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-Four

I Like My Tea Black with a side of Red

…

Waking up the next morning was strange as the first thing he sees is a head of red hair on his stomach and then the next thing is someone poking at his very hard member. "What are you doing?", he asks to the top of the red hair.

"Woke up with this thing poking my ass so I wanted to see how long it would stay up.", she said poking it down and watching it bounce back up. "Look like it will stay this way all day. ", she laughs turning and looking at him with this brown eyes with long eyelashes extending into the corners of her eyes,.

"Ya it will if you keep poking it, it will go down once I take a shower", he said. "I got a better idea,", she said lowering down and sucking it deep into her mouth, using her tongue for the full effect he pushed up into her and reached down to grab her ass. She slapped his hand away saying, "No touching, everything is way too sore right now. You just lay there.", she dropped back down and went back to work.

Putting his hands behind his head Naruto just relaxed and let her have her way with him which didn't last all that long with her rubbing his balls and sucking him all the way down. With a warning shout, he was cumming he unloaded everything into her mouth as she sucked it all down not missing a drop.

Sitting up and looking at his face she laughed and ran into the bathroom yelling, "I got the shower first.", slamming the door as she ran in. the sight of her bouncing breast and tight little ass in the morning was something he thought he could get used to.

Later as they walked into the lobby with their travel bags in hand they found the manager talking to the new front desk person.

"Excuse me, do you know what cabin Master Jiraiya is in.", Tayuya asked as Naruto was too busy watching two birds play in one of the trees in the lobby.

"Ah yes, Master Jiraiya is in his usual room down at the local constables' office.", said the manager as if he were talking about the weather.

"You mean he is in jail,", said Naruto turning away from the two love birds playing in the tree.

"Yes,", said the manager, "He was caught overlooking the women's public bath, you can find him at the end of stream street.", he pulled out a tourist map and point out the local jail. Thanking him for his help they ran down to the jail only to find Jiraiya walking out stretching out his back.

"What happen to you?", said Naruto as they walked up, looking Jiraiya over he didn't look beat up or hurt, that was strange as the women in the bathhouses usually get in a couple of good hits before he gets away.

"Ah, good morning, yes you see me and the local police have an agreement, they leave me along until I get spotted and then come and arrest me before the ladies have a chance to catch me.", said Jiraiya.

"What do they get out of this deal.", ask Tayuya not really caring that he was peeping on a bunch of civilians. "Well you see I rented out two of the most expensive rooms didn't I?", he laughed at the look on their faces, they see now why he was so eager to get them a room.

Walking away Tayuya yells back, "See you guys later at the docks, this girl has some shopping to do.", hearing the word shopping froze Naruto in his tracks, he has had enough shopping to last him a lifetime. Waving to Tayuya's back Naruto said, "Have fun, see you later."

"Come on kid,", said Jiraiya, "let's go see when the ship will be ready." Heading down to the docks they leave Tayuya to her own devices knowing she can take care of herself.

The cargo ship was large, the largest ships in the port, so it would stand to reason that it would take some time to load all the cargo. The line of crates and cargo boxes ran down the docks, up into a road leading out of the village and over a hill. Naruto remembered his time working as a dockhand for half a day and didn't envy the men moving everything onto the ship.

Jiraiya weaved around all the moving crates and equipment to reach the dockmaster. Naruto could see they were having a heated argument before Jiraiya simply jumped on the nearest moving crate and hoped up the road using the moving caravan as his private road.

As Jiraiya moved out of sight over the hill Naruto was left standing there wondering what to do. Being alone for the first time in weeks he scratches his head and looks around, a steady line of moving crates, a long dock leading out to the harbor into the open sea, and a tourist town full of hot sweaty people from Sunagakure. 'What to do?', he wondered taking a seat on a crate for a second before the longshoremen kicked him off it to haul it aboard.

"I know,", he said out loud getting some strange looks before he ran down the end of the dock, now that he was mostly alone he went back to his favorite thing to do, reaching into his pants he pulls out…. The scroll from the hidden base with the wind ice jutsu, reading it over one more time he looks out at the water of the bays and making the required hand signs yells, "Wind Ice Release", sending a jet of chakra filled wind into the water below. He can see little pieces of ice form and melt within seconds.

Never one to give up he tries again, and again, and for the next three hours he progressively created little pieces of ice that by the end of the morning were sheets of ice a man could stand on for a couple of minutes before they melted.

"Have you been doing this all day,", said Jiraiya walking out behind him as he was getting ready to try one more time.

"Ya, sure have,", said Naruto out of breath, with his head spinning a little but still ready to give it another try.

Jiraiya sees the scroll sticking out of Naruto's pocket points down to it and says, "Let me have a look at that,", Naruto pulls it out and Jiraiya reads it over and motions Naruto to try again as he watches.

Naruto makes the hand signs, places his palms together, and pushes them out yelling out his newest Jutsu into the warm water where it forms a sheet of ice ten or so feet around that floats away in the afternoon tides.

"HAhaha,", laughs Jiraiya almost falling over until he is able to grab a tall docking pole coming out of the end of the dock. "What's so funny", cries Naruto, he thought he was doing good, he went from little ice balls to ice sheets in only three or so hours.

Jiraiya waves Naruto over and unrolls the scroll and says, "What is this?" he said pointing to a couple of pictures on the scroll. Naruto looks at the figures of a man on the scroll and scratches the back of his head.

"He is rubbing his stomach and kissing his hands?", Naruto guessed as he really didn't know what it meant so he didn't really pay attention to it.

Jiraiya looks at him for a moment and asked, "So what does that say?", he said pointing below the man holding his stomach.

"Chakra.", said Naruto proud he knew that Kanji's meaning was, "And the one before it.", said Jiraiya trying to get to the bottom of this.

Naruto looks hard at the little hand draw picture and the kanji below it and said, "I have no clue.", he said with a grin hoping he didn't get yelled at.

"It means, to gather, so it says 'to gather chakra in your stomach. And the next one says to blow it out between your hands as you form the jutsu.", said Jiraiya knowing now that Naruto couldn't read Kanji in the old style and maybe in the new as well, he would have to find a way to test him.

"Oh, so I gather and blow chakra not push it out.", Naruto laughed and moved down to the end of the dock to try again.

Making the hand signs he gathers a large amount of chakra in his stomach and blows the chakra out between his cupped hands, forming a large ball of ice around his fist, it grows and grows until it is as large as he is with both arms frozen within it up to his elbows, he gives Jiraiya one panic look before falling forward into the bay to float around kicking and screaming.

"Next time open your hands more kid,", said Jiraiya as he threw a rope over the side that looped around Naruto's leg to stop him from floating away. "Good luck Kid,", said Jiraiya walking back up the dock to check on the new crew of workers he hired to help load the ship faster. The foremen said they would be done in an hour or two so they were back on schedule.

Jiraiya found Tayuya standing at the gate of the dock watching all the madness that is in the process of loading a cargo ship at double time with two crews that didn't know each other. He can see she changed her outfit to something more appropriate for the hot muggy weather of Tea Country.

She had on a dark blue crop top that was open in a low V-neck that showed off her tone stomach and cute little belly button, below that was a black mini shirt that ended halfway down her thighs but had a cut up the side of her left leg that almost went to the belt around her hips.

She had on a pair of black knee-high boots with an open mesh design he had seen on some fashion models at the capital. With her hair tried back by a matching black leather belt around her forehead like a standard forehead protector, she looked like she was ready for anything.

As she spotted him and started to walk over all Jiraiya could think was she got the catwalk down perfectly as she swayed her hips and tossed her head back making her bright red hair fan out behind her. The sound of a couple of crates hitting the ground as the workers bumped into each other put a smile on her face. 'Now that is respect', she thought.

"Keep your eyes up here you old pervert.", said Tayuya pointing to her eyes as she walked up to Jiraiya who like any normal man, tried to look down her shirt.

"I see you got some style going on there girl.", said Jiraiya still checking her out, she was a little on the thin side for him but looking closer he could tell she was going without a bra. The kid got lucky with this one and with no compulsion seal she was the real deal.

Knowing that she wasn't going to win a fight with the Sage or get him to stop looking down her shirt she changed subjects, "Where is Naruto?", she asked wanting to see what he thought of her new look.

"Down at the end of the dock frozen in a block of ice,", said Jiraiya pointing to the end of the dock. Not even questioning why or how Tayuya ran to the end of the dock to see if the dam fool killed himself or not. 'Yup, he got a winner there.', though Jiraiya as he saw Tayuya's back that was open to the sky and a weapons pouch on her lower back.

Arriving at the end of the dock Tayuya looks down and sees Naruto standing on a large block of ice with both of his hands frozen inside, he was kicking at the ice trying to break free. A rope around his leg was stopping him from floating out of the bay but it was also tripping him every time he tried to move.

"Naruto!", she yelled down at him until he looked up, "Make a Rasengan.", she yelled down, not wanting to call him the stupid idiot he was until he was free.

With a bang and a crack of ice he was free and standing next to her shaking his frozen hands. She grabbed his hands and held them to her mouth and blew a small fire jutsu on them, her control was perfect as was to be expected and he warmed up quickly.

"Wow, thanks Tayuya-chan,", he said watching her blow fire on his fingers but not burning him. 'Having a cool ninja girlfriend is great,", he thought, then giving her a good look and seeing her new outfit he blurted out, "You want to be my girlfriend?", he gave her one of his rare genuine smiles.

She looked up over their joined hands as fire danced around both their fingers, her brown eyes locked on his blue as she blew a steady stream of flame out between her lips. Standing up straight she matched his grin and said, "NO, but you can be MY boyfriend.", said Tayuya knowing it would take him a second or maybe more to get the joke.

She waited as a series of emotions played out over his face until his eye got big and he wrapped his arms around her with a spin laughing, "OK, I can be your boyfriend", landing a quick kiss on her lips until she laced her fingers in his hair and pulled him into a much more passionate kiss. They could hear some of the longshoremen yelling and whistling at them as Tayuya gave them the middle finger from behind Naruto's back.

Later that day as they watched the last of the cargo being loaded onto the ship Naruto sat listening to Tayuya's story on her day shopping in stores full of, as she called them dried up Sunagakure women and touchy fat guys from Tea Country. She did find a shinobi store way back in an alley and had restocked all of their lost ninja tools. Showing Naruto a storage scroll from the store that contained all of his new toys. When Naruto asked how she paid for all of this stuff she said Jiraiya has good credit around here.

"Aright kids, time to get on board, the captain is getting the harbor pilot now.", said Jiraiya, as he walked over to where they were sitting watching all the workers leave the ship for the last time. Helping Tayuya get off his lap Naruto stood up and joined Jiraiya as they started up the gangplank, he had his eyes on Tayuya's rear end as she led the way onto the ship.

"Hey there girly you want to earn a free ride, I got what you need right here.", said one of the sailors grabbing his crotch and shaking it at the Tayuya,

"I am not dealing with this,", said Jiraiya as he walked past Naruto heading for the captain's bar for a good drink.

Tayuya looked over at the sailor, gave him a split second to change his attitude before running over and slamming him into one of the shipping containers, holding him up in the air so his feet were off the ground she said, "What the fuck, you dumb ass moron,", she screamed in his face as she slammed his head into the steel container, "You fucking bastard if my boyfriend hears you talk to me like that,", again slamming the man's head into the hall, 'He will rip your arms off and shove them up your ass." Dropping the dazed man on his ass Tayuya sashayed over to Naruto and looped her arm in his, "Don't hurt the mean man baby, he isn't worth it.", she said loudly so all the sailor could hear.

The fear in the eyes of the sailors told her all she needed to know, they wouldn't be fucking with her or Naruto for the rest of the trip. If a little redheaded girl could do this, then what was the boyfriend like.

Finding Jiraiya wasn't hard as the sailors seemed more than happy to show them the way to the captain's dining room where they found Jiraiya with a bottle and a glass waiting for the captain to join him. They looked over a map the captain had on the wall of Tea Country until a large bearded man walked in, Jiraiya greeted the captain and they sat down for a semi-formal dinner with the ship's cook bringing out his best for the captain's guest.

"I hear you put the fear of god into some of my men", said the captain talking to Naruto who was eating everything off his plate. "Wasn't me, captain.", said Naruto between spoonfuls of rice. He was so sick of eating rabbit anything was better at this point.

"The fucking dumb ass moron shit heads tried to make a pass at me.", said Tayuya pointing her chopsticks at the captain, "I had to step in before my boyfriend here up and killed the asshole."

Looking over at Naruto the captain just laughed at the idea of the blond kid killing anybody but if he was able to handle that fiery redhead then he must have something going for him.

After dinner, the cabin steward showed them their room as Jiraiya and the captain worked on finding the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. The room was small and the bed smaller but it was just an overnight trip to Tea Country so it would do. Looking out the porthole window Tayuya could see the full moon rising over the water. It was late as dinner had taken more than a couple of hours to finish but she had an idea.

"Come on, let's go out on the deck,", she said pulling Naruto off the bed, "The moon looks nice and I want to see it," she added as he gave her an I don't want to move look.

Working their way between the containers they found a nice spot at the railing that gave them a full view of the moon shining down on the water and in the distance they could see a thunderstorm working its way up the coast.

"Isn't it romantic.", said Tayuya teasing the boy as she stood on a pile of ropes so she was eye level with Naruto, giving him a little kiss she turned around and leaned back into his arms as they both looked out over the water as it slowly moved by with the moon sparkling off the waves. The cool breeze coming off the ocean was was nice after so many days spent in the humidity of southern fire country.

With his hands wrapped around her waist, she leaned her head back onto his shoulder, her loose hair tickling his nose as she placed her hands on his. Pulling his hands up onto her smooth soft stomach she said, "You know, my boyfriend would know he can touch me whenever he wants.", with that she slid his hand up under her shirt to cup around one of her breasts before placing her hands on the railing and pushing her butt back against him.

"Here?, Now?", he asked as he put both hands under her shirt to play with her hard little nipples, 'What is it with girls and doing this in public.', he thought

Moving her ass in circles she said, "I told you before, anytime, anywhere is good for me. Boyfriend.", she giggled using that word again. She couldn't get used to his reaction to being called a boyfriend yet, he was so, 'emotional', about it.

Pulling hard on one of her nipples made her moan as he lowered his other hand down to slide up the front of her leg and cup her pantie-clad pussy to rub circles over it. He could see she had a white-knuckled grip on the railing as she grunted out a yes when he started to slide down her panties and comb his finger through her lower hair looking for the moist opening to her core. Finding his target is slid a finger inside as she started to hump against his hand.

"I can't believe that one of the mighty sounds four is getting finger fucked out in the open like this,", said Suigetsu from atop the shipping container, Naruto picked up Tayuya and jumped as water bullets smashed into the deck where they had been standing.

"I am going to kill you!,", screamed Tayuya pulling up her panties, she had been so close, dam him, he is going to die.

Suigetsu slammed a wave into Naruto as he started to jump to the top of the crates, throwing him to the other side of the ship. Tayuya threw a shuriken at Suigetsu's head but it passed clean through it as he turned into the water at the last moment.

Firing more water bullets at her, Tayuya proved why she was called the second strongest of the sound four used her speed and performed a series of leaps and flips until she was face to face with the water bastard. She took a swing at him but again he turned to water at the last moment and her fist passed through him. Back flipping away she formed three quick hand signs and putting her fingers in her mouth blew a loud whistle. The chakra-infused sound hit Suigetsu, even in his full water form it blasted him apart into a rain of water falling on the back of the ship.

Naruto having jumped up to join Tayuya watches as Suigetsu started to reform. He made the required hand signs and yelled, "Great Wind Release", causing a blast of wind to hit the partly form Suigetsu, forcing him off the end of the ship into the water below.

"I got him,", said Naruto all smiles as Tayuya ran to the end of the ship to see what happened to the water bastard. She got hit in the face by a water blast coming out of the ocean as Suigetsu reformed and stood on top of the water.

"Fuck you bitch, Now for your boyfriend,", said Suigetsu as he gathered his chakra for a great wave attach using the ocean as his source. Naruto caught Tayuya as she few backs from the blast of water and laid her down on the container top, she looked fine but had the wind knocked out of her.

Sending an army of clones down to the water to buy him some time Naruto looked down at Tayuya who was setting up and holding her knees to her chest when she looked up at him her eyes were a bright red and she let out a growl as she stood up.

"We have to kill that bastard, that hurt.", she said standing beside Naruto watching the last of his clones pop in a cloud of smoke as Suigetsu blasted out water bullets from all his fingers.

Naruto put his arm out to hold Tayuya back as he moved to the end of the ship and formed the hand signs of his newest jutsu, "Great Wind Ice Release", he yelled as he put his hands to his mouth, a little farther apart this time, and blew a blast of chakra infused wind down onto Suigetsu standing on the water.

A sheet of ice formed on the water and climbed quickly up Suigetsu's body until he was frozen from the waist down on the platform of ice. Without his chakra keeping him moving along with the ship, he started floating away as the ship continued on its way.

"Fuck NO,", yelled Tayuya as she ran and jumped off the ship to land on the ice sheet in front of Suigetsu. Ducking below a stream of water bullets she jumped back up and stood face to face with the self-proclaimed water demon of the mist.

"Fire Release", she yelled using all the chakra she had accumulated from Naruto's Kyubbi laced Uzine, she shot a stream of flame out of her mouth into his face and upper body, he exploded into a cloud of stream taking half the ice sheet with him. As Tayuya stumbled back almost falling into the water Naruto jumped down and picked her up. Running along the water he caught back up to the moving ship and walked up the side to the upper deck.

Landing on the deck with a laughing girl in his arms he worries she pushed herself too far. "That was fun!,", she yells, "I haven't been able to do a respectable fire jutsu, ever!."

She pulls him down into a passionate kiss and pushes him away to stand up. "Dam, I was wondering what I was going to do with all that fuck'en chakra you've been pumping into me.", she said looking down at herself to make sure everything was in the right place, seeing one of her breasts was showing she retied her shirt back together.

Naruto looked over the railing of the ship at the shrinking ice far behind them and said, "Too bad we had to kill him, he would have been a good ally.", he just needed time to use his talk-no-jutsu on him, he thought, but it's too late now.

"Oh, I doubt he is dead, those Hōzuki water bastards are impossible to kill in the middle of all this water.", said Tayuya fixing her skirt so it was turned back around the right way, that dam water jet knocked everything loose.

Hearing thunder they looked to the front of the ship to see they were sailing into a thunderstorm, lightning flashed down and played across the water as it started to pour rain down onto them. Laughing like a pair of fools they ran into the ship and head down to the cabin. They can see Jiraiya and the captain hadn't moved from the table swapping old war stories and drinking the night away.

Pulling some towels out of the very small bathroom Tayuya threw one in Naruto's face and she used the other to dry her hair and anything else she could reach. Seeing Naruto struggling with his jacket and trying to dry his hair at the same time she went over and pulled his jacket off and made him sit as she dried his head with the towel.

Standing between his legs she wasn't surprised when she felt a pair of hands slide up the back of her legs and move up under her skirt to cup her ass. As he squeezed her cheeks she pulled the towel away from his face and said, "What do you think you're doing?"

He laughed a little and said, "Playing with my girlfriend's ass, why?", that dam grin of his was going to be her downfall as she moved closer and kissed him passionately, "About time my dumb boyfriend did something right.", she groaned it his neck as he pulled down her panties and let them drop to the floor. As he explored her most private parts she pushed back and started to pull his shirt up over his head to throw it to the side to join his jacket in a soon to be a much larger pile of clothes.

As soon as he started to pump a finger into her she spread her legs a little more and cried out. "God about fucking time,", as she untied her shirt and shook it off to join the pile behind her. Now with her breast free, she locked him into another kiss as he started using two fingers on her while squeezing her ass with his other hand. Breaking their kiss she guided his lips to her breast and held him close as he started to suck and lick the first one then the other bright red nipples. Rubbing his face over her breast drove her crazy as she pulled on his blonde hair.

"You're so wet,", he said into her left breast, "I want you so bad.", his groan of need was matched by her own as she pushed him away and dropped down to her knees to undo his pants.

Pulling his pants down they got tangled in with his sandals and she almost ripped them off staring at his large member bouncing round in her face. With a little more focus she freed his legs and pushed him back onto the small bed.

Leaving her boots and skirt on she climbed on top of him to straddle his waist, "OK big boy let me have it.", she said as she used her hand to pull his member up and slide down onto its full length, they both groaned out there pleasure as her wet tight walls wrapped around him until almost his full length was engulfed.

Falling forward she placed her hands on his chest and used her hips she lowly rotated them in small circles before moving up and down to make sure there wouldn't be any pain this time. As she was only greeted with please and his moans she started going faster until she started moving her hips with a graceful but urgent speed.

Laying flat on his chest she let him grab her ass and force her up and down as he grunted for his release. The spine-tingling pleasure shot up her back and exploded in her brain as she came hard around his thrusting hardness. As her spasms squeezed him he unloaded his load into her depths trying his best to fit his whole length into her.

A couple of minutes later she lifted her head up from his chest leaving a string of drool to connect them until she was fully upright. "Dam, boyfriend you can do that every night.", she giggled out as she rotated her hips around him feeling the cum and juices run out around his length. She squeezed with her lower muscles and could tell he was still as hard as ever and ready to go again.

The bed was small, so small two people couldn't really lay next to each other. Now that was a problem for later but now there was no way to roll over. Climbing off him with a sloppy flow exiting her she stood by the bed, "Get up,", she said with a giant grin, "It's your turn to do the work.", as he moved off she climbed on the bed on her hands and knees with her skirt covered ass pointed in the air.

Not having to be told twice Naruto moved behind her and grabbing her hips slide himself back into her core with one push. Seeing her ass peeking out from under the skirt as he worked himself in and out of her was a turn on and he couldn't help but go faster and faster, with each thrust she met him halfway pushing back into him.

"Goddam you're going to kill me,", she yelled as she was getting closer to her release.

As they grunted and groaned against each other, both trying their best to get the other one to cum first Tayuya reached to her skirt and undid the last button holding it on. As it fell away Naruto looked down at her shapely ass, so tight and round, fitting perfectly in his hands, then at the lowest part of her back right above her ass crack to notice she had a tattoo running across, that wasn't there before.

He tried to focus on it and it took some time for his brain to be able to read the Kanji until it filly registered what they said.

"Naruto's Bitch", was boldly written across her hips in large black Kanji, it triggered something deep within him, a feeling of joy or happiness he hadn't felt before, losing all control he sprayed her insides with one of the largest loads of cum he'd ever had. Feeling her join him as the cum flowed in and then back out of her in an endless stream he threw his head back and howled his release as the thunderstorm raged outside.

With her head pressed firmly into the mattress and ass in the air, she was beyond satisfied. Unable to move a muscle she waited for him to pull out or fuck her again at this point she wasn't able to do much more than lay there and take it.

Pulling free he stood back and looked at her as a mixture of their cum bubbled out of her upraised ass. "You ok?", he asked getting a little worried as she hadn't moved for a minute or so as the flow covered her inner thighs, all the other girls seemed to want to get cleaned up when this happened before.

"Ya, I'm good, just give me a minute,", she mumbled into the sheets still not moving. Picking up one of the discarded towels he did his best to clean her up as she stayed frozen. With most of the cum cleaned up she rolled over on her side and looked up at him.

Hovering over Naruto looked down at her with a grin that matched the one on her face, seeing he was still hard she said, "Hope your not thinking of using that thing again tonight,", she laughed as she slowly sat back up and with his help stood up and headed for the bathroom.

'I guess not everyone is like Sakura', he thought as he found some extra sheets to change out the bed and shoved the dirty ones in a laundry basket in the corner. As he was finishing Tayuya came out of the shower in all her glory and crawled into the bed and looked to all the world like she passed out. With her eyes closed, she said, "Go take a shower and get in bed, I need my sleep."

After his shower, he squeezed himself in beside her and with the rocking of the boat in the storm he found sleep overcame him quickly.

…..

Waking up alone he found his way into the bathroom to find Tayuya had written on the mirror she was eating breakfast. Looking out the porthole he could see a shoreline in the distance in the rising sunlight. The sky was a mixture of colors as the bottom of the clouds were bright reds with blue and black sky between them.

"Dam it's way too early still,", he said to himself but getting dressed he searched the ship to find the mess hall, he ended up using his noise and just following the smell of bacon and fried fish.

Finding Tayuya with a plate full of food and eating like crazy reminded him of the way Sakura would eat sometimes after a night of fun.

"Good morning,", he said sitting down in from of her and trying to steal a piece of baron, she almost put a fork through his hand defending her plate as she looked up at him. "Get your own lover boy, this is mine.", she said between bites.

Getting the hint Naruto went to get a plate of food, no ramen on the ship it seems, and when he asked the cook he almost got a pot thrown at him. "Who the hell eats ramen for breakfast.", yelled the cook chasing him out of the kitchen.

Sitting back down he joined Tayuya stuffing his own face and allowing her to steal some off his plate as it seemed to make her happy to get away with it.

"Why'd ya get up so early?", ask Naruto now that most of his hunger was gone.

Tayuya look up at him over her cup of tea, he loved the way her eyes looked so exotic with those long eyelashes and almond-shaped eyes.

Place the cup down gently Tayuya reached over and held his hand across the table. Pulling him closer she said. "Between you and the thunderstorm I wasn't sure which was louder, and,", she continued squeezing his hand until his fingers popped, "I am so full of your chakra I feel like I could pull this ship ashore."

Letting go of his hands she sat back in her seat as he rubbed his fingers to get the feeling back into them, as he opened his mouth to speak she jumped forward and put her hand over his mouth, "Don't say you're sorry, I'm not, hell, I hope we can do it again tonight.", she laughed at the look on his face as she sat back down.

"So, how do you like my tat?", she said rubbing her lower back.

His worried face turned from a grin to a big-toothed smile as he said, "I love it, do you mean it?", he asked

"For now and forever, or until one of us dies, and in our line of work that could be today so ya I mean it.", she said.

He put both of her hands in his and kissed them saying, "I mean it to then.", looking like he just commented himself to her for a lifetime. "Ya, I know, but you're going to have to find some other bitches because I am sure as hell can't keep up with you every night, besides we have a clan to restore.", she said in a dead-serious tone.

Not hundred percent sure what she means by that he smiles and nods his head hoping she will tell him what she is talking about later.

The loudspeaker crackles awake and they hear a broken voice announce they are coming into port and all hands need to get to their docking stations. The happy couple rushes down to their room and packs up their things and head to the top deck to watch the process of a large cargo streamer not crash into the docks as it slowly makes its way into the city of Green Leaf, one of the largest trading ports of Tea country.

As the dock and its connecting city came into view and slowly made its way to the ship a very hungover Jiraiya joined them, leaning heavily on the railing he looked at them with blood shoot eyes paying close attention to the fact that Naruto had his arm around Tayuya and she didn't seem to mind. It seemed to strike him funny as he laughed to himself before having a coughing fit.

"Don't die on us now old man.", said Tayuya watching Jiraiya trying to catch his breath.

"That old bastard captain Aobei tried his best to drink me under the table but I showed him.", said Jiraiya shaking his fist up the captain overhead at the helm of the ship. It was clear he was still unsteady on his feet and he smelled like he took a bath in a whiskey bottle. Tayuya did her best to move away from him without him noticing.

Naruto removed his arm from around Tayuya as she moved farther down the railing, he figured she wanted her space so he turned to Jiraiya, "So Sensei, what's the plan, we head to Herb Lake as soon as we dock.", he asked hoping that was the plan, this looked like a nice but very industrial city he missed the quiet of the forest seemed like a better place to be.

Rubbing his chin thinking he needs a shave before they did anything Jiraiya said, "We need to get some supplies, it's only a day's run-up to the lake but it's a good ten days back to Konohagakure at full speed if we take the land route."

As the first hour of the day burned away and the sun began to heat up the ship and the dock it was tied to they exited the ship. Heading into the city proper Jiraiya seemed to be sober with a spring in his step, Tayuya wanted to ask how he did it but then decided maybe she really doesn't want to know what gets the old pervert going in the morning.

They had to wait another hour for the shops to open and then waste time doing the shopping itself. Naruto was ready to leave now and didn't care if he sleep on the ground as long as they got moving. Tayuya had other ideas, and as Jiraiya was paying she was loading up on everything she could fit into her bag and storage scrolls. Finding a book on basic fūinjutsu she searched every shelf in the store for any more such treasures before leaving.

Jiraiya handed her a book on basic school Kanji to add to her collection saying, "You're going to need this if you want to teach him any fūinjutsu." She gave him a puzzled look but added it to her travel bag, maybe there was something besides sex she needed to be doing tonight with that blonde boyfriend of hers.

With half a dozen scrolls each full of supplies and other much-needed personal items they stopped to have lunch, lucky for Naruto they did find a Ramen stand that he declare good enough as he downed eight bowls before Jiraiya put a stop to it.

The countryside of Tea country was a hot, humid, mountainous tropical forest between them and Herb Lake, all the farmland was farther south where the land was flat and the weather predictable.

Tayuya in her light airy clothes was having no problems keeping up but Naruto in his heavy jacket and long pants was sweating up a storm and lagging behind. "Take that dam jacket off.', said Tayuya slowing down and leaping beside him. "But orange is cool.", said Naruto out of habit more than any real reason.

"All the people that can see you already know your cool, so take it off.", said Tayuya not really thinking about what she was saying.

"You think I'm COOL", said Naruto with stars in his eyes and that dam sunshine smile.

"OH will you stop that and take the dam thing off before I do it for you.", said a flustered Tayuya pulling a kunai out as if to cut it off him. Stopping on a large branch the three shinobi took a break as Naruto shoved his jacket into his backpack, Tayuya said, "Here, take that shirt off to and put this one on I got you.", she hand over a black shirt with sleeves that went to the elbow but it was made of an open mesh material that looked almost like metal but felt like stiff silk. Adding his shirt to the bag along with his awesome cool jacket he got from a princess, Naruto was feeling cooler already.

Jiraiya had climbed to the very top of the tree while they played dress-up and came back down as he was folding a map back into his vest. "We should reach the start of the valley by nightfall as long as we don't have any more wardrobe issues.", he joked looking at the two of them.

They made good time and not stopping even when Naruto said he was hungry, once they spotted the lake and the start of the long valley to the hooked mountain in the distance did they slow down some. Jiraiya headed straight toward the lake and said, "Look for a good spot to camp, we will go up the valley in the morning."

They made camp a few hundred feet from the shore of a sandy beach that Tayuya took full advantage of walking out into the water to cool off still in all her travel clothes. She dove under the water to clean the dust and dirt off before walking back to the camp dripping wet and happy.

Naruto decide that was a good idea but he at least took off his pants and shirt first before jumping in headfirst and swimming around, the water was so clear you could see for hundreds of feet without any effort. A number of fish dashed around in large schools just out of Naruto's reach as he tried to get dinner.

"Come on kid get out of there,", said Jiraiya as the sun was falling behind the mountains and it would get dark quickly out here in the middle of nowhere.

Naruto walked over to the camp in just his boxer shorts and Tayuya had to whistle at him for the fun of it. When he got close enough she threw the tent at him to set up and went back to helping Jiraiya set up a fire pit that wouldn't allow the firelight to give away their location.

Once everyone was done their part they all sat around the small fire and ate some of the rations they had bought at Green Leaf before heading out. "Hey Master Jiraiya,", said Naruto, calling him Master was a sure sign he wanted something, "How come you're not sweating like we are, you just old or something?", he laughed at his own joke but Tayuya was all ears as she wanted to know the secret to staying cool in this oppressive heat.

"Look here,", said Jiraiya opening his outer robe showing a complex design on the inside panel, "That is a seal my boy, it keeps me nice and cool in this heat or warm in the winter. You should know that being an Uzumaki, they invented most of the seals we use every day."

Rubbing the back of his head Naruto looked over at Tayuya for confirmation and she nodded her head yes. "I remember my mother talking about it when I was little, she said that the old village was covered in seals that did almost anything you wanted before it was burnt down in the war.", said Tayuya as she poked at the small fire, she gave a little more information about her past each time they talked about the clan and its village. Naruto wished she would just open up but he knew all about having a hard life and didn't want to push her faster than she wanted to go.

Pulling him down to sit with her on a log she pulled out a book from her pack and handing it to him. "Read me a story, Boyfriend.", she said. He looked at the book and remembered seeing it in the first year at the academy before it got burnt by one of the sensei.

"Come on Tayuya-chan we can do something more fun than this,", he said looking to the ten she had him set up next to the tree line.

"Read to me or no fun anymore, like forever.", she said crossing her arms and giving him that look all girls seem to learn when they are young.

Flipping the book open to the first story he started to read out loud, as he stumbled over the words Tayuya pulled out a notepad and started writing down the Kanji he seemed to be having trouble with. As he finished the last page of the first very short chapter about a cat and a bird in a tree she pulled him down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Very good,", she said, holding up the notepad and handing him another book that he soon learned was a writer's dictionary. "Now the first word we need to look up is.", she said as they spend the last couple of hours of light learning new words, once he got the meaning she made him write them down ten times before moving to the next one.

Later that night in the tent she rewarded him for all his hard work until he couldn't walk.

….

Limping out of the tent in the morning Tayuya walked straight to the lake and dove in for a nice long swim before returning to the camp. Her Uzumaki blood healed her quick enough that by the time they finished eating she was ready to go.

"Tayuya-chan I can leave a clone or two behind and study if you want,", said Naruto hoping for a repeat of last night. Tayuya looked at him through her hair as she was looking down at the fire and said, "Sounds good but you going to have to do four times better if you want that type of reward again." Standing up she grinned at the shocked look he gave her, "I will test you so no cheating." she added.

Kicking sand on the fire pit Jiraiya said, "Come on kids let's go, we got a couple of hours to get before we can search for that base if that water boy wasn't lying." Leaving some clones behind Naruto took the lead with a small group of clones acting as a forward guard. They found the long thin valley entrance and followed it up for hours until it ended at the bottom of a mountain.

The sheer cliff face at the end of the valley was half a mile wide and was bordered on both sides by the valley walls that reached hundreds of feet into the air. It looked like some giant force blasted out from the base of the mountain and had carved out the valley long ago. Even now as they stood looking up at the cliff small rocks fell down the valley's walls with even the smallest of breezes.

"Do you feel that?,", ask Tayuya as she looked around, there seemed to be chakra infused in the rocks themselves all around them like an afterglow of some jutsu.

Jiraiya placed his hand on the rocks at his feet and closed his eyes creating a small seal to spread out around him, after a couple of minutes it faded. Standing back up he looked over at Naruto, "It is chakra from a tailed beast but it's old, very old, but now I know why my old teammate would put a base out here in the middle of nowhere.", said Jiraiya.

Naruto looked over at his two companions and said, "The fox said there was a battle here and the Five-Tail used a stream release jutsu that carved out this valley." Staring up at the walls and the mountain towering over them Naruto said, "The mountain feels like the end of a funnel pulling all the chakra to it, do you think that is Orochimaru's doing?"

"That sick bastard would find a way to use this chakra if he could.", said Tayuya, "so how do we find this hidden base, throw rocks, and hope we hit the right one like last time.", she added looking at Naruto like it was his fault that they missed it last time.

"Oh, come on, I checked on that boulder last time it's not my fault we missed it.", said Naruto clearly not wanting to be the fall guy. Jiraiya seeing the seeds of an Uzumaki hot-tempered fueled blame game fight building up got between the two said, "Ok, kids none of that, we just got to check for any signs of entry of a large group first, this is more of a storage base for an army, not a hidden lab. Now spread out and start looking."

Returning to camp after spending a long day in the very hot sun climbing over and around the base of the mountain Naruto was feeling a little frustrated they didn't find anything. Tayuya just walked past the clones still studying and fell into the lake face first, her pale skin was red with a sunburn and she was in no mood to be touched or even looked at.

While she soaked in the cool water Jiraiya and Naruto got a meal ready and after the clones dispersed Naruto had a lot of questions, as Tayuya was clearly not coming back to the camp anytime soon, he and Jiraiya sat around going over his notes. Jiraiya was shocked at the level of dedication Naruto was showing trying to learn to read all the kanji and even had questions about the basic seals. It would seem the power of a woman's touch was as great a motivator as learning a new jutsu.

After the sunset Tayuya returned to camp and said," I don't care if you're a walking encyclopedia, don't touch me.", as she crawled into the tent throwing out a blanket, and zipped it up for the night.

"Looks like you're sleeping out here tonight,", joked Jiraiya as Naruto looked longingly at the closed tent holding the blanket.

The next morning a very red and still pissed-off Tayuya stayed at camp to work with the clones as the guys went back to the valley to continue the search.

"I don't get it,", said Naruto as they moved up the cliff face looking for any clues, "Don't get what?", said Jiraiya placing a seal on the stone and then moving on to the next area. "How did she get so sunburned.", stated Naruto looking at his own sun-kissed skin with its healthy golden tan.

"It's your fault really, your little seal removal trick reset her body back to 'new' as if she was just born if it wasn't for all her training and truthfully her Uzumaki stubbornness she would be in worst shape.", said Jiraiya looking down at Naruto as he moved up higher on the rock wall.

Knowing Naruto still didn't understand Jiraiya continued, "You're lucky if she wasn't an Uzumaki with an incredibly strong life-forces and chakra she wouldn't have recovered so fast from the seal removal without a med team working on her.", added Jiraiya, as he recalled a conversation he had with Tsunade about that Uchiha traitor and all the work to keep him alive.

"So my clan has a stronger life force than others?", asked Naruto as they worked their way up the cliff, being a hundred feet off the valley floor they still hadn't reached the level of the valley walls, the power used to make this valley gorge was truly astonishing.

Jiraiya paused for a monument and looked over at Naruto rubbing his chin in thought, "So you really don't know about your clan do you?", he ask the blonde by his side.

"I didn't even know I was part of a clan until last year, I always thought the third just gave me some random last night when I was born.", said Naruto, this news cut deep into Jiraiya as he thought the third has at least told Naruto he was a clansman at least. The story of his birth was to be told when he reached Jonin.

"Let's take a break and I can tell you some of what I know of your clan.", said Jiraiya, knowing he can't tell him everything but the boy deserves to know where he came from.

Finding some shade at the bottom of the western cliff Jiraiya shared his water bottle with Naruto as he tried to think of the best way to tell the boy about the rise and fall of his people. Naruto's lack of basic knowledge of the history of the world prevented him from going too deeply into the clans' past as he didn't want to have to answer a thousand questions.

"The Uzumaki clan was the prominent clan of Uzaushiogakure, an island about 100 miles northwest of wave country. It wasn't the only people living there, they had many allies clans that followed them onto the island, but they were the largest and ruled the land. ", said Jiraiya checking to see that Naruto was listening.

"They moved to the island before the formation of the five great shinobi villages and before you ask there were many reasons but mainly it was during the warring clans period and other clans would enslave their women to produce children to strengthen their own bloodline.", seeing Naruto's face at this news Jiraiya squeezed his shoulder in support.

"It was another time with different ways back then, it was killed or be killed, rule or be ruled. The Uzumaki were no different but they were long-lived and could see that they couldn't survive on the mainland and so moved to Uzu, the island was large but barren at the time. They were able to make it a paradise in but a dozen years so the story goes.", pausing Jiraiya could see Naruto was thinking about it but hadn't formed any questions so he continued.

"Over the years, the Uzumaki and their cousins the Senju kept close ties, they would arrange marriages between clans as they both believed that someday the wars between the clans would end and it would be blood that tied them together.

After the Senju founded Konohagakure at the end of the Warring clans Period, the Senju chose to display their clans' friendship by adding the Uzumaki's emblem to Konoha's Chunin and Jonin flak jackets. They remained close allies over the following decades, with the Uzumaki providing fūinjutsu to Konoha whenever there was a need, if you ever wonder where the Hyuga branch member's seal comes from it was from your clan. As I said it was a different time back then." said Jiraiya, now he can see Naruto's understanding of just how real his clan was to the past of Konohagakure.

"But if there were such great friends and allies what happen to my people.", said Naruto.

"The Uzumaki's skill with fūinjutsu was beyond any others in the world, it earned them both respect and fear in the ninja world. But it was also their downfall, at some point they stopped trading with the other villages, they keep their knowledge to themselves as was their right but by cutting themselves off from the world it caused fear that turned to hate from the other villages. Many believed they have created some grand seal that would allow them to control all the tailed breast other thought they would simply destroy them. It didn't really matter as both would break the balance of power the Senju had created by sharing the Tailed breast with the other villages.", said Jiraiya talking a long drink waiting for the questions he knew would follow.

"What was it, what were they doing?", ask Naruto, the fox in his gut was grumbling incoherently at this point but he did pick up the name Uchiha and traitors amount the growls.

"Sorry to say I don't really know, as they were destroyed before whatever it was could be used.", said Jiraiya

"Destroyed by who?", ask Naruto now with a quiet coldness to his voice.

"Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure formed a temporary alliance along with half a dozen smaller ninja villages that no longer exist. Sunagakure stayed neutral as they didn't really leave their sea of sand much back then, Konohagakure sent its forces north to challenge Iwagakure thinking the other two great villages would not move alone. It was a mistake that cost them dearly as Iwagakure had sent half its forces to Kumogakure months before."

"The battle if you can call it that, lasted weeks, the great seal masters of Uzushiogakure turned the surrounding sea in great whirlpools and the sky into storms of blackest thunder but the allied forces were fully committed and as the sea turned red with their blood and the sky cracked open by Kumogakure elite forces using there most powerful forbidden lighten jutsu, the Uzushiogakure's defenders feel one by one under the sheer numbers of its attackers.", Jiraiya wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, this had all happen when he was a Chunin and he remembered learning of this on the battlefield against Iwagakure. The shinobi of Uzushiogakure had killed ten to one their attackers but it was still not enough.

"How did I end up in Konoha then?", asks Naruto putting the pieces together.

"Your mother was but a child still not old enough to enter the academy when she was sent to live with her grandmother in Konoha.", said Jiraiya leaving out that her grandmother was the Jinchuurki of the nine-tails and his mother was the chosen successor.

They sat in silence for some time, Jiraiya allowing Naruto to try to make sense of the history of his clan. The day was coming to an end and Jiraiya said, "We should head back to camp, check on Tayuya and start our search again early in the morning."

When they entered the camp and Tayuya saw the somber look on Naruto's, face ran over and gave him a hug saying over his shoulder, "What the fuck did you do to him, you old pervert."

Disregarding the little redhead's outburst he went to eat the meal she had left out for them, he soon learned she wasn't much of a cook but it was better than nothing at this point so didn't say anything. Seeing them talking Jiraiya figured Naruto would tell the story of their clan so he wouldn't have to repeat himself.
….

Taking their food down to the lake the young couple ate in silence for some time before Naruto opened up and told Tayuya the story he heard from Jiraiya. "And then he said that my mother was sent to Konoha when she was still little to live with her grandmother,", said Naruto putting aside his empty plate. "Why didn't they tell me, who is this great grandmother and what happen to my mother?", he said throwing a rock into the lake in his frustration.

"I wish I knew, all I remember my mother telling me was that Konoha didn't honor its alliance and didn't come to help, it's why I hated Konoha so much.", said Tayuya holding Naruto's hand so he would stop fidgeting and look at her.

"This is why we have to rebuild the clan, make it strong again, feared again if we have to, I am done living in the shadows of those who did nothing when we were losing everything.', said Tayuya.

"They didn't do nothing, I told you they fought Iwagakure,", said Naruto

"IF you believe that old pervert and even if you do, he may have been told a lie all those years ago.", said Tayuya not wanting to believe her mother was wrong. Taking a deep breath she pulled Naruto close and said, "The truth is, we may never really know. What we do know is we have each other and I swore to my dying mother I would rebuild the clan."

Naruto was staring at the play of emotions on Tayuya's face and finally understood how much family means to her. Getting up Naruto pulled Tayuya to her feet, wrapping his arms around her in a hug he said into her bright red hair, "don't worry Tayuya-chan we will rebuild the clan." He just wasn't sure how to go about it just yet.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Is the pace of the story to slow, to fast or just right? I am working on a once a week release but its hard with all the crazy going on.

Doing my best to make this 'real' in the interactions of the characters, any feedback would be helpful.