Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between Deception and Truth ❯ On Distant Coast ( Chapter 9 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lord Archive 
Ai and Jiro move to the other side of the Country of Fire to set up a new life, but this time they have friends around.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 02.17.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 986 | Status: Completed
Ai and Jiro move to the other side of the Country of Fire to set up a new life, but this time they have friends around.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 02.17.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 986 | Status: Completed
Between Deception and Truth
Chapter 9 - On Distant Coast
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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"The Land of Waves?" Sakura questioned. "You moved over to that bridge we helped made sure was built?"
Ai nodded. "Yep. They even named it the Great Naruto Bridge!"
"You're joking!" Sakura gasped.
Jiro shook his head. "They really named it that."
"Wait, didn't you say that Tenten and Neji were at your village?" Sakura wondered.
"I only said 'our village.' I never said it was the village we had been talking about," Jiro corrected. "If I had told you where we had seen each other, I would definitely have gotten ahead of the story."
Sakura pouted.
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"Is something bothering you?" Jiro asked suddenly.
Ai looked at her partner with a confused expression. "Why would you think that?"
Jiro lifted his hand, which the girl was holding onto as his answer.
Ai blinked wondering when they had started to hold hands, yet she didn't pull away from him. She looked away. "I guess I don't like it that I'll be lying to people I trust."
"It's not something that can be helped," Jiro reminded.
"I know that. But that doesn't make it any easier. I put my life on the line for Inari and his mom, and now I have to convince them I'm a girl they've never met," Ai pointed out.
"At least we don't have to lie about being ninja to them," Jiro pointed out. "And your skills are far more advanced now than they were when you were first here."
Ai sagged. "May as well hurry and get... there?" Her eyes widened in shock as she spotted the start of a massive structure with 'The Great Naruto Bridge' engraved above it. "They named it after me?"
Ai immediately ran across the bridge, dragging Jiro with her as she had not let go of his hand. When they arrived at the other side, the girl was almost in tears as she saw that full tribute to her former self had been done. She wasted no time going to the restaurant at the end of the bridge and ordered the largest bowl of ramen they had.
"What brings you two to the Land of Waves?" Yamamoto, the skinny ramen shop owner, asked.
With Ai's face planted into her food it was left to Jiro to answer, "We're looking for a place that we can find work."
Yamamoto laughed. "Well, don't know how much you two kids can do here. Between shipping cargo and fishing, all the real work would break your backs. It's why I run a restaurant. My back has been broken enough."
"We'll see." Jiro shrugged. "I was told a man named Tazuna might be able to help us out."
Yamamoto shook his head. "Maybe while the bridge was under construction. Now there's little left to be built."
"Won't truly know until we ask him," Jiro returned.
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Ai and Jiro made their way through the island town. As they approached their destination, Ai fell back a step and then seemed to disappear. Jiro wondered why the girl went to see the child that had been watching them while trying to remain hidden from sight.
"Ya know, kid, if you're trying to hide yourself, ya need to blend into the background and not move around," Ai chastised the hidden boy.
The black haired boy jumped from his hiding place. "You must be a strong ninja to spot me!"
Ai laughed. "Who said we were ninja?"
"You don't move like normal people, and you're very fast," the boy retorted. "Besides, Grandpa has been asking Konoha for ninja to protect the town, and I want to learn how to be one."
Ai ruffled the boy's black hair. "And what if I'm a ninja not from Konoha?"
The boy knocked her hand away. "I would have to defend my home!" he pledged, taking a rather rough fighting stance.
"Defend your home, huh?" Ai growled jokingly and quickly grabbed the boy by his ankle and yanked him up as if he was a giant fish. "Hey, Jiro, he looks a little scrawny. Should I throw him back?"
Jiro didn't reply, merely palming his face instead.
Ai seemed to ponder the situation. "How about you show me where Tazuna is and we'll call everything even?"
"Not a chance!" the boy howled.
Ai shrugged. "No choice then. Off to the ocean for you." She took a couple steps.
"You can't do that!" the boy cried out.
The door to the nearby home opened. "What are you doing to my son?!" demanded the woman.
"Just teasing the boy." Ai flicked her wrist and Inari found himself momentarily airborne, but the girl caught him before he landed.
Jiro bowed to the woman. "Please excuse her. She's a rather lively person and has little sense of propriety."
"Sounds a bit like a certain Konoha ninja I knew," came a gruff old voice. An elderly man stood behind the woman. "Who do we have here?"
"Two people passing through," Jiro answered.
"Unless you happen to be Tazuna," Ai added with a smirk.
The old man scowled. "What do you want with me?"
Ai lifted her shirt to reveal a Konoha ninja headband that she was currently using as a belt. "We came about your request to have ninja help protect the Land of Waves. I'm Ai, and the stiff over there is Jiro."
"Ai," Jiro hissed.
Tazuna shook his head while smiling. "Finally got approval, huh? That's super. Is it just the two of you?"
"Afraid so. Without a major threat, we're all you'll get," Ai answered.
The woman frowned. "I'm Tsunami. Please don't tease Inari."
"Aw, I don't mean him any harm." Ai then glanced at the boy. "Now if he really wants to be a ninja, though, then he's likely to get hurt."
"Absolutely not!" Tsunami protested.
"Mom!" Inari whined.
"Save that for another time," Tazuna barked. "I have a place you can stay at. It's one of the shacks that the builders used when we were making my super bridge. It's small, but it should work super for you two."
Jiro nodded. "That is good, but first we will need to talk to you in private."
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After verifying they were indeed alone, Jiro nodded towards Ai.
The girl grinned and used a transformational henge to take the appearance of a blond haired boy.
"NARUTO?!" Tazuna cried out.
"Geez. Not so loud, old man. We don't want people to know I'm here," Naruto chastised. "We can't even let Inari and his mom know."
"Why is that?" Tazuna wondered.
Naruto pouted.
"It is not uncommon for ninja to become marked for death by enemy countries or groups. One particularly evil group wants Naruto, and each of them are among the strongest ninja alive," Jiro explained.
"Why would they want Naruto-kun?" Tazuna wondered.
"It's not something I can tell you," Naruto replied.
"Classified, huh? That's just super," Tazuna growled. "But why do you have to keep yourself hidden?"
"We don't want them to find Naruto until he's ready to face them one-on-one or even two-on-one and win. And if word gets out that Naruto is here, these ninja would come for him, and might destroy the entire island in their attempts to get him," Jiro warned.
Tazuna's eyes widened.
"That's why we're telling you who I am. If my cover here is blown, I may need you to send a message to Konoha for us to get reinforcements." Naruto tried to grin, but it looked forced. "I can tell you who to look out for. The ninja after me all wear black robes with red clouds on them."
"I'll be sure to warn the village of them. They'll have to get through us to get to you," Tazuna promised.
Naruto waved his arms wildly. "You can't do that! Any one of them could kill the entire village in minutes. There's no way for a normal person to fight them."
Jiro thought for a moment. "Though asking a few people you trust to watch for those men and warn us if they appear would certainly be of help. But these people must be ones who are able to keep secrets and not talk about the robes with red clouds. If word gets out that the Land of Waves is on the watch for them, they would come straight here."
"Ninja business can be super annoying," Tazuna muttered.
"Sure can," Naruto laughed, letting his henge go and returning to being a purple haired girl.
"Why do you look like that?" Tazuna wondered.
"This is the best way for me to finish my training. They're looking for a boy, not a girl," Ai returned.
Tazuna laughed. "Ah, that is super. Then I have less concerns about the small shack I'm putting you into, considering you're both really guys."
Jiro flushed slightly, but said nothing.
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'Small' wasn't the word for it. Naruto's apartment in Konoha was much larger than this place. It functionally consisted of only two rooms: main room and the wash room. There were no walls separating the kitchen, main room and bedroom. In order to sleep on the futon mattress, they would need to place the table they were to eat off of against the wall.
Jiro looked at the small couch in the supposed main room area. "I'm supposed to sleep on that?"
"Bah. The bed is big enough to share," Ai offered.
"We don't have to keep that up anymore," Jiro reminded.
"I know. But we've been sharing a bed for months now. I've gotten rather used to it," Ai returned.
"Are you sure?" Jiro asked with nervous skepticism. "I am still a guy."
Ai shrugged. "Sure we're going to be a bit cramped, but I don't think our ninja skills are going to remain secret for long. They're going to wonder why we were sent to this backwater town. I figure letting them guess there are issues with us having some sort of relationship would work."
"Failing to complain about being put in tiny little shack with one bed would certainly make them think that," Jiro commented. "I hope they aren't anywhere near as bad as they were at the village. You couldn't sneeze there without everyone knowing it."
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Much to Jiro's relief, the Land of Waves didn't spread rumors at all. Being a port town, the population changed whenever a ship pulled in. And as the ships brought cargo, that gave Jiro a job helping unload and load ships. As the cost of living here was higher than in the village, Ai also got a job, working as Yamamoto's assistant at the ramen shop. Though in both cases, the workers were really clones while the real Ai and Jiro practiced on a part of the island few visited. The only rumor he heard concerning Ai and himself was the question if they were married or just lovers.
While working, Jiro's skills had him doing the odd jobs that required flexibility. He would be the one to enter ships as they were loaded and unloaded cargo and supplies as he could get away from falling boxes far easier than any of his coworkers. Even with a skilled person operating the crane, accidents happened far too often. The third time in a week the cargo came loose and dropped a ton of supplies, but this time it was almost straight on top of Jiro. If anyone watched him evade the falling crates, they would immediately know he was a ninja. "That was too close," he muttered to himself.
"Get me out of here!"
"Quiet! Do you want to be killed?!"
Jiro turned and looked at the door he had landed near. If what he heard was nothing, he'd blame the door popping open on the falling cargo. With a swift kick the door flew away. He stared in anger at what he saw. A dozen girls were shackled to the ship and some of them were barely dressed. There was no question that these girls were cargo and that this was no prison ship.
"You're not supposed to see that."
Jiro turned to look at one of the men who operated this ship. "So, this is your real cargo? Sex slaves?"
The bulky man nodded. "Well, I could offer you a deal. How about some time with one of our packages to keep quiet?"
Jiro made sure the man would never say another word again, as two kunai plunged into him, one in the heart and the other in the throat. He knew he only had a moment before others would come to see what was going on. Jiro immediately went into the room and called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" There were now six copies of Jiro in the room and they had the shackles off the girls in seconds.
One of the girls immediately gave thanks for the rescue and rushed into the cargo hold, while a couple girls had to be coaxed into leave the room. The dead body didn't help to embolden any of them, rather it caused the girls to be even more skittish.
With all the girls free now, the Jiro that found them disappeared in a puff of smoke to inform the real Jiro of the situation, while the other clones set to lead the girls to safety. There was no surprise that the stairs were guarded, the trap on the stairs unfortunately had caught them off guard. An alarm sounded as electricity hit the three clones who had made it to the steps, causing them to disperse.
The surprised guards were quickly cut down with a volley of shuriken from the two remaining Jiro clones. Taking down the guards on the stairs didn't end the electricity flowing over the metal steps. They were still trapped as two large 'thuds' were heard and the girls began to scream. As intimidating the two men who had just jumped down into the cargo hold appeared, the two clones made short work of them. One of the clones then leapt out of the cargo hold, while the other remained to guard the girls.
On deck, the clone of Jiro quickly attacked those who worked on this ship. He heard his boss, Kaishin, yell at him, but Jiro quickly shouted back, "This is a sex slave ship!"
Kaishin had been running onto the ship already. When the man peered into the cargo hold, he didn't see the other clone, but he did not miss the scared and barely-dressed girls. Kaishin let out a battle cry and immediately joined Jiro in fighting the crew. As word spread out of the sex slave ship, Jiro's co-workers and sailors from other ships came to help out.
Before the real Ai and Jiro could get to the ship, the entire crew was either dead or tied up and the girls had blankets and tarps wrapped around them.
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Of the dozen girls, only half of them took the offer of free passage home. The other half claimed to have no homes to return to. Five of those who remained were given two shacks to stay in, which Tazuna, Ai, Jiro and several townsfolk had worked on to make them livable for these girls. The remaining girl, Keiko, had been the youngest of the sex slaves, a year younger than Inari, and a widowed woman took the girl into her home to be her daughter.
Ai made a particular effort to befriend the girls, especially as not everyone in town was happy with the new residents. No one said anything bad about them, but the silence that persisted when the girls went anywhere was certainly something that Ai remembered and loathed.
That unnatural silence included Keiko, and the other children noticed. A skittish and shy girl was an easy target for those seeking to boost themselves by tearing someone else down. While Ai tried to help the girl, it came as no surprise to her to see Keiko helping drag a badly beaten Inari towards his home. She didn't ask the pair what happened, rather Ai picked up the boy and got him to his house. In her arms, the boy felt safe enough to let unconsciousness fall upon him.
Tsunami rushed out of the house as they approached and cried out, "What happened to Inari? You weren't trying to teach him how to be a ninja, were you?"
Ai turned and gazed at Keiko.
The girl tried to hide behind Ai and stuttered out, "N-n-no, h-he s-save m-m-me from s-some b-b-bullies."
"I only found them after the fact. Wish I had been there to teach those kids a lesson," Ai growled. "And Inari wasn't playing at being a ninja, he was being one. He would've come out of that far better if he knew how to defend people better."
Tsunami didn't offer a reply, instead she guided Ai into the house and had her set the boy onto his bed.
"I'll be right back with Jiro." Ai didn't wait for a reply before the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Minutes later, when Ai returned as promised with Jiro in tow. Her partner immediately moved to check Inari's injuries and apply ointment to his vast amount of bruises. Keiko helped to rub the medicine into the boy's skin.
Ai didn't miss the clouded look on Tsunami's face. "When Inari gets better, I'm going to find out whether or not he wants revenge on those bullies. If he doesn't want to get back at them, but wants to learn how to protect the people he cares about, I'm going to teach him how to fight."
Tsunami glanced at the teenaged girl. "I had thought you already were. Some of those bruises were not from today."
Ai clenched her fist. "I will see a stop to that."
"Thank you." Tsunami's gaze returned towards her son, but Ai noticed it wasn't the boy she was looking at.
"You don't have any problems with her do you?" Ai whispered in a harsh tone.
"I want to say I don't...," Tsunami hesitated. "She really needs someone like Inari to help her, but..."
"But...?" Ai pressed.
"You know what they used her for. That she's... experienced. She might show her gratitude in ways that Inari isn't ready for," Tsunami expressed her worry quietly.
Ai scratched her head. That wasn't the sort of thing she was expecting to hear. It certainly could be a problem if Keiko decided to reward her savior with sex, considering that the girl already had her virtue robbed from her. "Don't know what to say, save maybe talk to her. Let her know how ya feel. That being Inari's friend is fine and all, but anything more should come later. _Much_ later."
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Ai had scouted a safe area for training. This would be the first day she would formally train Inari since his injuries. It came as little surprise to her that the boy arrived ten minutes early, though she had actually expected him sooner. That Keiko was with him was no surprise either.
"Excuse me, Ai-sensei," Keiko squeaked out nervously.
Ai blinked. With that one honorific, she knew what was coming next. "You want to be trained too?"
Keiko nodded sheepishly. "When they pulled down my pants to look at me, I did nothing to stop them. When Inari-sama was hurt, all I did was watch."
Red flashed over the ninja's eyes. "Did they do anything else to you?"
Keiko shook her head. "No, Ai-sensei. I don't think they... know about... what would happen after that. Inari-sama saved me before, well..."
Ai clenched her fist. That ignorance wasn't likely to last for long considering that if Inari hadn't shown up and killed the mood for the boys, they might've figured things out, whether Keiko wanted it or not. "You better believe I'm going to teach you." And the girl would be gaining a shadow until the tormentors were stopped.
"So, what's first?" Inari asked.
"Why do you want to learn how to be a ninja and fight?" Ai asked the boy.
"To protect my home and the people I love!" Inari answered, causing Keiko to blush madly.
"After I taught you how to fight, what do you plan to do to the ones who beat you up?" Ai demanded.
Inari folded his arms. "If I was going to go after every person that hurt me, I'd have to go after half the island. If they don't cause any more trouble, I won't bother with them."
Ai ruffled the boy's hair. "Good. Remember that. Vengeance is pointless if you lose everything you care about getting it." She then paused in thought. "Well, this changes things a little. But you both still need to start at the basics."
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After a week of training Inari and Keiko, Ai wanted to groan as she watched the pair spar. Neither kid wanted to hurt the other, but if they couldn't go all out on each other, they would have issues using all their strength against real enemies.
"This is your super training regime?" Tazuna asked as he approached.
Ai didn't miss his sarcasm. "Hey, it takes years to become a full ninja. Don't expect them to become top fighters in a week."
"It still looks like a sissy fight," Tazuna muttered.
Ai scowled before stepping forward and clapped her hands. "That's enough of your pitiful fighting. You're both better than that."
"I can't hurt her!" Inari protested.
"The way you were going, you couldn't hurt a fly. If she's going to get any better, you need to hurt her. And the same holds for you, Keiko. If you see an opening, hit him. If you don't show him where he's weak, he won't fix it," Ai barked at them.
"Bah! I know you and your boyfriend hold back. Hell, you don't even practice!" Inari protested.
"We don't, do we?" Ai smirked viciously. "Follow me." She began to walk deeper into the island, followed by the two kids and Tazuna.
Soon they began to hear the sounds of fighting. When they arrived at a large clearing, they saw the blur of furious combat moving at speeds that made it hard for them to follow.
"What? How?" Inari demanded.
"You know I can make copies of myself. So can Jiro. Those two are the real ones. I'm a shadow made solid. Just like the one working at the ramen shop right now, and the Jiro working at the docks. Everyday we practice, pushing ourselves to be better than we were yesterday," Ai explained.
Keiko flinched seeing a momentary pause in the battle caused by both the real Ai and Jiro landing solid and devastating blows on each other. "H-how can y-you h-hurt s-someone you c-care f-f-for?"
"Because if I don't, neither of us would get stronger." Ai patted the girl on the head. "Finding our weaknesses, building our stamina, being able to absorb pain and injury are all important things in fighting. And it can't be done if you keep the kid gloves on."
"When can I do stuff like that?!" Inari asked excitedly, his eyes firmly fixed on the all-out sparring match.
"You never will if you can't punch Keiko with all your strength," Ai told him firmly. "Now let's get out of here. We're cramping their abilities."
Soon they were all back to where Inari and Keiko's training area. As directed, they began to spar once again. There was still some hesitance, but after the girl gave the boy a black eye, he responded by kicking her legs out from under her.
Inari blinked. "Are you okay?"
Keiko rubbed her left leg. "Yes. How about you?"
Inari touched his tender eye. "Um, fine. I guess."
"You're not m-m-mad at m-m-me, are y-y-you?" Keiko asked skittishly.
Inari shook his head. "Course not. I want to be stronger."
Keiko stood up. "So do I."
Inari moved to face her, and the pair began again. There was still some hesitation in their movements, but both would come home sporting bruises with Inari carrying more of them than Keiko. The sparring came to a sudden end when he planted a solid hit to her gut with such force that she almost threw up.
"That's enough, you two," Ai announced with a grin. "Right now, even with all your bruises, you could beat the shit out of the you that woke up this morning. I know it hurts, but you've gotten a lot stronger."
Inari nodded weakly, looking guiltily at the girl.
"Same time tomorrow?" Keiko wondered.
Ai nodded. "Of course. Be sure to use those ointments Jiro gave you to use. If something really hurts, don't be afraid to ask Jiro to take a look at it."
"Can I have a word with you?" Tazuna asked, watching the two kids leave.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Ai replied, making a single copy of herself to follow the kids covertly. The remaining clone turned towards the man. "What do ya want?"
"I've been wondering about something." Tazuna rubbed his chin. "You're really a guy, right?"
"Of course I was," Ai returned.
"Well, what sort of relationship do you have with Jiro?" Tazuna wondered.
"A complicated one," was Ai's short reply.
"Look, I know it might not be any of my business, but some things don't add right," Tazuna stated. "The Naruto I knew was chasing Sakura's skirt almost the entire time he was here. Yet you don't even give any girls a second look. And everyone I talk to thinks you and Jiro are more than friends."
Ai plopped onto the ground. "Geez, Gramps, you're right. It's none of your business." She then sighed. "But you're the only person who knows the real situation I can talk to. Old Pervert-Sennin isn't likely to show up for weeks, and even then he'd be of no help."
Tazuna folded his arms. "Well, I am a super listener."
Ai sat there for a moment. "I really don't know how to explain it. When I got this mission, Jiro was a girl who volunteered to help guard me because she had a big crush on me. Only I didn't know about that until some weeks ago. Changing our appearance and genders along with living together, her crush kind of got trampled on."
"But those feelings didn't go away entirely, did they?" Tazuna observed.
"Yeah," Ai groused. "He still likes me as more than a friend. When we first started living together, he told me he had 'no intention of being a father.' I didn't understand at the time that he was saying he wanted to be the mother of my kids."
"I see. I see." Tazuna nodded.
"At the time he was only a friend. I barely knew him as a girl." Ai laughed sheepishly. "Now... once the mission is over, well, we probably still be living together, just differently."
"Ah, right. That's super." Tazuna walked off in a daze.
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With the way Keiko was gripping her stomach, Ai would be sending Jiro to pay her a visit to make sure Inari's final blow didn't cause any real damage. Following the girl was probably a good idea as her adoptive mother might have some questions as to why she had been bruised so badly.
Ai hadn't paid much attention to three young men sitting at a corner. The ones who beat up Inari before had been his age, while these guys were older than she was. However, when the men saw Keiko, they moved to block her way home.
"Well, if it isn't the little prostitute?" The young man grabbed her by the shoulder. "How'd you like to make some money tonight?"
"I don't do that any more," Keiko replied.
The men laughed with one of them commenting, "Once a whore, always a whore. Your older sisters are certainly still putting out."
"Not all of them," Keiko insisted.
"All you have to do is find the right price," the third man sneered. "Even Yamiko was willing, with the right motivation."
The man holding her added, "And I'm dying to know how tight your arse is."
Keiko's eyes widened and her arms seemed to move on their own accord. She drove her knuckles into his stomach and then when he was hunched over, slammed the side of his face with her palm. "That's for Inari!"
"Never been done in the arse, yet? So, I'll be the first," the guy she knocked over muttered darkly as he shakily got to his feet.
His two friends moved to grab her, but she elbowed one of them in the stomach and kicked the other guy's kneecap.
"You little bitch! No fucking way we'll pay you now!" one of the men cursed.
Keiko replied by stepping into the man's lunge and bringing her knee straight up between his legs. "I will not be bought! I will not be taken!"
While the girl fighting them had caught the men by surprise, especially that she seemed skilled enough to take any one of them one-on-one, it was still three-on-one. When the guy fell, clutching his privates and squeaking out in pain, one of the other guys grabbed her from behind.
Keiko struggled in the unwanted hug she found herself in. Unfortunately, she had only learned the basics of Taijutsu from Ai and had yet to learn anything other than how to punch and kick with all your strength.
"Hold that bitch steady so I can punch her out." The man reared back his fist, aiming to slug the girl in the face. His arm never moved forward.
"I'd complain about not fighting one-on-one, but I have a bad habit of attacking as a group, even when I'm by myself," Ai sneered, having suddenly appeared behind the guy and was now holding his arm without any apparent effort. "You guys are no longer welcomed in the Land of Waves. If you so much as touch a girl without her permission, I will kill you."
"You and what army, bitch?" snarled the man who had his balls kneed.
"When you fight me, you fight an army. Isn't that right, girls?" Ai called out.
The three men stared in horror as they were now surrounded by dozens of copies of Ai. As one, the clones gave out a battle cry and swarmed the three men.
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"Exile was too good for them," Sakura muttered darkly.
"Those guys weren't really bad. They just felt that seeing as Keiko and the other girls had serviced men before, it meant they didn't have a right to refuse to service them as well," Ai pointed out. "They got punished for hurting Yamiko and for trying to force Keiko, but those men were locals and didn't get kicked out. Though one of them wished he had left town after his mother got through with him."
"They better not run across me, or they'll regret it." Sakura slammed her fist into her other hand with considerable force.
"Anyway, the attack on Keiko certainly smoothed over things with her adoptive mother. Even knowing her injuries had come from Inari, the fact the girl was able to stand up for herself against those who would hurt her was enough to convince her Keiko needed the training. While I'm good at teaching Taijutsu, manipulating chakra isn't exactly my strong suit. The next day Jiro was the one to teach them," Ai continued the story.
"Is there a reason for this to be so drawn out?" Hiashi asked in a flat tone.
"I had offered to give you a reduced version tomorrow," Tsunade reminded.
"At this rate, we'll be here until tomorrow," Hiashi returned.
"Well, if you don't want to hear about the ninja academy's two newest students, then I'm sure you'll love this next part," Ai groused sarcastically.
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"You're pregnant?!" Jiro cried out.
The teenage girl could only nod.
"And you want me to... end it?" Jiro asked in disbelief.
"I didn't want this. I never wanted anything to do with that!" the girl insisted.
"Well, I guess there's a way I could, but it'll hurt you," Jiro warned. "You might never be able to have a baby."
"No," Ai barked out. "I won't let you."
Jiro and Yamiko jumped at hearing Ai's words.
"Please understand, I never asked to have men touch me. If I hadn't let them, they would've killed me," Yamiko insisted through her tears. "Why should I have a baby I never wanted?! I don't even know the father's name! It could be one of a dozen guys. What did I do that was so wrong that I'm forced to have a baby?!"
"What did the baby do that requires the death penalty? You might not deserve it, but doesn't _your_ _innocent_ baby deserve a chance at life?" Ai returned. "I know what it means to be unwanted. I'm an orphan who is a living reminder of a time Konoha lost too many good people, including the leader of our village. No one wanted me. I did a lot of stupid shit trying to just be noticed. I spent a lot of nights cold and alone, without family or friends. It was hard for me, but I survived it all. I have a family of friends now. Something that wouldn't have happened if I was never given a chance to live."
Jiro bowed his head. "I'm not sure what to say about this. My family had wanted me, but I ended up being such a disappointment that I was asked to leave the clan. While I too have ended up being unwanted, sometimes I had wondered if it would've been better to have never been born."
"Your family is the disappointment, not you," Ai spat. "Their crazy rules are the only thing that needs aborted. And you're certainly not unwanted. We're partners now, and nothing is going to change that!"
---------------------
---------------------
"'Crazy rules?'" Hiashi muttered darkly.
"The cursed seal you put on the branch house is nothing but asinine," Ai growled out. "You must have thought so too if you had Hinata take this mission in order to keep her sister from being branded."
"Do not speak of family matters that does not concern you," Hiashi ordered.
"If they involve Jiro, they most certainly involve me!" Ai shot back.
Hiashi flushed with anger.
Jiro blinked. "Wait! F-father, that was the reason for suggesting me for this mission, right? But why did you say that I would be reclaiming my place earlier? Nothing has happened to Hanabi, has it?"
Hiashi looked away. "It would seem your failures may be my own. Hanabi is no better than you were."
Jiro bowed his head.
A soft knock was heard at the door.
"Hopefully this will be a welcomed interruption," Tsunade muttered.
Kakashi reached for the door and opened it.
Tenten peered into the room. "Ano... Sorry to interrupt, but I have a message for Ai-chan."
Ai's gaze locked on the girl. "Something wrong?"
"Your daughter just won't drink from a bottle..." Tenten began.
"I told them I had only breast fed her and that there was no way she'd accept being fed from a stranger," Ai muttered. "I'll be back."
---------------------
Author's Notes:
I love being evil. ^^
Coming next: Chapter 10 - Truth Revealed
The extent of Ai and Jiro's relationship is unveiled.
Chapter 9 - On Distant Coast
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
---------------------
"The Land of Waves?" Sakura questioned. "You moved over to that bridge we helped made sure was built?"
Ai nodded. "Yep. They even named it the Great Naruto Bridge!"
"You're joking!" Sakura gasped.
Jiro shook his head. "They really named it that."
"Wait, didn't you say that Tenten and Neji were at your village?" Sakura wondered.
"I only said 'our village.' I never said it was the village we had been talking about," Jiro corrected. "If I had told you where we had seen each other, I would definitely have gotten ahead of the story."
Sakura pouted.
---------------------
---------------------
"Is something bothering you?" Jiro asked suddenly.
Ai looked at her partner with a confused expression. "Why would you think that?"
Jiro lifted his hand, which the girl was holding onto as his answer.
Ai blinked wondering when they had started to hold hands, yet she didn't pull away from him. She looked away. "I guess I don't like it that I'll be lying to people I trust."
"It's not something that can be helped," Jiro reminded.
"I know that. But that doesn't make it any easier. I put my life on the line for Inari and his mom, and now I have to convince them I'm a girl they've never met," Ai pointed out.
"At least we don't have to lie about being ninja to them," Jiro pointed out. "And your skills are far more advanced now than they were when you were first here."
Ai sagged. "May as well hurry and get... there?" Her eyes widened in shock as she spotted the start of a massive structure with 'The Great Naruto Bridge' engraved above it. "They named it after me?"
Ai immediately ran across the bridge, dragging Jiro with her as she had not let go of his hand. When they arrived at the other side, the girl was almost in tears as she saw that full tribute to her former self had been done. She wasted no time going to the restaurant at the end of the bridge and ordered the largest bowl of ramen they had.
"What brings you two to the Land of Waves?" Yamamoto, the skinny ramen shop owner, asked.
With Ai's face planted into her food it was left to Jiro to answer, "We're looking for a place that we can find work."
Yamamoto laughed. "Well, don't know how much you two kids can do here. Between shipping cargo and fishing, all the real work would break your backs. It's why I run a restaurant. My back has been broken enough."
"We'll see." Jiro shrugged. "I was told a man named Tazuna might be able to help us out."
Yamamoto shook his head. "Maybe while the bridge was under construction. Now there's little left to be built."
"Won't truly know until we ask him," Jiro returned.
---------------------
Ai and Jiro made their way through the island town. As they approached their destination, Ai fell back a step and then seemed to disappear. Jiro wondered why the girl went to see the child that had been watching them while trying to remain hidden from sight.
"Ya know, kid, if you're trying to hide yourself, ya need to blend into the background and not move around," Ai chastised the hidden boy.
The black haired boy jumped from his hiding place. "You must be a strong ninja to spot me!"
Ai laughed. "Who said we were ninja?"
"You don't move like normal people, and you're very fast," the boy retorted. "Besides, Grandpa has been asking Konoha for ninja to protect the town, and I want to learn how to be one."
Ai ruffled the boy's black hair. "And what if I'm a ninja not from Konoha?"
The boy knocked her hand away. "I would have to defend my home!" he pledged, taking a rather rough fighting stance.
"Defend your home, huh?" Ai growled jokingly and quickly grabbed the boy by his ankle and yanked him up as if he was a giant fish. "Hey, Jiro, he looks a little scrawny. Should I throw him back?"
Jiro didn't reply, merely palming his face instead.
Ai seemed to ponder the situation. "How about you show me where Tazuna is and we'll call everything even?"
"Not a chance!" the boy howled.
Ai shrugged. "No choice then. Off to the ocean for you." She took a couple steps.
"You can't do that!" the boy cried out.
The door to the nearby home opened. "What are you doing to my son?!" demanded the woman.
"Just teasing the boy." Ai flicked her wrist and Inari found himself momentarily airborne, but the girl caught him before he landed.
Jiro bowed to the woman. "Please excuse her. She's a rather lively person and has little sense of propriety."
"Sounds a bit like a certain Konoha ninja I knew," came a gruff old voice. An elderly man stood behind the woman. "Who do we have here?"
"Two people passing through," Jiro answered.
"Unless you happen to be Tazuna," Ai added with a smirk.
The old man scowled. "What do you want with me?"
Ai lifted her shirt to reveal a Konoha ninja headband that she was currently using as a belt. "We came about your request to have ninja help protect the Land of Waves. I'm Ai, and the stiff over there is Jiro."
"Ai," Jiro hissed.
Tazuna shook his head while smiling. "Finally got approval, huh? That's super. Is it just the two of you?"
"Afraid so. Without a major threat, we're all you'll get," Ai answered.
The woman frowned. "I'm Tsunami. Please don't tease Inari."
"Aw, I don't mean him any harm." Ai then glanced at the boy. "Now if he really wants to be a ninja, though, then he's likely to get hurt."
"Absolutely not!" Tsunami protested.
"Mom!" Inari whined.
"Save that for another time," Tazuna barked. "I have a place you can stay at. It's one of the shacks that the builders used when we were making my super bridge. It's small, but it should work super for you two."
Jiro nodded. "That is good, but first we will need to talk to you in private."
---------------------
After verifying they were indeed alone, Jiro nodded towards Ai.
The girl grinned and used a transformational henge to take the appearance of a blond haired boy.
"NARUTO?!" Tazuna cried out.
"Geez. Not so loud, old man. We don't want people to know I'm here," Naruto chastised. "We can't even let Inari and his mom know."
"Why is that?" Tazuna wondered.
Naruto pouted.
"It is not uncommon for ninja to become marked for death by enemy countries or groups. One particularly evil group wants Naruto, and each of them are among the strongest ninja alive," Jiro explained.
"Why would they want Naruto-kun?" Tazuna wondered.
"It's not something I can tell you," Naruto replied.
"Classified, huh? That's just super," Tazuna growled. "But why do you have to keep yourself hidden?"
"We don't want them to find Naruto until he's ready to face them one-on-one or even two-on-one and win. And if word gets out that Naruto is here, these ninja would come for him, and might destroy the entire island in their attempts to get him," Jiro warned.
Tazuna's eyes widened.
"That's why we're telling you who I am. If my cover here is blown, I may need you to send a message to Konoha for us to get reinforcements." Naruto tried to grin, but it looked forced. "I can tell you who to look out for. The ninja after me all wear black robes with red clouds on them."
"I'll be sure to warn the village of them. They'll have to get through us to get to you," Tazuna promised.
Naruto waved his arms wildly. "You can't do that! Any one of them could kill the entire village in minutes. There's no way for a normal person to fight them."
Jiro thought for a moment. "Though asking a few people you trust to watch for those men and warn us if they appear would certainly be of help. But these people must be ones who are able to keep secrets and not talk about the robes with red clouds. If word gets out that the Land of Waves is on the watch for them, they would come straight here."
"Ninja business can be super annoying," Tazuna muttered.
"Sure can," Naruto laughed, letting his henge go and returning to being a purple haired girl.
"Why do you look like that?" Tazuna wondered.
"This is the best way for me to finish my training. They're looking for a boy, not a girl," Ai returned.
Tazuna laughed. "Ah, that is super. Then I have less concerns about the small shack I'm putting you into, considering you're both really guys."
Jiro flushed slightly, but said nothing.
---------------------
'Small' wasn't the word for it. Naruto's apartment in Konoha was much larger than this place. It functionally consisted of only two rooms: main room and the wash room. There were no walls separating the kitchen, main room and bedroom. In order to sleep on the futon mattress, they would need to place the table they were to eat off of against the wall.
Jiro looked at the small couch in the supposed main room area. "I'm supposed to sleep on that?"
"Bah. The bed is big enough to share," Ai offered.
"We don't have to keep that up anymore," Jiro reminded.
"I know. But we've been sharing a bed for months now. I've gotten rather used to it," Ai returned.
"Are you sure?" Jiro asked with nervous skepticism. "I am still a guy."
Ai shrugged. "Sure we're going to be a bit cramped, but I don't think our ninja skills are going to remain secret for long. They're going to wonder why we were sent to this backwater town. I figure letting them guess there are issues with us having some sort of relationship would work."
"Failing to complain about being put in tiny little shack with one bed would certainly make them think that," Jiro commented. "I hope they aren't anywhere near as bad as they were at the village. You couldn't sneeze there without everyone knowing it."
---------------------
Much to Jiro's relief, the Land of Waves didn't spread rumors at all. Being a port town, the population changed whenever a ship pulled in. And as the ships brought cargo, that gave Jiro a job helping unload and load ships. As the cost of living here was higher than in the village, Ai also got a job, working as Yamamoto's assistant at the ramen shop. Though in both cases, the workers were really clones while the real Ai and Jiro practiced on a part of the island few visited. The only rumor he heard concerning Ai and himself was the question if they were married or just lovers.
While working, Jiro's skills had him doing the odd jobs that required flexibility. He would be the one to enter ships as they were loaded and unloaded cargo and supplies as he could get away from falling boxes far easier than any of his coworkers. Even with a skilled person operating the crane, accidents happened far too often. The third time in a week the cargo came loose and dropped a ton of supplies, but this time it was almost straight on top of Jiro. If anyone watched him evade the falling crates, they would immediately know he was a ninja. "That was too close," he muttered to himself.
"Get me out of here!"
"Quiet! Do you want to be killed?!"
Jiro turned and looked at the door he had landed near. If what he heard was nothing, he'd blame the door popping open on the falling cargo. With a swift kick the door flew away. He stared in anger at what he saw. A dozen girls were shackled to the ship and some of them were barely dressed. There was no question that these girls were cargo and that this was no prison ship.
"You're not supposed to see that."
Jiro turned to look at one of the men who operated this ship. "So, this is your real cargo? Sex slaves?"
The bulky man nodded. "Well, I could offer you a deal. How about some time with one of our packages to keep quiet?"
Jiro made sure the man would never say another word again, as two kunai plunged into him, one in the heart and the other in the throat. He knew he only had a moment before others would come to see what was going on. Jiro immediately went into the room and called out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" There were now six copies of Jiro in the room and they had the shackles off the girls in seconds.
One of the girls immediately gave thanks for the rescue and rushed into the cargo hold, while a couple girls had to be coaxed into leave the room. The dead body didn't help to embolden any of them, rather it caused the girls to be even more skittish.
With all the girls free now, the Jiro that found them disappeared in a puff of smoke to inform the real Jiro of the situation, while the other clones set to lead the girls to safety. There was no surprise that the stairs were guarded, the trap on the stairs unfortunately had caught them off guard. An alarm sounded as electricity hit the three clones who had made it to the steps, causing them to disperse.
The surprised guards were quickly cut down with a volley of shuriken from the two remaining Jiro clones. Taking down the guards on the stairs didn't end the electricity flowing over the metal steps. They were still trapped as two large 'thuds' were heard and the girls began to scream. As intimidating the two men who had just jumped down into the cargo hold appeared, the two clones made short work of them. One of the clones then leapt out of the cargo hold, while the other remained to guard the girls.
On deck, the clone of Jiro quickly attacked those who worked on this ship. He heard his boss, Kaishin, yell at him, but Jiro quickly shouted back, "This is a sex slave ship!"
Kaishin had been running onto the ship already. When the man peered into the cargo hold, he didn't see the other clone, but he did not miss the scared and barely-dressed girls. Kaishin let out a battle cry and immediately joined Jiro in fighting the crew. As word spread out of the sex slave ship, Jiro's co-workers and sailors from other ships came to help out.
Before the real Ai and Jiro could get to the ship, the entire crew was either dead or tied up and the girls had blankets and tarps wrapped around them.
---------------------
Of the dozen girls, only half of them took the offer of free passage home. The other half claimed to have no homes to return to. Five of those who remained were given two shacks to stay in, which Tazuna, Ai, Jiro and several townsfolk had worked on to make them livable for these girls. The remaining girl, Keiko, had been the youngest of the sex slaves, a year younger than Inari, and a widowed woman took the girl into her home to be her daughter.
Ai made a particular effort to befriend the girls, especially as not everyone in town was happy with the new residents. No one said anything bad about them, but the silence that persisted when the girls went anywhere was certainly something that Ai remembered and loathed.
That unnatural silence included Keiko, and the other children noticed. A skittish and shy girl was an easy target for those seeking to boost themselves by tearing someone else down. While Ai tried to help the girl, it came as no surprise to her to see Keiko helping drag a badly beaten Inari towards his home. She didn't ask the pair what happened, rather Ai picked up the boy and got him to his house. In her arms, the boy felt safe enough to let unconsciousness fall upon him.
Tsunami rushed out of the house as they approached and cried out, "What happened to Inari? You weren't trying to teach him how to be a ninja, were you?"
Ai turned and gazed at Keiko.
The girl tried to hide behind Ai and stuttered out, "N-n-no, h-he s-save m-m-me from s-some b-b-bullies."
"I only found them after the fact. Wish I had been there to teach those kids a lesson," Ai growled. "And Inari wasn't playing at being a ninja, he was being one. He would've come out of that far better if he knew how to defend people better."
Tsunami didn't offer a reply, instead she guided Ai into the house and had her set the boy onto his bed.
"I'll be right back with Jiro." Ai didn't wait for a reply before the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Minutes later, when Ai returned as promised with Jiro in tow. Her partner immediately moved to check Inari's injuries and apply ointment to his vast amount of bruises. Keiko helped to rub the medicine into the boy's skin.
Ai didn't miss the clouded look on Tsunami's face. "When Inari gets better, I'm going to find out whether or not he wants revenge on those bullies. If he doesn't want to get back at them, but wants to learn how to protect the people he cares about, I'm going to teach him how to fight."
Tsunami glanced at the teenaged girl. "I had thought you already were. Some of those bruises were not from today."
Ai clenched her fist. "I will see a stop to that."
"Thank you." Tsunami's gaze returned towards her son, but Ai noticed it wasn't the boy she was looking at.
"You don't have any problems with her do you?" Ai whispered in a harsh tone.
"I want to say I don't...," Tsunami hesitated. "She really needs someone like Inari to help her, but..."
"But...?" Ai pressed.
"You know what they used her for. That she's... experienced. She might show her gratitude in ways that Inari isn't ready for," Tsunami expressed her worry quietly.
Ai scratched her head. That wasn't the sort of thing she was expecting to hear. It certainly could be a problem if Keiko decided to reward her savior with sex, considering that the girl already had her virtue robbed from her. "Don't know what to say, save maybe talk to her. Let her know how ya feel. That being Inari's friend is fine and all, but anything more should come later. _Much_ later."
---------------------
Ai had scouted a safe area for training. This would be the first day she would formally train Inari since his injuries. It came as little surprise to her that the boy arrived ten minutes early, though she had actually expected him sooner. That Keiko was with him was no surprise either.
"Excuse me, Ai-sensei," Keiko squeaked out nervously.
Ai blinked. With that one honorific, she knew what was coming next. "You want to be trained too?"
Keiko nodded sheepishly. "When they pulled down my pants to look at me, I did nothing to stop them. When Inari-sama was hurt, all I did was watch."
Red flashed over the ninja's eyes. "Did they do anything else to you?"
Keiko shook her head. "No, Ai-sensei. I don't think they... know about... what would happen after that. Inari-sama saved me before, well..."
Ai clenched her fist. That ignorance wasn't likely to last for long considering that if Inari hadn't shown up and killed the mood for the boys, they might've figured things out, whether Keiko wanted it or not. "You better believe I'm going to teach you." And the girl would be gaining a shadow until the tormentors were stopped.
"So, what's first?" Inari asked.
"Why do you want to learn how to be a ninja and fight?" Ai asked the boy.
"To protect my home and the people I love!" Inari answered, causing Keiko to blush madly.
"After I taught you how to fight, what do you plan to do to the ones who beat you up?" Ai demanded.
Inari folded his arms. "If I was going to go after every person that hurt me, I'd have to go after half the island. If they don't cause any more trouble, I won't bother with them."
Ai ruffled the boy's hair. "Good. Remember that. Vengeance is pointless if you lose everything you care about getting it." She then paused in thought. "Well, this changes things a little. But you both still need to start at the basics."
---------------------
After a week of training Inari and Keiko, Ai wanted to groan as she watched the pair spar. Neither kid wanted to hurt the other, but if they couldn't go all out on each other, they would have issues using all their strength against real enemies.
"This is your super training regime?" Tazuna asked as he approached.
Ai didn't miss his sarcasm. "Hey, it takes years to become a full ninja. Don't expect them to become top fighters in a week."
"It still looks like a sissy fight," Tazuna muttered.
Ai scowled before stepping forward and clapped her hands. "That's enough of your pitiful fighting. You're both better than that."
"I can't hurt her!" Inari protested.
"The way you were going, you couldn't hurt a fly. If she's going to get any better, you need to hurt her. And the same holds for you, Keiko. If you see an opening, hit him. If you don't show him where he's weak, he won't fix it," Ai barked at them.
"Bah! I know you and your boyfriend hold back. Hell, you don't even practice!" Inari protested.
"We don't, do we?" Ai smirked viciously. "Follow me." She began to walk deeper into the island, followed by the two kids and Tazuna.
Soon they began to hear the sounds of fighting. When they arrived at a large clearing, they saw the blur of furious combat moving at speeds that made it hard for them to follow.
"What? How?" Inari demanded.
"You know I can make copies of myself. So can Jiro. Those two are the real ones. I'm a shadow made solid. Just like the one working at the ramen shop right now, and the Jiro working at the docks. Everyday we practice, pushing ourselves to be better than we were yesterday," Ai explained.
Keiko flinched seeing a momentary pause in the battle caused by both the real Ai and Jiro landing solid and devastating blows on each other. "H-how can y-you h-hurt s-someone you c-care f-f-for?"
"Because if I don't, neither of us would get stronger." Ai patted the girl on the head. "Finding our weaknesses, building our stamina, being able to absorb pain and injury are all important things in fighting. And it can't be done if you keep the kid gloves on."
"When can I do stuff like that?!" Inari asked excitedly, his eyes firmly fixed on the all-out sparring match.
"You never will if you can't punch Keiko with all your strength," Ai told him firmly. "Now let's get out of here. We're cramping their abilities."
Soon they were all back to where Inari and Keiko's training area. As directed, they began to spar once again. There was still some hesitance, but after the girl gave the boy a black eye, he responded by kicking her legs out from under her.
Inari blinked. "Are you okay?"
Keiko rubbed her left leg. "Yes. How about you?"
Inari touched his tender eye. "Um, fine. I guess."
"You're not m-m-mad at m-m-me, are y-y-you?" Keiko asked skittishly.
Inari shook his head. "Course not. I want to be stronger."
Keiko stood up. "So do I."
Inari moved to face her, and the pair began again. There was still some hesitation in their movements, but both would come home sporting bruises with Inari carrying more of them than Keiko. The sparring came to a sudden end when he planted a solid hit to her gut with such force that she almost threw up.
"That's enough, you two," Ai announced with a grin. "Right now, even with all your bruises, you could beat the shit out of the you that woke up this morning. I know it hurts, but you've gotten a lot stronger."
Inari nodded weakly, looking guiltily at the girl.
"Same time tomorrow?" Keiko wondered.
Ai nodded. "Of course. Be sure to use those ointments Jiro gave you to use. If something really hurts, don't be afraid to ask Jiro to take a look at it."
"Can I have a word with you?" Tazuna asked, watching the two kids leave.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Ai replied, making a single copy of herself to follow the kids covertly. The remaining clone turned towards the man. "What do ya want?"
"I've been wondering about something." Tazuna rubbed his chin. "You're really a guy, right?"
"Of course I was," Ai returned.
"Well, what sort of relationship do you have with Jiro?" Tazuna wondered.
"A complicated one," was Ai's short reply.
"Look, I know it might not be any of my business, but some things don't add right," Tazuna stated. "The Naruto I knew was chasing Sakura's skirt almost the entire time he was here. Yet you don't even give any girls a second look. And everyone I talk to thinks you and Jiro are more than friends."
Ai plopped onto the ground. "Geez, Gramps, you're right. It's none of your business." She then sighed. "But you're the only person who knows the real situation I can talk to. Old Pervert-Sennin isn't likely to show up for weeks, and even then he'd be of no help."
Tazuna folded his arms. "Well, I am a super listener."
Ai sat there for a moment. "I really don't know how to explain it. When I got this mission, Jiro was a girl who volunteered to help guard me because she had a big crush on me. Only I didn't know about that until some weeks ago. Changing our appearance and genders along with living together, her crush kind of got trampled on."
"But those feelings didn't go away entirely, did they?" Tazuna observed.
"Yeah," Ai groused. "He still likes me as more than a friend. When we first started living together, he told me he had 'no intention of being a father.' I didn't understand at the time that he was saying he wanted to be the mother of my kids."
"I see. I see." Tazuna nodded.
"At the time he was only a friend. I barely knew him as a girl." Ai laughed sheepishly. "Now... once the mission is over, well, we probably still be living together, just differently."
"Ah, right. That's super." Tazuna walked off in a daze.
---------------------
With the way Keiko was gripping her stomach, Ai would be sending Jiro to pay her a visit to make sure Inari's final blow didn't cause any real damage. Following the girl was probably a good idea as her adoptive mother might have some questions as to why she had been bruised so badly.
Ai hadn't paid much attention to three young men sitting at a corner. The ones who beat up Inari before had been his age, while these guys were older than she was. However, when the men saw Keiko, they moved to block her way home.
"Well, if it isn't the little prostitute?" The young man grabbed her by the shoulder. "How'd you like to make some money tonight?"
"I don't do that any more," Keiko replied.
The men laughed with one of them commenting, "Once a whore, always a whore. Your older sisters are certainly still putting out."
"Not all of them," Keiko insisted.
"All you have to do is find the right price," the third man sneered. "Even Yamiko was willing, with the right motivation."
The man holding her added, "And I'm dying to know how tight your arse is."
Keiko's eyes widened and her arms seemed to move on their own accord. She drove her knuckles into his stomach and then when he was hunched over, slammed the side of his face with her palm. "That's for Inari!"
"Never been done in the arse, yet? So, I'll be the first," the guy she knocked over muttered darkly as he shakily got to his feet.
His two friends moved to grab her, but she elbowed one of them in the stomach and kicked the other guy's kneecap.
"You little bitch! No fucking way we'll pay you now!" one of the men cursed.
Keiko replied by stepping into the man's lunge and bringing her knee straight up between his legs. "I will not be bought! I will not be taken!"
While the girl fighting them had caught the men by surprise, especially that she seemed skilled enough to take any one of them one-on-one, it was still three-on-one. When the guy fell, clutching his privates and squeaking out in pain, one of the other guys grabbed her from behind.
Keiko struggled in the unwanted hug she found herself in. Unfortunately, she had only learned the basics of Taijutsu from Ai and had yet to learn anything other than how to punch and kick with all your strength.
"Hold that bitch steady so I can punch her out." The man reared back his fist, aiming to slug the girl in the face. His arm never moved forward.
"I'd complain about not fighting one-on-one, but I have a bad habit of attacking as a group, even when I'm by myself," Ai sneered, having suddenly appeared behind the guy and was now holding his arm without any apparent effort. "You guys are no longer welcomed in the Land of Waves. If you so much as touch a girl without her permission, I will kill you."
"You and what army, bitch?" snarled the man who had his balls kneed.
"When you fight me, you fight an army. Isn't that right, girls?" Ai called out.
The three men stared in horror as they were now surrounded by dozens of copies of Ai. As one, the clones gave out a battle cry and swarmed the three men.
---------------------
---------------------
"Exile was too good for them," Sakura muttered darkly.
"Those guys weren't really bad. They just felt that seeing as Keiko and the other girls had serviced men before, it meant they didn't have a right to refuse to service them as well," Ai pointed out. "They got punished for hurting Yamiko and for trying to force Keiko, but those men were locals and didn't get kicked out. Though one of them wished he had left town after his mother got through with him."
"They better not run across me, or they'll regret it." Sakura slammed her fist into her other hand with considerable force.
"Anyway, the attack on Keiko certainly smoothed over things with her adoptive mother. Even knowing her injuries had come from Inari, the fact the girl was able to stand up for herself against those who would hurt her was enough to convince her Keiko needed the training. While I'm good at teaching Taijutsu, manipulating chakra isn't exactly my strong suit. The next day Jiro was the one to teach them," Ai continued the story.
"Is there a reason for this to be so drawn out?" Hiashi asked in a flat tone.
"I had offered to give you a reduced version tomorrow," Tsunade reminded.
"At this rate, we'll be here until tomorrow," Hiashi returned.
"Well, if you don't want to hear about the ninja academy's two newest students, then I'm sure you'll love this next part," Ai groused sarcastically.
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"You're pregnant?!" Jiro cried out.
The teenage girl could only nod.
"And you want me to... end it?" Jiro asked in disbelief.
"I didn't want this. I never wanted anything to do with that!" the girl insisted.
"Well, I guess there's a way I could, but it'll hurt you," Jiro warned. "You might never be able to have a baby."
"No," Ai barked out. "I won't let you."
Jiro and Yamiko jumped at hearing Ai's words.
"Please understand, I never asked to have men touch me. If I hadn't let them, they would've killed me," Yamiko insisted through her tears. "Why should I have a baby I never wanted?! I don't even know the father's name! It could be one of a dozen guys. What did I do that was so wrong that I'm forced to have a baby?!"
"What did the baby do that requires the death penalty? You might not deserve it, but doesn't _your_ _innocent_ baby deserve a chance at life?" Ai returned. "I know what it means to be unwanted. I'm an orphan who is a living reminder of a time Konoha lost too many good people, including the leader of our village. No one wanted me. I did a lot of stupid shit trying to just be noticed. I spent a lot of nights cold and alone, without family or friends. It was hard for me, but I survived it all. I have a family of friends now. Something that wouldn't have happened if I was never given a chance to live."
Jiro bowed his head. "I'm not sure what to say about this. My family had wanted me, but I ended up being such a disappointment that I was asked to leave the clan. While I too have ended up being unwanted, sometimes I had wondered if it would've been better to have never been born."
"Your family is the disappointment, not you," Ai spat. "Their crazy rules are the only thing that needs aborted. And you're certainly not unwanted. We're partners now, and nothing is going to change that!"
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"'Crazy rules?'" Hiashi muttered darkly.
"The cursed seal you put on the branch house is nothing but asinine," Ai growled out. "You must have thought so too if you had Hinata take this mission in order to keep her sister from being branded."
"Do not speak of family matters that does not concern you," Hiashi ordered.
"If they involve Jiro, they most certainly involve me!" Ai shot back.
Hiashi flushed with anger.
Jiro blinked. "Wait! F-father, that was the reason for suggesting me for this mission, right? But why did you say that I would be reclaiming my place earlier? Nothing has happened to Hanabi, has it?"
Hiashi looked away. "It would seem your failures may be my own. Hanabi is no better than you were."
Jiro bowed his head.
A soft knock was heard at the door.
"Hopefully this will be a welcomed interruption," Tsunade muttered.
Kakashi reached for the door and opened it.
Tenten peered into the room. "Ano... Sorry to interrupt, but I have a message for Ai-chan."
Ai's gaze locked on the girl. "Something wrong?"
"Your daughter just won't drink from a bottle..." Tenten began.
"I told them I had only breast fed her and that there was no way she'd accept being fed from a stranger," Ai muttered. "I'll be back."
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Author's Notes:
I love being evil. ^^
Coming next: Chapter 10 - Truth Revealed
The extent of Ai and Jiro's relationship is unveiled.