Chapter - 24

Naruto rubbed along his neck where Tsunade's hickey was. It was located near his collarbone so his jacket collar covered it up. He smiled as he remembered Hinata and Tayuya leaving his bathroom to find Tsunade riding him with her lips pressed to the spot. After they had left she had let go of it and when he asked her what she was doing she had told him that if she was going to be wearing his mark then he was going to be wearing hers.

He didn't mind and if anything it put his mind at ease about learning that the girls were suffering from doubts about their current situation. He just hoped the rest of them didn't decide to mark him similarly as depending on how many he actually charmed he may run out of real estate.

Arriving at the training field he found the barrier in place so announced himself. A moment later it disappeared and reappeared after he entered. As soon as it was back in place Tayuya and Hinata appeared since the barrier prevented people from seeing in. Hinata reported that Tayuya's taijutsu and ninjutsu were rather weak. Deciding to help her with taijutsu first he created a clone, but when Tayuya scoffed saying she'd handle it easily. He simply smirked and created a few hundred more. Leaving the red-head to face the small army he had made he pulled into himself to begin his training with Kyuubi.

He found the seal world still appeared to look like his apartment. Kyuubi was sitting in his chair and upon seeing him, blushed probably still thinking of his last visit. Standing she asked, "Ready to begin?"

Upon his nodding she said, "Good. Now tell me, what do you remember about my placing the mark on Tayuya?"

"Well…" Naruto said thinking a moment, "First my name appeared and then…"

"Okay stop. That is the mark. The fox is simply decoration to cover it," Kyuubi explained. She could see Naruto was confused so explained, "Have you ever noticed that when you summon, that lines appear on the ground?" When Naruto nodded she said, "That's because summoning is a form of Ninjutsu and Fuuinjutsu."

"Sealing arts," Naruto said his confusing growing.

"Yes," Kyuubi said, "You said your name appeared on Tayuya first, but in truth the seal simply appears in the form of your name."

Creating a replica of Tayuya in Naruto's mind, Kyuubi began to replay the seal appearing again. Watching his name appear, he noticed that it did so piecemeal with the black marks actually being smaller writing. Turning towards Kyuubi who was watching him, he asked, "So what you are telling me those little marks are what makes the mark actually work?"

"They are the formula by which the mark will work," Kyuubi said, "Please lift your shirt."

Naruto hesitated wondering for a moment if it was a way for Kyuubi to analyze his seal. She picked up on that and with a sigh said, "Never mind." With a wave of her hand the mark of Naruto's name appeared on the wall except it was blown up so that he could see all the little symbols that made it up. "Fuuinjutsu is probably the most powerful of all jutsu as it literally can allow you to do anything. However, the trick is coming up with the formula." Moving towards the wall she indicated the portion that made up the NA of his name and said, "This is where I set the ability for you to locate and track your women."

"Can they use it to find me," Naruto asked remembering Tsunade's question.

"No," Kyuubi said, "Or perhaps it best to say, not yet." Waving her hand several symbols appeared as other disappeared. "There now it works both ways. Next, this section is the Hiraishin portion of the mark. Here I can alter the color that people will see upon you using it or even if there is a flash or not."

"What's it set to now?"

"Red," Kyuubi answered, "But if that color…"

"Its fine," Naruto said and smiled seeing Kyuubi's pleased grin, "I was merely curious. But why would it matter or be something people bothered with anyway."

"Well, think about when you summon a toad. That cloud of smoke that accompanies summoning is set up in the formula. But it isn't there just for looks and serves a strategic purpose. When you summon a creature it has no idea what it's being summoned into. It uses the time the smoke buys it to get a feel of the situation. Whether or not a battle is taking place, does it need to attack or defend, but all of that smoke comes down to a simple line within all those marks that appear when you summon. Now we'll begin to learn how to best utilize the mark…"

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Sakura frowned as she saw Naruto approaching Ichiraku with Hinata and Ino. They were all talking with Naruto explaining something in the animated way that he usually used when he was describing a new jutsu. She supposed that made sense since he had secluded himself at one of the five private training grounds that came with barriers. However it made her wonder why if he wanted privacy so much was he telling Ino and Hinata what he was up to?

"Hey Naruto," she said trying not to sound bitter about his avoiding her recently. However she supposed it was fair to say he wasn't avoiding her, just that he wasn't going out of his way to see her.

"Hello Sakura," he replied politely if somewhat distantly, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," she thought but said, "I was just in the mood for some ramen, I guess."

"Well you came to the right place," was his reply as he raised the flap of the stand for Ino and Hinata. He followed them in leaving Sakura outside who quickly followed. She frowned when she noticed that both Ino and Hinata had taken the spots on either side of her teammate.

Sitting next to Ino, Sakura noticed that Ayame was talking to the blonde boy she believed was the Ramen stand girl's boyfriend. She noticed that Ino was staring at the pair rather hard and seemed to be analyzing something. She ignored Ino in favor of starting a conversation with her teammate saying, "What have you been up too lately Naruto?"

"Just more training Sakura," Naruto replied, "How about you?"

Ino listened with half an ear as Sakura began talking about what she had been doing at the hospital. "Forehead, you're so jealous it isn't even funny," Ino thought having picked up all of Sakura's little tells about just how upset she was about Naruto paying more attention to Hinata and her.

Her conveniently being at the stand just further proved it to the blonde kunoichi. Especially since Ino had noticed that Sakura had left footprints in the dust on the road in front of the stand that suggested she had been there for a while. But her friend coming to terms with the fact that Naruto may be more important to her then she thought wasn't what interested her at the moment.

No that was Ayame. The young waitress had come over to take their orders, but was now talking to her boyfriend again. But the small glances she sent their way, or more precisely Naruto's told Ino the real story. In the past three days since Naruto had begun training in how to apply and use his new mark they had eaten lunch at the ramen stand every day. Ayame had introduced her boyfriend whose name was Toshio. Ino being the gossip that she was had believed she had heard of him from somewhere.

Ayame's boyfriend looked at her and licked his lips slightly like he was thinking of approaching her, away from Ayame naturally. Ino had been doing a little digging into the boy after meeting him and had been right, she had heard of him. But he was nothing like the man he was pretending to be right now, which was namely Naruto. As Toshio was a well known player, and was often called the Virgin Killer in some circles.

If Ino had to guess, Toshio had set his sights on Ayame believing her to be another virgin that he could seduce into bed. "He isn't even really blonde," Ino thought angrily having heard from some of the girls he had deflowered in the past. She glared at him in such a way that he looked away quickly causing her to smile slightly. She also believed she knew why he was acting like Naruto and that was because Ayame had a thing for everyone's favorite jinchuriki. Toshio was hoping to use that as the wedge to pry Ayame's legs open.

In the past three days Ino had become more and more convinced her theory was accurate. It was easy to see that Ayame was smitten with Naruto as whenever he entered the stand she would give him most of her attention. The only reason she wasn't doing so now was partly due to Toshio, but she believed Hinata and her were also playing a part since they had become semi-permanent eating partners with Naruto. But it still didn't stop Ayame from dropping whatever she was doing, including listening to her boyfriend if Naruto asked her for anything. Something Ino knew was really pissing Toshio off.

Naruto asked for another bowl of ramen and the waitress quickly moved away from her boyfriend who was in mid-sentence to fulfill his request. It was at that moment that Ino decided she was going to help give the ramen girl exactly what she wanted, a night with Naruto.

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