A waning crescent moon loomed over the village of Konohagakure, partially illuminating the village with its translucent light. Inside one of the apartment buildings on the farther side of the village, snoring could be heard. After a deep inhale of breath, the snoring then came to a temporary halt, before resuming again.
Laying beside the snoring man was a fully nude woman sitting in the bed to his right. The room they were in was smoky, as clouds hovered around the furniture, decorations, and plants that were stationed throughout the space.
Kurenai Yuuhi took another pull of the cigarette between her fingers and blew another cloud into the air. She knew her plants would be mad at her for this, but they'll just have to forgive her. The cigarette was helping her anxiety, or at least that's what it felt like. No wonder Asuma loved this crap.
As she watched the smoke clouds go by with her thoughts traveling on top of them, she jumped when she felt sudden movement behind her. She turned around and saw Naruto looking at her with tired, but concerned eyes.
"I know this is your home, not mine, but... is smoking indoors really a good idea?" He asked innocently. Kurenai looked away for a second before staring at the burning cigarette in her hands.
She sighed, "You're right." The cigarette was put out in a nearby ashtray, and Kurenai fanned her hand around to clear some of the smoke.
"Sorry." He apologized, rubbing his eye, "I didn't even know that you smoke."
"I don't." Kurenai responded, "I'm sorry if it was bothering you. Asuma always used to say that a cigarette after sex really hits the spot. But all it's making me do is feel bad."
Naruto reached a hand out to her and caressed Kurenai's shoulder. He knew she was going through a lot mentally and emotionally. The best he could do was just be there for her.
"I'm here if you ever want to talk about anything."
Kurenai looked at the younger man in the eyes. This boy... he wasn't like many men out there. He could tell he really cared for her, and that's what was part of the problem for her. It wasn't just the mind-blowing sex, his overall company was something she was growing attached to. He was easy to talk to, a great listener, and did what he could to console and remedy her pains from the events that had transpired earlier that week. She could tell it was genuine, and Kurenai wasn't exactly in her right frame of mind to just push him away. She knew she had to consider his feelings too, but it's not like he had any complaints. It seemed as though the same feelings had applied to him as well.
"Thank you, Naruto." She sighed, turning her head back around, "Let's just head to sleep. It's late."
The blonde brought his hand back and continued staring at the fair-skinned woman. He then looked away and rolled over.
"Yeah."
The older adult in the room soon tucked her body back into the bed, as both occupants faced away from the other. The snoring, although quieter this time, from Naruto soon resumed, while Kurenai continued laying there in silence. She knew it was going to be tough for her to sleep. Just what exactly is going on in her life? How did things get so strange so quickly? The woman tossed and turned for the remainder of the night, driving herself mad with a way to come to a proper solution on what to do with this situation she found herself in.
Once dawn arrived, Naruto was the first to wake up. Kurenai was wrapped up in his arms. She had started crying in the middle of the night, which woke him up again. Obviously, Naruto's only reaction was to console her. She welcomed his comforting gestures without hesitation and continued to let out her bottled emotions. It made things feel bittersweet for him since he was glad he could be there emotionally for her, but on the other hand, Kurenai seemed very intent on not letting things get serious between them. And given how things have started, he couldn't find much room to disagree with her about it. But they just seemed to be getting closer and closer, whether they wanted it to happen or not. Was something wrong with them? Why was is it so hard to set out these guidelines and boundaries and stick by them? A Genin and a Jounin have no business being together like this, so why on earth is it getting this complicated?
A big part of Naruto wanted to just lay there, enjoying the comfort of being in bed with her. She was so warm, the skin-on-skin contact was almost addicting. She was curled up into his arms, her back to him while her head laid on the pillow his arm was resting under. She held his hand as his other arm wrapped over her protectively, breathing silently and calmly while she slept. He was comforting her the way that was coming naturally to him, and the fact that it felt wrong and right at the same time was confusing to him.
Eventually, though, Naruto managed to rip himself away from Kurenai and the bed. The woman let out what sounded like a complaint, but let Naruto go before continuing her rest. Naruto had managed to find all of his discarded clothes (again), and exit out of Kurenai's apartment without making a sound.
Once stepping out into the morning sun's rays, Naruto made an educated decision to head to his home and shower before resuming with today's tasks. In between rounds of lovemaking with Kurenai, Naruto's memories were constantly reminded of his situation involving Sakura. In fact, one of the biggest reasons he enjoyed sex with Kurenai so much was because it allowed him to forget about it temporarily. But every time they finished, his persistent thoughts resumed. Naruto could only assume that Kurenai was in a similar situation.
It'd been two days since Naruto had first been occupied with his distractions. He no longer had an excuse not to face his problems, he realized as he left his house and continued walking down Konoha's streets. The people around him were walking to their own destinations, probably getting ready for work. Naruto, on the other hand, was set on facing his problems before they got too out of hand. Today, he was going to tell Tsunade the truth.
He would be lying if he said that he wasn't nervous about it, however. He's aware of the consequences for providing invalid information regarding a high-ranking mission, as well as the consequences of assaulting a fellow shinobi of Konoha. It could turn out ugly, but Naruto knew that it could only get uglier the longer he drew it out. The feeling of lying was something that ate away at him like an infection, and he knew that telling the truth was the only remedy for it. He and Kurenai had talked about it in between rounds, and even she had agreed that keeping it a secret was going to be more damaging in the long run. It was time to come clean, and Naruto figured it'd be better to do it now than to procrastinate or talk himself out of it any more than he had already.
As he stood in the middle of the walkway to map out how he was going to go about this, he randomly felt eyes watching him. He rose an eyebrow and looked around to find where the onlooker was located. He managed to see someone retreat around a corner, and everyone knows that Naruto was not the type to just ignore something.
"Hello?" He called out, "If you're trying to spy on me, you're not really doing a great job."
Hinata Hyuuga, the female member of Team Kurenai, felt her heart jump in her chest. She scolded herself for her sloppy surveillance skills. How could she, a holder of the Byakugan, manage to fumble this kind of spy attempt? If it were a mission she definitely would have failed. Today was the first day she'd spotted him since she heard of his arrival back to the village, so obviously, Hinata had wanted to see exactly how much Naruto changed over the years. From what she saw, he looked even better than she had anticipated. He was taller, seemed more muscularly developed, and even seemed to have a more mature demeanor than before. When she sensed his chakra, her heart almost plopped out onto the dirt-filled terrain she stood on. And once she managed to actually see him, it was very hard to look away.
However, drawing out her stare had attracted his attention and now things were awkward. For her, at least.
Seeing as the cat was out of the bag, Hinata took a deep breath and decided to just go out and say something. With a blush filled with nothing but the blood of embarrassment, she exposed herself slowly from around the corner, hands held up close to her face as always.
"Um... Hello, Naruto. Sorry, I-I wasn't trying to spy on you, I just, um..."
"Oh, hey, Hinata!" Naruto greeted with a smile, walking up to her. This only made the young Hyuuga's blush grow to be more pronounced, "I should have known it was you. How are you? It's been a while hasn't it?"
Hinata swore she could faint any second now. But she had used these three years to practice being a little bolder. She vowed that she would always stand her ground in tough situations, even when it came to her Naruto-kun.
"Um, y-yes it has. I heard you were back from your mission and I, um, just wanted to welcome you back home..." She then decided to go ahead and kick it up a notch, which was one of the hardest things she had to learn how to do, "We... missed you."
Naruto smiled and, to Hinata's surprise, hugged her.
All of the air had been stolen from her lungs. Her eyes fluttered in a struggle to stay open as she was only a moment away from passing out in his hold. Naruto didn't let the hug linger since she was too shocked to hug him back; to her disappointment or relief, she wasn't sure.
Naruto held her by the shoulders as he reclined back, giving her a flashy grin, "I missed you too, Hinata. It's good to be back!"
Hinata could only stand there and blink twice as she tried not to break eye contact. Naruto released her and sighed to himself, looking down at the ground, "You know... I noticed over the years that whenever I see you, something good happens right after." He chuckled a bit before smiling at her again, "It's kind of like you're my good luck charm!"
Hinata's whole world stopped for her as she thought one final thought, "I'm his... good luck charm?"
No amount of mental training could prepare Hinata for those words. She was down for the count almost instantly.
"Ah geez!" Naruto cried out as she saw Hinata's knees buckle. He quickly reached his arms out behind her to catch her before she fell back. Hinata's eyes were closed, her violet locks sprawled out all across her face.
"Man! Hinata, do you have some kind of iron deficiency or something?!" He asked her, only to get no response. He sighed to himself, "You should really get that checked..."
As Naruto gathered her in her arms to drop her off at a bench near her home, unbeknownst to Naruto, a small smile grew on the Hyuuga's face.
"Holy shit. The kid must be blessed."
"He is... and that's the biggest problem."
"Literally."
"Now isn't the time for jokes, Anko." Kurenai sighed, "What should I do?"
Anko shrugged her shoulders, "I'd personally start with developing some self-restraint."
An offended Kurenai stopped walking, while Anko continued her stride. She lifted her hands to the back of her head in a carefree position and looked back at her offended friend, "You wanted honesty, Kurenai. Don't get upset when I give it to ya."
After a sharp inhale of breath, Kurenai had to convince herself that she was right. She let out a slow exhale and resumed walking to catch up to her.
"Boy, you really don't hold back, do you?" Kurenai asked.
"Never." Anko giggled, "It ain't my style. You know that."
The red-eyed woman stepped back to Anko's side and sighed, "I understand my self-restraint needs work. It's not like I haven't tried to end things with us, but... somehow I find myself going back for more. Naruto seemed so understanding when we talked about ending it, and then we just... did it again. And again. "
"I'm a little jealous, so it's a bit hard for me to find empathy for you, Kurenai." Said Anko with an envious pout, "If I had someone who could keep me coming back like that, you best believe I'm going to ride that train until the wheels fall off."
"Oh, God." Kurenai facepalmed herself, "So you're saying I should indulge myself? With a boy almost half my age? While we're both healing from freshly given trauma?"
Anko shrugged, "Well, when you put it that way..."
"It's the reality of the situation. And I don't think it's worth prolonging just because the sex is good."
"It's obviously better than 'good' if we're having this discussion."
Kurenai closed her eyes and huffed.
"Do you have any ideas for a solution or not?"
Anko and Kurenai both arrived at their destination, Training Grounds 45. Anko sat on a log in the middle of the open area and Kurenai sat on the one across from her.
"Well, if fantastic sex is really that problematic for you, I guess you could just find a way to sabotage the relationship between you both. Just ruin the way he sees you and you won't have to worry about him coming back."
Kurenai did not enjoy the sound of this idea, but she was not going to dismiss it so easily, "And how exactly am I expected to do that?"
"Just break his poor little heart. It doesn't take much to do that to a man. Bruise his ego enough and he won't want to be anywhere near you." The Tokubetsu Jounin explained. Kurenai shook her head.
"I don't know if I can do that, Anko. I can't just be mean to him for no reason."
Anko rolled her eyes, "God, Nai-chan. You can't stop screwing him and you can't be mean to him to make him not want to screw you. Those are two very simple solutions that you claim you are incapable of performing."
Kurenai had to remind herself that she intentionally sought Anko out for her brutal honesty for a reason. The violet-haired kunoichi noted Kurenai's silence and sighed.
"Well, maybe I can just screw him a few times so he ends up falling for me instead of you." She murmured, looking off in the distance with a grin. Kurenai frowned.
"That's not funny, Anko."
"Who said I was trying to be funny?" She responded, although obviously joking on the matter to lighten the mood, "Sharing is caring, friend."
Kurenai shook her head for the umpteenth time and stood up, "Let's just spar like we planned and continue this conversation another time."
Anko grinned, stood up, and began stretching her limbs, "Whatever you say, Nai-chan. You'll have plenty of time to brainstorm once I knock you on your ass."
"Oh, screw you."
After gently placing Hinata on a park bench, as he was unable to wake her back up, Naruto proceed to head to Tsunade's office, currently walking up to the double doors. Naruto stopped himself for a moment and took a deep breath, deciding to commit to his choice. He lifted his hand to knock on the door three times. Tsunade's thunderous voice called out for him to enter, and so he did.
Upon entering the Hokage's office, he was greeted to the sight of both Tsunade and Shizune, both working together on some paperwork sprawled out all across the desk.
Tsunade then looked up after reading a document and smiled warmly as she spotted Naruto, as did Shizune. This calmed any budding anxiety growing in Naruto's chest, despite him knowing why he came here.
"Hello, Naruto. How are you feeling?" Asked Tsunade.
"I'm okay." He nodded, "I um... have to talk to you about something."
"Oh." Said Tsunade. She met eyes with Shizune and the assistant nodded before heading out of the room. She made sure to give Naruto a reassuring rub on the shoulder as she passed him on the way out.
The Slug Queen moved asside some papers as she gave Naruto her undivided attention, "What's on your mind?"
Naruto hesitated for a second, "I have to tell you the truth about what happened on my last mission... in regards to Sakura."
Tsunade simply sat there and looked at him for a few seconds before nodding.
"You said that she was attacked by Orochimaru... but that's not true, isn't it?"
Naruto closed his eyes. He figured she would have had some kind of a clue.
"So you know."
"Hm, maybe. Feel free to say what you planned to say."
Since the cat was out of the bag, Naruto just sighed and got it over with.
"It was me, not Orochimaru. I was taken over by the Kyuubi's powers and it caused me to attack her."
Tsunade closed her eyes. The air between them was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
"That's very unfortunate, Naruto." She said, "Sakura was your teammate. She-"
"I know, and I feel awful." He admitted, "She meant so much to me, and I would have never thought in a thousand years-"
"Naruto."
"Yeah?"
"Don't beat yourself up." She said, "I know more than you think. I know that what happened technically isn't your fault."
Naruto sighed, "It doesn't feel like it..."
Tsunade studied him and said nothing, knowing that Naruto was dealing with a lot emotionally.
"So, who told you?" He asked.
"Not Yamato, if that's who you were wondering." She said with a slight smirk, "I have my eye on you more than you think."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. He didn't think that Tsunade would resort to spying on him... it started making sense, though, as it would explain why Hinata was creeping on him earlier.
"That makes me kind of uncomfortable." He said honestly.
"I have to keep my eyes on you, Naruto." She said, "You're an important member of this village and it's crucial that I know what's going on in your-"
A sudden thought of Kurenai had occurred to Naruto and it forced him to interrupt.
"What else do you know?" He interrupted and challenged, making Tsunade raise her eyebrows. The question caught her off guard as he waited for an answer.
"Er, I don't know. What else do you think I should know?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Nothing. I just don't enjoy knowing that you've been spying on me."
"It seems like fair game, considering how you lied to me."
Naruto slowly nodded. She had a point.
"Well, now I told you the truth. So I'd appreciate it if you stopped."
It was Tsunade's turn to narrow her eyes.
"Okay, not a problem. You seem to be getting pretty defensive about it."
"I just don't like stuff like that."
"We're shinobi, Naruto. Spying is a big part of what we do, in case that hasn't caught on yet." Tsunade countered. Naruto then decided to take a step back. It didn't seem that she knew of the other hidden situation in his life, but he found it unlikely if she'd been spying up until today. If it really was Hinata that was being used as her spy, then surely Hinata wouldn't have been the 'same old Hinata' that she was today, considering Kurenai is her sensei... Or perhaps she had more than one spy. There were a lot of variables coming into play in his mind.
However, since Tsunade didn't seem to want to bring it up, he figured it would be wise not to do the same. Perhaps she was still unaware of that part, "Forget it. Just know that I'm sorry that I lied to you about Sakura. I was just scared."
Tsunade got up from her chair and walked around to step closer to Naruto, leaning against the front of her desk.
"It's okay. I'm just glad you came to me honestly about it now. But we have to trust each other in order for things to go smoothly around here, okay?"
Naruto nodded solemnly. Tsunade huffed and held Naruto's shoulders.
"I'm here if you ever want to talk about anything. I promise I'd much rather you communicate to me about important stuff like that than for me to resort to spying. I trust you, but I have a sharp intuition."
"That, you do." Naruto rolled his eyes playfully, "But I hear you. I won't lie to you again."
"Good." Tsunade pulled him into a brief hug, "Hey, I've been doing some thinking and... I figured I could be a little more honest with you about certain things, too."
Naruto rose an eyebrow, "Uh, okay."
Tsunade leaned back against the desk and crossed her arms, "But if I tell you... you have to keep it between me and you. And ONLY me and you."
The young boy slowly nodded, "Okay, sure."
He wasn't sure where this was going. Tsunade simply continued looking at him, visibly conflicted about saying what she wanted to say.
"So... something you don't know is that you're actually a lot more important than you think you are, Naruto. You weren't born as just some random orphan who wants to be Hokage."
Naruto showed visible signs of confusion, as he wasn't sure what that meant. Tsunade figured she'd best just get to the point.
"Uzumaki is your surname because you're named after your mother, Kushina Uzumaki to protect your identity. The truth is... your father's name is Minato Namikaze."
Naruto's eyes started to widen with skepticism. He was already familiar with that name. Tsunade nodded at his reaction to reinforce her statement, which caused him to take a step back and register what was being said to him.
"You're the son of The Fourth Hokage, Naruto."