Naruto: Cautious Ninja

Naruto laughed before gesturing towards the exit of the field. Already decided that they'd done enough, the two of them started walking out of the training area side-by-side, all the while looking across at the other with the utmost respect. "I'm always up for some healthy competition. Having you gunning for me would be a very interesting learning experience. Let's make the race to the crown fun and train even harder from now on, okay Tayuya-chan?"

"No problem."

They exited the forest and into the suburbs, where they were immediately met with the afternoon rush to get home. While walking through the streets, passing by the silhouettes of everyday villagers in the background, Tayuya couldn't help but quietly soak in more of her surroundings of what had since two years ago become her home. Seeing both the familiar and unfamiliar, she then looked back across at the jinchuriki and gazed at him fondly.

"Thank you so much, Naruto-kun."

"Hmm? What for?"

She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his right, causing him to look down at her in surprise. "For letting me come with you when I had nowhere else to go. You knew nothing about me or who I was, yet you invited me into your home without hesitation and gave me a reason to keep on living… something good and wonderful. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if you hadn't come along when you did."

Tayuya closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his arm soothingly. "Thank you."

Puzzled at first, Naruto then quickly caught on to what she was saying and nodded with an equally warm gaze crossing his expression. "You're welcome, Tayuya-chan."

The girl smiled at him as they continued walking hand-in-hand. From the villagers' point of view, the pair looked like the perfect couple, like they were made to be with each other the way they were latched on to the other. The bright boy with blonde hair and wearing orange walking beside the girl dressed in a khaki battle top and black figure-hugging spandex pants, almost fitted together like yin and yang. No matter how you looked at it, they obviously cared about each other and weren't afraid to show it.

When they arrived at a junction, Tayuya pulled away and waved to the blonde before he could march off in the opposite direction. "I'll see you when you get back home, okay?"

"What about dinner?" Naruto asked. "You don't want to come with me?"

Tayuya grinned and pointed down the road. "There's a new teriyaki chicken and fried rice dish on the menu down at the bar that I want to try out, so I'm all good here. You can have your ramen with Iruka-sensei."

Smile forming, the boy nodded back. "Understood. Have fun," Naruto called, watching the girl run off before setting his own course down the other lane. As he moved on, the jinchuriki was unable to suppress the grin tugging at his lips. With his heart soaring the way it was right now, the task of removing this smile was made even more impossible. "We'll both be Genin tomorrow. Both of us. Man, I can't wait!"

It was going to be a restless night, no question.

XXX

Later that evening…

Konoha's jail…

While it is true criminals of the shinobi world hanging around the area of the Land of Fire were normally sent to the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility or the international prison of Hozukijo located in Kusagakure, it should be noted that there are a few exceptions to the rule. The village of Konohagakure had facilities of its own close at hand for dealing with the abovementioned offenders, whom would be confined to quarters of varying levels depending on the severity of their crimes. While murderers and law breakers of the same class were given the usual treatment, rogue ninja and shinobi who have broken the laws were given different privileges.

To put it simply, those shinobi from other villages or missing nin that were captured inside of Konohagakure's borders were confined to one of the lower levels of the Leaf's temporary holding facility for interrogation. The location of this facility is known only to Konohagakure shinobi of Chunin level and above, so if anybody wanted to make any appointments or visits to criminals before any processing dates, they had to see shinobi of a high enough rank to approve a visit. Chunin and Jonin on the other hand could come and go as they pleased on the clock, including ANBU, though their visits were strictly off record for obvious reasons.

A lot of criminals came and went through here, save for one or two special cases. One of these cases in particular just happened to be the focus of a rare visitor to the establishment; Mizuki of the ninja academy. At his behest, the man entered the facility to one of the lower levels reserved for rogue ninja. With only two cells registered as occupied, he looked for the one at the very end of the hallway.

There, sitting or lying wherever they were on the other side of the bars, were three very familiar kunoichi. Dressed in blue prison uniforms with seals slapped over the walls and gates, the girls were doing whatever they could to occupy themselves. While two were playing cards in the middle of the room, one of them was lying across her bed reading a book. From their current states, they looked like they hadn't bathed in months, and appeared quite exhausted from whatever inquiries, physical and verbal, they had to go through.

For the most part though, they looked fine.

"What the hell do you want?" the silver haired leader of the three asked from her bunk, not even bothering to tear her eyes away from her novel for even a second. "Is it lights out already?"

Her teammates glanced over to see Mizuki looking in with a smug smile on his face. Wearing his bandana with his village's emblem inscribed clearly on the forehead protector, he looked even more sinister adorned in that piece then he normally would without it and gave the trio of kunoichi a quick fly over.

"You all look like shit," the man pointed out in clear amusement. "The services in this hotel must be pretty shocking."

"Ha-ha," the woman mumbled back dryly. "Don't you have anything better to do like filing paperwork or something? Piss off."

"Yeah," the kunoichi with the long brown hair snapped as well.

"Beat it, Konoha scum. We don't need your pity," her shorter haired companion followed up.

"My, my," Mizuki said with an even wider grin. "Why so negative?"

"You know damn well why," the team leader said again without even turning to face the snake in their midst. "If you expect us to smile and be cheerful after all the shit we had to go through, you can cram whatever words you have to say to us up your ass and leave now."

"Well… that's an awfully blunt thing to say to the guy who's going to bust you three out of here," Mizuki exclaimed. His words immediately earned him an eyeballing from the kunoichi leader on the bed and dead silence from her companions. Despite their hush, the two kunoichi playing cards dropped whatever they were holding and rose to their feet, an action that coaxed a smirk from the white haired man standing right outside their front door. "Oh… what's this? You want to listen to me now?"

The boss of the group frowned before looking back at her novel, "Dangling bait in front of us to try and get us to spill more secrets to you dirt bags? Forget it. I know a bluff call when I see one."

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