Naruto Shippuden - part 13
Two very big men made their way into Konoha after a 3 year absence, both drawing a great deal of attention due to the fact that both were quite well known.
One stood at nearly 6 feet 3 inches, with a long mane of white hair, wearing green clothes covered by a red haori and wooden geta sandals on his feet. This man was clearly known to most as Jiraiya of the Sannin.
The man next to him was even bigger, standing at a towering 6 feet 7 inches. Long blond hair flowed down to his waist in a ponytail, with a few strands of hair hanging over his face, reaching just below his chin. The extremely distinctive, open black leather coat, with no shirt to hide his chest, leather pants and steel toed boots made him very easy to recognise. It wasn't the same set of clothes that he had left in, as he had outgrown them, but the custom ordered new set was even better. His strong jaw had whisker marks on his cheeks, giving his face a predatory cast, which would was made all the more prominent when he bared his fanged teeth at one of the villagers that was gawking at him stupidly.
"You could at least try not to scare everyone you meet on your first day back." Jiraiya commented to Naruto dryly as the villager in question suddenly remembered that he had somewhere else he needed to be.
"Whatever, I've got somewhere to be, so I'll leave reporting to Tsunade to you." The blond in question grunted and left without another glance at his sensei.
Jiraiya made to protest, but his student had already gone out of hearing range. Grumbling to himself about students that had no respect for their sensei, Jiraiya went towards the Hokage tower, hoping to get the debrief out of the way as soon as possible.
As was his custom he completely ignored the normal way in, also known as a door or as he liked to call it, the chump entrance. Instead he jumped right through the window of the Hokage's office.
"Jiraiya, would it kill you to use the door?" A slightly irritated Tsunade asked as the toad sage perched on the window.
"I don't know Tsunade-hime, it might." He replied cheekily.
"So where's Naruto?" The female Sannin asked, getting right to the point.
"That's so mean Tsunade, we haven't seen each other for 3 years and the first thing you do is ask about another man." Jiraiya pouted, adopting a depressed air and drawing patterns on the wall with his finger in a dejected fashion.
"Can it you old perv." Tsunade dismissed without concern for her teammate's drama. "Now where is he?"
"He said he had something to do and ditched me as soon as we got through the gate." Jiraiya grumbled, still a bit miffed by that.
"I see." Tsunade said with her eyebrow twitching slightly. She would very much like to know what was more important than reporting to her as soon as he got back after a 3 year training trip. "Well, since you're here you might as well tell me how the training trip went."
Jiraiya paused as he thought about how to say it.
"Well?" Tsunade prodded.
"He frightens me." The toad sage admitted.
"Oh?" She leaned forward in interest.
"As far as his skills go, he's done mostly nothing else but train his body and practice controlling his chakra chains. The only thing that he's really made significant progress in is Fuinjutsu and chakra capacity."
"That doesn't seem like a lot of progress for 3 years of training..." Tsunade trailed off and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You two haven't been wasting time whoring around the Elemental Nations have you?" There was a distinct note of threat in her voice.
Jiraiya raised his hands in a warding gesture and hurried to explain." No no, it's just that it's the only thing he's actually been able to work on. His chakra reserves have gotten so massive and dense that he can't really do anything else. I have no idea how good he actually is at Fuinjutsu by now, but he's long since outstripped me." He admitted.
"He's that good already?" Tsunade asked in disbelief. She knew that Uzumaki had a natural talent with Fuinjutsu, but to make that kind of progress in so little time was unheard of.
"Better even. I'm not sure but I think that he's been experimenting with space-time seals and all sorts of other things that he hasn't even let me see. He must have destroyed tens of thousand of shadow clones with Fuinjutsu accidents."
Tsunade sat back and considered the information for a few moments before posing another question. "So how good would you say he is and what about training to use the Kyuubi's chakra?"
"He wouldn't even consider using the Kyuubi's chakra. The first time I suggested it, he flat out told me that he was never going to use the fox's chakra and to never mention it again. As for how good he is...in a straight up fight I could probably still beat him, it depends on what kind of tricks he's learned to do with Fuinjutsu. But if you let him choose the battlefield and prepare ahead of time, then I'm not sure if there's anyone alive that would be able to come out on top."
"You really think that he's that dangerous with Fuinjutsu?" She asked with some disbelief. She had no idea why Naruto didn't want to learn to use the Kyuubi's chakra, but there was no point forcing him if he didn't want to. Besides, he was apparently dangerous enough without it.
"There's a good reason why Uzumaki seal masters were so feared and why it took nearly twenty thousand shinobi to destroy a clan numbering less than one thousand." Jiraiya confirmed. Truth be told, the toad sage was truly frightened what his godson would be capable of doing eventually if he was this dangerous at the age of 21.
"Alright, but that's a good thing isn't it? It means that he's ready for what the world is going to throw at him." Tsunade asked.
"That's not what worries me at this point. What worries me is that in the entire three years, Naruto only slept with four women."
Tsunade's eyebrow developed a severely agitated twitch at hearing this. "Jiraiya..." She growled in such a manner as to inspire fear in the toad sage's heart.
"No no, it's not what you think!" The white haired man hastily tried to get out of the hole he'd stepped in. "He's been different."
"Different how?" The Godaime asked, calming down a bit, but still ready to pound Jiraiya's head into a wall.
"You know how many women he used to sleep with on a regular basis?" He asked, getting a terse nod from her. "Well, at first it seemed like it was going to continue that way, but it wasn't even two months into the training trip that he seemed to completely lose all interest in women."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow in interest. That was an awfully short time for that kind of reversal.
"He would still talk to them, but rejected even the most blatant offers, no matter how beautiful the women that came on to him were. Sometimes he would go somewhere private and work on Fuinjutsu or he would just find a tree and keep punching it with his resistance seals set to maximum until he broke it down immediately after rejecting a woman. He seemed to be in a bad mood most of the time too." Jiraiya explained.
"So he just suddenly lost interest in women almost as soon as you left the village?" Tsunade asked, feeling a bit stunned. She had been somewhat annoyed at Naruto's sleeping around, but this kind of rapid change was worrisome.
"I would have started him on learning Senjutsu by now if I wasn't so concerned about his attitude. He's even taken to meditating, though I have no idea what brought that on." The white haired Sannin stated, surprising Tsunade greatly. The sage arts weren't anything to be scoffed at.
"I can only assume, that there was something or someone in this village that kept his spirits up. It would also explain why he was so against the idea of leaving even though he doesn't really have any particularly fond feelings for the village. I hope he'll go back to normal now that he's back here." He finished, making them both fall into a speculative mood.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto made his way towards his apartment in a hurry. It had been three years since he had seen her and he wasn't going to waste time talking to Tsunade or anyone else if it would delay him for even one more second.
It had only taken a few weeks before Xanna's absence in his life began to take a toll on him. Nothing seemed interesting if she wasn't there with him. Once he would have taken the opportunity to sleep with many of the willing women that he and Jiraiya encountered, sometimes for no other purpose than to annoy his godfather. His separation from the crimson eyed demoness served to unceremoniously kill his interest in them however. He hadn't even been aware just how silly he found mortal women and their mortal concerns until he had to deal with them exclusively. Kunoichi were much better about it, but they weren't her.
Jiraiya might have been proud if he'd known that his godson had taken up meditation because he wanted to be closer to a woman, or he might have been deeply disturbed to know that he had taken it up to feel closer to the Kyuubi. He had remembered her saying that the Reaper Death Seal still connected them and had started meditating in the hope that he could feel her presence at least. His greatest hope had been that he might be able to establish a mental link between them, but had been aware that it would be entirely too optimistic to think that he would be able to accomplish that so quickly.
None of that mattered right now however, because he was already slamming closed the door of his apartment, eyes searching for the distinctive crimson hair.
He was starting to feel just a little bit desperate when he didn't catch sight of her immediately, moving from room to room with hurried steps.
There was an irrational fear growing in his heart that something had happened to her or that she had decided that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore. He was just about to do another sweep of the apartment when a hand ghosted over his rear end.
"Miss m-mpmh!" Her amused question was cut off when he spun around and immediately dived for her lips, needing to bend much lower than he remembered.
Wasting no time, he picked her up and trapped her between himself and a wall, moving his hands away from her only enough to help her take off his coat. What followed was a frantic removal of clothing on their way towards the bedroom, slamming into walls and furniture along the way.
He relished the feel of her claws cutting into his back and her fangs sinking into the crook of his neck and shoulder, it felt good to know that it was real. One too many good dreams on the road had started like this only to wake up without her. He didn't hesitate to sink his own teeth into her either, the short, moaned scream from her at this act igniting an even stronger fire in him. By the time they finally made it to the bed, his appartment had more than a few blood stains scattered across the walls and the floor.
They could talk later, it was time to get reaquainted in a more physical manner first.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Many hours later, they lay together, both satisfied for the moment.
"I've missed you." Naruto said, laying his chin on the top of her head. He had his arms wrapped around her and her face was pressed close to his chest.
"I've noticed." She purred in a satisfied manner. "You've gotten even bigger."
Naruto was quite sure that she wasn't just talking about his height. "And you're even more beautiful than I remember."
"And you are still just as corny with your flattery as I remember." She said with a light laugh and gave his chest a slight nibble.
When he had left, she had been sure that three years would pass in an eye blink. Instead, it had dragged on like three centuries. Never before had she missed anyone, never before had she felt depressed because someone was not there with her. It had been terribly tempting to just seek him out without regard for the need of secrecy. But she had restrained herself and instead examined her own feelings. What had once been a fondness and respect for the blond had grown much stronger, practically without her knowing. His constant presence and unending devotion leaving her blind to the truth. Without his presence, the truth had become obvious, no matter how hard it was to believe.
Xanna hadn't truly known what to do with herself for the past three years. Often, she had come to Naruto's apartment simply for the feel of familiarity that it offered, otherwise she hadn't been doing much at all. Though some of these shinobi were at least amusing with the stupidity they get up to.
Despite not wanting to pry too deeply into his privacy, the demoness found herself using the link provided by the Reaper Death Seal to listen in on Naruto's thought's on occasion. It had brought a feeling of warmth to her heart to 'hear' that she was in his thoughts nearly every time that she did so.
Now, being held by him like this, she felt happy, truly happy. The listless mood that had plagued her these last three years giving way to the feeling that all was right with the world. Even the inherent rage that had been part of her since the start of her existence was nothing more than a feeble spark. Once she'd been so volatile that the slightest provocation could have brought out a murderous fury in her, but now the anger at humanity that she had inherited from the Juubi(and gained on her own later) was struggling to even stay alive.
She sighed contently and burrowed deeper into his chest, inhaling the much missed scent and listening to the resonance of his breathing.
"Welcome home, beloved." She said in a soft tone that nobody had ever heard from her before.
She had no idea when it happened, but somewhere along the line he had stolen her heart. This man, who had as a child made a promise that he didn't even fully understand. Even once he had understood, he had brushed of the impossibility of it as unimportant and given away his heart without concern if his affection was returned or not. She had felt no love for him then, but his determination had never wavered. Even she couldn't help but be affected by something like that. Naruto had been determined to win her over or die trying. His experience in Wave country had only hardened his resolve until he had made her love him even though she had at first stayed around him only because she found him interesting. In spite of the fact that he had forced his way into her heart with the same bullheaded stubbornness that drove his training, she couldn't feel anything but happy over it. Love had always been a foreign concept for her before, but now she understood.
It was a new experience, wanting another person to be happy, but she had never felt better. The crimson haired demoness could see now why humans spent so much time chasing this feeling, though most of them were remarkably shallow about it from what she could see.
His eyes snapped down to hers, looking stunned, before a wide and happy smile stretched across his face and he captured her lips again, putting all his love and happiness into it.
They had been ready to fall asleep before, but there would be no sleep now.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Two 17 year old girls were making their way towards Naruto's apartment. One had pink hair with green eyes and the other had dark hair with lavender eyes that had no pupils.
Sakura had heard from Tsunade that Naruto was back in the village and made her way towards his apartment to welcome him back as soon as she could. It had been pure chance that she had encountered Hinata on the way and told her that her surrogate big brother was back. The two of them, along, with Ino and Tenten, had become good friends in the three years since the blond had left and decided to go see him together. Both had missed him terribly and wanted to see how much he had changed.
Sakura still wore clothing similar to what she had worn years ago, but it was a more combat oriented design.
Hinata on the other hand, was quite a bit different from how she had been three years ago. She had done her best to take Naruto's words to heart and find some pride in herself, her close relationship to Neji had helped a lot in this. She didn't wear the oversized coat designed to hide her anymore, instead wearing a simple T-shirt and shorts that many chose to wear in the balmy weather of Fire country. Under the clothes she wore an armor mesh that most shinobi utilised to some extent. She also had medical tape wrapped around her shins and forearms, along with pads for her knees and elbows. Her father and the clan elders didn't approve of her dressing so much like a commoner, but she did her best to ignore them. It wasn't like they ever approved of anything anyway.
Without the coat hiding her figure, her sizable chest was clearly visible. She was secretly pleased that Sakura, Ino and even Tenten envied her figure.
When they made it to his apartment, they knocked on his door, but received no answer.
"Maybe he's not home?" Hinata wondered quietly.
"Where else would he be?" Sakura asked rhetorically and reached for the doorknob. To her considerable surprise, it was unlocked. She knew this was the rough part of the village and she couldn't imagine that Naruto would just leave it unlocked.
Of course she didn't know that nobody would dare even think of stealing from him.
The two young women made their way inside, becoming alarmed when they saw clothing tossed everywhere and splashes of blood on the floor and walls.
"Do you think someone attacked him?" Hinata asked, becoming alert and tense.
"We should check the rest of the appartment." Sakura said.
The two kunoichi went silent and moved through the rooms, taking note of some overturned furniture as well as more blood. The trail led to the bedroom and Sakura suddenly had an extremely bad feeling about opening that door.
Hinata however, hadn't been exposed to this side of Naruto anywhere near as much as Sakura, so she opened the door, intent on continuing their investigation. She hadn't bothered to activate her Byakugan since the clues were so obvious, which is why she blundered into the room to see her surrogate big brother leaning against the bedpost, with an extremely beautiful dusky skinned, redheaded woman leaning on his chest. They were thankfully covered by a sheet so she didn't get an eyeful of her breasts.
"Naruto, who are these girls and why have they come into our bedroom?" The woman asked, pinning the blushing teenage girls with her slitted crimson eyes.
"The pink one is my teammate Sakura and the other one is my sort of little sister, Hinata." Naruto explained, completely unbothered by the fact that they had walked in on them. He had heard the knock just fine, but he hadn't felt like getting up or shouting for them to come in.
He hadn't missed that Xanna said 'our' bedroom, which made his face stretch into a ridiculously wide grin.
"Ah, sorry! We saw the bloodstains and thought that something might have happened." Sakura rushed to explain with her face on fire.
"Something did happen." Naruto said, his grin widening even further. He was still feeling a bit high from having Xanna call him 'beloved'. "The bloodstains are just a little side effect of a very enthusiastic hello."
The kunoichi still had their faces flaming, unable to muster any kind response.
"I see, so these are the ones you told me about." The demoness said as she rose from the bed and walked closer to them, not at all concerned over the fact that she was naked. "For a moment I thought that you ordered some extra entertainment." She leered at the two girls, making it clear what kind of entertainment she was talking about.
While Naruto laughed at the words and the brick red faces of the two girls, Sakura and Hinata were struggling not to pass out from embarrassment.
"Naruto, maybe you should introduce us to your guest?" Sakura asked, desperately trying to cling to some semblance of normalcy. This tall and exotic, not to mention dangerous looking woman was throwing her composture completely out of whack. The fact that she was completely naked was not helping matters.
"Oh, sure. Sakura, Hinata, this is Xanna, someone very dear to me." Naruto introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you." Hinata said with a bow, falling back on her training in manners to get through the ordeal. She had managed to get rid of her stutter, but she was still just about ready to die where she stood.
"Why yes, it is a pleasure to meet me isn't it?" Xanna said, flashing her fangs at the two girls with a grin. Naruto wasn't the only one in a good mood at being reunited again.
Neither one of the two kunoichi were sure how to react to that incredibly egotistical statement, but brushed it off easily enough. Naruto had his own share of egotistical moments.
Naruto had by now stood up, though he had wrapped the sheet around his waist, for which both Sakura and Hinata were glad. When the blond walked closer to them, they could see just how much bigger he was.
"Wow, you got even bigger." Sakura muttered as Xanna moved into the living room to collect her discarded yukata.
"That's what she said." Naruto said with a grin.
"Pervert! That's not what I meant!" Sakura yelled at her teammate.
"But it is what I meant." Xanna said as she returned, now fully dressed, fortunately for Sakura's and Hinata's blood pressure.
"I can't believe it Naruto, you found a woman that's just as shameless as you." Sakura said, having learned the trick of retaining her ability to speak even when horribly embarrassed thanks to Naruto.
"Oh, but I've known Naruto for a long time now." Xanna said.
"Indeed she has, she was the one who took my virginity you know. I was just a poor, clueless 16 year old when she took advantage of me for the first time." Naruto said with an obviously fake sniffle.
"As if you haven't been whacking off to the thought of me since you were 11. " Xanna said dismissively.
To Sakura's glee Naruto actually blushed, which was something she had never seen before. It was glorious to see someone embarrassing the blond for a change. She already liked this woman.
"But I do agree that you were clueless, you didn't know the first thing about what to do with a woman aside from sticking it in."
"Ah, you knew about that did you?" Naruto asked, managing to get his momentary embarrassment under control. There was nothing to be ashamed of if he found her attractive he told himself, though having something like that announced was a bit embarrassing even for him.
"Of course I knew. Considering our previous living arrangement, it would have been hard not to know." She retorted, referring to the fact that she had been sealed inside him at the time.
"Hey, when did Hinata pass out?" Naruto suddenly asked, noticing that the Hyuuga heiress was conked out on the floor.
"I think it was when I mentioned you whacking off." The demoness said dryly.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Oi, Teuchi, how about a bowl of ramen to celebrate my return." Naruto called to the ramen chef as he entered his favorite food stand.
"Naruto, you're back! One bowl of ramen coming right up." Teuchi answered jovially, happy that the blond was back in the village.
He had never regretted giving him the occasional free bowl when he's still been a boy. That small and half starved boy had become a strong man and more importantly to Teuchi, someone who had always watched out for Ayame. He knew that he could always count on Naruto to take care of his daughter no matter what. He would have tried to nudge them into a relationship if he didn't know that their bond was a purely a brother-sister type of thing.
Aside from that...
"Hey old man, where's Ayame today? I was hoping to catch up with her a bit."
"Oh, Ayame only comes to help me out occasionally these days." Teuchi said.
"Why's that?" Naruto asked curiously, but with some suspicion as well.
"My little Ayame-chan is a married woman now, and expecting a baby on top of it." Teuchi said with a fatherly sniffle. The kind of sniffle all fathers gain the ability to produce when their daughter isn't their little girl anymore.
...Aside from that, Ayame had gotten married while Naruto was gone.
Naruto froze while this information penetrated his brain. He re-examined the words three times to make sure that he was hearing right. After the third time of going over it, he had to conclude that there was no possible way to take that any other way.
Ayame got married while I was gone.
My big sister is married and pregnant
Ayame went out with a guy that I haven't checked out before hand.
Ayame is pregnant.
SOMEONE HAD SEX WITH AYAME AND I WASN'T HERE TO PUT THE FEAR OF GOD INTO HIM.
"Who was it?" Naruto asked with a lot more calm than he felt.
"You mean who did she marry?" Teuchi clarified.
"Yes."
"An Inuzuka Masaru, decent guy. Came here to get something to eat and asked Ayame out. He treated her real nice and they hit it off. They got married last year and Ayame learned that she was pregnant just over a month ago." Teuchi said and looked at Naruto again, only to see the swinging of the curtains.
"I hope he doesn't start a clan feud with the Inuzuka." Teuchi muttered to himself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Inuzuka were a fairly rowdy clan that didn't put much stock in tradition or 'appropriate behavior'. Thanks to the countless dogs that they kept on the grounds, it was never particularly quiet in their compound. They were also the only clan aside from the Hyuuga and the now functionally extinct Uchiha to have a wall, though in their case it was for the practical purpose of keeping the dogs in, rather than to make themselves feel important.
All of this meant that the only kind of peace and quiet that ever existed in the Inuzuka compound was relative peace and quiet.
The relative peace and quiet of the Inuzuka compound was shattered when the heavy gate that served as an entrance to the compound was kicked off it's hinges and sent crashing a good dozen feet away.
"AYAME!" Came the bellow that informed every Inuzuka currently in the compound of the reason for all the commotion.
Inuzuka Hana was the first to arrive on the scene, by dint of being the closest. The Haimaru brothers, her triplet nin dogs growled threateningly at the intruder, baring their teeth at him.
Naruto, impatient to see his big sister and in absolutely no mood to deal with with a pack of dogs, pointed his hand at them and growled back even more threateningly, baring his own set of teeth at them.
Hana watched incredulously as her triplets yelped and lowered their heads submissively, letting out soft whines.
What. The. Hell.
Nin dogs weren't supposed to react like that! Especially not to a human. They were trained and bred to be extremely intelligent and to not react with fear so easily. The fact that this blond, who she could recognise as Uzumaki Naruto thanks to his rather distinctive mode of dress, could intimidate her triplets into submission with just a growl could only mean that they could sense that he was hopelessly out of their league.
"Naruto, you're back!" Came a happy shout and a brown haired blur crashed into the huge blond.
"You've gotten so big!" Ayame said as she hugged him tightly around the neck, hanging quite a good distance in the air when Naruto lifted her. Though he was careful about squeezing around her slightly swollen belly, keeping in mind that she was pregnant.
"What's going on?" The newly arrived Tsume asked her daughter, observing the happy reunion.
"Looks like Naruto came back to the village and heard that Ayame married into our clan. Kiba did warn us that he might overreact a bit." Hana muttered back at her mother.
"Just a bit yeah..." Tsume said absently, looking at the busted gate. That was going to be expensive to repair.
When Masaru had first started dating Ayame, Kiba had warned him about how protective Naruto was of his surrogate big sister. He had also warned them that he might be prone to a rather extreme reaction when hearing that Ayame had gotten married while he was away.
"What's this I hear about my big sister getting married and pregnant while I was gone?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing too dramatic about it Naruto, I just met a guy I liked and went on a date with him. Things went great and he asked me to marry him and a short while ago I found out that I was pregnant." Ayame explained with an eye roll. "Nothing that you needed to break down the gate for."
"My big sister is married and pregnant, damn straight that it's worth breaking down the gate for." Naruto refuted. "Now where is this guy that thinks he's good enough for you?"
Ayame led him towards a man that looked to be somewhere in his mid twenties. He had the usual wild brown hair of the Inuzuka, though perhaps slightly more tame than most. His eyes were black and lacking the animalistic slit that a few of the clan members had and he had the usual red fang markings on his cheeks that only Inuzuka shinobi carried. He was a fairly handsome looking guy, though nothing out of the ordinary. Slightly above average height and wearing a vest that marked him as either a Chunin or Jounin. Next to him was a light brown nin dog. In short he was nothing overly special looking.
"Naruto, this is my husband Inuzuka Masaru. Masaru-kun, this is my little brother Uzumaki Naruto." Ayame introduced.
Little brother...right.
Was Masaru's first thought as he looked up at the towering mountain of muscle looming over him and giving him a narrow eyed look that was just shy of being a glare.
Like most Inuzuka, Masaru was a somewhat brash individual, though by the standards of his clan he was rather tame. He knew that he wasn't any kind of powerhouse and wasn't ever likely to become one, but that was fine with him. He was an upper level Chunin that had been hoping to advance to Jounin before he'd met Ayame. Now that he was married and had a child on the way, he had reconsidered getting a promotion, as he didn't want to risk getting killed on the more difficult missions that Jounin received and leaving Ayame and his child alone.
He had been aware that this particular confrontation was coming ever since Kiba had told him that Ayame had an overprotective brother figure in the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto. He didn't have anything against Naruto for holding the Kyuubi, but he had been a bit sceptical when Kiba had warned him about how intimidating Naruto could be.
He was glad that Kiba was out training with his team right now, because he was sure that he would have been hearing an 'I told you so' from him right about now.
His nin dog had already softly growled to him that the blond was incredibly dangerous, but that much was obvious just by looking at him, not to mention that he had to be monstrously strong to have kicked the heavy gate right off it's hinges hard enough to send it flying a dozen feet.
Neither one of them had said anything yet, just having a staring contest. The watching Inuzuka were quiet as they observed, none of them could begrudge the blond for coming to check if his sister was alright. They understood that the pack was everything and it was only natural that any newcomers were to be scrutinised to see if they were worthy.
Unlike clans like the Uchiha and Hyuuga, Blood ties weren't considered all that important to the Inuzuka, which meant that if Ayame said Naruto was her brother, then he was her brother and that was all there was to it. The two afore mentioned clans would have been outraged that Naruto dared judge them when he wasn't even a blood relation. Not that the stuck up pricks would even allow someone like Ayame to marry into their clan in the first place.
Tsume and Hana had moved towards Ayame, quietly telling her not to interfere, even though she was worried about the tense atmosphere and staring contest, not quite understanding what was going on.
Masaru stood his ground and didn't avert his eyes, not wanting to be judged as a coward even though he knew he was out of his league. The blond might technically be a Genin but there was an air of danger around him that meant far more to any competent fighter than a rank ever would. He loved Ayame and wouldn't back down in front of her brother's scrutiny.
A few more tense moments passed before Naruto's lips slowly peeled away from his teeth and he gave a low, threatening growl towards the considerably smaller Masaru.
Masaru struggled to keep his eyes locked on the blue ones of the much bigger blond now. The raw presence that he was exuding was less that of a pack alpha and more like that of an apex predator, someone who had no natural predators, because he was the biggest, meanest and most dangerous thing around. He didn't bar his own teeth at the blond, somehow knowing with absolute certainty that the Uzumaki would understand the inherent threat and challenge in a gesture like that. At long last, Naruto finally stopped trying to wordlessly intimidate Masaru and instead gave a small grin and placed his hand on the Inuzuka's shoulder.
"You better take good care of her, or we'll be having problems." The blond said pleasantly without any kind of threat.
"Of course Naruto-san, I will always treat Ayame-chan like a princess." Masaru said politely.
"Good, but don't call me 'Naruto-san'. Honorifics are for pussies." Was Naruto's reply to that as he walked back towards a relieved looking Ayame.
"Too bad he's not an Inuzuka, he'd be clan head within a week." Tsume muttered to her daughter, who could only nod in agreement.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So how did your visit to Naruto go?" Ino asked Sakura as they went for lunch together. Both of them were getting training as medic-nin, though only Sakura was Tsunade's apprentice and as a result both of them also worked in the hospital when they weren't on missions. They were just now taking a lunch break from the constant pressure of working in a hospital.
"Embarrassing as usual." Sakura muttered.
"Oh?" Ino leaned forward in interest. This sounded juicy.
"Hinata and I walked in and found the place a mess, furniture overturned, clothes scattered on the floor and bloodstains on the walls and floor."
"Sounds like there was a fight." Ino commented.
"Yeah that's what we thought, but it turned out to be some very rough sex instead. We walked in on him in bed with someone, though fortunately for my sanity, they were just cuddling." Sakura grumbled sourly.
Ino laughed at her friend's misfortune and asked another question. "Any woman that we know?"
"I've never seen her before, I would have remembered her for sure. She had much darker skin than anyone in Konoha and a very vibrant shade of red hair and..."
"Slitted red eyes, plus fanged teeth just like Naruto?" Ino finished.
"How did you know?" Sakura asked in confusion.
"I've heard some rumors about Naruto going on a date with a woman like that not long before he left the village. Also, Shikamaru asked me if I knew anything about a woman like that, because he'd apparently seen her in Naruto's apartment when he went to get Naruto for the mission where...Sasuke died." Ino finished quietly, knowing that Sakura didn't like to be reminded about the loss of her teammate.
Sakura's eyes dulled a bit, but she didn't let it get to her too much. It had been three years since then and she didn't want to end up like her sensei who spent a lot of his free time staring at a monument.
"I never managed to find out anything about her, not her name, not where she lives, not even a single person seems to know anything about her." Ino continued.
"Her name is Xanna, she might live with Naruto, but I'm not sure. I do know that she's known Naruto for a long time now though. Naruto also said that she was someone very dear to him." Sakura informed her friend.
"What a strange name, it doesn't sound like any name I've ever heard." Ino mused. "How do you know that she's known Naruto for a long time though?"
"Naruto said that she was the one that took his virginity when he was 16." Sakura said with a small blush.
"Well that's not that long ago, just a year before he made Genin." Ino commented.
Sakura shifted uncomfortably, catching Ino's attention immediately. "Whatever it is, spill. I can already tell that it's something good." Ino was like a bloodhound, bur for gossip.
"She also said that Naruto had been...masturbating to the thought of her since he was 11." Sakura managed to say, her face burning pink.
Ino laughed, blushing a bit herself. "She just said that? In front of Naruto?"
"Yeah, it was the only time I've ever seen Naruto blush, though it was only for a short while." Sakura said and paused before continuing. "Though she didn't say 'masturbated', she said that he was 'whacking off'."
Ino burst into surprised laughter again. "Sounds like Naruto's rubbed off on her a bit."
"I think it's probably the other way around." Sakura corrected. "She's just as shameless about nudity as Naruto and seems to find it funny to make crass jokes like him too."
"What kind of jokes?" Ino asked in interest. This was the best damn gossip she'd heard in years.
"She said that she thought that Naruto had ordered some extra entertainment when Hinata and I showed up, implying that she thought we were prostitutes." Sakura revealed with resignation. She knew that if she didn't tell her, then Ino was going to badger it out of Hinata.
"I'm sure you'd be quite the attraction as a pink haired prostitute. Hinata would do well with that figure of hers too." Ino sniggered.
"Ha ha," Sakura laughed sarcastically. "you think it's funny now, but with the way you dress, I wouldn't be surprised if she invited you to join in right away without even bothering to confirm if you're a prostitute or not."
Ino gave an affronted look at her friend before replying. "I'll have you know that I'm much too refined and beautiful to be mistaken for a prostitute."
"Sure you are." Was Sakura's sarcastic answer.
The two of them quieted for a moment before Ino asked another question. "So how old do you think this Xanna is? If she's known Naruto for that long, then she must be either pretty old already, or maybe they're childhood friends and Naruto had a crush on her."
Sakura opened her mouth to answer but closed it soon after, a confused frown showing up on her face. "I...don't know. She was easily the most beautiful and exotic woman I've ever seen, but I can't place her age. She could be anywhere from 20 to an extremely well aged 40."
Ino's eyebrows climbed up her forehead in surprise. "That's quite the age gap. Funny thing is, Shikamaru couldn't make an estimation of her age either."
"Some people get all the good genes." Sakura grumbled, thinking of Hinata's amazing boobs and the almost supernatural beauty of the crimson haired Xanna.
"I know forehead, it's a curse to be beautiful like me." Ino said dramatically.
"I was thinking of Hinata and Xanna actually." Sakura corrected. "And don't even try to pretend that you aren't jealous of Hinata's boobs." The pinkette cut of her friend who had just opened her mouth to make some kind of egotistical claim on her own beauty.
Ino pouted at being cut off before she could even say anything. And damn Sakura for being right about her envy of Hinata's boobs. Those things had no right being attached to a girl that still hadn't stopped developing.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So, what did you two want to talk to me about?" Naruto asked, sitting down and drinking the tea that Anko had prepared in a single gulp, completely lacking any and all manners.
He had come across Anko and Kurenai not long after making his way out of the Inuzuka compound and the two women had asked to talk to him right away. It had sounded fairly important and he didn't have anything pressing he needed to do, so he had no problem agreeing to this meeting.
Anko's eyebrow twitched in irritation. Tea ceremonies were a hobby of hers and having someone gulp it down like water was more than slightly irritating. It was one of the only things that she actually found annoying about Naruto.
"Well, there's something that we wanted and we felt that you were the best person to ask." Kurenai said vaguely, not really revealing anything.
Naruto looked curious, clearly waiting for the Genjutsu mistress to elaborate.
"Nai-chan and I have talked this over several times while you've been gone and decided that you were the best man for the job." Anko said, just as vaguely.
"Well are you going to tell me what this is about or not?" Naruto prodded, feeling just a bit irritated with their circling around the subject.
"We want a baby." Kurenai blurted out.
Naruto froze and stared at the two fidgeting women for a full minute without saying anything.
"You want a baby?" He asked slowly, making the two women look at each other and nod.
"And you want me to get you pregnant?" He asked again, equally slowly.
"Just me, Anko's younger and says that she could carry the second one." Kurenai said quickly.
"Second one?" Naruto asked, still with the same blank expression and slow tone as before.
"If you'd be willing to father a second one that is." The Genjutsu mistress was quick to add.
"I'm really not comfortable with that idea." The blond said with a more normal tone.
"We wouldn't hold you to any responsibility, all we're asking for is a baby. You wouldn't need to be there as a father." Kurenai tried to reassure.
"Wham bam, thank you ma'am." Anko couldn't resist adding, garnering a dirty look from Kurenai. "What?" Kurenai just shook her head and focused back on the blond.
"I'm not comfortable just getting you pregnant and then pretending that the baby isn't mine." Naruto explained.
"Oh." Kurenai said in realisation. "Well, then you could join in!" The Genjutsu mistress said, with just a little too much enthusiasm in her voice. She blushed when both Anko and Naruto looked at her oddly.
"What have you been doing to her for the past 3 years Anko? The Kurenai that I first met for Genjutsu practice would never have even considered something like this." Naruto asked dryly.
"Well there's this thing I do with my tongue..." Anko started to explain, only to be interrupted.
"Anko!" Kurenai exclaimed with a fiery blush. Naruto looked a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to hear what Anko could do with her tongue.
"I'm not comfortable with that either, so I'm going to have to decline." Naruto said and stood up.
"Please? You're the only man whose child I would even consider having." Kurenai pleaded and stood up as well, moving towards him.
"I'll even demonstrate that thing I can do with my tongue." Anko bribed, also moving towards the blond.
"Why not just adopt? There's plenty of orphans out there who would be thrilled at having you as parents." Naruto fended off.
"But Naruto-kun, we really want your babies!" Both women whined cutely in unison.
Naruto himself was severely freaked out by this. Both women were acting way out of character and he just wanted to get away from them for a while. At least until they stopped trying to use him as a sperm donor.
Seeing their hands moving towards his pants, Naruto jumped out the window, making a daring escape from two hot women trying to have sex with him.
Several moments passed in silence, before it was broken by the hysterical laughter of Anko and Kurenai. The two of them were laughing so hard that they couldn't even breathe and tears were streaming from their eyes.
"Did you...did you see his face?" Anko howled as she collapsed on the couch, holding on to a similarly hysterical Genjutsu mistress.
"He..he looked so terrified!" Kurenai managed to say in between her giggles and gasps for breath.
It took nearly 10 minutes for the two of them to calm down, since they couldn't help bursting into uncontrollable laughter every time they looked at each other.
"Oh damn that was funny." Anko said while wiping the tears from her eyes.
It had taken quite a while, but after consulting Kurenai on it, Anko had finally figured out how to get back at Naruto for making her squirt all over the Genjutsu mistress just before he'd left. It had only taken minimal convincing to get Kurenai on board for the prank, much to Anko's surprise and delight.
They knew enough about Naruto to know that he wasn't the type of guy that would be able to ignore any of his possible offspring, but Kurenai also knew that he didn't want to get involved and start a family yet. So they had come up with this simple, but entirely believable request and just kept getting more insistent with it until his nerve broke and he made a desperate getaway.
"But you know, I really would like a baby." Kurenai said suddenly, making Anko freeze.
"Naruto clearly isn't interested in giving us any and what he said about there being plenty of orphans in need of parents was true." She continued musingly, ignoring Anko's ever more panicked expression.
"What do you say to the idea of adopting one or two?" She asked, turning towards her lover.
"I...errr...I think that I hear the dango stand owner saying that he's got a discount! Ha ha." Anko exclaimed and laughed so fakely that even a goldfish would have sweatdropped.
Kurenai had no chance to reply as the snake summoner jumped out of the same window as Naruto.
The Genjutsu mistress leaned back on the couch, legs crossed and arms drapped over the backrest, completely unperturbed about Anko's great escape and chuckled to herself some more.
"That'll teach Anko to squirt all over me while I'm passed out. 'He made me do it' my ass." She said to the empty appartment.
Kurenai was quite pleased with herself for getting Anko with her own prank, but she really did want some kids. She was over 30 years old now and wasn't getting any younger. Anko would come around to her way of thinking soon enough. And if she didn't, well then she wouldn't be getting any sex until she did.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"How's it hanging Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he approached the still form of the silver haired Jounin, who was staring at the memorial stone as usual.
"Oh, you know, same old, same old." Kakashi said with an eye smile, pleased to see his now much bigger student.
"I've got something for you." Naruto said, making the cyclopean Jounin look at him in interest.
"A souvenir from your training trip?"
"Not exactly." Naruto refuted and brought out two books, making Kakashi's eyes gleam with sudden interest.
"Are those...?" He asked reverently.
"Yep." Naruto confirmed.
"But two? Jiraiya-sama must have been very inspired to have written two full books. He usually takes several years to write one book."
"He was inspired alright." Naruto said with a grin at the memory.
"The first one is Icha Icha: Tactics and it will be released to the public soon." The blond said and handed Kakashi the green colored book. The Jounin opened the book and inhaled the scent of paper, giving a disturbingly happy sigh considering that it was just a book.
"This next one is called Icha Icha: Shibari and it isn't supposed to be released for nearly a year." He gave the one eyed Jounin the steel colored book.
Kakashi held it even more reverently, just dying to start reading, especially considering the name of the book.
"Thank you so much Naruto, this is the best present a student has ever given me." Kakashi said with another eye smile.
"How many presents have your students ever given you?" Naruto asked dryly.
"Excluding this one, none!" Kakashi said cheerfully. "But I'm sure that Sakura just misplaced her present for me in her sock drawer."
"Uh huh." Naruto drawled. "One other thing. Don't let Tsunade catch you reading the second book, or she might kill you."
Kakashi looked strangely at his student, not understanding why Tsunade would be extra upset with him reading this book.
"Turn to page 47."
Kakashi did so and began reading.
The well endowed warrior woman Tsuna struggled hard against the chains held by her adversary, the black cloaked marauder Runato, but it was no use, as the bindings were too strong. She had fallen for his trap and was now at his mercy, her legendary strength outmaneuvered by his skilled binding technique.
"You cannot hold me long in these chains! They will not resist my strength forever!" She spat at him defiantly.
"I am a master of shibari." Runato said with an ominous tone. "You will become my pet long before you manage to escape them."
"I will never submit to you! Even if I cannot escape on my own, then my faithful friend and servant Shune will free me." Tsuna declared with defiant certainty.
"I believe that I need to silence that defiant mouth before we proceed." Runato spoke and fastened a red rubber ballgag to her mouth, preventing Tsuna from doing more than mumbling.
"As for your friend and servant Shune..."
"You called master?" Came a voice that sent a spike of despair into Tsuna's heart.
She turned to see her dearest friend, also in chains and clearly having already submitted.
"She is already mine!"
Tsuna screamed her despair into the ball gagging her, causing drops of her own spittle to land on her breasts, which caused Runato's eyes to gleam with interest.
Kakashi stopped reading and looked at his blond student, feeling rather stunned.
"Did this actually happen and is Jiraiya-sama suicidal to write it down where Tsunade-sama can read it?"
"Well...it didn't happen exactly like that and Shizune definitely wasn't involved, but I did put Tsunade in chains once. As for Jiraiya...well the man is far too easily controlled by his loins." Naruto answered.
Kakashi gazed at his student for a long while before speaking. "I have no idea how you're even alive right now, but you must truly be some kind of god among men to be able to get away with something like that."
Naruto sweatdropped at the words, feeling that Kakashi was really going overboard with the praise. "Tsunade isn't that bad if you know how to handle her you know."
Kakashi just shook his head at his student. The blond just didn't understand what an impossibility he had achieved.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Godaime-sama! We've just received an emergency message from Suna. The Kazekage has been kidnapped by Akatsuki!" The messenger said urgently as she entered the Hokage's office.
Naruto palmed his face and groaned. He knew exactly where this was going. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to take it easy for a while and enjoy the changed relationship between him and Xanna.
"Team 7, I'm sending you to Suna to help them retrieve the Kazekage."
Yep, life was that predictable.
It wasn't that he was opposed to helping Gaara out again, but damnit was this shit poorly timed.
Oh well, at least he would get to try out how well his best piece of Fuinjutsu worked in a fight against S-rank shinobi. Nothing like a live exercise to work out the kinks.