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-Two
Bar Fights are Fun When You Win
After being thrown into the room Tayuya rubbed her ass saying, "That fucker is going to die, I know he left a bruise.", she started to pull down her pants to look and Naruto quickly turned away. She giggled a little seeing this, never being around a guy like this, it was fun to tease him a little.
Covering herself back up as he wasn't being any fun anymore she crawled back on the bed and patted the spot next to her. "Ok, so where were we?", she ask cocking her head sideways to look at him with a little mischievous smile.
Naruto's heart skips a beat seeing this but climbs over beside her. "You were talking about the second world war.", he said resting against the wall. "Right, OK, so here's what happened.", she started.
Hours later the meal of the day was brought in by the same girl as before, Naruto ask her what time it was and she whispered it was around 6 at night. With that little information and the thugs rushing her out of the room they ate and talked.
"We can wait 3-4 more hours and then send a clone out to check on the cages outback,", said Tayuya knowing Naruto wanted to move faster. "They never transport slaves in the daylight so don't worry about them being gone or anything.", she added as he looked ready to move now.
Feeling that three if not more hours had passed Naruto focused on the door and created a clone just on the other side. This was getting easier the more he tried, good chakra control training he laughed to himself. This clone had a clear mission and using the knowledge of all the other clones, worked his way out of the building without anybody seeing him.
Fifteen minutes later Naruto looked up at Tayuya and said, "They are still there, I even counted more of them, I overheard a guard say midnight they would be moving them out for pickup."
Tayuya pursed her lips and thought she wasn't going to get him to drop this. She wasn't even sure she wanted to drop this crazy idea herself and that was something new for her. When did she start caring who lived or died beside herself?
"Can you break the door down?", she asked, "Ya but it will take the wall and most of the ceiling with it.", he said feeling around the frame one more time checking the strength of the seal in the wall.
"Then we need them to open it or we get the key.", she said giving him a look like he should know what she wants him to do.
Seeing he wasn't getting it she walked up to him and grabbed his shirt to pull him down to her height. "Go, Make, Some, Clones, AND, Steal, The, Key", she said slowly between clenched teeth.
"OH, ya that's a good idea.", he said forming the required hand signs he added a little more chakra than usual into the jutsu and five clones appeared in the hallway with a clear mission burned into their minds, get the key. One clone turned to the others and said, "OK strike team alpha let's get the key and free the boss.", getting a silent nod of agreement from the stone-faced Team Alpha they ran down the hall and using the window their predecessors had found jumped out the third-floor window onto a roof of a storehouse, sliding down the steep roof they leaped to the next building and using their chakra stuck to the wall and crawled down to the ground.
The lead clone called his team together and said, "We will use the transformation technique to look like sailors, then when we see the thin guy we start a fight with everybody. Then we all jump the thin guy and take the key. Got it!", "We got it, team leader,", said the clones in a chorus.
Back in the room, Tayuya said, "What the hell are you grinning about."
"Well, you remember that story you told me about the second world war when Iwagakure would send teams behind the lines to strike a really important target?"
Tayuya stopped packing her bag and looked up to him, "You mean the suicide squads of psychopaths? Why?"
Grinning even more Naruto said, "I focused that idea into the mission for the clones, cool huh!", he finished standing tall and proud of himself.
"Oh dear gods above.", she said packing her bag quicker and shaking her head, a team of mission-crazed Naruto's with a suicide wish, what could go wrong with that.
Back at the bar team alpha had taken over a table in the middle of the room and ordered beers, talking loud and being all-around obnoxious they were not making many friends. When one of them spotted the thin man walk out and stand at the bar he elbowed the one next to him. Getting a big grin in reply the second clone stood up and yelled, "The local dock rats are more useful unloading my ship than the lot of you guys.", pointing the group of dockworkers in the next table.
Clone three and five drove into the men as they stormed at the loud clone while their team leader crawled under the table heading for the thin man. The whole room turned into one big fight as everyone joined in, seems the clone had hit a sore note with both sides with that comment.
Popping up next to the thin man, clone leader alpha picked up a mug of beer someone left behind and drink it all down and turned to the thin man, "They sure can't take a joke can they.", he laughed getting the thin man to turn to him. The last thing the thin man saw was a big bright smile with a pair of crazed blue eyes staring into his as the clone leader shoved a table knife up under his chin into his mouth and ended in his brainpan, instant kill with no chance of making any noise just like in the story.
Pulling the key from the thin man's belt and sitting him down on a stool he laid his head down on the bar like he passed out from too much drinking. The clone leader put his fingers in his mouth and blew a loud whistle, that was the signal that he had the key. As the thugs ran into the bar to break up the fight, the squad of a sailor turned into a squad of trained ninja. The thugs didn't know what hit them as the clones took their weapons from them and started mowing them down.
Team leader Alpha ran out the door as his team completed their mission, kill everyone, leave no one behind, fight to the death for that was the only way to gain honor, so the story went and so would they end this night covered in honor.
Naruto made a face at Tayuya like he swallowed a lemon and turned to her. "It started a couple of minutes ago so get ready to go.", he said feeling the death of a clone at the hands of ten thugs, the floor covered in blood was the last thing he saw before dispersing. In only a moment or two, the seal on the door fell and the door swung open to reveal a clone with a crazy grin spinning the key around its finger.
"Here you go boss, I got to go join the team,", the clone yelled heading for the stairs and the bar below. Naruto didn't try to stop him as Tayuya just shook her head and headed for the window Naruto had told her was at the end of the hall.
Jumping down the last rooftop they ran around the building to see a stream of sailors and dock workers running for their lives as a clone used a fire jutsu to set a dozen thugs on fire inside the bar. "Dam Naruto, I didn't know you had it in you.", Tayuya said with a happy grin as she pulled the shocked Naruto toward the alley that would lead them to the cages in the back. He had felt the joy of that clone as it used the fire jutsu on the crowd before it burned itself upon the blowback of fire. 'Fox we have got to talk about this.', he said to the fox, 'It wasn't me boy, that was all you back there,', said the fox, he too was a little taken aback by the sheer carnage those clones were doing to the now much-reduced army of thugs.
Now with the bar on fire and the little explosions of the liquor bottles joining the nighttime sounds of cries for mercy floated back into the alley they ran into a metal wall between them and their goal, Naruto didn't even slow down forming a Rasengan in his hand and blasted the wall aside as he went, if this was going to be a bloody night, so be it.
As they jumped through the hole Tayuya could see the legs of a guard under the remnants of metal laying in a pool of blood. Now that is what she wanted to see, a real Ninja doing his best to lay waste to an enemy.
The cages full of children were in a large barn in the back. Not wanting to hurt any of them Naruto slowed to a stop and pulled the door open to only get hit in the face by a thug with a bat. As Naruto fell to the ground Tayuya spin kicked the thug, broke the bat in half, and shoved it through his chest all in one smooth movement of destruction.
Pulling Naruto to his feet she said, "Learn to fucking duck will you.", as she ran into the barn scanning for any other soon-to-be corpses. Finding nothing but a row of cages full of screaming kids she runs past them looking for someone to fight. Naruto searched the guard for the keys and not finding any ran to the first cage door and using a wind jutsu cut the top of the bars off of all the cages and some of the supporting beams holding up the barn. As the cage wall feel he created a small army of caretaker clones to carry the kids into the village.
Searching for Tayuya Naruto finds her at the end of the barn facing off with what is left of Genna's army of thugs with Genna standing in the middle holding her pipe and grinning like a cat that caught a rat.
Laughing she said, "So you want-to-be Genin think you can free my slaves, I am going to teach you a lesson on who is b…". she wasn't able to finish her evil villain speech as Tayuya using a body flicker technique appeared in front of Genna and palm slammed the pipe into Genna's mouth and out the back of her head before kicking her into her little army.
The thugs seeing their paycheck drop dead at their feet, charged at Tayuya only to find she wasn't the helpless little girl they all thought she was. Orochimaru had told her she was at Jonin level and even though she liked to fight at long range her Taijutsu was still more than a match for 20 untrained Yakuza muscle.
By the time Naruto was able to reach her, she had reduced their number in half and was working on the others. He ran headfirst into one that was a little too close to Tayuya's back than he liked and slamming him into a wall breaking every bone in the man's body before dropping him to the ground dead.
Between the two of them, it was only minutes before they stood alone in a barn full of dead and dying.
"What the hell is going on here.", said a large Tanigakure shinobi, he was backed by 3 others forming a standard squad.
"We freed all those kids from the slavers.', said Naruto dropping the last thug to the ground expecting a hero's welcome he was soon surprised to hear.
"What the fuck, those were our bonus money.", the leader of the shinobi said pulling out a Wakizashi blade from a sheath on his lower back. "That's fucked up,", said Tayuya kicking a blade on the ground so it flew up into her hand, oh she so wished she had her Demonic Flute.
As the four Tanigakure shinobi lined up in an attack formation the hero of alpha squad, the one and only leader, a survivor of the battle of the bar, jumped from the rafters screaming, "Death is Honor!", the well-known battle cry of Iwagakure death squads.
Chaos erupted as the clone landed on the back of the Tanigakure leader stabbing him repeatedly in the back with a kitchen knife before turning into a puff of smoke, Tayuya threw her blade into the throat of the nearest shinobi, and Naruto's rushed forward yelling "Great Wind Breakthrough", blasting the remaining shinobi back into the cages. One was impaled on the cage bars that had been bent forward in the rush to pull the kids free and the other two bounced back out to confront the two that had destroyed their little plan on getting rich quick.
"You fucking non-name bastards, you're going to pay for this,", yells one as he looked at his two dead comrades, "Water Canon, he screams producing a jet of water from his mouth hitting Tayuya square in the chest pushing her back completely out of the barn into the alley.
At the same time, his remaining partner ran back to the far side of the barn and yelled, "Water Release: Water Needles", sending a wave of small water jets into Naruto, seeing them coming he produced a clone to take the hit and jumped over the onslaught of killer needles.
Landing in front of the shinobi he punched him in the face sending him flying back into the wall. Spinning around he throws a piece of wood from the ground at the other shinobi uses the jutsu, "Wind Bullet", to increase its speed tenfold. The shinobi tried to dive out of the way but the wood smashed into his hip sending him spinning back.
Turning back to the other slaver bastard he sees Tayuya has him pinned to the ground and is repeatedly punching him in the face, figuring she can take care of herself Naruto heads to where the other shinobi flew only to find nothing but a man-sized hole in the wall.
"Come on, leave him, the other guy ran and who knows who else is in on this.", yells Naruto at Tayuya who was still taking out all her frustration on the now-dead shinobi. Standing she looks at him half covered in blood, her shirt ripped open revealing her black bra and bruised chest.
Looking around she says, "Get your wind jutsu ready, we are going to torch this place.", forming a set of five hand signs she yells, "Fire Release: Fire Wall.", producing a wall of fire that slams into the barn wall behind the cages. Naruto for once sees her plan and yells, "Wind Release: Great Flame Wall", forcing all the air in the area to blow into the flame increasing its power and intensity causing the fire to spread to cover everything in its path.
With a stupid grin at how well that worked as the whole inside of the build was now covered in flame he looks over at Tayuya as she stumbles and falls to the ground. Running to her side he hears her say, "That took everything out of me, let's get out of here before we are toast."
Picking up the little redhead Naruto runs out the back of the building using the hole Tayuya created when the water jet hit her. The first thing he sees is the thug that had pinched her ass, he was standing there with a face of total shock, mouth wide open, his eyes were so big Naruto thought they would pop out but his wasn't moving.
Running past him he can see why, a fence post as big around as a man's leg seemed to be shoved up his ass and planted in the ground.
'Dam don't piss off a redhead, they will end you.', said the fox laughing the whole time as they passed by, 'ya tell me about it.', replied Naruto jumping over the fence and into the street behind the barn slash bar complex.
Now with both sides of the buildings on fire, the locals were running around screaming for help and Naruto gets a memory of his clones dropping off the children and then saving all the working girls from above the bar before the flames reached them.
Breathing heavy and holding Tayuya tightly to his chest he stops to think of what to do next. "Head west", said Tayuya looking up at him, she looks like shit covered in blood, mud, and soot from the fires. Giving her a quick OK, he heads west as fast as he can, running down the street not wanting the local shinobi forces to see him on the rooftops, besides the steep roofs look hard to navigate.
The street merges with another as it turns into a road big enough for 2 or 3 wagons to travel side by side, at the end he can see one of the main gates to the village. It was closed and guarded by four men that didn't have the markings of shinobi.
Getting as close as he can without being seen Naruto hides behind a wagon that seems to be set up to leave the village in the morning but the horses had been removed to rest for the night.
With his back pressed against the wagon's back gate, he looked over the side to check that the guards haven't moved an inch. Checking on Tayuya she is still awake but can't stand yet, dam chakra exhaustion. "Remove the wheel chocks and push it through the gate,", she said looking up at him with those dam brown eyes and long eyelashes that made her look so good even with mud and blood on her cheeks.
Laughing at a thought he just had Naruto makes six clones and has two remove the wheel chocks and the other four start pushing the wagon as fast as they can, one clone sets the cargo on fire with a small fire jutsu that quickly spread, the guards seeing the burning wagon rolling at them at a high speed jump out of the way. It's then that the other two clones yell, "Great Wind Push", creating a wall of air that massively accelerates the wagon as it slams into and then through the gate setting everything on fire in and around the gate.
Seeing the path clear Naruto with Tayuya securely in his arms runs out the burning gate into the forest beyond. The mango tree forest was draped in vines and twisted branches, once off the road the underbrush was thick and almost impassable for a normal man but Naruto was able to jump over the lower bushes and use the larger branches to travel deeper into the forest.
It was much harder to travel in this forest than the great trees of fire country but that was true for anybody that may be chasing them. It was clean the local shinobi were more water-based and wouldn't think anybody running from the village would use the western forest when there was a clear water route south down to the capital city.
Several hours later, after a non-stop run, jump, hop over more mango trees they could count Naruto stopped and found a good hiding spot between some large roots that formed a little cave for them to hide from view.
Sitting Tayuya down to rest against one of the large roots, she seemed to have recovered so she could sit and stand on her own, he wasn't sure she was up to running along with him yet. "Fuck will you look at this,", she said pulling at the remnants of her shirt. there wasn't much keeping it together as she flashed him her underwear over and over.
"That's OK, Tayuya-chan I had a clone bring this along,", said Naruto handing her the bag she had been packing this morning. "Who the fuck said you can call me Tayuya-chan?", she said but was quite happy to have her bag as she dug into it looking for a shirt to put on. "Oh my god I can't believe you remembered to bring this.", she said pulling out a black crop top, without any warning she pulled off her ruined shirt and pulled on the blacktop giving him a good eye full along the way. When she looked over at him and the look on his face she said, "What? It's not like you haven't seen me half naked before."
Throwing the ruined shirt aside she stuffed everything back in the bag and stared at him. "Well, you got any more surprises, or is that it." Not knowing what to expect out of the blonde at this point he may have a clone army following them with half the village on their backs for all she knows.
"Sorry about that, didn't think to get anything else when we ran.", he said rubbing the back of his head with that boyish grin of his.
"OK, then we should try to get some sleep before sunup,", said Tayuya using her bag as a pillow she wiggled between two large roots to try to sleep. Naruto seeing that was the end of talking for the night made a couple of clones and sent them up into the trees to guard them as they sleep and found a good spot to rest for the night.
….
It's not the heat it's the humidity but in a mango forest, it's also the bugs. Waking up with little bits all over her legs Tayuya was not a happy camper and kicked Naruto awake to tell him. After a quick bit of some fruits, the clones had found they headed west. Tayuya seemed to be able to keep up if he went a little slower than normal. They made good time and by noon the mango trees started to give way to more hardwoods that Naruto was used to seeing.
He started to laugh as they slowed down to look for a place to rest, this only seemed to piss off Tayuya as she was getting tired way sooner than she was used to.
"What's so fucking funny? You laughing at me?", she said confronting him as he stopped at the back of a large tree looking around.
"No, No, it's the clones in the village, you know the ones I sent out with the kids, the last two popped right now,', he said trying not to laugh but failing miserably, the memory he got was of two clones that saved some of the women from the bar. They had spent most of the night having wild sex and listening to rumors. Naruto figured Tayuya didn't need to know about the sex part, it wasn't what was funny anyway.
"So what is so funny?", asked Tayuya, she never was a patient person, to begin with, but cover her in bug bits and she was a hair away from killing somebody.
"Ok,", he said still chuckling, "All of the Tani shinobi are freaking out, they think Iwagakure set a death squad to their village to start a war, they are even thinking about sending a force to attach Iwagakure.", at this point he couldn't help it and laughed aloud with Tayuya joining in. Iwagakure would wipe that village off the map in one day if they feel threatened.
"I guess we don't have to worry about than chasing us then?", said Tayuya.
"Hell no, the rumors are the gate blew down as part of a diversion and the real attack will come from the river.", at this point, Naruto had to sit down, those shinobi were singularly focused on the river and it will be the death of them.
Taking a seat next to Naruto Tayuya rested back against an old oak tree and looked over at the blonde, "So how many more clones do you have running around out there.", she asked.
"I made so many last night to free the kids and the people from the bar I really have no idea, but they will run out of chakra in the next day or so,", he said, finding his own tree to rest on, "Clones are great but not for any real long term missions if I really try I can give one enough chakra to last a week but even then they come out a little crazy and don't always do what I ask."
"Sounds like you all right,", she said laughing, not being able to miss a chance to pick on the blonde hero.
"Ya, Ya, that is what Jiraiya sensei always said,", was his response not realizing he was being picked on.
Thinking about Jiraiya his mood dropped and he said, "You don't think anything happens to Jiraiya sensei do you?"
"If he is anything like Orochimaru in strength I wouldn't worry one little bit, that blue freak wouldn't stand a chance.", said Tayuya having seen Orochimaru in action more than once, the last time the fight with the Third Hokage.
Naruto grinned in agreement and stood up and offered her a hand to stand with him that she used with a smile of her own. "Ok", he said looking to the sun to get a feeling of where they are, "Let's go that way, it should be northeast and we can find that base we were looking for, if we are lucky Jiraiya will be nearby." With that Naruto decides to take to the trees so they can move faster.
As they jumped from tree to tree at a much more leisurely pace so Tayuya had a chance to recover from her chakra exhaustion she started up on her history lessons. "What do you know about the history of the Uzumaki and Uzushiogakure no Sato.", ask Tayuya as they moved from tree to tree.
"Not much.", said Naruto knowing that he was about to learn something new about his ancestral home. Slowing down even more he leaped to the ground so they can walk and talk at a more normal pace, he didn't want to miss out on this history lesson.
"The history books I found in the sound village I read said Its ninja were renowned for their fūinjutsu to the point that it led to its destruction in a war. Anyone like my mother who survived the village's destruction scattered across the globe to seek refuge. It seems that all the members of the village stayed to fight but some of the women for some reason we're told to run. From what little my mother told me before she dies was something about a special chakra type needed to be saved." said Tayuya walking ahead of Naruto as she told her story.
"Did your mother tell you anything about what it was like.", ask Naruto wanting to know anything, anything at all about the home of his mother.
"I was really young when she died and Orochimaru found me a week later.", said Tayuya, "But what I do remember was our family was known to have notoriously long lives, so it gained the name 'The Village of Longevity', but I don't know much else about the village itself."
"I sure wish I could see the village someday.", said Naruto feeling something of what Sasuke must have felt when his clan was destroyed.
"Didn't you say your first mission was to wave country? That is just a day or so travel to Uzushiogakure.", said Tayuya, she had looked it up enough times to have memorized its location. One of her life goals was to return there someday and bury the bones of her family.
"Cool, I know where that is, we can go someday and see the old village.", said Naruto slapping his fist into his palm. "Come on, jump on my back and we can make up time before sunsets.", Naruto stopped and looked at the small redhead as she thought about his offer.
Getting behind him she jump on, "Let's go and get this over with.", she said wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Leaping to the trees Naruto put all his speed into navigating the trees allowing Tayuya to tell him to turn left or right to stay on course.
Near the end of the day, they found a small road winding through the forest that seemed to be well used and Tayuya said to follow it as it may lead to a village where they could get a better idea of where they are and maybe find a soft bed to sleep in.
An hour after the sunset the lights of a village could be seen in the distance and the two shinobi headed down to the road and walked into the village. The village was small and didn't have any wall around it, the lack of any form of defense felt strange but once in the village, they found it was only a collection of 20 or 30 houses around a center well to draw water from.
The villagers still walking about after sunset gave them a wide berth and not seeing any Inn or even shops Naruto figured they would be sleeping in the forest after all.
"We don't get many travelers around here.", said a young woman with a baby on her hip. "Were you heading strangers", shifting the baby to the other hip she bend down to pick up some toy the child dropped.
"Northern shore of Fire Lake,", said Naruto before Tayuya could stop him he reached down and handed the toy to the child who looked at him with big round eyes before laughing at the toy.
"You're about two and a half days travel up that road,", she said pointing to the other end of the village, "to reach the southern shore of Fire Lake, from there you should be able to follow the shore around in about three days, two if you're quick." Turning to leave Naruto stopped the young woman with a word, "Sorry, but do you know of a place we can stay the night, we've been on the road a long time and,", looking at Tayuya like she was fragile or something, "We sure could use a nice place to sleep."
The woman looked him over a couple times and then over to Tayuya as if to assess her worth, "Sure, we got a barn, you can sleep in the hay for the night.", she said walking off but waving her hand for them to follow her.
At the end of the village was a small farm with sheep and a couple of goats, a barn was near the end of the field by what looked like a pig pen on the side. "You can sleep in there, don't bother the pigs as they got young and you will be fine. I will tell my father you're here so he doesn't stick ya with a hayfork in the morning.", said the woman heading into the house.
With that the two shinobi climbed up into the hayloft, finding a mostly clean horse blanket Naruto tossed it over a bed of hay and fell back into it to make a nice bed to lay in, he tried to get out and let Tayuya have it but she would have nothing of it, "Get back their,", Tayuya said pushing him back down, "I need my heater and you're it." Landing down beside him she curled up to his side.
The morning started with the sounds of pigs screaming for food, Naruto pulling fingers from his mouth and the barn door slamming closed as the farmer came in to start the morning by shoveling the muck out of the pens. Naruto looked down at the hard-working man but before he had a chance to ask if he wanted help Tayuya pulled him back into the hay. "Don't you dare,", said Tayuya knowing full well what Naruto was thinking, "I am not spending my day shoving shit." The look on her face said there would be much pain if he disagreed with her.
"OK, so we jump out the back and don't do anything to repay them?", he asked expecting her to agree to do something, instead she smiled, picked up her bag, and did just that, jumping out the back of the barn and head north into the woods.
Naruto being Naruto couldn't just leave and made a clone to help clean the barn and ran after Tayuya. He gave the clone enough chakra to work all day if that was required. It took him a couple of minutes to catch up, "So you're feeling better today." said Naruto as he ran beside Tayuya who wasn't slowing down.
Looking at him beside her she did give him a little smile, "Ya, I feel like my old self, just needed a couple of days and a good night's sleep.", she responded speeding up a little as if to prove to herself more then him she was back in shape.
Finding the lake was easy, finding a way around the lake, not so much as it was surrounded by cliffs and thick forest. Standing on a high peek they couldn't see the other side of the lake, it was over the horizon making it a long walk to the northern shore.
"You want to run across the water or go around.", asked Naruto knowing he could, if he had to run the length of the lake, it can't be that far now, can it. He can see Tayuya was thinking about it long and hard, was it pride or something else but she looked up at him and said, "Let's do it."
Working their way down the cliff face using chakra and old fashion rock climbing they reached the shore in no time and stepped out onto the water. This morning it was calm and the water was smooth as glass but if a wind picked up or worst a storm came blowing in from the sea they would have a much harder time getting across.
"We should stay to the western shoreline as it was straighter and if a storm blows in we can make it back to shore.", said Tayuya thinking ahead.
"Wow that would be a good idea.", said Naruto, he was ready to just run like crazy and hope for good luck to get them across in one piece.
Tayuya took the lead so that fool doesn't just leave her behind and have to come back looking for her. Plus it allowed her to go at a pace that wouldn't burn her chakra dry in half a day. Dam Jinchuurki and their super battery of chakra don't know how to take it slow, ever.
Watching Tayuya run in front of him in her crop top and skin-tight green pants had his mind wondering to what her lithe body would feel like in his hands, it would be glorious to feel her stutter around him as he …. 'DAM IT FOX,' he yelled in his head, 'stop say things like that.'
With a laughing fox in his head, Naruto just tries to focus on his chakra control so he doesn't fall into the water as he runs behind Tayuya as she stays a couple hundred feet from the shoreline at all times.
When the sun hit its highest Tayuya turned to the shore when she spotted a break in the tree line with a small clearing next to the shore. Exiting the water and walking out onto the grass she gave out a long groan and fell to the ground and rolled over onto her back.
"Dam that feels good to stop channeling chakra", she said looking up at him. Dropping down beside her he looked up at the white puffy clouds slowly moving by and said, "I sent some clones into the woods to see if they can find some food if you want to take a break for a little while longer."
"OK by me oh clone master.", she chuckled but did not move from her spot, she clearly didn't want to move right away. It took the clones only 20 minutes to return with some rabbits and start a fire Naruto started cooking lunch. One thing Jiraiya really beat into him was how to cook what you can find. After eating Tayuya decided she needed to take a nap and stretched out on the grass. Naruto couldn't help but admire her strong legs and nice ass as she lay on her stomach. The dam fox wouldn't stop putting ideas in his head about how Tayuya would feel wrapped around him so Naruto went to the lakeside and splashed water in his face. Hearing all the noise Tayuya figured it was time to get and head out.
With lunch and her little nap out of the way, they headed back out onto the water, and by the end of the day, they reached the northernmost shore of the lake. They found a swamp with an assortment of creatures living in it that didn't look 'normal' as Naruto put it. Tayuya was a little blunter with the animals, they were fucked up by Orochimaru's experiments, and that only shows they are close.
Finding at the edge of the swamp was a small stream almost a river but not quite they followed it uphill until finding a much dryer forest Naruto said, "Let's make camp around here and start the search in the morning."
Making use of the camping skills Jiraiya had taught or more likely beat into his jutsu focused brain Naruto made a Lean-To for them to sleep under, when he was done Tayuya seemed almost impressed that it was well hidden.
"Good job. You planning on being here a while?", Tayuya asked as she helped spread a layer of pine branch on the ground to use as a bed, it wasn't as good as Hay but it works to keep the ground from pulling the heat away from your body when you sleep.
"I just wanted to make sure we don't freeze or bugs bite you again, the pine will hide our scent from them or any animals.", said Naruto, see he does listen when he has enough motivation, and Jiraiya making him sleep in mud really got his attention that one time.
Tayuya sees Naruto get that faraway look in his eyes and stops moving, having seen this several times she knows it's the fox or a clone and waited until he was focusing back on her before asking, "What was that all about?", she said.
"I left a clone to help at the farm, you were right, he had me shovel shit all day but I also learned something. The locals call this area the forest of the lost, most people that come here never come back, and the few that have said they wandered around for days lost.", said Naruto placing the last pine branch on their bed and sitting down on it to test it out.
"Anything else he tells you?", asked Tayuya
"Ya the normal story of monsters and strange clouds of mist. Normal scary story stuff.", he said from the bed.
"Fuck, sound more like normal Orochimaru mutants and Genutsu traps.", said Tayuya looking at the forest with a little more worrying than before. She remembered the half man half animals he put in the fighting pits when he was done with them. It wasn't something she wanted to run across in the middle of the night.
"You think he is still here?", asks Naruto sitting up and looking around himself.
"No, they talked about abandoning this base before the attack on your village but that bastard has a habit of leaving behind all his failed experiments to roam around.", Tayuya said, "Some of them can be pretty mean and fucked up so we need to watch our backs." She tried her best to not sound like a scared little girl but those creatures freaked her out most of the time with their blank eyes and drool dripping out of their mouths.
Getting up Naruto makes a dozen clones and orders them to start patrolling around the camp for any signs of monsters and as soon as they ran off he made a dozen more and order them to hide in the trees around the camp and keep watch.
Joining Tayuya at the small fire she had started he said. "That should give us plenty of warning if something is heading our way." Holding his hands out to the fire as it was getting a little chilly once the sunset. Seeing Tayuya had taken the horse blanket from the barn he figured they could use that to keep warm or at least keep her warm today.
Getting a grunt of agreement was all he was going to get as Tayuya was too nervous to do a lot of talking, if Orochimaru did leave behind his monsters she really didn't want to have to deal with them without her flute.
….
The next four days they searched and searched for the hidden base, even an army of clones literally looking under every rock didn't find a hint of where it could be. Naruto had asked her a hundred times today if she was sure this was even the right Fire Lake.
The little fire jutsu she shot at him was all she was going to say on the matter as this endless searching was getting to her. Laying on the horse blanket watching the fire die out Naruto looked over at Tayuya sleeping at his side. One of his clones had burst five minutes ago waking him up but it didn't get a look at what attacked it.
Another clone's memories came to him, this time with a lot of teeth and green scales. Getting up slowly so he didn't wake Tayuya, Naruto moved toward the area the clone was stationed. Finding a clone hiding in the brushes Naruto said, "Have you heard or seen anything.", "Ya boss, someone screamed not too long ago from over there.", said the clone pointing to their right.
"Go tell the others that they need to pull in to protect Tayuya.", said Naruto sending the clone to find some of the others still spread out around the camp. Heading off at a jog Naruto sends chakra to his eyes hoping he can see whatever it was that attached his clone in the moonlight. After jogging for 15 minutes and not seeing anything he stops to think.
Sending three new clones down a hill Naruto jumps into the trees to follow behind them. They didn't seem to be too happy about this mission and decided to yell and point at him in the tree. 'Dam clones, always screwing around.', he thought getting out a shuriken to throw at one of them just as a 30 foot long six-legged crocodile with horns like a goat jumped out of nowhere and ate all three clones at once.
"Now I got you.", said Naruto creating a Rasengan and jumping down to land on the back of this creature. Not expecting it to have an extra set of eyes on the back of its head Naruto was slapped in the side by the creature's tail as it spins around.
Landing on his feet he throws the shuriken he still had in his left hand and with a quick hand sign sends it flying with a wind bullet. The creature was fast, very fast as it moved its head out of the path of the oncoming shuriken only to get hit in the side. The shuriken sinks deep into its side and comes to rest somewhere deep in its body. Letting out a roar of pain the monster jumped at Naruto using all six legs to send it into the air.
"Oh fuck, ", scream Naruto diving out of the way and rolling across the ground coming to a stop against a large tree. Moving around the tree he feels it shake as the creature's tail slams into the trunk of the tree.
Running up the side of the tree just as it tries to bite it, Naruto can see the long sharp teeth his clones remembered right before they died. Now high above the monster, he can see it's focused on the tree in its month and jumps down once again with a Rasengan screaming in his hand as he lands on the creature's back and slams the Jutsu into its head. Scales and a long horn go flying by as he is bucked off its back to land behind it.
Rolls over and jumping up Naruto can see the creature slowly turn to face him once again shaking its head, with one horn missing and both eyes blow away from the back of its head it still seemed ready to go for another round as it roared and charged once again. "Wind Blade Jutsu", yelled Naruto blasting the monster in the face with the jutsu. A new set of cuts appear all over its face and front legs, with one leg getting completely cut off but that didn't slow the monster down as it continued to rush at Naruto.
Leaping high over its head Naruto forms a wind chakra blade around his hand and slashes it across the tail of the creature cutting off the last ten feet sending blood flying everywhere. Now ten feet shorter and losing blood but still determined to kill its prey it turns once again to face Naruto. It's a waiting game now, will it just die or does he have to do some more damage to end this fight, getting into a staring contest Naruto can tell this creature wasn't going to go down easy as it charged him once again.
Now moving at half its original speed Naruto can easily avoid its charge and leaping over its snout he grabs the last horn and spins around to land on the monster's head. "Wind Jutsu: Great Blast", yells out Naruto forcing both hands down onto the forehead of the monster blasting it down into the ground, and with a great cracking sound it slides to a stop. Seeing blood and gore coming out of its mouth Naruto jumps to the ground and looks to see that he had blasted a hole in the creature's head from the top to the bottom of its jaw.
Picking up the horn he broke off Naruto walks back to the camp to find Tayuya sitting at the fire poking it with a stick. "What the fuck was all that noise?", she asked as he came into view. Dropping the four-foot long horn next to the fire Naruto sat down and said, "It was a six-legged crocodile with horns and an extra set of eyes on the back of its head.", pointing at the horn to show he meant it Tayuya picked it up and looked it over.
"This is so fucked up, I am not sleeping on the ground another night.", said Tayuya looking over to Naruto expecting him to do something.
Now sleeping in a makeshift tree house 30 feet off the ground they sit around the little fire pit Naruto had made out of some clay he found eating their dinner. "You sure that you got the right…", started Naruto getting an elbow in his side before he could finish asking.
"Yes, and YES, there is only one Fire Lake and this is where it is, we just have to find it, Dammit Naruto it is called a hidden base because it's HIDDEN.", yelling at the blonde didn't help but Tayuya was at her wit's end and his asking if she was sure didn't help one little bit.
Taking another bite Naruto looked over at the pissed-off redhead in her gray tunic and dark blue pants, he missed the crop top but it needs some repairs after working on the treehouse all night, she had been determined to get it done in one night.
"You know you could just set off a fire jutsu if you really want to attract some company.", said Jiraiya standing at the tree house's door. Naruto ran out and hugged his sensei and even Tayuya looked happy to see him as Naruto pulled him into the little room they made.
"How did you find us.", asked Tayuya making room for the large man to sit, and even-handed him a roasted fish bird thing Naruto had cooked for her. The animals around here are all a little strange they had found. It still tasted good once you got the feathers off of the fish scales.
"After searching around the village after your run-in with Kisame I figured you would try to continue the mission, I just didn't think it would take you down to Tani and blow up my favorite bar to make it here.", said Jiraiya looking at the fish thing and shrugging his shoulders took a bit out of it.
"You tracked us all the way down there?", ask Naruto being totally impressed with his sensei now. "Not really, I came here first, and then when you didn't show up I figures I would do some research down at Tani.", said Jiraiya
"Fuck'n pervert, did you know about the slave trade going on in the back?", asked Tayuya looking for a reason to kick the old man out of her house, even if it was only a treehouse.
"No, that was news to me, I hadn't been down to Tani in a couple of years.', said Jiraiya looking at Tayuya, "If I had I would have put a stop to it but I wouldn't have had to burn down a city block to do it." he finished by giving them both a disapproving look.
"What do you mean? My clones reported back that the locals had put out the fire that same day.", said Naruto rubbing the back of his head in confusion.
"Then someone found a reason to clean house then, the local shinobi were just standing around letting it burn when I got there, if it wasn't for the story of the Iwagakure attaching and then blasting down that gate with a wind jutsu I wouldn't have thought it was you.", said Jiraiya.
Looking between them he could see that they really didn't know what they left behind so he continued, "The local shinobi forces really think it was an Iwagakure attach and have asked for help from the leaf. I am sure Tsunade will send someone to Iwagakure to ask what is going on. The lack of warning from the spy network is going to get a lot of blonde heads in trouble if this was true."
Not understanding what other blondes would be in trouble for this Naruto let it slide, one more thing he didn't understand so he didn't even try. Tayuya on the other hand wasn't beyond asking questions.
"What do you mean by that?", she asked bluntly.
"Village secret girl but you travel companion here knows what I am talking about.", said Jiraiya.
Tayuya looked over at Naruto and he shook his head no, clearly not having any idea on what was going on he changed the subject. "We haven't been able to find the base yet.", said Naruto putting some more wood on the little fire as the night closed in, it had started to get colder at night up in the trees.
"I have some ideas we can try in the morning,", said Jiraiya, looking around the small tree house, Tayuya said, "Go find your own tree to sleep in you old pervert." With a laugh and a wave Jiraiya jumped out of the tree, "See you two in the morning,", he said from the ground before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
…..
Jumping down from their little treehouse they find that Jiraiya had built a house below them out of stone that looked like it could withstand a crocodile deer or three. "Hey Sensei, how'd you build this so fast.", yelled out Naruto as they walked up to the door of the stone cabin. When Jiraiya opened the door they could see a nice room with chairs and a bed, with a fireplace in the back. It looked like its been there for years.
"Learn some earth jutsu and Fūinjutsu kid, you can do a lot more than summon a toad or spin a Rasengan,", said Jiraiya closing the door behind him and placing a seal so it couldn't be opened by anyone passing by, "Speaking of Toads, why didn't you just summon a toad to take you home or reverse summon yourself back to me?"
Tayuya looked at Naruto and then back to Jiraiya and then back again, she seemed to be building up to doing something, "WHAT THE FUCK!", she screamed in Naruto's face, she raised a hand to hit him but stopped herself halfway, hitting a tree nearby she almost broke it in half.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me, we could have saved so much time, Hell I didn't have to sleep in a hole in a tree or any of that,", she had turned so red in the face it matched her hair and she stomped around in circles.
Calming down some she walked up to Naruto and pulled him down to eye level with her and said, "Dumb ass why didn't you just summon a toad, why?", after pulling himself free of the little redhead he gave her his sunshine smile and rubbed his head and said, "Oh, I didn't think of it."
Throwing her hands in the air Tayuya walked off into the woods kicking anything in her path until she was gone out of sight, Naruto tried to go after her but Jiraiya put a hand on him to stop him, "Its best if you let her cool off some before you try to talk to her.", said Jiraiya having been in this situation more then once.
"I don't get it, why didn't she just hit me and get over it, that is what Sakura-chan does?", he asked the wise and noble Jiraiya, writer of porn and peeping tom of the five great nations.
"Because she likes you, a lot.", said Jiraiya as if that was a complete answer that Naruto would understand.
"What do you mean? Sakura likes me too,", Naruto thinks back to her confession back at the hotel.
Jiraiya looked at Naruto and wonders if it was time to open his eyes to the real world or just let him continue to be the naive boy that wants to save the world and everyone in it. Deciding that the real world needs a savior, a chosen one, that understands the world around him Jiraiya pulled Naruto into his rock house and sits him down on a chair next to the fire.
"Look, you have to listen and understand, this is like a jutsu and you need to know all the right hand signs.", said Jiraiya know that was the only way to get Naruto's full attention, the boy was jutsu crazy most of the time.
"There are many types of people in your life, those that need you, those that want to control you, and those that really care for you. The rest of them out there don't care if you live or die until you prove yourself to them in some way.", said Jiraiya trying his best to get Naruto to understand that not everyone was his friend.
"Sakura, she needs you, needs you for what you can give her, the same with that blonde girl you went on that mission with, she just needs you in a different way. But this one,", said Jiraiya pointing out the door to where Tayuya went to cool off, "She doesn't need you, she doesn't want to control you, she likes you, it could even be more but that, it's why she doesn't hit you. You got that?", said Jiraiya patting Naruto's knee as he stared off into the fire.
"But she doesn't act like she likes me,", said Naruto looking back into the fire.
Leaning back into his chair Jiraiya looks at the confused boy and tries to come up with something that he would understand. Thinking it would be best to start at the basics he asks, "So you have sex with her?"
"No, of course not,", said Naruto turning to look at his sensei.
"Why not, you don't seem to have a problem bedding anybody else.", was Jiraiya's response.
"I am not the type of guy that would just force someone, you know that,", said Naruto
"So you travel with her, I assume you ended up sleeping in the same bed or something along the way, what is it she not your type?,", said Jiraiya, he wanted Naruto to see it and not just lay it out for him.
"My type? I don't know if I have a type but she is really nice most of the time and really cute so,", he pause for a lost of words until it came to him, "I don't want to ruin it with her you know, sex is great but it sometimes it makes it strange afterward."
"Tayuya lets you sleep in the same bed with her, lets you touch her I assume. Hell boy, I bet you even seen her naked and you didn't even try anything, and she hasn't pushed you away or tried to kill you.", laughing at that last part as she is a sound shinobi or at least was so he wouldn't be surprised if she had tried to take a knife to the blonde at some point.
Nodding his head Naruto agreed with Jiraiya as he thought about everything they had been talking about. "You think she really likes me then, like more they just as a friend?",", asked Naruto as he began to see things in a new light.
"I would say so, and in a lot more mature way than that pink-haired teammate of yours.", said Jiraiya.
"So your saying Sakura doesn't like me?", said Naruto
"Oh she likes you in her own way but do you see her hitting her other friends, her other lovers.", Jiraiya said.
"No, she hugs and kisses them, well mostly Ino but still she never even tries to hit Ino or anyone.", said Naruto
Sitting back in his chair Jiraiya let out a big sigh and said, "It's love, but mixed in with control issues, she needs to control you to get what she wants. That is why I said she needs you, what she has with that Ino girl is more of a real relationship, one that will end badly once the clans get involved, I might add."
"Clans?", asked Naruto not seeing how that had anything to do with it.
"Clans need children, especially from the head branch, the Yamanaka are no different than any other clan in that regard. It was the downfall of the Senju, they couldn't produce enough kids to keep the clan going, their focus on maintaining the safety of the village killed them off.", Jiraiya said looking sadder than Naruto had ever seen him. "It's part of the reason Tsunade ran away, being last of the Senju, she knew she would be asked to produce kids that would only be used to defend the village, she didn't want to watch them die so she ran."
"Clans do that?", asked Naruto not really believing what Jiraiya was says
"What, you mean you would let your clan just die and fade away if you could prevent it?", said Jiraiya,
"No of course not, I would protect my clan.", said Naruto with some fire in his eye, family would be everything to him.
"Then the other clans would do the same, all the noble houses and some of the lesser clans make sure that the bloodline is preserved, it was only the Uchiha that overdid it and look what happens to them, madness from so much inbreeding." said Jiraiya, "It's a shame that the Uzumaki will go the way of the Senju, without a strong bloodline it will turn into a clan by name only or just fade away into Legend." And so Jiraiya planted the seed to his greatest plan, the chosen one would not only save the world but restore one of the greatest clans in all of history. Jiraiya was smiling more on the inside then than out as he watched the wheels slowly turn in Naruto's head as his words finally penetrated that thick skull.
As Jiraiya prepared to lay the groundwork for the restoration of the Uzumaki they both heard a scream out in the forest. Naruto was out the door and over the hill before Jiraiya had a chance to think of moving.
Naruto found Tayuya pinned to a tree by a large snake with yellow and red stripes, its coils wrapped around the tree and Tayuya with only her head remaining visible. She was trying to bite the snake and scream at the same time, Naruto slammed into its head-shaking some of its lengths off Tayuya. Wiggling herself free she jumped back as Naruto and the snake faced off, Naruto hit it with a powerful spin kick to the head and it backed off and raised its head up so it was looking down at the blonde hero.
"Dam, I thought it was a summons, that should have sent it back to wherever it came from.", said Naruto making hands signs and yelling, "Wind blades !", and sending a dozen invisible blades into the snake cutting it up into pieces with blood flying high into the trees and falling down on them.
Tayuya stared at Naruto covered in snake blood and shaking her hands free of the red goo before walking up to look Naruto in the eye. He braced himself for a slap or punch but she only gave him an angry look and said, "Next time you use a long-range attach back up first."
Heading to the lake to clean up, Tayuya walked off but she did seem less angry at him than before with a little smile on her face. Jiraiya who had been watching them from up in the trees dropped down and slapped Naruto on the shoulder saying. "See boy, see what I told you. Now go clean up and let's start looking for that hidden base."
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I rewrote this chapter so many times I hope it came out OK for everyone. Turning this into a real story is hard, some feedback would be nice as I sometimes wonder if anybody is reading this.