Disclaimer: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Warning: The following will contain material that some viewers may not find suitable. There will be smut, graphic explicit sex, lemons at random moments, character deaths, and multiple pairings. There will be no additional warning as without reading the smut what little plot there is will not make any sense. You have been warned.
Can our inner demons love
Chapter Forty One
River Walk
Waking up to a pair of lips pressed to your own is a nice dream but in reality, it was a little shocking when they blow air into your lungs, sitting up Tayuya scream, "Breath dam you.", and hits him hard on the chest with both fist. Naruto's eyes pop open and he rolls over coughing all the water out of his lungs onto the sandy shore. It takes him a good five minutes to clear his lungs as it seems he tried to take in half the river. Sitting up he finds very wet Tayuya holding him upright as he takes in deep breaths of fresh air.
"Goddam fucking fool, I thought I lost you there for a minute,", she said shaking and hugging him at the same time. Looking up he can hear but can't see the waterfall as it was a moonless night without even a star to wink at them.
"I can't see a thing, where are we,", he said turning this way and that. "I would guess this is the Black River and those are the Takumi Falls, if that is right then you ran a normal two days travel in less than half a night, good going," she laughed learning on his shoulder, "if we don't know where we are then that blue bastard sure can't find us."
Trying to get his orientation Naruto stands up and pulls the exhausted girl with him. "Did you go over the falls too?", he asked trying his best to see something, anything at this point, she is a shadow standing next to him and what looks like some trees are not too far behind as he is facing the river.
"No, I jumped off you and landed on my feet somehow", she said holding onto his jacket, "I had a hell of a time finding you but once I felt your chakra I knew you went over the edge."
Figuring she was a sensor type he didn't think much of it but it was some type of link they had that really pulled at her that allowed her to crawl and swim over all those dam rocks to where he was. Feeling around she found he had one of his pouches on him but the other one was long gone, "Do you have anything on you.", he said hoping she saved something.
"Fuck no, that bag came lose when we hit the forest and I was more worried about not falling off myself,", that got a laugh from both of them so Naruto headed toward the tree line, and once he found some bushes used the only fire jutsu he had to make a small flame to light some sticks on the ground.
"Sorry but I am a wind type so that's the best I can do.", he joked as the small flame ate away at the small pile of sticks. Looking at Tayuya the only thing that comes to mind is a red drowned rat but he didn't say it, he was sure he looked worst. He had rips and tears all over, if it wasn't for the fox he would be dead and he knew it.
Gathering up more wood to feed the flames Tayuya sat on a rock and tried to get dry, she didn't have an internal furnace to keep her warm like he did and was feeling the effects of being wet for the last night she spent looking for him.
Getting the hint Naruto went and picked up anything he could see that would burn and piled it near to keep the fire going as they both tried to dry off. "If this is the Black River, then this river will end at Tanigakure when it merges with the Capital River." Said Tayuya trying to stay awake until she was sure she wasn't going into any kind of delayed shock.
"Never heard of Tanigakure but it better than trying to head upriver I guess.", said Naruto, seeing Tayuya was shivering he looked around and found a spot where two large boulders made a little cave, moving her and the fire to the mouth of the cave he gave her his mostly dry jacket and worked on keeping the fire going as she started to relax as the cave warmed up. "Thanks, Naruto,", she said, using his name for the first time since they met. Watching her drift off to sleep Naruto made a clone and had it gather more wood as he kept a watch for anything that would be attracted to a fire in the middle of the night.
As the sun lit the sky in shades of red Naruto walked down to the river and for once could how large it was, he would guess 300 feet across and that waterfall was a good half a mile upstream. She must have had a hell of a time finding him in the dark was his only thought.
Sending a couple of clones into the river to see if they could find any fish he went back to their little cave. Tayuya seemed to be stirring so he sat down next to her so she wouldn't get up and walk into the fire at the end of the cave.
"You awake,", he said softly but her eyes shot open and she looked around like someone was going to attack her at any moment. Unknown to Naruto this was a common occurrence every morning when she wakes up. Living in the sound village will do that to a person.
Looking at Naruto and then the fire she remembered the last 24 hours and relaxed, they are alive and that was a win in and of itself when facing an Akatsuki, even Orochimaru said to stay clear of them.
A clone walks up with two good-sized fish before popping in a cloud of smoke, using one of the two Kunai he had left Naruto gutted the fish and laid them over the fire on some green branches he found.
"You've done this before I take it,", Tayuya joked watching him work, "Ya, I had to live in the woods a couple of days a year around my birthday.", he said as an explanation.
Not wanting to open that old wound Tayuya walked out of the cave to look around at the river and the 200-foot cliffs on both sides. The river gorge was cut deep into the mountains and it looked like it stayed that way for as far as she could see. At the top of the cliffs, she saw the large trees of the forest grow right up to the edge with some even hanging off ready to fall at any time. No wonder they didn't see it coming before launching off the edge.
"Fish is done,", yelled Naruto pulling the fist free of the fire, holding one out to her. Making quick work of the meal they found themselves with a problem, climb out and use the forest or stay on the river and follow it down to the village.
"I say stay on the river, the cliff walls will help hide our chakra and we could even just ride a log downstream if it looks safe.", said Tayuya as Naruto rubbed the back of his head thinking about how he would do it.
"Ok, it sounds as good a way to get there as any other, let's go.", he said getting ready for her to jump on his back. "Let me walk for a while and see how I do,", she said heading downstream leaving him squatted down on the ground. Woman, he just can't seem to figure them out.
A couple of mile down from the falls the river spread out into a slow-moving lake of water as it moved out covering a good thousand feet wide, Tayuya's joke about a log raft turned into reality as Naruto and an army of clones cut up logs with wind chakra and formed a crude but usable raft. Now floating down the river laying on their backs watching the clouds go by this didn't seem so bad after all. That is until Tayuya remember where they left off and started drilling Naruto on his math skills, with no paper to write on she made him talk out all the problems from the now long-lost book that she could remember, and to Naruto horror, she remembered a lot.
As night began Naruto used a wind jutsu to push them to shore, floating all night seemed like a great idea until he asked Tayuya if she knew if there are any more waterfalls, as she didn't he moved them to shore. Another nighttime jump off a waterfall was not in his life plans anymore. Pulling the little raft up onto some rocks they walked ashore to make a camp.
Fish was the meal of the day and they talked into the night about what it was like growing up in two villages that hated each other but seemed to hate them just as much. Naruto didn't know sharing a fire with someone would be so nice, and being able to really talk about his life without being told to suck it up or get hit for talking, he really enjoyed it.
Pushing the raft back out onto the water the morning brought a new day of floating down the river and the hell that was math was turning into the thing that was math as he started to get the fundamentals more. Tayuya removed her tunic in the hot sun and Naruto joined her by taking his jacket off, he worried some about her pale skin but he assumed she knew what she was doing. Late afternoon brought a new set of problems, thunderstorms blew in off of the ocean from the smell of it, moving up into the river delta, they decided to get to shore before being forced to. The river seemed to have other ideas as it pushed and turned their little raft in circles until a rogue wave washed over them taking their discarded cloths with it.
Now wet and pissed Naruto secured his feet with chakra to the logs and yelled, "Great Breakthrough Wind Blast", the wind hit them hard but did force the raft up onto the shore to some modicum of safety.
Finding a cave in the cliff wall they watched the soft moving river come alive and wash their little raft away along with anything else that dare to be near the shore. "We got to get out of here, yelled Tayuya heading out and up the cliff, climbing up wet rock even with chakra wasn't even fun or easy but as the river slowly rose out of its banks they scrambled up the cliff to safety.
Looking down at the black monster that once was a peaceful river the high cliffs made more sense.
Tayuya looked over at Naruto in the pouring rain, each time the lightning flashed he looked more and more miserable. Tayuya started to laugh, laugh so hard it was almost uncontrollable.
"What so funny?", Naruto yells over the storm's rage, it was getting worst by the minute, as a piece of the cliff broke off not too far from them.
"Funny, this is funny that is what,", she yelled back, "Come on this whole mission has turned to shit and we are circling the bowl right now.", she keeps laughing and Naruto joins in as he pulls her away from the edge of the cliff as it breaks off and joins the other piece that was washed away.
"Now that is funny,", She yells as several large trees fall over and are torn from the ground to start their march to the sea. Naruto joined her in a good laugh at their situation but still didn't feel like water walking in that floating disaster, clasped her hand in his, and pulled her away from the river deeper in the forest.
"We got to find a place out of the rain.", he yelled at her over the storm.
"Why? we can't get any wetter,", she said waving her arms at herself, she was right, she was soaked to the bone and her clothes clung to her body like a second skin. In her crop top and black shorts with her long red hair clinging to her face, there was little left to the imagination.
Now was not the time to be thinking about that but 'dam she looks good', thought Naruto.
"I know but I would feel better if I can start a fire and warm up a little, this storm doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon.", Naruto yelled back, his words punctuated by several lighting bolts hitting nearby.
Tayuya agreed and they ran into the forest away from the river looking for high ground and hopefully a cave of some type. Hours later, once again finding themselves running in a forest in the dark Tayuya had to start laughing at the ridiculousness of their current situation. Stopping dead in her track she just stood there, "I can't do this anymore, can't we just, I don't know, blow a hole in a tree or something,", she said jokingly, if she got hit in the face by one more branch or tripped over one more rock in the dark she was going to lose her mind.
Naruto looked at the shadow figure that was Tayuya in the dark he thought she was right, looking around he spotted a very large tree that had fallen over in some storm years before about a hundred yards away.
Taking a deep breath and centering his mind on the task at hand he formed a Rasengan in his hand and ran full speed at the tree. With the glow of the jutsu lighting the way he was able to see his target and hit it dead center carving out a sizable hole. It was big but it needed to be bigger if they wanted both of them to fit inside so he form his jutsu again and blasted the tree again. Now that would fit two, it would be a little tight but they would be dry.
Happy with his handy work Naruto turned to face a dumbfounded Tayuya, "Why the hell didn't you do that before.", she said walking up to him to look into the dark hole. "Didn't think of it until you said it.", was his honest answer.
"Figures,", she said as she crawled up into the hole until she was out of sight, "You coming?", she yelled from inside the wooden cave. Crawling in he found it was tight but doable, and for the first time in hours, they didn't have rain betting down on their head.
"Good job Naruto but now I am freezing,", said the wet redhead. "I don't think a fire would be a good idea, us being in a tree and all,", he said making a small flame in the palm of his hand, clearly seeing her next to him, it's clear she is shivering, without his jacket he doesn't have anything to give her so he lets the flame go and hugs the small girl to his chest. She fought back for a second then relaxed into him. "Dam what are you a living furnace.", she mumbled into his chest trying to get closer. "Ya, it's one of the few advantages of having a tailed beast locked inside your gut.", he said making a joke out of it.
As they listened to the storm rage against the world the safety of the cave allowed them to relax and for the first time all night, Tayuya felt like it was OK to drift off for some much-needed sleep.
Naruto laid back into the splinted wood and holding the girl tight tried his best to join her in getting some sleep.
…..
It was the stillness and the soft sound of someone breathing on his chest that woke him. Looking down at the red hair spread out over his chest, at some point in the night she had crawled completely on top of him and was sound asleep in his arms.
Looking past her he can see part of the forest out their little cave and the signs of the storm everywhere but the sun was shining through the clouds here and there to add broken beams of light to add hope to the scene.
Laying his head back down he wanted to enjoy this moment before waking her up and starting this day. He must have disturbed her sleep as she wriggled her way up to his body until she had her face nestled into his neck, her warm breath felt nice as she let out a little moan of what could be called happiness.
Now even more awake Naruto noticed he had worked his hands up her back under her shirt during the night, her skin was so soft it was surprising, he had touched many other women, but this was different and only made him want to protect her a little more.
Lifting her head up to look him in the face, her hair a tangled mess covering half her face she said, "Morning mattress,", giving him a grin, "Can you scratch my back some that feel so good.", laying her head back down he ran his hand over her back as she seemed to purr on his chest.
"You know, this is even more fucked up than the storm last night.", she said into his chest.
"What do you mean.", he said stopping his hands to focus on her.
She whined some at his lack of movement so he started up again and she said, "My grand plan was to kill you and run away but now,", she lifted her head again so they can make eye contact, "I think I want you to hang around.", with that she snuggled in a little closer.
'Women, who the hell can understand them.', Naruto thought, 'If you can figure it out, write a book for everyone else.', said the fox in his rumbling voice.
After a few more minutes Tayuya pushed herself up and crawled out of the cave. Seems it was time to get up and he followed her out. "This is really fucked up.", she said looking at all the downed trees around them. Naruto grunted his agreement, if they had continued to run in the dark it would have ended badly.
Tayuya gave Naruto the once over in his orange pants and black t-shirt and said, "You know, the way we keep losing stuff we will be naked in a couple days.", they laughed at her little joke but it did ring true, they needed to find a village to resupply if they expected to keep moving.
"Tanigakure village is at the end of the river so we can't be that far from it, we did float a long way.", said Naruto.
"OK then let's head back to the river and follow it down,", she said, it was the only plan she could think of and they can't be more than a day's run from the village. Finding the river wasn't hard as it was a roaring mass of water full of dead trees. Running along the cliff tops was more of a challenge than they first thought as the river liked to break pieces off randomly as they ran.
Lucky for them by the middle of the day the mountains gave way to a valley and the river opened up into a floodplain and in the distance, a village built on stilts high above the water could be seen.
"You don't see that every day,", said Tayuya as they got closer to the village above the water on great tree trunks with stairs carved around the outsides leading down to boat docks with fishermen working the river.
Some were even walking on the water the same as they were, so as they got closer nobody seemed to be surprised. Living in the middle of all this water, learning to use their chakra to "skate" across the water surface, like an ice skater, instead of just walking or running had turned into a common skill for the villagers.
Climbing the stairs to the top they entered the village proper, what they saw was a normal village you would find anywhere in fire country but for the smell of fish everywhere and the complete lack of shoes on anybody. They got more than a few people staring at them, more so Tayuya as she was the better looking of the two but nobody gave them any trouble.
"You two look like you're lost and looking for a safe dock to anchor to.", said an old man working on a net in his lap. "Ya we kind of lost all of our things in the storm upriver.", said Naruto.
"That was a big'n storm for sure, haven't seen one that big for coming on ten years I would guess.", said the old man putting aside the net and sanding tall to talk to them, he was a large man that would have been imposing in his youth. Holding out his hand he said, "Names Ryoshi, I am headman of the village." Shaking his hand Naruto grinned at the old man. His luck was back and he hoped this old man would be able to help them.
Walking up to stand next to Naruto, Tayuya leaned into his side and looked up at the large village leader, blinking her long eyelashes at him she said, "We lost everything when our boat turned over, can you help us."
Naruto was so shocked at the cute helpless girl act she was putting on he didn't say a word as Ryoshi looked them both over.
"We're not a rich village like Tanigakure down the way but if you're willing to work I can help you get some basics together.", said Ryoshi.
"Oh we would be so grateful for any help you can give us, right dear,", she said poking Naruto in the side with a sharp finger. "Ya, right, we can do any job you have.", he said holding her hand so she can't poke him again.
"Come with me then,", said Ryoshi as he headed down the wooden street as he walked into what looked like a bar, they soon found out there were rooms for rent above the bar, and surprise, Ryoshi owned the building and the bar too.
"This is my wife, Fissha, I am sure she can find some work for your girl there, you can come with me," he said to Naruto as they headed back out leaving Tayuya to Fissha's good graces. Tayuya soon learned that there were a lot of dishes that needed to be washed from the morning meals.
"You look good and strong,", Said Ryoshi to Naruto, "Let's see if they need any help down at the loading docks."
…
"If I see one more fucking greasy plate of fish I am going to fucking kill somebody.", said a very pissed off Tayuya as she came out of the communal bathroom they shared with the other three rooms on this floor, she was wearing a long gray dress with blue trims around the arms, it seems Fissha's daughter had outgrown this and she gave it to Tayuya to wear.
Naruto looked up from the bench he was sitting on waiting his turn at the shower, a very long day at the docks had convinced him that the life and death lifestyle of a shinobi was better than moving crates of fish. The smell was all the way into his bones and he was sure Tayuya was staying on the other side of the room for a good reason.
"Fissha gave me some clothes for you to put on,", said Tayuya handing him a rolled-up bundle of clothes. "Thanks,", he said stumbling into the bath and heading straight into the shower. It went from warm to cold in a matter of minutes but he was used to it and scrubbed himself raw trying to get the fish smell off.
Having already eaten Naruto joined Tayuya out in front of the Fisherman's Inn as they learned it was called. It wasn't a large village but they hadn't seen any of it so they agreed to walk around and see what they could find. The village's nightlife was sparse as the Inn was the only bar in town and all the shops closed up with the sun setting. Even the locals seemed as tired as they felt walking down the wooden streets.
"Did you find out how fucking far we are from Tanigakure?", ask Tayuya as they turned another corner to see the same thing they just left behind. "Ya, it's about a day's boat ride downriver.", said Naruto stopping at the end of the street to rest on the railing overlooking the river far below.
Tayuya joined him and looked out over the calm waters and the moon that was shining down giving it a nice glow. It would be so romantic if it wasn't for the smell of fish.
"You know we could just take what we need and get out of here,", said Tayuya not looking at Naruto as he stared at her with his judgmental eyes. She knew he wouldn't go for it but had to ask, she really hated greasy plates.
" Ryoshi paid me this for the day,", he said showing her the money he earned, "We need twice this for the boat ride unless you want to walk. With your work in the Inn in exchange for the room and food, we can leave here in a couple of more days."
Pulling at the dress she was wearing Tayuya thought it would be nice to ride a boat and not have to water walk for god knows how many miles. Maybe she can get that old lady to let her do something besides wash the fucking dishes.
"OK, two more days then we are out of here.", she said getting a nod from the blonde at her side. Two days, she can do that.
Returning to the room in the Inn Naruto paused at the door looking at the single bed in the room, a small bed at that, and said, "You can have the bed, I can sleep over here.", he pointed at a spot on the floor.
"Are you fucking crazy, get in bed before I have to beat some brains into you.", was Tayuya's response, it was nice but she would not allow it. After all, it's not like they hadn't slept together. "Just, you know, keep it in your pants.", she said giving him a smile but still she did mean it.
The bed was a million times better than the wood cave and he was so tired he passed out before even realizing she rolled over on top of him again.
….
Two days later waking up in the morning with a small redhead on his chest was getting to feel kind of normal, she had gotten in the habit of covering his mouth with her hand to stop his snoring, either that or she was going to shove a pillow down his throat.
As she came back in the room brushing out her hair from the shower she asked, "When does the boat leave?", looking out the window at the rising sun he said, "about an hour or so, Ryoshi said they would wait for us at the north docks."
Coming back from his own shower he can see Tayuya packing a travel bag full of clothes the Innkeepers had given them, thank god for growing children, and Tayuya being on the small side. She was in a pair of dark gray skin-tight paints with a light blue top that fit tight around the middle but was puffy on top. Fissha said it was all the style a couple of years ago in Tanigakure. Naruto didn't complain about the view he got as she bent over to stuff the bag with his shirts.
Heading downstairs Fissha had to give Tayuya a hug goodbye and Ryoshi walked them to the boat. "Now don't forget what I told you, stay away from the Tanigakure shinobi district, those guys have a real attitude and will pick a fight with anybody that looks sideways at them.", said Ryoshi as they took their seats on the boat. It was a large cargo ship with a full load of those twice-dammed fish but there was a small passenger cabin in the front.
"Don't worry Ryoshi, we will stay far away for those guys, we don't want trouble.", said Naruto knowing full well they would have to deal with the shinobi at some point.
"Have you ever heard of Tanigakure shinobi,", said Tayuya as they pulled away from the dock of Stilts Village, as it slowly faded away in the morning mist. The dock working and fishermen were already at work loading the boats with nets and waving goodbye to there wife's as they set sail to get the mornings catch.
"Nope,", he said blowing off any worry she may have, " but I did get a good look at a map before we left, we can head due east back into fire country and then north and it should take us right to that hidden base we were heading for, with any luck we can find Jiraiya near there.", said Naruto, Tayuya looked at the blonde and said, "That is the best idea you've had, did someone help you with it.", she said playfully bumping into his shoulder.
Boring, slow, and boring that was how Naruto thought of the boat ride downriver. Hell, even the view of the river was boring as it didn't seem to change for miles. Tayuya made a game out of cutting flies in half with one of his last two Kunai as they buzzed around the fish, her count was over fifty last time he checked and she hadn't missed a one yet.
The ship captain came down to check on them once and after one look at the carnage of flies around Tayuya's feet, he just shook his head and headed back up to the wheelhouse. He had a funny feeling about these two strangers and figured it was best to get them off his boat as soon as possible.
….
Tanigakure came into view just as the sun was hitting the horizon, Naruto went up to thank the boat captain for pushing the ship a little faster than normal as they should have arrived a couple of hours after the sunset. The captain said he wanted them off his boat as much as they wanted to get off after Tayuya's little display. Naruto thought it would be best if he didn't tell Tayuya that until they got off the boat and on second thought maybe he should just keep it to himself.
Jumping off the boat they walked as fast as they could to put some distance between them and the soon to be offloaded fish. Tanigakure was a standard walled village that had a very busy port as they connected the river villages with the outside world with the ocean-going ships they could see at the deepwater side of the port.
Getting past the dockworkers and their tunks they walked into the town of a stone buildings and steep rooflines. The large storms that hit the town often didn't seem to allow for the more traditional flat roofs Naruto was used to. It showed in the total lack of any Ninja jumping around.
"It must be a market day with all these dam fucking fat asses walking around.", said Tayuya as she danced around another large woman with baskets of fresh fruit. "You want to ride on my shoulders there red.", laughed Naruto half meaning it as Tayuya was on the short side being only 4 foot 8 inches but she didn't take him up on the offer.
Naruto spotted a group of large men pushing their way through the crowd, knocking people aside as they came. Pulling Tayuya into a nearby storefront, they waited until the Tanigakure shinobi walked by, Tayuya got a little upset then that lady with the fruit basket was pushed to the ground for some reason.
"What the fuck is wrong with those guys,", she said to no one in particular but the old man behind the counter felt the need to respond, "The shinobi of the village has been getting worst every year. The victory over Kagero thirty years ago really set them down the wrong path."
"That was this village! Fuck I remember reading about how you burned Kagero to the ground and killed everyone, even the fucking kids, you guys are real bastards.", said Tayuya walking over to the old man.
"It wasn't always that way young lady but the smell of blood brought out the worst out in our shinobi and now they are like a school of sharks waiting for their next chance to strike a helpless victim.", said the old man.
"That is fucked up.", she said coming back to stand by Naruto who had been watching the bullies going down the street. Shinobi should be protecting their village not terrorizing their own people.
Naruto went over to the old man, he seemed to be the talkative type, "We are looking for an Inn called the Fisherman's Deck, do you know where that is.", ask Naruto, Ryoshi has friends there and he said to use his name to get a couple of free nights to stay.
"Sure kid, that would be a way down this street until you see a windmill with red doors, then take a right, you gotta walk over the three curved bridge and take a left at the bakery, from there it's a straight shot down, you can't miss it.", said the old man giving Naruto a toothless grin.
Checking the street for any more shinobi, they head out to find the Fisherman's Deck, it was getting late with some of the shops starting to close up for the night. The old man was spot on as they quickly found the windmill, the curved bridge lived up to its name as it crossed over three canals crisscrossing the village center, finding the bakery was a little harder as it was closed and they missed it the first time.
Lucky for them Naruto's keen nose picked up the smell of bread before they got too far past it. Finding the Inn they walked into the front door where they found themselves in a busy tavern full of sailors drinking their shore leave away, with beer flowing freely and plates of fish being placed in front of many guests they knew they found the right place.
Walking up to the bar Naruto asked the bartender, "Hi, is here a Genna here tonight.", asking for the contact Ryoshi gave them. "Sure, who's asking?", he said as he wiped down the bar before pouring a new set of beers for the waitress to take away.
"I am a friend of Ryoshi, he said to come here.", said Naruto, glancing around Naruto could see Tayuya had her back against the bar next to him, keeping a watchful eye on the room and protecting his back.
The bartender gave him a hard look and seeing the redhead by his side he smiled at Naruto as if knowing something he didn't. Waving over a waitress he handed her a note and came back over. "So what will you have?", he asked as all bartenders do. Before Naruto can say a word Tayuya says over her shoulder, "Two of those beers and an order of Gyu Kushi." she said without taking her eyes off of the crowd.
'There goes the last of our money, thinks Naruto as two beers are placed in front of him. Tayuya pulls hers over and drinks half of it without stopping and holds it to her side as she keeps scanning the room. What she is looking for Naruto can't figure out but he has learned not to ask her stupid questions.
As the plate of Gyu Kushi joins the beer he hands Tayuya a skewer of beef before taking his own. Dam, it's good to have something hot that isn't fish. Washing it down with some beer he turns to Tayuya, "This was a good idea,", he said waving his half-finished skewer in her face. She pulled it out of his hand and finished it with a grin.
"Here it comes, watch,", she said pointing to a table near the back. Naruto can see four large men two in sailor uniforms and two others looking like dock works. They were playing cards but something must have happened as one dock worker stood up and punched the sailor in the face.
Within seconds half of the room exploded into a fistfight between the two camps with beer flying and tables getting over turned. The bartender blew on a whistle and a team of bouncers came running out of the back room with clubs and put a quick stop to the mayhem. Throwing everyone involved out the front door the wait staff fixed the tables and cleaned the floor as if this happens all the time. In five minutes it was as if it didn't happen, they are real cleanup Pros.
Now Tayuya turned to face the bar and finishing her beer waved down the bartender for another. "So that was what you were watching for?", ask Naruto snatching a skewer from the plate before she could finish them all.
Laughing she said, "Ya, bar fights are the best, no skill but lots of enthusiasm."
Laughing along with her, he had a little fight over the last of the Gyu Kushe that he let her win, drinking the last of his beer a voice next to him says, "So, your the one that knows Ryoshi."
Turning Naruto has to look up at a tall very thin man with a gray scarf and round glasses. The lower part of his face is covered but Naruto can see by his eyes he wasn't a young man at all.
"Ya that is us,", said Naruto pointing to Tayuya
Looking them over a couple of times the man said, "Come with me.", and turns to walk into the back room, Tayuya quickly finishes her beer and jogs to catch up to Naruto as the double doors start to swing closed.
Smokey and dark with tables full of old men playing cards was Naruto's first impression but then seeing the half-naked women bring out more drinks he recognizes this for what it was, a Yakuza den, Jiraiya had taken him to a couple on their travels over the last year.
Their guild took them to the back of the room to a large curved booth with six men sitting behind the table, they looked the part but it was the women at the center that drew his attention.
"Genna, these are the ones Ryoshi sent to us.", he said bowing low and moving away to stand to the side.
The now identified Genna took a long draw on the kiseru she had between her lips. The pipe looked like it was made out of polished bone with a cup made from silver.
"It's been a long time since the river washed down down a missing-nin to us much less two.", she said blowing smoke in their faces but Naruto had been expecting it and didn't react.
"We are not…", Naruto starts to say when Tayuya elbows him in the side, "What my dumb blonde boyfriend here wants to say is thank you for your hospitality but we are not looking for work.", said Tayuya looking at Naruto to keep quite.
"Ah I see, but you have to pay your debt if you wish to leave my village.", said Genna, with that the six men at her table move to surround them and others came out of the shadows, many holding long blades and other ninja tools.
"Debt, what debt, we don't owe you anything.", said Naruto
"We let two missing Nin into the village and didn't call on the local shinobi, that boy has put you in our debt.", said the tall man standing off to the side.
Tayuya knows that if they attack, Naruto will go all out and probably take down the whole building in the process. That would be bad as then the village Shinobi will come looking and even together she wasn't sure they can take on a whole village worth of ninjas, if only she had her flute she would show them what a member of the sound four can do.
Pressing her lips into a line she asks, "What would get us out of your debt then?", said Tayuya hoping it wasn't an assassination, Naruto wasn't one to kill random people and she didn't want to disappoint him by doing it herself.
Relaxing back into her booth like a spider setting a trap for an unsuspecting fly Genna said. "It's a simple thing really, there is a jewel I wish to add to my collection, all you need to do is bring it to me."
Stealing an overpriced rock from some lord or merchant was something she thought even Naruto would be willing to do but before she could agree the blonde fool has to open his mouth.
"And what if we don't want to steal this jewel for you.", he said crossing his arms, 'dam he can be so thick sometimes.', Tayuya thought.
Blowing more smoke, Genna smiled like a snake, "We will put a bounty on your head so large every hunter in the five lands will come after you.", Genna said playing her trump card.
Before Naruto could say anything like he already had a group of hunter Nins after him Tayuya stepped in, "OK, tell us the details and let's get this over with." Genna seeing that she had someone who knows how to do business waved the tall skinny guy back over as all her thugs went back to their tables. Laying out a scroll the thin man said, "The jewel is called the eye of the red moon, it is being kept at the house of Atcha, the leader of the shinobi of this village."
Tayuya studied the scroll, it has a picture of the jewel, a large ruby, and a map of the village with a large building marked as the target. On another part of the scroll was the layout of the rooms in the building with again a highlighted room where the ruby was kept.
It clearly was a trap within a trap but it was all she had to work with, "Ok, so when you want to do this?", Tayuya asked with Naruto looking like he is going to burst a vein. She will need to talk to him about this later.
"In two days the festival of the victory of Kagero will be held. Most of the shinobi will be out getting drunk on my wines and using my women, it will be the perfect time to enter the house of Atcha.", said Genna.
Getting a nod of understanding from the redhead whose name she didn't know or care to know she told her thin man, "Take them to the special room upstairs and feed them well, they will need all their strength in two days."
Following the thin man with a small army of thugs behind they went up to the third floor, as they walked down the hall the sound of wild sex could be heard coming from most of the rooms they passed. The thin man found the door he was looking for in the middle of the hall and using a strange-looking key at his belt opened the door and the thugs pressed up and pushed them into the room.
What greeted them was a small room with an attached bath, no windows, and one lonely bare light hanging from the ceiling. A bed and table to the side, as they turned to look around the door slammed closes and they find themselves alone. Naruto ran up to the door and grabbed the door nob and jumped back when electrical shock ran through his body. Touching the door here and there he found that the whole thing was electrified, placing his hand down on the floor next to the door he could feel with his chakra there was a seal of some kind surrounding them. Naruto was sure with enough force he could break the seal but it may take down half the building.
Turning to Tayuya who had been watching him from the middle of the room, "You want to tell me what is going on?", said Naruto, "I will no steal for these people or anyone else so why did you agree so fast.", he looked more than a little pissed and was waiting for her to give him a good reason not to blast down that door and get the hell out of here.
" Orochimaru", she said, getting his full attention now she continued, "I wasn't sure at first but Genna is one of Orochimaru's people, she supplies him with people to experiment on and has a way to contact him." Pausing to see that Naruto is still listening she goes on, "Once she tells him what we look like,", at this point she grabs her hair and shakes it at him, "We will have half his mutant army on our asses."
Sitting down on the bed Naruto said, "Well fuck me."
'It's about time', she thinks but then this is Naruto and he doesn't really mean it, so she sits beside him. "Ya, I know, but we have to play the game to win so maybe we can find a way out of this that doesn't include running from a mutant army or killing half the shinobi of Tanigakure." said Tayuya falling back on the bed. "hey look,", she said pointing up, "Yup, that's a mirror on the ceiling", she said laughing a the look on his face.
A knock on the door that then just opened to reveal a waitress from downstairs with a large tray of plates, they can see the hallway is full of thugs waiting for them to try something so they let the girl put the tray down and runway between the smelly men. The door closes with a loud click as Tayuya looks at the food.
"Wow, nice spread let's eat,", she said putting a plate of Gyutan in her lap.
The food was good, not ramen good but good and they both finished it all. Now with nothing more to do, they get ready for bed. Having spent time sleeping in the same room as Tayuya Naruto did think much of it until he laid on the bed, then he noticed how small the bed really was. Dam he didn't like sleeping on the floor.
Coming out of the bathroom after taking a lukewarm shower Tayuya was dressed in an oversized t-shirt, her pale legs shined in the poor light of the room. "OK, your turn.", she said crawling over him to get into bed before he had a chance to get out of the way.
Taking his travel bag into the bathroom he took a shower and changed into a pair of cotton paints, it was hot and humid and with no windows, he couldn't sleep with a shirt on. Walking into the room she can see Tayuya was laying on her side, she had moved close to the wall to give him room on the bed but hadn't pulled the covers up so he could clearly see her small frame in the pour lighting.
Figuring it wasn't worth a fight over, he turned off the light and laid down on his side of the bed. As soon as his eyes got used to the dark he noticed them, small glowing dots like stars were painted on the ceiling around the mirror. "Will you look at that he said elbowing Tayuya in the back."
She rolled over on her back to see what the fool wanted and then spotted the glow dots. "What the hell, was this a kid's room or something.", she said. Hearing the muffled sounds of sex coming from all the rooms around them Naruto hoped this wasn't a kid's room. "I think someone was just really bored.", he said. "Do you think Ryoshi planned this? You know he did send us here."
"I wouldn't be surprised, you know his village is in the perfect spot to pickup lost people and they probity give him a cut if they make any money off of them.", said Tayuya.
Seeing that he had nothing else to say Tayuya rolled back into her side, this time facing him, and said, "Go to sleep, we go a long day of doing nothing ahead of us." Laughing with her at her joke Naruto closed his eyes. He had learned long ago how to just sleep when he wanted to.
….
Waking up with someone's fingers in your mouth was strange but Tayuya had started to come up with more and more interesting way to stop his snoring each night. 'At least it was only two fingers.', he thought pulling her hand away.
Turning on the light so he can find the bathroom he looks down at the still sleeping girl. Her shirt had pushed up almost up under her breast leaving the shapely ass, clad in red skin tight silk panties sticking up in the air. 'Oh god, I so want to touch that.', he thought getting out of bed to use the bathroom.
Returning to the room she had rolled over onto the warm spot he left on the bed, now on her back he can now see paradise by the pale light. 'Oh god it's been too long, I can't stop thinking about it.', he thought getting a chuckle out of the fox as the thoughts of sex always got his attention. 'Go for it, I won't tell anybody.', said the fox egging him on as always.
Pulling out the sheet Naruto covered the half-naked girl, he got on the floor to do push-ups. 'No, and stop trying to get me in trouble. She doesn't like me like that.', thought Naruto back at the fox.
Hitting a hundred push-ups he moved to do sit-ups when he looked over to see Tayuya watching from the bed, "Oh don't stop because of me blondie.", she said putting her head down on her curled up arm to watch.
A hundred sit-ups followed by a hundred more push-ups, he repeated this until he hit 500 each before stopping. Not even winded he sat on the floor with his arms on his knees and looked over at the bed. "Now what? Any idea what time it is?", he said.
"No idea but you did give me one, can't you make a clone like on the other side of the door? " she asked swinging her legs over the side of the bed. 'Oh great how I can see right up her legs,', was his only thought.
Snapping her fingers in his face he looked up at her, "come on stay focused here, clone, door, can you do it.", she said repeating herself.
Thinking about it for a minute Naruto shrugged and said, "I don't really have that fine of a control on where they show up but I can give it a try.".
Standing by the door he made the required hand sign, ten seconds later they could hear screaming and then a thump. Turning to Tayuya he said, "The girl across the hall didn't think it was funny."
"Well try again dammit.", she said from the bed, this was at least entertaining.
Taking two steps back he tries again. They wait for a couple of seconds then a whole minute and no screams or new memories. Turning to Tayuya, Naruto said, "I guess it worked.", then he grabbed his head and shook it. "One of the guards hit it over the head with something.", he said when she looked at him with some concern.
"I thought you were a ninja, try being a little more sneaky", was her only comment.
Clone number three fell down the stairs when a naked woman walked out in front of him. Clone four forget what he was there for and wandered off to get a beer at the bar. This time a knife to the back finished him. Now clone five they had more hope for as he at least tried to open the door from the outside before giving up and taking off.
"So where is he going?", Tayuya asked. "I have no clue until they pop.", he said. "But what did you tell him to do.", the look on Naruto's face told the whole story, he hadn't really told his clones to do anything. Rubbing the back of his head he said, "OK, so next time I will give it a mission I swear." as Tayuya hit him with a pillow.
As clone five hadn't popped in five minutes, Naruto made number six with a clear mission to find five. When he told Tayuya she hit him again with a pillow calling me a fucking stupid idiot.
OK, clone seven, lucky number seven was going to make it out of the building and scout around. Once it got a clear understanding of the village it would pop to relay that info back. That is what Tayuya said it should do and that is what he told it to do.
Tayuya went to take a shower and change into one of her new outfits, Naruto paced around the room waiting for any Intel from the clone scouts he sent out. About a half-hour later as Tayuya came out of the bathroom wearing a white top with long sleeves the top cut low in front displaying some of her assets Naruto stopped in his tracks and stumbled to the bed to sit down.
"What wrong with you?", said Tayuya half-mad, half worried for him.
'What's wrong, he thought, dam clone five went to hide in a room when it heard someone coming and the women thought he was a customer. The little bastard had been having sex with her for the last 30 minutes, when clone six found him they got into a fight and they both popped at once.
Hiding his now very hard and very frustrated little Naruto, Naruto looked up at the redhead and said, "Oh nothing, just clone five and six popped together, they didn't find anything", the sweat running down his brow and the way he was sitting told a different story but she didn't want to really know, not now anyway.
"So we only have seven out there then?", she said more as a statement than a question but he wasn't talking and it could have popped by now.
"Ya, no news yet, You done in there, I got to go.", he said running into the bathroom.
Five minutes later a much more relaxed Naruto came out of the bathroom and sat next to Tayuya. He had gotten used to her silence and didn't take it personally anymore. Sliding back on the bed she used the wall as a backrest and said, "So do you know the story of Tanigakure and Kagero?"
Shaking his head no, he joined her on the bed, having no chairs in the room it was that or sit on the floor.
"They didn't teach you history in that village of yours?", she said.
"They did but the history teacher would always find a reason I needed to sit in the principal's office so I just started to just not go to that class.", he said pulling his knees up to rest his arms on.
"OK, then as we don't have a math book and you seem to have gotten the basics, let's talk the history of the five major villages and their effect on the small villages around them.", said Tayuya.
Three hours later the seventh clone dispelled itself. Naruto had been engrossed in the story Tayuya had weaved of the five great nations, a story of heroes, war, and great betrayals of trust and friendship. She didn't pull any punches and place Konohagakure in its proper place in history, not as the villain or the savor but as a nation fighting for its ideals like so many others.
Tayuya noticed Naruto lose focus and looked over at him to say something. She had learned to wait and he would talk at his own pace. Pushing him didn't get you what you wanted only what he thought you wanted to hear.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Naruto said, "Seven found the target house and scouted around it. There are eight guard locations visible and six more hidden but he was sure he marked them all."
Taking a deep breath he turned to fully face her and said, "He also found the slave cages where Genna is keeping them for Orochimaru, they are mostly children Tayuya, we have to do something."
"Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck,", was all she said then "Dammit that white sick snake bastard. OK, so did you find any sign of when they were going to move them. Like, do we need to go all Kyubbi crazy on them and fuck everybody up, right now?"
He was surprised she agreed with him so fast, he had been working on what to say to convince her that it was the right thing to do but now with her on board, he had nothing to say.
"I don't know, I think I should send another clone to check it out.", said Naruto making his trademark hand sign but as he was taking a breath the door burst open, and in rushed 5 thugs. "Come on baby Ninja, Genna wants to talk to you.", said the lead idiot on the squad of idiots.
Tayuya kicked one in the balls for style points but allowed them to drag-walk them to the meeting room on the first floor. Once again at the curved booth, Genna held court surrounded by her army of muscle.
"It has come to my attention that you are bored and sending hedges out to bother my girls, I know you shinobi love your clones but it's not good for business.", said Genna waving her pipe in the air.
A thug behind Naruto punched him in the kidney making him fall to the ground. Pulling his head back with his hair the thug forced Naruto to look at Genna. "Now your little games stop or we find a better use for your girlfriend over there. Redhead brings in top dollar while they last.", Genna's evil little laugh was echoed by all the men in the room, Naruto was ready to teach them that they can't threaten his friends when he looked over at Tayuya shaking her head no to stop him from doing anything.
Naruto knew that thug was incapable of doing any lasting damage to him but if they touch Tayuya then all hell is going to break loose. "Ok, I got it,", said Naruto as he was pulled back up to his feet.
"Good, glad we can come to an understanding.", said Genna, with a little wave of her pipe they were dragged back to their room. One of the thugs thought it would be fun to pinch Tayuya's ass on the way up the stairs, she looked him in the eye and said, "I going to remember you asshole." as he pinched her one more time.
….
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