Naruto knew he had to keep moving non-stop in order to meet Jiraiya at the inn. He bit back the pain in his leg, shoulder, and hands. The wounds had closed up completely now thanks to Kurama, but he knew it would take a while before the muscles and nerves caught up, those always healed somewhat slower. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that his sensei was still asleep. It was to be expected. Naruto had heard about the disadvantages of ration pills.
After 18 hours, they had entered a thick forest. Another eight hours later, Naruto was able to hear the sounds of a waterfall. He closed his eyes and tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. He only had an hour left before he was supposed to show up at the inn, and he knew that he had still quite a long way to go. He rushed forwards in the direction of the sound.
Naruto was amazed when he reached the waterfall. The first thing he saw was a giant rock wall that ran straight up. The wall was easily a hundred fifty meters in height, and it had a crystal blue waterfall falling straight down off it. He could see trees peeking over the edge of the cliff. It was as if the forest existed out of two levels, one of which was raised way up into the sky with nothing to connect the two parts except for the giant waterfall. The water was falling from such a height that it spread tiny droplets all around, which soaked their clothes. Naruto found it an amazing sight. He understood now, why Takigakure had never been successfully invaded.
"I guess the entrance to the caves is behind the waterfall..." He murmured to himself, as he moved closer towards the stone wall. He couldn't see what was behind the waterfall without moving through it. He held Kakashi's arms tightly against his upper chest and jumped into the water. He tried to swim towards the waterfall, which proved difficult as he still had to hold onto his lover with one hand. The pressure of the water was so strong that it pushed him downwards. As he was smashed into the bottom of the lake, he felt the air escaping his lungs.
Frustrated with the situation, and a lack of breath, he decided on using his newly discovered water nature. He turned around, put out his palm, and created a small vortex which he used to push himself forward through the waterfall. "It's like creating a little tornado with my wind nature, but underwater..." He mused as he observed the technique. He quickly picked up on how to aim the whirlpool in order for him and Kakashi to surface.
As soon as he had crawled onto the edge of the lake, he saw a large hole in the wall, a tunnel, which lead to the city. At each side of the tunnel, there stood a shinobi guard. Each held a weapon, which was now aimed at Naruto's throat. The blond knew how to play his role well, so he looked upon the weapons with shock and fear.
"Who are you and what business do you have here?" The taller guard asked him.
"My friend and I are travelers. We come from the direction of Iwagakure. On our way, we were attacked and robbed by two men. That's how my friend and I got hurt. They stole most of our possessions and even our tent. We hoped we could seek shelter and safety here..." He said with a slight tremble in his voice.
The smaller guard lifted an eyebrow. "If that is so, then why are you both wearing ninja pants and a weapons pouch?"
Naruto swallowed a lump in his throat. "The robbers took most of our clothing. We got these from a shinobi we encountered on our way here. The weapons are merely to protect ourselves and to be able to skin rabbits and other prey."
"I see. What are your names?" The taller one asked as he grabbed a clipboard and a pencil.
"Narushi and Kaishou." Naruto answered without falter.
"Did the shinobi you encountered have a headband and a name?"
"I'm sorry sir. I didn't really pay attention to his headband. But I believe it was similar to yours. He said his name was Lee." Naruto mumbled, pleased with how well he had learned to lie.
The taller shinobi gave a short nod.
"Bingo." Naruto thought, happy with his guess. Lee was a name that shinobi regularly used as a cover-up name, seeing how it was quite popular.
"Very well then young man. You and your friend may pass. My colleague will guide you through the cave system and point you into the direction of the nearest hospital."
"Thank you very much, sir." Naruto bowed.
"If you break any laws by stealing, committing fraud or vandalizing. Or if we find out you lied about your identity you will be taken into custody and forced to leave the village. Is that clear?"
"Hai." Naruto replied before he followed the shorter of the two into the tunnel.
After a long walk through the tunnels, in which they often changed directions, they finally saw sunlight ahead. When they entered the village, the first thing Naruto noticed was the trees. There were so many of them. They all were very high and their crowns all touched each other. It was as if the village had a ceiling made out of branches and leaves. It was beautiful.
The shinobi guard smiled as he saw Naruto looking around with an open mouth. He tapped the young man on the shoulder. "The hospital is that way." He pointed. "It's not far from here, just follow the small blue arrows." He said friendly.
Naruto nodded. "Thank you for your assistance." He said as the shinobi turned around to head back to his post. As soon as he knew the man was gone, he walked towards the big tree that marked the center of the village. "Now east..." He murmured. "Then I'll need to look out for the inn or Pervy-Sage."
The letter said to meet him at midday, but looking at the sun, Naruto could tell that it was one o'clock already. He carefully put down Kakashi and crouched down in front of him.
"Kashi?" He asked carefully. "Kakashi-sensei?" He said somewhat louder. He sighed as he carefully touched the man's masked face, instantly causing him to jolt awake. "Sorry Kashi, but I need you to get up."
"Where are we?" The older shinobi asked sleepily.
"In the center of Takigakure. We'll have to go through the streets and head east now towards the inn. If we don't want to attract too much attention to ourselves, then I think it would be better if you walked on your own."
"Right. Of course." He murmured while trying to get up.
Naruto supported his sensei, as he started to fall back down with fatigue.
"I'll help you walk," Naruto said decisive, not allowing any discussion in the matter.
Kakashi growled something inaudible as he let himself be held up by the young man's support.
Together, they started heading east.
"Ugh, I'm glad Gai doesn't get to see me in this condition. He'd never let me live it down." Kakashi said with a painful grin on his face.
Naruto snickered. "What's the score nowadays anyway?"
"74 to 76 in my favor," Kakashi answered with a little smile.
"How did you win the last one? Taijutsu skills? Ninjutsu techniques?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Paper beats rock," Kakashi admitted a tiny bit embarrassed.
"Uhm... Alright then." Naruto replied with a skeptical face. "How about the one before that?"
"I managed to eat two more pieces of sushi than he did..." Kakashi added sheepishly.
"I can't believe you guys still consider that rivalry," Naruto replied while stifling his laugh.
"Wait till I show him my newest prize possession," Kakashi said jokily as he nipped Naruto's butt.
"Ugh. You're a hopeless perv, you know that?" Naruto said as a blush crept up his face.
"I'm your hopeless perv. Remember?" Kakashi said while tapping onto his shoulder mark.
"Gai-sensei and captain Yamato will be so disappointed you're off the market." Naruto teased back.
"I'll let them down easy," Kakashi said with a laugh.
They kept on walking in silence for a while, their eyes focussed on finding Jiraiya or the inn.
"In all seriousness Naruto..." Kakashi continued. "Are you okay with telling your friends and the people back home about us?"
"It will be a little weird and crazy awkward at first. But I don't really think we have any other choice. Besides, there are special regulations for shinobi who are couples. We can ask for simultaneous downtime in between missions, and we'll get to work together more often."
"True, and there will be even more benefits when the Rokudaime Hokage gets appointed," Kakashi said as he winked towards Naruto.
"You really think I can become the sixth Hokage Kashi?" Naruto asked a little surprised about Kakashi's confidence in him.
"Well, you're still a bit young, and way too inexperienced. But if you keep working as hard as you do now, then I believe you will someday yes."
Kakashi smiled as Naruto pressed a kiss onto his cheek.
As they walked on, they saw the sign of an inn further down the street.
"I think that will be it Naruto," Kakashi said as he nodded towards the wooden sign which had a little bed painted onto it.
"Let's go inside to book a room and ask for Jiraiya. There's a little too much shinobi present here to seek out his chakra with our own." Naruto stated as he glanced around.
"Agreed," Kakashi said as they headed inside.
The man at the inn's reception desk informed them that the person they were describing had left the inn about an hour ago. Both Kakashi and Naruto were too tired to go out looking for Jiraiya, so they left a message for him with the clerk before heading to their joint room. Kakashi fell asleep only seconds after collapsing on top of the two-person bed. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and headed into the bathroom for a hot shower. As he took off his clothes and bandages, he noticed that his wounds looked good. The skin of his shoulder still had stitches in it though. He tied a towel around his waist, went back into the room, and grabbed his sharpest kunai. After he was done, he cleaned up the pieces of thread and put a bandage on the small wounds. He put on some loose black ninja pants and his black T-shirt with the orange frog on it. The T-shirt Jiraiya had given him when he was in the hospital. "It seems so long ago that Jiraiya visited me... crazy..." He thought within himself. He couldn't help but miss the good-humored old man. Naruto saw him as the only family he still had left. Well... together with Granny-Tsunade perhaps. He smirked as he thought about the face Tsunade makes when he calls her that.
When he was dressed, he headed back into the room and collected Kakashi's and his own dirty clothes. It's hard to wash out dried-up blood, grass stains, and dust in river water, so he put them in a big bag, carried it across his shoulder, and headed back to the reception desk.
"Oi, deskguy-san, can you point me to the nearest laundromat?
After getting directions, Naruto sauntered down the streets of Takigakure. He really liked being in a village. Camping was fun too, but Naruto missed the buzzing of the city streets. He enjoyed strolling in between all these people, who didn't know he was a junchūriki or a shinobi. They didn't glare at him nor call him names. The vendors at the stalls were polite to him and there was no fear in their eyes. Naruto loved it. For a little while, he was just a young teen out to do laundry and buying some groceries here and there. Nothing more, nothing less.
When he was on his way back to the inn, he had done the laundry, ate some tempura at a stall, bought two new pants and T-shirts, a new kunai whetstone, a new canteen that had a delightful orange color, and some heart-shaped sushi pieces that he had bought for Kakashi. While he was walking in the streets, he suddenly spotted a white spiky head sticking above all the others.
"PERVY SAAAAAGE" He yelled so loud that the people around him jumped up in fright. The white spikes turned. Naruto ran towards them, dropped his bags, and flew around his godfather's neck. "Pervy-saaaage! I've missed you!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya said in surprise while pulling the boy close.
After returning the sudden hug, he put his hands on Naruto's shoulders and looked him over from head to toe. "You've grown, and look at how strong you've become. Traveling with Kakashi has done you good kid!"
"Yeah. It really has. I'll tell you all about it Pervy-Sage!" Naruto said with a huge smile on his face.
"So where is Kakashi anyways? And why didn't you meet me at the inn at midday? I've been looking all over town for the two of you."
"Sensei's fine. He's resting in our room at the inn. We were late and you weren't there anymore so we were waiting for you to return." Naruto explained happily.
"I see. Well grab your groceries kid, I need to speak to your sensei."
Together they headed towards the inn. Naruto kept on talking non-stop about the new jutsu's he had learned, the things he and Kakashi had seen, and how much he had missed Jiraiya and his friends from the village. The only thing he wasn't ready to tell his godfather, was how the relationship between him and Kakashi had changed from student-teacher to much more.
Jiraiya knew that the boy shouldn't be chattering about Kakashi and ninja techniques so freely in the middle of a busy foreign town, but he wasn't up to the task of stopping the teen. He had to admit that he had missed the boy as well, even his straightforward impulsive behavior. When Naruto and Kakashi hadn't shown up at midday, he had been slightly worried. Now, he felt relieved and happy as he ruffled the blond blabbermouth's hair.
As they climbed the inn's stairs, Jiraiya told Naruto that he was staying in room 27. Naruto led them to their own room, the one Kakashi was resting in, room 32. When Naruto was about to walk straight in, Jiraiya held him back by the shoulder.
"Naruto. This is your sensei's room. Have the decency to knock." Jiraiya scolded him.
"It sucks that Jiraiya doesn't know that I'm in a relationship with Kakashi..." Naruto thought within himself, as he nodded politely to his godfather and knocked on the door.
"He's not going to reply anyway Pervy-Sage. He's dealing with ration pill consequences, I doubt he'll be up."
"Fine. Open the door." Jiraiya replied sternly.
"As they walked in, they saw that Kakashi was indeed still asleep on the bed."
Jiraiya sighed. "Alright, Naruto. Kakashi took a ration pill and frankly, he looks horrible. You have bandages around your hands and a small limp. So spill it. What happened to the two of you?"
Naruto put the sushi in the mini-fridge, offered the white-haired man some soda, and sat down on the bed to begin his story. When he was done, Jiraiya nodded. I see. Hidan and Deidara. I've heard about them. It's a good thing Kakashi was able to help you out back then. You should know better than to head out alone in a foreign land." He admonished the teen.
Naruto had the decency to look ashamed.
"So, how are your injuries now? I've been meaning to start your training as soon as possible."
"I think they'll be completely healed by tomorrow. The Nine-Tails is making a lot of progress."
"Good. We'll start tomorrow then. I'll discuss the details with Kakashi this evening. Let's say around nine. He'll probably be back up by then."
"Alright Pervy-Sage, I'll be sure to pass on the message." Naruto smiled.
"Good. I'm off to my room kid. I have to make some notes on some 'research' I've been doing in one of the bathhouses here." He smiled wickedly. "If you do good in training, I'll take you there sometime. Alright?"
"It's a deal Pervy-Sage." Naruto said sticking out his thumb.
Jiraiya laughed as he stood up and placed the chair back where it belonged. "See you later kid." He said while walking out the door.
Naruto let himself fall backward on the bed. After telling Jiraiya all that had happened to them, he felt dead tired. He crawled towards Kakashi and rested his head on the older shinobi's chest while hugging him. He fell asleep listening to Kakashi's breathing.