Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
When Tayuya finally felt consciousness dripping back into her mind, it was followed almost vindictively by the sensation of agony. Whatever desire she might have had of waking up were immediately squashed beneath the near primal desire for deaths cold embrace, a certain path that led away from the pain. Unfortunately, pain was only one of the things she was forced to deal with it seemed.
For a moment, the redhead was almost overwhelmed by the flood of emotions, sensations, and thoughts that only now came forth with her waking. The pain was the only thing that stopped her from having an anxiety attack, it's pulsing constantly interrupting her thoughts, distracting her just enough from her other realisations to keep her grounded. But, a distraction only worked for so long, and soon Tayuya was forced to pay attention to her other senses, albeit at a slower pace.
Memories from before she had passed out flowed back into her mind. Fighting the fat kid, her arm getting crushed, killing the fat kid, and the agonising attempt she made at stumbling back to her master. Everything after that was a little foggy, but little by little, it was clearing up. Considering she was still alive, Tayuya figured that the outcome couldn't have been too bad. Maybe she did actually find her way back to Orochimaru after all.
Tayuya forced a hopeful and somehow cocky smile.
She knew she hadn't. It was stupid to think that she had made it all the way back to Otogakure in her condition. And if she really were back, then she would be too doped up on drugs to be waking up in pain. But she knew that she was somewhere, at someone's mercy. Somewhere not her home, and someone not her master. But most importantly, while also being aware of what was and what was not, she was also painfully aware of what was missing.
Tayuya tried to ignore it. She tried to drown it out, allowing other thoughts to cloud her mind until she couldn't even think straight, but to avail. She refused to look down, to catch even a glimpse of what was no longer there. It was a weakness that she simply couldn't acknowledge. A fact her pride wouldn't allow to exist within her mind. But she also knew it was one she would have to deal with at some point.
Forcing herself to sit up, she decided to live in denial a little while longer, opting to observe her surroundings like the trained and vigilant kunoichi she was. It was actually a little surprising. Her expectations had been that of a jail cell of some kind, or a hospital room outfitted with high security until she could be moved to the former. It was the best she could really hope for considering that she had killed a Konoha shinobi during the aided escape of another. With Konoha being the closest village she remembered herself being near, it stood to reason that she would have been found and taken there.
It appeared she was wrong. Her surroundings weren't of either a jail cell or hospital room. Instead, Tayuya found herself resting on a bed in what appeared to be a small hotel room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary or suspicious in any way, and she was extremely surprised to find that her belonging, minus the weaponry, had been neatly stacked atop or beside a new set of clothes at the end of her bed. That, however, led to her next observation… of her being mostly naked, save for a lot of bandages.
Tayuya didn't even blush at the fact, still forcing herself to not notice her body's condition for as long as possible. She simply continued to idly look around, soaking in every detail of the place, searching for any and all hints of a trap or trick, and listing off every item in the room that she could use should she need to kill someone. It wasn't until her eyes finally landed on the expensive looking katana laid out on a nearby table that reality truly began to sink in.
The memorised sensations that she had been all but forcing herself to feel vanished, replaced by the stinging pain that abruptly ended above her elbow. Biting her lip, she looked down; holding back tears as she softly clasped her right hand over the bandaged stump of her left arm. There was no denying it any longer. The arm was most definitely gone; severed clean off by the sword she had not moments ago laid eyes on.
Her memories continued to clear up, revealing her attacker and what he had done to her. But that only made her realise that he wasn't in the room with her. His sword was there, so he wouldn't be too far away, but he also wasn't close enough for her to pick up on his presence. Tayuya concluded that he had left her alone under the assumption that she wouldn't be waking up any time soon. She wasn't sure if it was carelessness or stupidity on his part, but it was an opportunity for her.
Standing up on wobbly legs, Tayuya dressed herself in the provided clothes. A long and frustrating ordeal as she adjusted ever so slowly to having only one arm. She was surprised as she inspected her wounds, many of which were fully healed already. Aside from the blatantly obvious missing arm, the only real sign of her injuries came in the form of a moderate sized scar on her side from the wind jutsu. Either her captor was a really efficient and somewhat resourceful medic, or he had taken her to a hospital somewhere to make sure she was healed properly.
The clothes themselves were, thankfully, not anything girly. The outfit consisted of a baggy grey shirt and black pants, making it obvious that her captor had a mind set for practicality over presentation. Had this been any other situation, she might have actually gotten along with the guy. He had been rather blunt and straight to the point upon his initial questioning of her, as far as she could recall, and while losing her arm pissed her off, she could definitely respect him for dealing with the issue so quickly and efficiently.
If she wasn't so dead set on finding her way back to Orochimaru, then Tayuya would have been tempted to ask if the guy wanted to join Otogakure.
She scoffed a little at that thought. He had been asking specifically for Orochimaru in the first place, which was clearly a bad sign. Very few people ever asked about Orochimaru, and those that did were more or less after something, usually the Sannin's bounty. Not that Tayuya thought her master was under any immediate threat; it was just that walking back to the village with an enemy wasn't a good way of getting any mercy.
Collecting her possessions, she went to leave, only to stop suddenly as she realised she was completely unarmed, pun not intended. The sword on the table was an option, but it would be a pain, and she was, unfortunately, too short for its length. Walking into the kitchen area, she searched the draws until she found a small well-sharpened knife. Giving a careless shrug, she figured it was better than nothing and carefully tucked it away into one of her pockets.
Walking to the door, she opened it, only to come face to face with the red haired boy that had cut off her arm. Without hesitating, Tayuya dug her hand into her pocket hazardously, slicing her hand in on the knife in the process, before pulling it out and lashing at the boy with a stabbing motion. He caught her wrist effortlessly and proceed to twist her arm up and behind her back, removing the blade from her hand as he went.
"Let go of me, you fucking asshole!"
"As glad as I am to see that you're finally awake, I'm not exactly interested in having you try to kill me again," Naruto said in a bored tone. "Being stabbed once already as a result of you is quite enough excitement for me to deal with"
Tayuya snarled. "What the fuck are you talking about?!"
"Nothing of importance" he replied casually. "But since you're awake, there are a few things I wouldn't mind talking about with you. Your master's location for one"
"Go fuck yourself! There's nothing you can do to make me rat out Orochimaru to you!" she spat angrily, trying futilely to wriggle out of his grip. "And even if I did, he'd tear you apart like you were nothing. You don't stand a chance against him"
Naruto pushed her forward and let go of her arm, hooking his foot to her ankle and causing her to tumble to the floor. Closing the door behind him, he walked straight past Tayuya and placed the now bloody knife on the sink bench before turning back to the confused girl.
"If I wanted to kill Orochimaru, I would have already tortured you for the information. I also wouldn't have gone through the effort of getting you healed to such an extent. I would have only needed you to be conscious, which I could have done in a much more unpleasant manner," he explained. "That being said, I chose to go through the irritating process of having you healed by the Hokage of Konoha herself. You should consider yourself lucky that she even did so, instead of killing you on sight"
Tayuya growled. "So what? You want me to be grateful towards that old hag?"
He shook his head. "No" he answered simply. "I personally don't care what you think of it; so long as you don't take it for granted"- he pointed at her bleeding hand -"Not thinking things through in your current condition is a good way of getting hurt, as you have already found out. I didn't go through so much trouble just for you to go and get yourself killed"
The girl stood up and glared at him. "You know what? I don't give a flying fuck how much trouble I caused you. The more the better, actually" she said angrily. "Because in case you had somehow forgotten, you cut my fucking arm off, you psycho piece of shit!"
Naruto simply stared back her questioningly. "Would you rather I had left it? You didn't even have the strength to tourniquet it properly. You would have died from blood loss, or worse, it could have gotten infected. Do you have any idea how agonising of a death you would suffer if that happened?"
"Oh? And I suppose you do?"
"Obviously not. I'm still alive. But I have seen someone go through it. Very unpleasant" he said. "I would rather not have to hear screaming like that again if I could help it"
The two remained silent after that comment. Tayuya continued to glare defiantly at Naruto while he continued to watch her with absolutely no sense of urgency. It wasn't until Tayuya finally fell to her knees panting that Naruto decided to do anything. Walking up to her, he lifted her up by her one arm and guided her to the bed, much to her ire. Sitting her down, he pulled out his now bloodstained orange shirt and tore a strip off of it before wrapping it tightly around her hand.
Pulling a chair up beside the bed, he sat down and sighed deeply. "I think you and me have gotten off on the wrong foot here," he said unsurely. "I'm also aware that I don't often make good first impressions. I don't expect forgiveness, but I do expect some sort of cooperation on your part. The first thing you can do towards that is to not push yourself anymore. You were in a medically induced coma when I smuggled you out of Konoha, so it's stupid to think that you would be okay to do, well, pretty much anything"
Tayuya winced, pain still throbbing through her body. "I already told you, you idiot. I'm not ratting out Orochimaru"
"I don't need you to rat him out to me. I need you to set up a meeting with him for me," Naruto said, earning a surprised look from the girl. "Killing Orochimaru, at this point, would be… a hindrance. So, I only want to talk to him. Since you aren't capable of safely getting yourself back to him alone, and I have a few questions to ask him, I propose that we 'team up' for a short time, at least until we both get what we want"
"Heh, and why the hell should I even trust you?"
Naruto smirked slightly. "Because you don't have any other option. Even that curse seal on your neck won't help you. The strain such a crude construct would put on your body would kill you in your state," he explained. "I, however, am perfectly capable of tracking down Orochimaru by myself, if given enough time. But time is not something I have, not anymore. Hence I went and collected one of his subordinates to help speed things along"
Tayuya narrowed her eyes at him. She knew he was right, and there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he had set up and planned everything out for this exact moment. If he was telling the truth about the Hokage, Tsunade of the Sannin, being the one to heal her injuries, then it wasn't coincidence that Tayuya was only just healed enough to be awake and moving. Tsunade was considered legendary in the medical field for a reason, so a partial healing of this accuracy had to be premeditated, calculated, and pulled off perfectly. Taking into account his comment about smuggling her out of the village, Tayuya could only assume that he had managed to do it all without Tsunade herself even being aware.
She stared into his cold blue eyes, almost seeing the calculated accuracy in which he was observing her every action, right down to her slightly laboured breathing. The boy was dangerous, that much was clear, but she just couldn't gauge as to what extent. Tayuya couldn't even begin to guess as to how many steps ahead of her he was. Hell, she didn't even know how long he had to plan it all while she was asleep.
He had made sure she had no other choice in the matter. Even if she tried to run and manage on her own, it was more than likely that he would just resort to extracting the information out of her forcefully. In a way, Tayuya respected him for it all. It wasn't every day that she meant someone with the tenacity and cunningness to get what they wanted no matter the requirements. It reminded her a little of Orochimaru actually.
"What kind of questions?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"That… is not for you to know," Naruto said sternly. "If you don't trust me not to make an attempt on your master's life, then please, feel free to send a message ahead warning him. The element of surprise is not exactly something I need to use against him, and it would be best if he knew my intentions beforehand anyway"
Tayuya stared at with wide eyes. "You really planned everything out, didn't you?"
Naruto shrugged. "I think so. But I had a lot of spare time while I waited for you"
"How long was I out?" she asked.
"Four days"
The girl froze. "Four days? Four fucking days? What the fuck! But that means… that means that you… you had to change… and clean… and you saw… oh god…" she sputtered and stuttered as her face slowly but surely twisted into an expression of horror.
Naruto chuckled. "No need to be so embarrassed about it," he said, standing up and extending his hand out to her. "Come on. If you intend on staying awake any longer, then we are going to need to get some food into you. Not eating for a week has bad effects"
Tayuya glared at him and backed away. "You keep your fucking hands away from me, pervert!" she spat. "I hope you made the most of eyeing me up when you had the chance, because I promise you that it won't happen again! And I swear, if I even think that you took advantage of me while I was out, I will force feed you your own dick!"
"That's… drastic" Naruto said, cringing at the thought. "But fair, I suppose"
Her eye twitched. "Could you, you know, stop being so casual about everything. I just threatened you. Get a little defensive at least," she said irritably.
"Hmm, maybe if I thought you could actually go through with the threat, then I would be a little more concerned. But in your condition, you'd be lucky to hold your own against a genin" he said. "Anyway, if you're hungry, follow me. I'll buy you some food, but I'm not bringing any back with me, so you'd better make up your mind"
"How do you know I won't just run off while you're gone?"
Naruto looked down at her lazily. "You have no money, you have no weapons, you're crippled, and once I tracked you down, I would kill you," he said monotonously. "If that isn't enough incentive for you to stay here, then you're clearly not smart enough to keep around. That and I doubt you'd get very far on an empty stomach"
Tayuya shuddered under his gaze. Deciding that death wasn't something she was quite ready for, she stood up shakily and followed him out of the hotel room. She was a little surprised to find that they were residing in a small village located in the land of fire. It was obviously not a well-known or regularly visited one either. Discretion would be vital, if the story of being smuggled out of Konoha was true that is. There was also the fact that Tayuya didn't recognise it. She had gone on at least one mission to each of the 'important' villages and towns throughout several countries, and this one wasn't one of them.
She followed the boy to a nearby restaurant. They were quickly seated at a table near the back and the boy was even quicker to ignore her in favour of a small blank covered book he had pulled out of the pouch around his waist. Tayuya didn't care much about being treated rudely; in fact, it was somewhat of a regular thing in Otogakure, or just anywhere with those that followed Orochimaru. What she did care about, was finding out just who it was that had managed to put her in the humiliating position of being captured, and then forcing her to rely on said captor.
Something about him seemed familiar, but she needed a name to go with the face before she jumped to any conclusions.
"So, d'ya mind telling me just who the hell you are?" she asked.
Naruto didn't look from his book as he flipped casually through the pages. "Does who I am mean anything to you?" he asked coolly.
She snarled at him. "Maybe it does. But for now, I just want to know the name of the guy that perved on me for four days so I can add your name to the list of people I'm gunna kill one day"
"My name is Naruto" he replied simply, still not bothering to look up at her. "And if you do intend on killing me, then please take a number. Evidently, there is an ever growing line of people after my head… among other body parts"
"What kind of a name is that? Did your parents hate you, or did they just really like ramen?"
Naruto snickered. "That second guess probably had something to do with it. But, if you don't mind, I'd rather you didn't make fun of my name"
Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Pfft, as if that's going to happen, ramen boy" she said, smirking smugly. "So, is it just Naruto, or are you one of them fancy fucks with an actual clan name as well?"
"I already regret ever talking to you," Naruto drawled. "But if you must know, yes, I do have a clan name. Two technically"
"Oh, brilliant. I'm stuck with a pompous prick with two clan names. Just my bloody luck"
"If you still want any food, I'd advise you stop trying to antagonise me," Naruto warned.
The girl pursed her lips thoughtfully, tapping her finger on the table at a rapid pace. "You know, the way you speak reminds me of someone I know. He's a bit of a pompous prick too, actually. Fancy clan name and all. Maybe I should introduce you two. You'd make a cute gay couple"
Naruto sighed deeply and closed the book he was reading. Placing it down on the table, he stared tiredly at the girl. "What do you want, Tayuya?"
"Well, first, I want to know how you know who I am" she said.
He tapped on the book. "Bingo book entry. You have a moderately interesting profile, and you're clearly listed as a subordinate of Orochimaru's. Unfortunately, your bounty is relatively low, so killing you before you managed to amass any further notoriety would be pointless"
"Shit. A fucking bookworm too" Tayuya muttered. "Wanna point out any other annoying traits you have before I discover them and subsequently wish for death?"
"I might occasionally whisper 'believe it' in an ominous tone should you ever decide to state the obvious" he said with a straight face.
Tayuya looked at him in horror. "You're joking, right?"
He chuckled. "Maybe. But it's not really important right now. You should order something to eat. I'm not sure how long we will be waiting here for, so I'd make the most of it"
"What's that supposed to mean? Are we waiting for someone?" she asked.
"You could say that. I am expecting someone to show up, but I can't say that they are expecting me to be here," Naruto answered vaguely. "Just a little errand I need to take care of in this village before we can be on our way"
"So, not only are you holding me hostage and forcing me to take you to meet Orochimaru, but you're also dragging me along on your stupid little odd jobs" Tayuya grumbled.
Naruto didn't respond. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, completely ignoring everything. Tayuya held back her desire to dive over the table and punch him in the throat. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was stuck with him for the moment, and getting tortured or killed was never good. Ordering a simple meal of barbequed meat and rice, she waited patiently for it to be served, using the time to observe her captor in a little more detail.
He was rather unimpressive overall. He wasn't extremely tall and not overly muscular either. He was, physically speaking, the run of the mill kinda guy. The red hair was the only thing that really set him apart, and judging by the fact that it was beginning to grow out into what looked like a bright blond colour, Tayuya surmised that he had dyed it. He was lanky if anything, and had terrible fashion sense considering he was parading around in black pants and a dark orange shirt.
Tayuya didn't get any more time to dissect and judge Naruto's appearance any further as her food quickly arrived. Fumbling to break apart the chopsticks, she went through the gruelling process of trying to actually use them with her right hand, mentally cursing the fact that she was primarily left handed… well, at least she had been. Now it seemed she would be forced to manage with her right hand only, until she got back to Orochimaru that was. Tayuya was still rather hopeful that he could fix it somehow.
After several failed attempts at using the chopsticks, Tayuya growled angrily and dropped them to the table before simply glaring at her food.
"Would you like some help?" Naruto asked curiously, cracking an eye open at her.
"If you so much as try to help, I will break your wrist," she said warningly.
A few tense moments passed before the girl resorted to eating it with her hands, uncaring of the displeased looks she earned from others in the restaurant. Naruto smirked at the act, but didn't say anything about it. No one else spoke up about it either, although that was more due to no one wanting to cause trouble with a crippled girl. After helping herself to seconds, and even thirds, Tayuya finally let out a satisfied sigh, wiping her now grubby hand on her shirt.
"I hope you enjoyed that," Naruto said. "This place isn't exactly the cheapest"
Tayuya snorted in amusement. "You probably should have thought of that before bringing a partially starved girl to eat her fill, you dickhead"
"You aren't going to stop with the insulting name calling, are you?"
"Eh, until I find one that fits you perfectly, not likely. Think of it as an honour. I usually only do this for people who I know I'm going to have to put up with for a long time"
He grunted. "Yeah, I'm really flattered" he drawled. "Let's go. I don't think the person I'm looking for is going to show up today"
Picking up his book and putting it back into his pouch, he stood up and held his hand out to Tayuya to help her up. She swatted it away and stood up by herself, taking a hasty lead as they walked out of the establishment. Tayuya didn't think twice before harshly shoving a large man out of the doorway until he retaliated, grabbing her by her hair and throwing her to the ground.
"Watch where you're walking, bitch!" he yelled.
Tayuya spat at the man. "How about not blocking the whole doorway with your fat fucking head!" she shouted back.
The man went to kick her, only to freeze in place. Breaking into a cold sweat, he looked up fearfully at Naruto and backed away slowly. Naruto eased off on the killing intent he was directing at the man and looked down disappointedly at Tayuya.
"I hope you don't make a habit of picking fights with strangers. Next time I might not be nice enough to step in" he said.
"Maybe you wouldn't need to if you hadn't cut off my arm! Ever think about that, you fuck?" she retorted. "So, if you still want me to guide you to Orochimaru, then I suggest you get used to the bodyguard position, because I'm not changing my attitude to accommodate for you being a pussy. Now knock this asshole to the ground"
Naruto glared at her. "Don't order me around" he said, directing a small amount of killing intent at her. Looking back up at the man, he quirked an eyebrow before pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. Glancing back and forth between the paper and the man, Naruto finally settled his gaze on the man, turning the paper around to show a wanted poster with a similar looking man's picture on it, albeit a bit skinner than the one standing in front of him. "Is this you?"
The man immediately forgot about his fear and snarled at the boy. "So what if it is? You here to try and take me in or something? Hah, good luck with that, brat. You're several years too young, and a bit too puny to try and take someone like me on. Come back when you know what you're doing"
Folding the piece of paper back up, Naruto put it back in his pocket and smiled cheerfully at the man.
"I don't do 'take ins', so I wouldn't worry about me trying to take you to justice," he said casually. "But, if I hope to get paid, then I'm required to at least serve you some sort of punishment. So, I propose we play a game"
The man gave him a filthy look. "What the hell are you trying to pull here kid? I'll be nice and let you and your girlfriend walk away, but if you keep trying to pull the tough guy act then I'll be forced to teach you a lesson"
His words went completely ignored by Naruto. "You pick a number between one and five, and so long as you don't scream, I'll let you walk away with your life," he said, his otherwise warm smile no longer appearing cheerful for the right reasons. "But, if you do scream, then you lose. Also, if you don't choose a number, then you lose anyway"
The man smiled cockily, directing his rather abysmal killing intent at the teen. "One" he said. "Go ahead, kid. Try something funny. Let's see where it gets you"
Naruto took a step towards him. The man threw a sloppy punch at the teen, only for his arm to be caught at the wrist effortlessly. Naruto gripped the man's wrist tightly and straightened out the arm. With a quick jab to the elbow, he snapped the limb at the joint, a disgusting popping sound resonating from the now obliterated joint. Tayuya watched on with wide eyes as a few of the other restaurant diners made a hasty retreat away from the violence.
At first, the man didn't scream, he simply looked at the broken limb in shock. Eventually though, the pain made itself known and he collapsed to his knees, screaming loudly as he did and gripping tightly at his arm. Naruto's smile fell as he moved himself in front of him.
"That's one strike," he said. "But you screamed, so you lose"
Without hesitation, Naruto reached out and twisted the man's head, snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Some of those watching the scene screamed and fled the restaurant, a panic quickly rising in the small village. Naruto ignored the ensuing chaos his actions caused, sealing away the corpse of his victim.
Tucking the scroll away, he turned to a still dumbfounded Tayuya. "We should probably leave. I'm not exactly good at dealing with the aftermath of collecting my targets," he said casually.
Tayuya gawked at him. "What. The. Fuck. Why'd you do that?" she asked in surprise. "I thought we would want to keep a low profile. I told you to knock his ass to the ground. Why the hell'd you kill him?"
Naruto pulled out the small wanted poster. "He was charged with numerous rapes and three murders. The village that it happened in turned a blind eye because he had connections to several influential people in higher places. The women though, they managed to scrounge together enough money to offer a reasonable price on his head" he explained.
"Hold up. You mean to tell me that you dragged me here, in a fucking coma, because you got offered a little pocket money from some whores?" Tayuya asked heatedly. "You said you smuggled me out of Konoha. Doesn't that warrant a little bloody discretion?!"
"Please don't speak rudely of paying customers. It doesn't do well for my reputation," he said flippantly. "As for discretion; Konoha wouldn't dare to try anything for another three days, minimum, unless they're really stupid. I have little care about how this town sees me, so that's not a problem either. And I would barely call the payment 'pocket money'. I'm only accepting half of their offer, and it's not even a D-rank pay"
"That doesn't make me feel any fucking better! You wanker!" she yelled angrily, getting to her feet and glaring at him. "At least make me feel like keeping me safe is somewhere on your list of priorities!"
Naruto looked down at her coldly. "Keeping you alive is a priority. Your safety isn't of any real significance unless it could potentially kill you. I thought that was made clear when I cut off your arm"
Tayuya grit her teeth. "Listen here you prick. If you want me to lead you to Orochimaru, then you had better start seeing me as more than some little compass to use. If I get hurt, I'll be inclined to lead your sorry ass off a cliff. So how about proving that you're worth even taking to my master"
"Would you expect me to treat you like a princess?" he asked irritably.
"Hah! A princess? Nice try. You're gunna have to do a little better than that"
Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm not doing this right now. When you wake up, I expect you to have a better attitude"
"Wake up?"
Tayuya didn't get a chance to react as she felt the tell-tale signs of a Genjutsu invading her mind. She tried to counter it, but she was overwhelmed. She knew it was a powerful Genjutsu, one that even her already abundant pain couldn't immediately break, but she couldn't believe how much she had underestimated it. The foreign chakra pierced into her own, overpowering her. Everything became fuzzy and her body heavy as the world spun.
'A fucking sleeping Genjutsu!' she screamed mentally.
"You cunt" Tayuya spat, falling to the ground unconscious.
Naruto took a deep breath. "Keep calm. Don't kill her. You need her. Just a little longer and it'll be all over," he chanted, glancing down at her and cringing. "Ugh, who am I kidding? She's going to drive me insane. This was a terrible idea"
Picking the girl up on his shoulder, he began walking back to the hotel room. Discretion or not, it was never a wise move to leave traces behind.
"I can only hope that Orochimaru is a bit more tolerable," he grumbled. "God forbid I'm forced to deal with any more… annoyances"
Naruto knew that time was running out. Preparations needed to made, alliances forged, enemies properly positioned. Everything needed to be ready. The elemental nations couldn't afford to be in such disarray, not now. Too many villages hung on the edge of war, all too eager to fight the wrong enemy.
If they refused to band together, then they would be crushed.
After all… what were any of them to a god.
A/N:
It seems I couldn't help myself. As of now, this story is taking slightly more precedence over my other one. Hopefully in my haste and enjoyment I haven't done anything bad in this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it. As you can all see, Tayuya is finally a part of everything. I've also given a little hint to you all as to the 'bigger threat' facing everything, which will be delved into ever so slightly more in the next chapter. Speaking of the next chapter, there will be much more fun with Tayuya, along with Orochimaru.
Reviews are going good so far, considering this is still a rather short and young fic, so please keep them coming. Oddly enough, they really do help with the motivation of writing.
In regards to update scheduling, I still got nothing, but I hope to have a new chapter out every so often since they aren't usually too long. That being said, I reserve the right to take breaks.
Till next time guys.
Don't forget to review.
Soul out!
