"Hey, shithe "
Tayuya paused the insult mid-sentence when she saw Naruto's expression.
His face, normally so expressive, was clouded. His eyes those cerulean blues were shimmering with unshed tears. His lips trembled slightly, his usual grin nowhere to be found. His expression was full of barely-contained pain, unspoken hurt, and a quiet sense of rejection. She recognized it immediately. It mirrored her own face in the few moments when she allowed her mask to slip.
"…Hey… shithead," she corrected, softer this time. "Don't let that emo bastard's words get to you."
Naruto blinked, surprised. "Did you just try to cheer me up?" he asked incredulously.
Tayuya rolled her eyes in irritation. "No, I was fucking talking about the weather, moron."
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle a small, genuine smile crossing his face for the first time in hours. It wasn't fake or forced. It was real.
"Thank you, Tayuya-chan."
She froze.
Her face immediately turned scarlet. No one had ever thanked her for anything not genuinely. Not even her own squad. And then came that honorific…
'Chan…? Did he just '
Naruto suddenly sensed a malevolent aura enveloping her.
"T-Tayuya-chan…? Is something wrong?" he asked cautiously, feeling a cold dread run down his spine.
WHAM!
He stumbled, a throbbing pain blooming on the side of his head.
"That was for calling me chan without permission!" she snapped, eyes blazing.
The Kyuubi chuckled smugly in Naruto's mind. 'You really are a glutton for punishment, kit.'
Naruto rubbed his sore head. "Then… I'll just have to earn that permission," he said with a teasing grin.
Her cheeks burned again. "Baka…" she muttered.
Naruto looked at her in mock astonishment. "Wow…"
"What now?"
"I didn't know you knew such low-tier insults. I'm almost disappointed."
WHAM!
"It doesn't hurt anymore!" he wheezed, laughing.
WHAM!
"Okay, it does again…"
Despite the bruises, Naruto's smile lingered. It wasn't just about the banter he felt something else. For the first time, he felt like someone actually understood him. Tayuya wasn't just a foul-mouthed enemy kunoichi anymore she was a mirror of his own loneliness.
"Oh, and one more thing, Tayuya-ch "
Her glare froze him mid-word.
"Can you keep quiet about the Rinnegan?" he asked instead, sheepish.
She gave him a curious stare. "Why? It's a freaking awesome technique."
He hesitated, eyes darkening. "I'm… not exactly liked in the village."
The message was clear and her expression softened.
"Fine…" she said, more quietly than usual.
"Thank you," Naruto replied with another warm smile.
Tayuya blushed again. 'Damn it… he seriously needs to stop smiling at me like that…'
A Few Hours Later – The Gates of Konoha…Naruto and Tayuya finally approached the main gates of Konohagakure no Sato.
The massive wooden entrance loomed above them each gate easily thirty feet tall, with the kanji for "Fire" (火) painted boldly across both sides. The symbol of the Land of Fire's strongest village.
They were still several hundred meters away, but Naruto's steps had slowed noticeably. He was panting hard, his entire body showing signs of overexertion. His shirt was torn, his chakra was depleted, and the dark rings under his eyes were getting darker.
"You alright, shithead?" Tayuya asked, trying to sound indifferent like she was only asking because he was her ticket to survival. 'I mean, he did save my ass… but he's still a Konoha idiot, right? I can't be worried about him. Right?'
She didn't have a tailed beast sealed inside her to answer that.
"I'm fine, Tayuya-chan. Just… a little tired," Naruto muttered, forcing a smile. His eyes were bloodshot, and his breathing was ragged.
She didn't call him out for using chan this time.
'If I hit him now, he might not stand up again…' she reasoned silently, holding her tongue.
After a few more minutes of trudging through the forest's edge, they crossed the final rise and approached the gates. The Chūnin guards stationed at the entrance immediately spotted them.
"Halt!" one ordered, stepping forward with a hand raised. He narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "State your name and purpose."
Naruto stood tall despite his fatigue. "Uzumaki Naruto. I'm returning from a mission the Uchiha retrieval mission."
The Chūnin's face curled into a sneer. He looked at Naruto with thinly veiled contempt, but it didn't go unnoticed by Tayuya.
"And who's this?" the guard asked, eyeing Tayuya like she was trash.
"Her name is Tayuya. And that's all you need to know," Naruto snapped, his voice suddenly cold.
The guard's lip curled further. "Watch your tone, demon. All I see is one piece of trash dragging more filth into the village "
He froze mid-sentence.
An intense wave of killing intent (KI) washed over him, thick and suffocating. His knees locked. His mouth went dry.
Naruto's voice dropped a register. "You'd better watch your tongue… or you might just lose it."
His eyes shimmered with barely restrained fury, the pupils briefly slitting like a fox's.
"And if you don't shut your trap," Tayuya added, voice sharp like kunai, "I'll personally rip your shit-for-brains out of your skull, you cock-sucking bastard!"
The guard took a step back, trembling.
"H-Hokage will hear about this this demon threatening a guard!" he sputtered.
Naruto didn't answer. He just walked past, head held high, carrying Tayuya in his arms like the symbol of defiance she was slowly becoming.
"Good. Tell her I'm heading to the hospital," Naruto ordered calmly.
The Chūnin didn't move an inch.
"I said GO!" Naruto snapped, his voice rising sharply.
The flak-jacketed shinobi immediately paled, making the classic 'I'm about to piss myself' face before bolting full speed toward the Hokage Tower.
Naruto and Tayuya both chuckled slightly at his retreat. But the moment was short-lived.
As Naruto continued his march deeper into the village, the laughter died as quickly as it came.
With every step, the mood shifted. Glances grew sharper, whispers turned to muttered curses, and the air thickened with hostility. The glares weren't aimed at Tayuya at least not initially. No, they were all focused on the boy carrying her.
Tayuya narrowed her eyes, the tension not lost on her. She could practically feel the venom in the villagers' stares.
'What the hell…? They look like they want to skin him alive.'
"Hey, shithead," she called out, frowning, "what the hell did you do to these people? They're looking at you like they want to kill you."
She immediately felt his body tense beneath her.
"Well, Tayuya-chan… I am the village's number one prankster, and let's just say… they haven't always appreciated my sense of humor."
He gave her a sheepish grin the classic goofy smile but it was forced. She could tell.
'He's lying… Why? What's he hiding? Tch… I'll get to the bottom of it later.'
She smirked. "Then you must've really pissed them off, huh?"
"Well, I am a pretty accomplished prankster…" he chuckled, still maintaining the mask. But the tension in the air was becoming suffocating.
Suddenly, a group of villagers stepped out, blocking their path.
Naruto's arms instinctively tightened around her, and his legs stopped moving.
"Leave that girl alone, you demon brat!" shouted a burly man in a work apron.
"Yeah, don't touch her with your filth wait… HEY, LOOK! THE DEMON BROKE HER LEGS!" another screamed, pointing.
"Kami-sama, he's going to rape her!" a woman shrieked.
"Someone call the ANBU! The demon's snapped!"
"Kill him!"
"THE MONSTER SHOULD DIE!"
"DIE!"
"DIE! DIE! DIE !"
The mob surged toward them, pitchfork-and-torch-style rage flooding the narrow street.
Tayuya stared, stunned. For a brief second, she saw Naruto's face his eyes wide with fear, his breath catching. His body began retreating, only to realize there was no escape. They were surrounded.
She gritted her teeth and did the only thing she could. She snapped.
"NOT ONE FUCKING STEP CLOSER, YOU FUCKTARDS!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
The mob froze, startled by her sudden outburst.
"STEP THE HELL BACK, YOU BRAIN-DEAD MORONS!"
She released a concentrated burst of Chūnin-level killing intent, enough to make a few weaker villagers visibly flinch.
"But we're trying to save you from the demon!" one of them shouted, clearly deluded.
"I WAS SAVED BY THE 'DEMON,' YOU BRAINLESS JACKASSES!" she roared.
Silence.
A few villagers exchanged shocked glances.
"He saved you?" a woman cried, horrified.
"YES! He dug me out of the fucking rubble after I was crushed by a collapsing forest! Carried me all the damn way here like some orange-clad idiot on a rescue mission!" Her voice cracked slightly from strain, but her fury didn't waver.
"So back the fuck off and let us go to the GODDAMN HOSPITAL!"
The crowd finally parted, a few muttering insults under their breath.
"Demon…"
"Traitor whore…"
Tayuya caught every word, and it burned like fire.
But then one man either incredibly brave or monumentally stupid stepped forward, blocking their way again.