Ino stared at Naruto, the thought of him being friends with Orochimaru came to her as such a shock that she couldn't even begin to understand it all.
"Naruto...will you betray the village as well?" Ino fiddled with her fingers and asked
Naruto was about to say no, but a thought came to his mind.
"If I said yes, what would you do?" He asked
Ino's hands clenched
"I...will not mention anything to Hokage-sama, but if we meet outside, it might be as enemies" She said after thinking it through
Naruto could tell that she didn't want to say this, but she was being true to her heart. Her response made him smile.
"Don't worry, I won't betray the village, my mum and dad protected it with their lives, I'd be a fool to leave knowing that" He replied
Ino nodded, but she secretly felt relieved when she heard that, as if a rock was lifted from her heart, she felt much lighter.
"Then, why are you friends with such a person, he...he attacked the village, conducted experiments on numerous people, and kills without batting an eye, so just why are you friends with him?" She asked
Naruto chuckled
"Calling him a friend....may be a stretch, rather than friends, we're more like business partners, I help him, and he helps me, if we meet on a battlefield, we are still enemies, we just know what can bring more benefits to the both of us" Naruto replied
"But at the same time, he has helped me in a situation with his life on the line, so I do sort of owe him a favour" Naruto added, in which he was referring to the Urashiki incident.
Ino's eyes widened, Orochimaru helped Naruto in a situation where his life was on the line?
"You were in danger? When? Are you alright?" She gasped as she reached over and grabbed him by his cheeks
Naruto pulled her hands away
"I'm fine, and I'm not saying Orochimaru is a good person either, he helps me because he needs my help with some matters, we give mutual benefits" Naruto replied
Ino fell into deep thought
"Then...that time he attacked Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama, you were also there, and you were stabbed..." She furrowed her brows and asked
Naruto scratched the side of his cheeks
"Don't go telling big sis, but I asked Orochimaru to do that so I can guilt-trip her into becoming Hokage" Naruto coughed awkwardly as he responded
Ino was stunned, he actually went that far!?
"Wh-When did you two even meet!?"
"Chunin exam" He replied
"During the attack?"
"Nah, before, during the forest of death part, I saw him beating up Sasuke and I thought, damn, he's a great gu-ahem, I mean, I saw him attack my teammates, and I was so angry I fought with him for five hundre-"
"Yeah, no need to keep going, I get it" Ino cut him off as she wore a blank face, she always thought her dad was crazy at times, but it seems Naruto is no less crazy than he is...
Naruto waved his hand
"Point is, we know each other, we help each other, but when the village is at stake, we agreed that we will still be enemies, that is our cooperation terms" Naruto said calmly
His eyes focused on how Ino will react, if she is too conflicted...he might consider knocking her out and use a specialised medicine to make her forget what has happened today. But he didn't do that, he wanted to place his trust in her, and see how she will take it.
Ino was silent for a while, and he felt it was understandable. Orochimaru has a notorious image, and has used living people as experiments, knowing that he knew such a person must be hard to accept.
"Naruto...can you promise me, you won't commit any crimes when you work with him?" She asked him
"No" Naruto responded immediately, which left Ino speechless
Were they not having a moment? Why is he so quick to reject her!?
"Ino, I'll let you in on a secret" Naruto revealed a wicked grin, one that she was rather familiar with.
He wore this same smile when he told her about the poison that he spread around the village that made people itchy.
"When my parents died, I did a little digging, and as it turns out, Danzo and Kumogakure worked together, as well as the Uchiha clan to cause the nine tails attack" Naruto said
"Hm!?" Ino's eyes boggled, Danzo worked with an enemy village? And the Uchiha clan were in on it as well?
"And now, Orochimaru needs some corpses to use the edo tensei on" Naruto added
"So you're going to..."
"Dig up their ancestor's graves, yes" Naruto nodded calmly
"..."
"Probably kill Danzo as well and use his corpse" Naruto added
"..."
"If Sasuke wasn't being experimented on by Orochimaru as well, I'd have killed him and used him for it as well" Naruto continued
"..."
"And his broth-"
"I get it...I-I just need some time to comprehend everything...this is too much all at once" Ino said, her eyes were shaking as she started to take in all the information he had just told her.
Naruto nodded and remained silent for her to think things through.
'Kurama, what do you think she'd say?'
[Well, that's not a question I can answer, but if you really want me to, I'll say that she thinks you're a complete lunatic, but you're her lunatic, no?]
'Hot damn, that sounds cringe as f**k'
[Following your example] Kurama sneered as he remembered all the cringe worthy lines Naruto says to Ino when he tries to flirt with her.
Ino suddenly looked up and spoke
"Naruto...you're a lunatic" She said
[Oh? Seems like I'm on the right track]
'You don't know that, she could be following through with it'
Ino's eyes curved
"But you're my lunatic, no?" She grinned at him, she had thought for a while, sure, Naruto is crazy, but in the end, this crazy person is always supporting her.
[Heh]
'Kurama, no, Kurama-sama, mind if you be my therapist?'
[...f**k off]
Naruto stared at Ino in a daze, but he then stood up and pulled her in
"Thank goodness...and here I thought I had to use some medicine to make you forget everything happened" Naruto muttered
"Wait what"
"Nothing" Naruto smiled
"No, seriously, I think I just heard you say-"
"You misheard"
"No, I didn't, you-"
"Shhhh" Naruto patted her back and said gently
"..."
Naruto smiled, Ino's response had proven that he had made the right choice in being honest with her. At the same time, he also wondered...will she be able to accept that he's not completely the original Naruto?
He is naturally still Naruto, but with the merge of the memories of his two lives, he felt that traits of the other life is more dominant.
Would Ino be able to accept that as well?
"You three can stop hiding now" Naruto then said as he pulled himself back
Ino then heard footsteps as the three who originally went upstairs, walked back down. Naruto also undid the seal around the room afterwards.
"D-Did they hear everything" Ino asked
"Nah, they tried, but the seals I put up were to block sound" He replied
"That's good" Ino heaved a sigh of relief
"We heard everything" Tayuya said nonchalantly
"...Na-kun, you lied!" Ino's cheeks puffed up as she flailed her arms at him
Naruto rolled his eyes
"Tayuya, stop messing around" He said, he knows how well his seals work, so why would three people who hardly interacts with such seals even know how to break it?
Tayuya stuck out her tongue and looked away, which made Ino realise she was just messing with her.
"And Tayuya, if you reveal my relationship with Orochimaru like you did today again, it won't end with just a few words, Orochimaru will have to find a new member to fill in the sound four after that" Naruto said in a low voice
Hearing this, Tayuya was about to scoff again when an oppressive force locked onto her. She found herself unable to even speak in this instance, as if a predator has locked eyes on her.
It came to her as a fright, as sweat rolled down her face. After a moment, that feeling vanished completely, and she was met with Naruto's cold gaze.
Unwillingly, she opened her and responded with a simple "yes"
"Wow, first time seeing Na-kun be so stern" Ino muttered in surprise, after being with Naruto all this time, she has only ever seen him either smiling or wearing a bitter expression, never such a stern on.
But it was understandable, him knowing Orochimaru may very well just become the reason he becomes a missing nin if not handled correctly.
"Oh yeah, Kakashi sensei was also looking for you, he asked if I've seen you two days ago" Ino added
"Urgh...I wanna sleep first" Naruto grumbled immediately when he heard Kakashi's name.
He didn't need to go to know why he was calling him over. Now that the Chunin exam is over and Tsunade has stabilised the village situation, he wanted Naruto and Sakura to start taking more missions to gain practical experiences.
Though he had to say...he felt he's had plenty of practical experiences now...
"Did you pull all-nighters again?" Ino frowned, only now did she realise the dark circles under his eyes.
Naruto smiled
"The research was too interesting, and I got caught up with the flow" He replied
Ino sighed as she grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled him to his room
"Go sleep first, I'll go inform Kakashi sensei and have him find you tomorrow" She said
"Sure" Naruto yawned as he went in without complaint.
After this, Ino also left, saying her dad would get worried if she stayed out for too long. Now, with only Tayuya, Haku, and Kimimaro left in the room, the mood became rather awkward.
"Uh...so what the f**k do we do now? Don't tell me we're just going to sit around until he wakes up, right?" Tayuya asked
"You can sit around and do nothing, I'll go practice my chakra control" Haku replied and hopped off.
Tayuya and Kimimaro were left at a loss, so what are they supposed to do now?
*Bang*
The door to Naruto's door suddenly opened as Naruto peeked his head out
"Is Ino gone?" He looked around and asked
"Aren't you sleeping?"
"I need to sort things out before I sleep, first off, Kimimaro, your body is in terrible condition, and your chakra flow is a mess, it's no wonder Orochimaru has been unable to cure you all this time" Naruto said
"Can you do anything about it?" Tayuya asked
"Somewhat, but the biggest question here is...will anyone be able to recognise you both?" Naruto asked
Upon asking, Tayuya coughed awkwardly
"Well...during the Chunin exam attack, we were quite open and didn't hide our faces" She replied
"You were there?" Naruto asked
"We were the one who set up the barrier, but then you suddenly broke through it" Tayuya replied
Naruto thought back on the day, and honestly...he remembers nothing about who set the barrier up. Once again, his memory has failed him.
"If that's the case, you two will need to disguise yourself, once I start taking missions, I'll need you two to be by my side to absorb the nine tail's chakra" Naruto said
"Sounds bothersome, can't we just stay indoors? When you go outside, it'll be a few days at most for missions, no?" Tayuya complained, she didn't want to follow Naruto everwhere he went!
Naruto knew that it wasn't a great method, however, he has no other ideas as to how else he can conduct this experiment.
"You both will follow me, end of story, and there's also the matter of Kimimaro's injuries, we need to get him treated" Naruto said
"Right, so how do we treat him?" Tayuya asked
Naruto smiled
"We'll visit the number one medical nin known to Konoha" He replied
"You...you're crazy, you want us to go meet Tsunade!? If she finds out who we are, we'll all die without a whole body" Tayuya exclaimed
Kimimaro also had an uncertain expression, for once, he also agreed with Tayuya's complaint.
But Naruto didn't care too much
"She won't recognise you both, and after we get you two a proper identity in the village, I'll have you wear masks outside" Naruto replied
Tsunade wasn't there during the attack, so she naturally won't recognise these two, and as long as they wear a mask after that, no one else should recognise them.
"But first, change your clothes, it looks so much like Orochimaru's that someone will make a link to him even if they don't know you" Naruto said
"Are you really sure she won't recognise us?" Kimimaro spoke, still concerned, Tsunade is after all, still one of the three legendary Sanins!
If she wants someone dead, few people can escape her wrath.
"It's fine" Naruto waved his hand and said
"Yo Haku-nii, I need to borrow some of your clothes, Tayuya has nothing for now, I'll buy her clothes later" Naruto called out to Haku who was just outside
"Sure~" Haku responded nonchalantly
"But make sure she doesn't tear any of them, they were all given to me by father" Haku added with a much lower tone.
"Thanks" Naruto responded
He then glanced at Tayuya
"Make sure none of it gets damaged, even I won't be able to save you if you damage them" He said with a serious expression
"..."
After a short while, Kimimaro changed into some of Zabuza's spare clothes, whilst Tayuya changed into Haku's.
"We'll go shopping after we sort out your identities" Naruto said
"So now we...go meet Tsunade?" Tayuya asked with a frown
To that, Naruto shook his head
"We need to do one last thing"
"What?" The two were perplexed, what else do they need to do now?
"Story, you both need some backstory" Naruto replied
"..." Was that really necessary???
But nonetheless, since he was very insistent on it, the two reluctantly agreed to his suggestion and listened to the story he came up with. After being nagged by him repeatedly, the two finally got into character.
Naruto then grabbed them by their shoulders
"Let's go"
"To whe-"
*Whoosh*
Before Tayuya even finished asking, the three of them were in the Hokage's office, face to face with Tsunade...
'We didn't even have time to prepare! This as*hole!' The two screamed internally at Naruto, but he ignored their glares.
"Hokage-sama" He said respectfully
Tsunade sighed as she looked up
"Alright, which illegal criminal did you bring to get a Konoha identity this time?" She asked
!!!!!!!
Kimimaro and Tayuya were stunned, which one this time? So this isn't the first time he brought a criminal over to her!?
Naruto, however, feigned sadness as he shook his head
"No, these two...they are true Uzumaki survivors" He said bitterly
Tsunade stared at him blankly, it was obvious what she was thinking...he's full of sh*t. But she didn't call him out right away, rather, she played along.
"What? How can this be" She responded with an overly dramatic expression that even Tayuya and Kimimaro found over the top...
'What is up with these two psychos...' Tayuya gulped, wondering if she should have just begged Orochimaru to let her stay instead of going with this blonde maniac.
A drop of tear ran down the side of Naruto's eyes
"I found these two roaming the lands outside, Kimimaro here, was a child who escaped the massacre, and in his arms, he held an infant, Tayuya" He said
'Huh? What bullsh*t is this? Oh right, the backstory he came up with' Tayuya's lips twitched, this is just plain stupid at this point!
"Since young, Kimimaro protected Tayuya, the only person he can call family, and the two survived with nothing but their will to live...but fate is cruel, Kumo shinobis tracked them down somehow, leading to Kimimaro sustaining severe injuries to protect Tayuya" Naruto said as he covered his face with his hands.
Tayuya and Kimimaro could hardly believe it themselves, so why would Tsunade believe it!? They glanced over...and she was crying????
Tsunade wiped her eyes as she listened
"Kimimaro was so young when he escaped the village, he didn't even learn any clan jutsus" Naruto spoke with heartwrenching tears running down his face
The tears on Tsunade's face trickled as she nodded
"I understand, I will try to get them an identity" She said
Naruto walked up
"Hokage-sama, thank you so much" He said, but he suddenly pulled out a jar that he pushed onto the table
"I cannot express how moved I am, please, accept this jar of wine" He said with a touched expression.
Tsunade's eyes lit up for a second
"Of course, for them, I will do my utmost for them" She said, she wiped her tears, her caring gaze swept over the two
"Hokage-sama, your care is more than what I can ask for, pelase, accept this" Naruto shoved another jar onto the table and said
"Add one more jar, I'll give em two chunin idenitities" Tsunade's tears were gone, replaced with a serious expression that caught them off guard
"Deal" Naruto replied as if he knew this would happen, he wore a sly grin as he shook hands with Tsunade...
"..." Tayuya and Kimimaro suddenly had a thought...the backstory doesn't mean jack sh*t! In the end, everything was solved through bribes!
Tsunade chuckled as she slid the jars under her desk
"So, who are they really? Last time was Zabuza of the hidden mist, who are these? They wouldn't be Orochimaru's henchemens, right? Hahaha" Tsunade joked
*Gulp*
Tayuya and Kimimaro gulped, she was dead on! But Naruto didn't flinch as he laughed.
"Come on sis, I don't always bring criminals, Tayuya is indeed an Uzumaki survivor, this is her natural hair colour" Naruto said as he pushed Tayuya forward
!?!?!?!
Tayuya stared at Naruto with wide eyes, but Naruto pushed her back before Tsunade saw her shocked expression, which would have given everything away. Not to mention, the moment the deal was made, Naruto no longer called her 'Hokage-sama', instead, he directly called her 'sis'???
How big are their age gap!? And he still calls her sis!?
"Oh? Really now?" Tsunade's eyes flickered with interest
"Of course, as for Kimimaro, he lived in the slums with Tayuya, and the two became rather close, on that note, he is indeed very injured, so I brought him here to also get him treated" Naruto said, not batting an eye as he spoke lies after lies.
With how little hesitation in his lies, Tayuya and Kimimaro were almost convinced, if not for the fact that it was such a blatant lie...
Naruto faced Tsunade, who gave him a skeptic look, but waved her hand
"Whatever, not my problem anyway, if you're bringing in criminals, so be it, if it comes to it, I'll find someone else to dump this position onto" She said
'How did she become the Hokage!?' Tayuya wanted to say it out loud, but held back the urge to do so.
"Thanks a bunch sis, tell me when you're free, we'll go drink again" Naruto winked with a wide grin on his face
Tsunade let out a short huff as she smiled
"Alright, I'll notify you if I can find an open time" She replied, completely disregarding the fact that Naruto is a minor.
Since she's already drank with him before, what's the harm in doing it again?
'Dr-Drinking? How old is he again? I could have sworn he's younger than me' Tayuya was beyond confused by Naruto and Tsunade, one being more corrupt than the other.
Even Kimimaro was having a hard time maintaining a calm expression in front of these two, he felt that they're better off as thugs than as Shinobis of Konoha...
"Come here" Tsunade waved to Kimimaro
Kimimaro hesitated for a bit, but ultimately, he stepped towards her. Once he was close, Tsunade grabbed his wrist and started to scan his body with her chakra.
After a bit, she sighed
"The physical injuries are indeed severe, but they can be healed, the problem is the chakra flow in his body" She said with a frown
"That's fine, I just want his body to be healthy for now, he looks so frail even the wind will blow him over" Naruto replied
Tsunade nodded, and a faint green glow covered her hand. Immediately, Kimimaro felt a considerable change in his body. The heavy feeling was slowly fading, replaced with a feeling of comfort.
"For now, rest up, I'll give a secondary treatment in the future, and you should be able to recover" She said calmly, though, behind her calm expression, she was deeply worried.
'His body....there's an illness that even I cannot cure, his cells are splitting and regenerating too quickly for his body to keep up' She thought to herself
'But there is also something else in him, it's small, almost negligible, yet it's able to fight against the illness, the effects are not apparent, but if the amount of that strange energy increases...'
Kimimaro nodded, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous when Tsunade grabbed him. This woman can break his arms and plant him six feet under, and she would definitely do so if she found out who he is!
"Thanks sis" Naruto grinned
"If you're thankful, get lost, I still have a lot of paperwork to get through" Tsunade kneaded her forehead and sighed
"Sure~" Naruto waved his hand
Naruto bid Tsunade farwell before grabbing the two and teleported back to his house.
"There, simple, right?" Naruto grinned
"...simple my a*s, just how corrupted is Konoha? I suddenly feel that Orochimaru's desire to destroy is more than justified, heck, the other villages should attack as well" Tayuya exclaimed
"Hey now, that's no way to speak of someone who helped you, do you have any idea how expensive my bribes were?" Naruto said with a serious expression
Tayuya and Kimimaro both rolled their eyes, so he admits it's a frickin bribe?
"I can't with you" Tayuya sighed
"Whatever, I'm going to sleep now, you two can do whatever you want, just don't leave the house" Naruto said and headed into his room.
"...great, now it's awkward again" Tayuya crossed her arms and huffed, not knowing what to do now that Naruto was gone again.
The two were told they were becoming human experiments for a thirteen year old boy, but now, they're told to just laze around in the house? Tayuya continued to complain to Kimimaro, who was now in awe of something.
"Oh right, is your injuries healed?" Tayuya asked
Kimimaro slowly nodded
"My body has healed considerably, one more session, and I think I'll be healed...though my chakra points are still in bad condition, and even with my physical injuries healed...I don't think I'll get better" He sighed faintly
Tayuya stared at him, then faced the room Naruto is in. After the chunin exam, they realised ho bad Kimimaro's injuries were, he was practically crippled as a shinobi, and they could do nothing about it.
"What do you think of this, um...kid" Tayuya asked
"He's only one year younger than you" Kimimaro responded
Tayuya scoffed
"He's still a kid" She crossed her arms and said
Kimimaro sat down as he thought about the question.
"He's weird, he's clearly a shinobi of Konoha, but his cooperation with Orochimaru-sama is unnaturally solid, and he also calls Tsunade 'sis', when she is old enough to be his grandmother" He replied
Tayuya sat down on the other side and groaned
"...so...what now?" she asked
Kimimaro smiled
"I'd prefer to just rest and sleep, my body is still rather weak, you however, you're still young, why not go train with the other kid, Haku I think his name was" He said as he pointed outside at the yard, where Haku was working on chakra control still.
Tayuya glanced over
"No way, that ice boy will attack me if I go near him" She said as she hugged herself, shivering at the very thought
Kimimaro merely smiled and closed his eyes, no longer responding to her.
"..." Tayuya was stunned, he really just went ahead and slept while talking to her?
She gnashed her teeth, and shifted her eyes over to Haku. After contemplating for a while, she walked over to him.
Haku noticed Tayuya approaching, but didn't turn to greet her.
"What are you doing?" Tayuya poked her head over and asked
In response....there was nothing, Haku ignored her outright! Tayuya's lips twitched, but didn't explode. She stood by the side and watched in silence as Haku formed balls of water that he then placed back into the bucket.
Unlike last time, however, the water balls were merging one by one after he filled the bucket. If Naruto saw this, he would be left at a loss for words, because the balls were halving in number with each merge.
It may seem simple, but to control his chakra to the point where he can merge two water balls perfectly without it merging with a third water ball, it was absurd.
After the water balls halved in numbers, he then split them using purely his chakra, however, upon splitting, the water balls trembled and merged into a complete body of water.
*Sigh*
Haku let out a faint breathe as he watched the attempt fail, it wasn't his first time trying this, but it didn't feel great.
"What do you want?" Haku turned around and asked, earlier, he was using every bit of his concentration to maintain the forms of the water, so he ignored her.
"Just wanted to know what you were doing" She replied, still confused as to what he was doing.
Haku scooped up some water, and it became a ball of water upon being scooped up
"Catch" He said
"Huh?"
*Splash*
Taken by surprise, the ball of water burst in her face, causing her to be drenched! Tayuya gnashed her teeth as her anger rose.
"Grrr....I've had enough of your crap" Tayuya scowled as she took out a flute
Haku smiled, but the moment Tayuya began playing the flute, his expression changed.
*Fwee*
He felt a powerful impact land on him, sending him rolling back. Tayuya had controlled her strength so it only caused Haku to fall, and not cause any actual harm, however, it was enough to annoy him.
Haku quickly got up and his gaze sharpened, no longer looking down on Tayuya who stared back at him. Upon seeing her gaze, Haku was somewhate amazed, as he realised one thing about her.
She wasn't looking at him with anger, it was the looks of a calculative predator...
*Fwee*
The sound came at him once more, so he jumped back and summoned a wall of ice. The force of the sound she blew out wasn't incredibly strong, as it only left cracks in the ice.
Haku jumped over the ice wall and threw senbons at Tayuya, in which she avoided agilely, her gaze remained on Haku despite dodging the senbons.
Tayuya continued to play the flute, which sent waves after waves of invisible attacks towards Haku, who created an ice mirror and leapt into it. His action took Tayuya by surprise, but she didn't stop to think. She directly attacked the ice mirror without any hesitation.
The mirror cracked, but more mirrors emerged around the courtyard, all replecting Haku's image on it.
"Quite the interesting jutsu" Tayuya closed her eyes and began to play a different tune on her flute.
*Swoosh*
Haku shot out of the mirror behind Tayuya and threw a few senbons at her, however, to her shock, Tayuya shifted her body slightly to the side without even opening her eyes to avoid it.
Her flute's melody continued, and Haku suddenly felt his vision twist. His body wouldn't move, unable to even return to the ice mirror.
"Hah" Before anything major happened, Tayuya stopped playing the flute, as if she continued, Haku would have been tormented by her genjutsu.
She walked up behind him and tapped the dazed Haku on the head with her flute.
"Last time I was caught by surprise, don't expect it to happen again" She said proudly
In front of her, Haku was still dazed, not expecting the girl who was screaming like a child to be this strong.
This was witnessed by Zabuza, who was about to call them in for lunch, and seeing Haku like that, he frowned faintly.
'Haku is still too inexperienced, he is too reliant on his kekkei genkai' He has seen how Haku tried to use his kekkei genkai to confuse the opponent, but from what he can see, Tayuya is a seasoned fighter who has seen blood.
He doesn't know why such a young child has such strong bloodlust and battle instincts, but he was glad that she can make Haku realise how much he relies on his kekkei genkai until now.
'Hopefully, he will take this as a lesson and improve himself'
He then turned around and silently went back to the kitchen
'...wasn't he going to call for them?' Kimimaro, who opened his eyes, saw Zabuza walk up, about to speak, then stared at the battle in silence, ending with him just walking away without saying anything...why did he even go over there!?
Outside, Haku slowly regained his composure as he turned towards Tayuya, who wore a smug expression as she stared back without fear.
Tayuya smirked
"What? Want to fight again? I'm more than happy to, just make sure you don't start crying later" She laughed
Haku let out a faint breathe before his gaze locked firmly on Tayuya
"Again" He said with a determined gaze
Tayuya smiled, as if she expected such an answer. As calm as Haku looks, from their interactions, she already determined that he was still quite hot headed. The fact that he began freezing her the moment she made a comment on him proved it, and against such a person, she felt like she could see through him completely.
Her lips were pressed against the flute once more as she began playing. Much like before, she didn't start with the genjutsu, just using basic sound wave attacks as she leapt around, avoiding Haku's attacks with ease.
'He's talented, his moves are a bit less predictable...barely any changes though' Haku's fighting style may confuse those who were inexperienced, as he would appear from the ice mirrors at random.
But to Tayuya, she would intentionally show her back, just to lure him out and immediately strike back.
After many battles, Haku slumped back, sweating and panting. His gaze remained on Tayuya, who looks as if she never even fought, and a sense of inferiority rose in his heart.
When he saw that Tayuya favoured long range attacks, he tried his best to get close, only to realise she was also experienced in close quarter combat, and was easily repelled.
Tayuya chuckled as she walked over
"What's wrong? Can't fight anymore?" She spoke in a mocking tone
She used her flute to tap his head again
"Your ice is strong, I can't break free from it if I get trapped, but you couldn't even touch me" She said arrogantly, her eyes curved into a crescent shape as she stared at Haku's expression, hoping to see it twist with frustration and embarrassment.
Surprisingly, Haku stared back at her
"Will you spar with me again tomorrow" He asked
Tayuya clicked her tongue when she realised that she underestimated his determination.
"Sure, I'm bored anyways, beating you up is the only thing I can do right now"
She looked up, the sun was setting already, so she grabbed Haku's collar and dragged her indoors.
"Had fun?" Kimimaro asked as she walked in
Tayuya stuck out her tongue
"Bleh"
Though Kimimaro realised that her mood was much better than before, which made him relieved.
"How did he do?" From the kitchen, Zabuza walked over
"Huh? Who're you?" Tayuya asked
"His dad" Zabuza responded
Tayuya stared at him
"Cute apron" She said as her gaze was drawn to the bright pink apron that didn't match his fierce face at all.
"Thanks" Zabuza replied as he placed a few dishes on the table
"So, did Haku improve?" He asked
"Improve what? He can't even touch me" She scoffed
"It's good to bring him down a notch, take it as a lesson, don't get arrogant" Zabuza said as he stared at Haku
Haku nodded silently
"Have a seat, make yourself at home" Zabuza gave them his best smile...which made them shiver
"Don't smile, like ever" Tayuya said as she hugged her arms, but sat down nonetheless
"Guess I need more practice" Zabuza said
Kimimaro and Haku also sat down, and began eating.
"So what's your name?" Tayuya asked
"Zabuza" He replied
"...oh, you're the other criminal that the blondie brought with him, Zabuza of the hidden mist, right? One of the mist swordsmen" Tayuya asked
"Sort of, but here, I'm Zabuza Uzumaki, at least that's the identity the kid got me through bribery" He chuckled in response
"..."
"This village is corrupt as f**k" Tayuya muttered as she took a bite of the food made by Zabuza
Her eyes lit up immediately as her hands sped up
"Where's the kid?" Zabuza asked
"Sleeping, apparently he spent many sleepless days experimenting on some seals" She said, not slowing down her hands at all.
"I see"
The table became silent after that, and the mood quickly became awkward once more. It was this awkwardness that made Tayuya's eating slow down, it was so quiet, and they were eating with people they only just met today.
It was after a bit that Zabuza broke the silence
"Can I trouble you to spar with Haku whenever you can"
"It's about the only thing I can do here anyway, so why not" Tayuya replied casually
Throughout the entire dining experience, she felt Haku's gaze linger on her
"Why are you looking at me the whole time?" She scowled fiercely at him
Haku thought for a bit
"You're completely different to what I initially thought" He replied
"How so?" Tayuya asked in a low voice
"Not hot headed during battle, perceptive, and strategic...is your usual flare ups outside of battle just a facade?" He was truly wondering this question
"Are you picking a fight?" Tayuya snapped at her
"Just like now, you get angry so quickly, yet during battle, you act completely different"
Tayuya scoffed as she started eating again, not answering his question. Knowing that she won't speak, Haku focused on eating as well.