's probably it.'

Naruto was shocked but quickly put on his thinking hat. 'Should I bring her to Konoha once she's fully healed? Nope, not a good idea. Kurama said the villagers will probably kill her, seeing as how she helped invade the village. WAIT…does that mean she helped in killing old man Jiji?'

"Snap out it, brat!" Kyuubi interrupted, in his mind, "Do you even want to rescue your rival? She's probably got valuable information on Orochimaru's fighting style and the location of his bases and if I know anything about him, he'll probably teach all that he knows to Sasuke. If you figure out the snake's fighting style, you can figure out Sasuke's fighting style next time you meet, giving you an advantage."

Naruto took a moment to comprehend this. "You're right. Thanks! I knew you weren't as dumb as you look, furball!"

Kurama sweat dropped. "Look who's talking. Hehehe." With that said, Kurama put his head on his arms and dozed off.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto exclaimed but when he received no reply, he grumbled in annoyance and was thinking of a way to wake the fox… 'I'll use that basic Katon Jutsu pervy sage taught me on Kurama. That'll teach the dumb fox to mess with m-.'

A pillow hit Naruto's head with surprising force, sending the blonde tumbling to the floor, effectively interrupting his musing.

He saw Tayuya looking at him with wild eyes. "What the fuck do you think you were doing shithead, ignoring me like that?" Tayuya spat, "I've been shouting at you for the last few minutes and you kept on staring at the wall. Don't scare me like that, I thought Orochimaru had come himself to finish me off, baka!"

Naruto, now sweating nervously because of fear of his life, waved his hands in front of his head in a comical way, "I was just talking to myself."

Tayuya rolled her eyes but kept glaring at him. "Try again, shithead" Tayuya said in a sickeningly sweet voice making Naruto shiver.

Naruto raised his hand to scratch the back of his head, "Umm… I'm tired, ok?" Seeing Tayuya grab the lamp beside her and about to throw it at him, Naruto yelped. "Please don't kill me!" In a last ditch effort, he put on his puppy dog face and pouted at her.

Tayuya sighed upon seeing this and placed the lamp in its allotted space. "Consider yourself lucky that I need you," she said, "for a while, that is," She finished.

Seeing that he was out of danger, the blonde got back on his feet and smiled as if nothing had happened. "Glad to see we're getting along so well," he said.

"Don't get over your head," she scoffed, "I'm not going to try to get along with you as I'm out of here once my legs heal."

"And go where exactly?" Naruto inquired

Tayuya opened her mouth to speak but closed it when she realized she had no answer, something that didn't go unnoticed by her companion.

Tayuya saw him looking at her with…wait, is that pity in his eyes…oh, I'm going to teach that fucker a lesson for thinking I'm some damsel in distress and he's my knight in shining armor…sheesh, what a cliché!

Then he said something that shocked her, leaving her hollow after all the anger drained away from her system. "You can stay with me, if you like. I'll be on the move constantly. Once your legs are healed, we can start the journey. Take some time to think about my offer and answer me when you feel like it. For now, I'm going to sleep. Do you need anything?"

Tayuya was still a bit shocked so she just nodded her head and asked for some water. Naruto turned around on his heels and walked towards the kitchen. 'Here I thought he was trying to get rid me as soon as possible. Hell, even I know that I'm not the most 'fun' (to put it kindly) person to be around with.'

Naruto came into the lounge again, this time with a glass of water in his hand but instead of giving it to her; he took it to the bedroom. Tayuya called after him, "Hey, I'm over here ya know." Naruto stayed silent, giving no indication he had heard her.

After he placed the glass on the bedside table, he went over to the couch Tayuya lay in and scooped her up in his arms effortlessly, eliciting a small shriek of surprise and alarm from her, "What the fuck are you doing?!" Tayuya screeched, "Let me down…no, you are not going to take advantage of me… I knew you were too good to be true." By now, a tear had escaped her eyes.

Naruto saw this and decided then and there he would try his best to make her more trusting with people even though he knew it would be a hard endeavor. She probably had good reason to be naturally suspicious of everyone as humans can be very cruel when they want to be as Naruto had experienced this cruelty first-hand.

"Relax, Tayuya-chan. Did I not say that I wasn't going to hurt you?" Naruto began, "I'm just going to lay you down in the bed as I'm sure the couch isn't very comfortable."

Tayuya calmed down a bit and decided to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt. Naruto entered the room, careful not to bump Tayuya's dangling legs against anything, and lifted the blanket with one of his feet as both of his hands were occupied. He gently put her down in the bed before covering her with the blanket before switching off the light and turning around to leave the room.

Tayuya, knowing the structure of the hut inside out, as she had took shelter here with the rest of the Sound Four when they were travelling to Konoha to retrieve Sasuke, knew that there wasn't another bed in the said hut. "Where do you think you're going?" She inquired curiously.

"To the couch to sleep," Naruto teased, "but if you want to, I can sleep with you Tayuya-c-h-a-n." Naruto said, stressing the 'chan' at the end.

Tayuya blushed madly at this, "In yo-your dreams, you pervert!" She breathed, "And don't you dare call me that." She tried to sound angry but utterly failed at doing so as she was exhausted.

Naruto laughed at this, infuriating her even more. He held up his hands in a peace gesture, "Ok ok, I won't…Goodnight Tayuya."

Tayuya spoke when he was about to close the door to her room, "Why?" She began while lying down in her bed, nervously twirling her fingers through her hair, "I mean, why are you doing this? Why help an enemy? Why didn't you just kill me and spare yourself the trouble?" Her voice rose towards the end of her question. She needed to know. She had never experienced this type of behavior before. What kind of shinobi nursed their enemy back to health and was willing to let them go without asking for anything in return?

"I believe that every person deserves a second chance and even if I didn't believe that, I would still have saved you as I'm not that type of person that would let another person die when I can do something to help them."

With that said, Naruto closed the door. Meanwhile, Tayuya was repeating the blonde's words in her head, over and over again. "Maybe you aren't such a shithead, after all," she whispered to herself before finally letting sleep claim her.

XXXXX

Tsunade was rubbing her temples, frustration evident on her face as Jiraiya stood before her in her office.

"So should I pursue Naruto?" Jiraiya asked. "He couldn't have gone that far."

Tsunade slumped back in her chair, "What will you do when you do find him?"

"I thought you already knew," Jiraiya pointed out, "Akatsuki is after him so I'll train Naruto to the best of my abilities so when they arrive to extract Naruto's bijuu from him, he'll be able to fight back. Besides, I owe it to Minato. I wasn't there during Naruto's childhood, I wasn't there to protect him when it counted. I won't repeat the same mistakes again."

The Godaime Hokage sighed, "I'm not saying I like the idea," she began, "but I guess we have no choice on this matter. Naruto will be more safe travelling with you than he'll be here in the village, considering the fragile state Konoha is in after the invasion."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "So, should I leave right now?"

Tsunade simply said yes and slumped on her desk again, arms folded. Before Jiraiya left, he couldn't resist but tease her considering he wouldn't see her for another two and a half years. He shunshined behind her to grope her, but Tsunade having expected this, turned around in her chair at a speed that rivaled the Yondaime and punched him in the gut. Jiraiya went through the wall and went soaring into the air, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

Meanwhile, the villagers were praying to not let the meteorite crash into the village.

Not much to say about this chapter. For all those who crave action, rest assured, it will begin in about a chapter or two. R&R.