Chance Meetings

As he makes it to the bottom of the Hokage's Tower, Naruto lets out an uncharacteristic curse and throws his hands into the air.

"Fine! Fine, I'll stay put! Ugh, Sensei better appreciate my restraint when I get back…"

No sooner has he made this decision and stepped outside of the tower, does Naruto find himself assaulted by a certain pinkette who 'greets' him this time by trying to throw a punch at his face.

"NAAAARUUUTOOOO!!!"

Needless to say, Naruto hasn't spent ALL of the last few years as Jiraiya's apprentice learning the Sealing Arts and how to treat women. With a yelp, his body moves on instinct, dodging Sakura's downwards punch and batting her fist aside. He almost follows it up with a counter-offensive but realizes just who it was that was trying to punch him at the last second and lets out a nervous laugh instead as he brings his hands up and surrender.

"S-Sakura! H-Hey… I thought you were with Kakashi!"

Growling, her face slightly red with anger, Sakura glares daggers at him, her hands clenched into fists at her side. And… given she'd been training with Tsunade while he was off on his trip with Jiraiya, Naruto suspected each of those fists was a dangerous lethal weapon in it's own right. Not that Sakura would ever want to kill him… right?

The angry glint in Sakura's eye made Naruto question that belief, even as she grit her teeth and frowned at him.

"Yeah. I was. And I thought you were too, Naruto. Even Sensei thought you were there… until we started the Bell Test, and you weren't."

Blinking dumbly, Naruto finds himself in a bit of a bind. How had he not… ah, of course. Now that he looks, it's all there. The memories of the clone he'd sent off with Sakura and Kakashi, and it's somewhat swift end once the Bell Test began. Oh sure, the shadow clone had done it's best to hold it's own, but he'd only given it so much chakra. A few blows in from Kakashi-Sensei, and the damn thing had popped.

He didn't know what happened after that, on account of the clone's memories ending there, but obviously Sakura and Kakashi had eventually figured out that it wasn't a substitution and he was quite literally not in the area anymore. Whoops?

Naruto himself hadn't even noticed the enhanced clone popping, mostly because when he'd fiddled with the technique, he'd made the memory-transfer process less jarring and more subtle… but also because he'd been ball's deep inside of the Fifth Hokage at the time, fucking Tsunade and focusing on getting her nice and addled so he could trick her into revealing information about Jiraiya. His eye had been on the prize, and he'd been paying less than stellar attention to the rest of his senses.

That was on him, really. Laughing sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head with his hand, Naruto tries to play it off.

"A-Ahaha! Sorry, Sakura! I, uh… had to have a really important meeting with the Hokage! You know how these things are, yeah?"

He IS coming out of the Hokage's Tower, so that should be good enough, right? Wrong.

"A meeting with the Hokage, huh? And what was this meeting about? What was so important that you ditched me and Kakashi-Sensei?!"

… Would honesty be the best policy here? Nah, Naruto didn't like that plan very much. He COULD be honest… or he could be partially honest and go for a deflection! So, Naruto tells Sakura the truth… or rather, part of the truth.

"The Hokage wants me to start the Uzumaki Clan! So, I guess I'm gonna be staying in the village for a while? Though, that does mean I have to… well, start spreading my seed, if you know what I mean! Gotta find some fertile fields if I'm going to be making my own clan! Hey, how about you, Sakura? Interested?"

He makes sure to be pointedly aggressive as he leers at her, taking a page from his Perverted Sensei's book about how to look positively lecherous when you weren't actually trying to seduce a girl. Sakura's eyes widen, and then narrow, and it's immediately obvious that she doesn't believe him, and even if she did, she'd still be really angry.

"Narutoooo…"

But he's ready for this, and quickly dances backwards away from the door behind him, hands up in surrender again as he grins cockily.

"Hey! Don't believe me? Just check with Tsunade then! She'll set you straight~"

For a moment, he's afraid she won't take the bait. Obviously, in this case Sakura is supposed to chase after him angrily. However, that's clearly what he expects her to do… or rather, it's what he wants her to think he expects her to do. In reality, Naruto wants Sakura to go a level deeper. He wants her to decide to really get him in trouble by leaving him alone and-

"You know what? I think I will, Naruto! In fact, I'll go ask the Hokage about those orders right now!"

Hook, line, and sinker. Though, the way Sakura crackles her knuckles menacingly at him and then cracks her neck as well for good measure is a little scary.

"And if I find out you're lying to me Naruto; it won't matter how many shadow clones you make… I WILL find you, and I WILL hurt you."

Mission accomplished, Naruto settles for acting just a little fearful and waves frantically before zipping away.

"Okay, sounds good, bye Sakura!"

She'd go and talk with Tsunade, and that would no doubt be an interesting conversation. In the meantime, Naruto had every intention of… getting some more food. Though, he was a little Ramen'd out at the moment, and besides, he wanted Ayame to have a chance to recover. So, instead he heads for a Shinobi Bar that he's passed by all his life, but never actually been inside before.

Just before he can get there, however, he finds himself blocked by a familiar face on a decidedly grown up body.

"Hey there, Naruto~"

For a moment, Naruto is speechless. Ino Yamanaka is all grown up, has a fetish for purple, and has really filled out quite nicely. Put simply, the girl from his Academy days is no more, and the young woman who's replaced her has him popping an erection on the spot. Still, he's only speechless for a second, before he remembers that he's grown to be quite the catch as well. And he just bent the Hokage over her desk and fucked her senseless, so there's really no reason to be afraid of Ino of all people, now is there?

"Oh! Hey Ino, long time no see! What's up?"

Stepping forward, Ino hums as she gives him a once over, a slow once over. Her eyes trail up and down his body, before eventually meeting his gaze again.

"I happened to overhear your conversation with Sakura. Something about the Hokage ordering you to start a new clan? Sounds like the process might be… fun to get involved with."

Whoa, was Ino of all people propositioning him? More than that, creating a new clan went a bit beyond sex. It involved… well, it involved a whole lot of impregnation. Was Ino volunteering? What the hell was the sexy blonde bombshell playing at? What was her game here? Naruto was immediately suspicious, and when he was suspicious, he preferred to play it safe. Adopting a carefree, childish grin that Ino would expect from him, he just laughs and shrugs.

"Yeah, I don't really know quite yet… I guess I'm just playing it by ear at the moment!"

Ino hums, her smile not dropping from her face as she reaches out and runs a hand down the front of Naruto's chest. He's half-certain she's going to grab his junk right then and there, and holy hell if she did that he'd be a little stunned… but no, despite how forward and lewd Ino has become, she terminates her touching before she can reach his crotch.

"Hm, well… keep me in mind, Na-ru-to… I'll see you around~"

And then she walks away, just like that. Naruto stares after her and has to shift himself a bit when Ino takes advantage of that fact by swaying her hips back and forth in an exaggerated manner as she carries on her way. Fuck, Ino got super fucking hot, didn't she? He was tempted to chase after her and take her up on her offer right then and there. He could tell that was what Kurama wanted him to do.

But something fishy was going on there, and he wasn't sure he wanted to leap in both feet first without looking. That was the old Naruto, or it was supposed to be, anyways. For now… fucking Tsunade had worked up quite an appetite, and Naruto was ready for some grub. So, without further ado, on account of the ambushes seeming to be done with for the time being, he steps forward into the Shinobi Bar in front of him, eager to get some passable fare and some liquor.

Of course, he never notices the white-eyed young woman peeking out from behind a nearby wall, focused on Ino and then food like he was. As such, the young woman's spying would continue uncommented on, for the time being…

-x-X-x-

He gets food and he gets a drink without much issue. There's no age limit on alcohol when you're a shinobi, especially when you're not fresh out of the Academy either. And Naruto's reputation, at least among Konoha's Ninja Forces, has gone up through the roof since that disastrous Chunin Exam and the part he'd played in stopping Gaara. Plus, he was officially the Toad Sage's apprentice, so there was that as well.

No one in a Shinobi Bar was going to give Naruto Uzumaki shit, and he was grateful for that. Ecstatic about it, even. He could eat and drink in peace, and then maybe try to remember where his apartment was located so he could crash for the night. He'd figure out what to do about Ino in the morning, or something…

"Oi! Uzumaki brat! Didn't know you were back in town!"

Blinking as a massive chest clad only in a mesh shirt crashes into both him and the bar, Naruto suddenly finds himself in the drunken embrace of an extremely dangerous woman indeed. Everyone knew who Anko Mitarashi was, even Naruto. Though, in all fairness, he'd only found out who the Proctor for the Second Exam really was after he'd left with Jiraiya and the Toad Sage had explained all about Orochimaru's former apprentice and the way the Snake bastard tended to leave a trail of broken people if not outright corpses in his wake.

So yeah, Naruto knew Anko's story… he was also much more capable of recognizing how dangerous she was these days, then he had been when he'd mouthed off to her all those years ago. Putting up the act yet again, Naruto lets out another sheepish laugh as he wiggles himself, trying to escape Anko's grasp to no avail. Like a big fucking snake with some of the biggest breasts he'd ever seen, she just wound herself tighter around her.

"A-Aha! You know my name, ma'am?"

Snorting derisively, though at what part Naruto couldn't say, the drunken Special Jonin raises a half-empty sake bottle to him.

"Course I know who you are, brat. I like to know the people who have had dealings with my dear old Sensei. You fought Orochimaru in the Forest of Death a few years back before the invasion. Never got a chance to talk to ya about that."

And then her hand is in his lap and she's groping him as she leans in closer and murmurs lustfully into his ear.

"Big strong boy, fighting the Snake Sannin like that. You slowed him down enough that I got a shot at him, you know that? Figures I'd fuck it up of course, but that's not your fault is it? You still deserve a reward~"

The sort of reward Anko was trying to offer was downright obvious, from her continued drunken groping. But that was just it, she was drunk. Naruto had had a few drunken flings, but he himself wasn't nearly drunk enough for this, and frankly with how the demon fox metabolized that shit, he wasn't looking to spend enough money to get that drunk tonight either.

Nor did he like taking advantage of girls in this inebriated state when he himself wasn't also in a position to be taken advantage of. Mutual taking of advantage, that was what Naruto was all about. So, worried that he was making an enemy but not willing to let this go any further, Naruto grabs Anko's wrist and calls upon a bit of his demonic partner's strength to amplify his own. Anko blinks dumbly as he physically overpowers her and pulls her hand away from his junk. He then follows that up with as gentle a rebuffing as he can manage.

"Hey… sober up, and if you still think I deserve a reward then, come find me, okay?"

Anko's eyes narrow at that, and Naruto gets ready to substitute a hastily made clone into his place in case the drunken kunoichi attacks. But no, in the end she just stumbles away, still mumbling under her breath. No one else bugs him as he finishes his meal, and once he's paid, Naruto starts the task of locating his old apartment. Not as hard as he thought it would be, thankfully, and sure enough, everything is waiting for him just as he left it. Oddly, there's no dust… has someone been cleaning for him while he was gone?

A matter for another day, maybe. For now, Naruto was simply happy to collapse into bed. One thing was for sure, everything changed with time. But he'd deal with all of that tomorrow…

-x-X-x-

Naruto has caught the eye of four different women now and interacted with three of them. Who should be enticed enough to go after him first?