Seems like releasing my book gave me a burst of creativity (especially considering I realised that my fanfiction fans could become my actual fans with a bit of prodding). Enjoy!
"Naruto-san... Where are you?" Sayo sniffled, hugging ethereal legs as she observed the school grounds from the rooftop of the female dormitory. Almost three days had passed since the last time she had seen Naruto, and she didn't know where he was. He had tried asking other people, but the reaction had been the usual.
Screaming and/or passing out.
She sighed, wishing she could learn to combine creating her legs, visibility and making herself heard faster. Barring her hair and eyes, she would not cause any weirdness. "... Naruto-san, you didn't leave me, did you?"
"Nothing." Naruto groaned as he, dressed in his toad boxers only, collected the towel from the nearby chair, and started drying himself up. In the last three days their ragtag group of explorers had settled into routine. Negi and the baka-rangers would study most of the time, even if Yue took some serious convincing, with all the fiction books lying around. Konoka would help or laze around, cook most of the time. Naruto had searched for the book, everywhere. On trees, in the sand, even underwater, only to come up with zilch. "How the hell is this possible? A book doesn't just disappear."
"Maybe it got stuck somewhere during the fall." Negi offered from his seating position. "Hmm, if I still had my powers I could try a divination spell."
"And if I could use my techniques, I could search more efficiently." Naruto sighed. He didn't regret saving their lives, of course, but just as Negi had to be careful with his magic, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself lest he drew it to Negi as well. "This whole situation is strange. This place is supposed to be a long-forgotten secret thing, but we found fresh food and beds and... It's almost like this was set up."
"True. But, set up for what?" Naruto shrugged.
"Beats me." Naruto shook his head and then shivered. That particular patch of water from before was cold. He remembered a hot spring in the surroundings. "Oi, I'm going to take a bath."
"Alright, Naruto-san." Negi nodded and let the ninja go on his way to the living area of the library, grabbing a conveniently provided bath-robe and a bar of scented soap.
'Ugh. Wearing the same clothes for three days and with all the physical ability I've done? I'm gonna need to burn them to get the stench out.' With a sigh, Naruto headed for the hot spring. His ears caught three female voices. 'The girls had my same idea, it seems.'
Now, Naruto didn't slow down or break his stride because he was convinced that the girls, having two boys -one of which a child and the other older than them- in their group, would follow his example and bathe in their underwear, to avoid accidental flashings. The bathing areas were in the open, after all. "Hey! How's the wHAT THE FUCK?!" Thus he was pretty unprepared for three bodies' value of naked skin. He dropped the soap and slapped a hand over his eyes, already feeling the blood rushing, thankfully to his cheeks.
"S-Senpai!" Makie said, surprised by his sudden appearance.
"Don't you SENPAI me! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Naruto retorted. "There's a child and a boy about your age, around! Why the hell are you bathing naked?!"
"Because we've only got one change of underwear-aru!" Fuu answered like it was the most normal thing in the world. Well, it was pretty normal but still...
"What bothers you more?! Guys seeing you naked or wet underwear?!"
"Wet underwear." The three girls chorused immediately, and Naruto almost lost his footing as a result. "We just make do with the circumstances, Naruto-san. And I don't think we're such a bad sight, de gozaru!"
"Kaede-san, you're completely missing the point here! And stop joking!" Naruto continued, now red up to his ears as he tried to keep his fingers from separating. "... And I'm more of a legs person, anyway."
"Aru?! Defeated by a fetish?!"
"I-IT'S NOT A FETISH! I JUST-"
"KYAAAAA!" The sudden shift in the water and Makie's shout made Naruto open his eyes and remove his hand. He gasped.
"You again?!" Naruto growled as he laid eyes on the golem from the previous day, emerging from the water. "And why the hell weren't you here when I checked yesterday?!"
"Watch out, aru!" Fuu warned, and the group of four moved to dodge a descending arm, which still caused to splash them all with water.
"Damn!" 'I can't injure him without using my techniques! If only-'
"Everyone, what's-Wah!"
"T-That thing again?!" Yue and Konoka had arrived as well. Naruto's eyes lightened up.
"Konoka-san, go warn the others! Yue-chan, bring me my backpack!" Naruto shouted as they dodged another blow, their movements slowed down by the water.
"Y-Your backpack?" Yue mumbled, confused, while Konoka ran to find Asuna and Negi.
"JUST DO IT!" The blue-haired girl nodded after a final moment of hesitation and ran to complete her task. "We've got to keep him distracted until Yue comes back!"
"D-Distracted! Okay!" Makie nodded and suddenly produced her ribbon out of her towel, much to Naruto's shock. As the golem attacked Kaede, she grabbed onto Naruto's discarded towel and flung it in the golem's eyes. "There!"
"Makie-chan, don't stand too cl-Spuergh!" Naruto inhaled a mouthful of water as their enemy turned around swinging his arm wide, knocking Fuu away and grabbing onto Makie. "Makie-chan!"
"Kyaaaa! Senpai, help!"
"That giant again?!"
"It's a golem, Asuna-san! Sasaki-san!" Negi and Asuna had arrived. Naruto wondered where Yue was. "Hey, don't pick on my students! I won't forgive you, even if you're a statue!" The young mage twisted his trusty staff in the air, surprising Naruto.
"Negi, don't-"
"Magic arrow!" He shouted, surprising the golem too, since he stopped moving along with everyone else as he waited for the spell's sudden release...
But nothing happened. Naruto was fought between facepalming and sighing in relief. He had sealed his magic for three days. Right. Everyone else just stared.
"Magic arrow?" Kaede murmured, confused as hell.
"Hohoho! You'll never get out of here alive! You'd be better off giving up hope!" The golem was the first to recover, his voice booming in their surroundings. "It takes three days to get through the maze and back!"
"W-We won't make it back in time for the test, aru!"
"HE SAID WE'RE GOING TO DIE! HAVE SOME PRIORITIES, DAMN IT!" Naruto shouted, incredulous, then promptly punched Negi in the head as he started talking about his magic staff. "WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP, ALREADY?! YOU'RE AN AVERAGE NINE YEARS OLD BRAT!"
"Naruto-san! Your backpack!" A light in the darkness, Yue was back. He turned to her. "I ran as-Ah!" The petite girl's eyes widened as she looked at the golem again. "The book!"
"Eh?!" Naruto turned around and indeed, right as rain, near the golem's neck, rested the book. "That's why I couldn't find it!"
"We're taking that book! Ku Fei-san! Kaede-san!" Yue said, suddenly taking charge.
"Ok!" The two girls replied. Naruto took the opportunity to dig through his backpack again. "Hai!" He couldn't help but steal peeks -at their fighting forms!-, though, as Ku delivered a crushing -literally!- blow to the golem's leg and then freed Makie by hitting its arm. As Kaede grabbed her out of thin air, Makie grabbed onto the book with her ribbon.
'Who are these girls?! And damn, I would have killed to have that kind of teamwork with Sakura and Sasuke!' "Everyone, run!"
"No need to tell us twice!" Asuna shouted, prompting everyone to follow Naruto's indications.
"W-Wait!" The golem shouted, only to find something in his face. A rock covered in smoking paper. His eyes wandered past him to a grinning Naruto.
"Tadaima!" Naruto said, quickly catching up with the others as the paper-bombs detonated violently.
"D-Do you always carry explosives around?!" Asuna asked as she looked at the charred form of the golem falling backward into the lake.
"Later! Let's leg it! We still have to find an exit!" 'I searched everywhere, and I couldn't-'
"Oh! There's an emergency exit behind the waterfall!" Yue exclaimed.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"Tsunade-sama, what's on your mind?"
"... I'm thinking about something." Jiraiya had relayed to Tsunade the information about Naruto's current location. And that did indeed brought to the sannin's mind the inquiry about a possible visit.
No. The real question was another one.
Naruto and Tsunade had a special bond, no questions there. It went beyond friends, and even simple surrogate siblings. The difference in age was too big. No, if she had to give it a label, it would be more akin to a mother and son relationship.
Still a surrogate, though.
From that came her dilemma. Had she the same rights as a real mother? Was she entitled to the same rights?
Could she, a surrogate mother, confidently go visit Naruto and embarrass the hell out of him just like a real mother would?
Shizune shivered as a carnivorous grin made itself known on her teacher's face.
"Naruto-san... Where are you?" Sayo sniffled, hugging ethereal legs as she observed the school grounds from the rooftop of the female dormitory. Almost three days had passed since the last time she had seen Naruto, and she didn't know where he was. He had tried asking other people, but the reaction had been the usual.
Screaming and/or passing out.
She sighed, wishing she could learn to combine creating her legs, visibility and making herself heard faster. Barring her hair and eyes, she would not cause any weirdness. "... Naruto-san, you didn't leave me, did you?"
-I-
"Nothing." Naruto groaned as he, dressed in his toad boxers only, collected the towel from the nearby chair, and started drying himself up. In the last three days their ragtag group of explorers had settled into routine. Negi and the baka-rangers would study most of the time, even if Yue took some serious convincing, with all the fiction books lying around. Konoka would help or laze around, cook most of the time. Naruto had searched for the book, everywhere. On trees, in the sand, even underwater, only to come up with zilch. "How the hell is this possible? A book doesn't just disappear."
"Maybe it got stuck somewhere during the fall." Negi offered from his seating position. "Hmm, if I still had my powers I could try a divination spell."
"And if I could use my techniques, I could search more efficiently." Naruto sighed. He didn't regret saving their lives, of course, but just as Negi had to be careful with his magic, he couldn't risk drawing attention to himself lest he drew it to Negi as well. "This whole situation is strange. This place is supposed to be a long-forgotten secret thing, but we found fresh food and beds and... It's almost like this was set up."
"True. But, set up for what?" Naruto shrugged.
"Beats me." Naruto shook his head and then shivered. That particular patch of water from before was cold. He remembered a hot spring in the surroundings. "Oi, I'm going to take a bath."
"Alright, Naruto-san." Negi nodded and let the ninja go on his way to the living area of the library, grabbing a conveniently provided bath-robe and a bar of scented soap.
'Ugh. Wearing the same clothes for three days and with all the physical ability I've done? I'm gonna need to burn them to get the stench out.' With a sigh, Naruto headed for the hot spring. His ears caught three female voices. 'The girls had my same idea, it seems.'
Now, Naruto didn't slow down or break his stride because he was convinced that the girls, having two boys -one of which a child and the other older than them- in their group, would follow his example and bathe in their underwear, to avoid accidental flashings. The bathing areas were in the open, after all. "Hey! How's the wHAT THE FUCK?!" Thus he was pretty unprepared for three bodies' value of naked skin. He dropped the soap and slapped a hand over his eyes, already feeling the blood rushing, thankfully to his cheeks.
"S-Senpai!" Makie said, surprised by his sudden appearance.
"Don't you SENPAI me! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Naruto retorted. "There's a child and a boy about your age, around! Why the hell are you bathing naked?!"
"Because we've only got one change of underwear-aru!" Fuu answered like it was the most normal thing in the world. Well, it was pretty normal but still...
"What bothers you more?! Guys seeing you naked or wet underwear?!"
"Wet underwear." The three girls chorused immediately, and Naruto almost lost his footing as a result. "We just make do with the circumstances, Naruto-san. And I don't think we're such a bad sight, de gozaru!"
"Kaede-san, you're completely missing the point here! And stop joking!" Naruto continued, now red up to his ears as he tried to keep his fingers from separating. "... And I'm more of a legs person, anyway."
"Aru?! Defeated by a fetish?!"
"I-IT'S NOT A FETISH! I JUST-"
"KYAAAAA!" The sudden shift in the water and Makie's shout made Naruto open his eyes and remove his hand. He gasped.
"You again?!" Naruto growled as he laid eyes on the golem from the previous day, emerging from the water. "And why the hell weren't you here when I checked yesterday?!"
"Watch out, aru!" Fuu warned, and the group of four moved to dodge a descending arm, which still caused to splash them all with water.
"Damn!" 'I can't injure him without using my techniques! If only-'
"Everyone, what's-Wah!"
"T-That thing again?!" Yue and Konoka had arrived as well. Naruto's eyes lightened up.
"Konoka-san, go warn the others! Yue-chan, bring me my backpack!" Naruto shouted as they dodged another blow, their movements slowed down by the water.
"Y-Your backpack?" Yue mumbled, confused, while Konoka ran to find Asuna and Negi.
"JUST DO IT!" The blue-haired girl nodded after a final moment of hesitation and ran to complete her task. "We've got to keep him distracted until Yue comes back!"
"D-Distracted! Okay!" Makie nodded and suddenly produced her ribbon out of her towel, much to Naruto's shock. As the golem attacked Kaede, she grabbed onto Naruto's discarded towel and flung it in the golem's eyes. "There!"
"Makie-chan, don't stand too cl-Spuergh!" Naruto inhaled a mouthful of water as their enemy turned around swinging his arm wide, knocking Fuu away and grabbing onto Makie. "Makie-chan!"
"Kyaaaa! Senpai, help!"
"That giant again?!"
"It's a golem, Asuna-san! Sasaki-san!" Negi and Asuna had arrived. Naruto wondered where Yue was. "Hey, don't pick on my students! I won't forgive you, even if you're a statue!" The young mage twisted his trusty staff in the air, surprising Naruto.
"Negi, don't-"
"Magic arrow!" He shouted, surprising the golem too, since he stopped moving along with everyone else as he waited for the spell's sudden release...
But nothing happened. Naruto was fought between facepalming and sighing in relief. He had sealed his magic for three days. Right. Everyone else just stared.
"Magic arrow?" Kaede murmured, confused as hell.
"Hohoho! You'll never get out of here alive! You'd be better off giving up hope!" The golem was the first to recover, his voice booming in their surroundings. "It takes three days to get through the maze and back!"
"W-We won't make it back in time for the test, aru!"
"HE SAID WE'RE GOING TO DIE! HAVE SOME PRIORITIES, DAMN IT!" Naruto shouted, incredulous, then promptly punched Negi in the head as he started talking about his magic staff. "WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP, ALREADY?! YOU'RE AN AVERAGE NINE YEARS OLD BRAT!"
"Naruto-san! Your backpack!" A light in the darkness, Yue was back. He turned to her. "I ran as-Ah!" The petite girl's eyes widened as she looked at the golem again. "The book!"
"Eh?!" Naruto turned around and indeed, right as rain, near the golem's neck, rested the book. "That's why I couldn't find it!"
"We're taking that book! Ku Fei-san! Kaede-san!" Yue said, suddenly taking charge.
"Ok!" The two girls replied. Naruto took the opportunity to dig through his backpack again. "Hai!" He couldn't help but steal peeks -at their fighting forms!-, though, as Ku delivered a crushing -literally!- blow to the golem's leg and then freed Makie by hitting its arm. As Kaede grabbed her out of thin air, Makie grabbed onto the book with her ribbon.
'Who are these girls?! And damn, I would have killed to have that kind of teamwork with Sakura and Sasuke!' "Everyone, run!"
"No need to tell us twice!" Asuna shouted, prompting everyone to follow Naruto's indications.
"W-Wait!" The golem shouted, only to find something in his face. A rock covered in smoking paper. His eyes wandered past him to a grinning Naruto.
"Tadaima!" Naruto said, quickly catching up with the others as the paper-bombs detonated violently.
"D-Do you always carry explosives around?!" Asuna asked as she looked at the charred form of the golem falling backward into the lake.
"Later! Let's leg it! We still have to find an exit!" 'I searched everywhere, and I couldn't-'
"Oh! There's an emergency exit behind the waterfall!" Yue exclaimed.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
-I-
"Tsunade-sama, what's on your mind?"
"... I'm thinking about something." Jiraiya had relayed to Tsunade the information about Naruto's current location. And that did indeed brought to the sannin's mind the inquiry about a possible visit.
No. The real question was another one.
Naruto and Tsunade had a special bond, no questions there. It went beyond friends, and even simple surrogate siblings. The difference in age was too big. No, if she had to give it a label, it would be more akin to a mother and son relationship.
Still a surrogate, though.
From that came her dilemma. Had she the same rights as a real mother? Was she entitled to the same rights?
Could she, a surrogate mother, confidently go visit Naruto and embarrass the hell out of him just like a real mother would?
Shizune shivered as a carnivorous grin made itself known on her teacher's face.
