Tree Climbing Exercise

Naruto returned to the village after dealing with Zabuza and Haku.

"Being the bad guy is so exhausting," Naruto said in a whisper-like voice as he threaded his way towards his wooden hut. Looking around, Naruto slowly opened the door, walked inside, and lay on the bed. If you can call it bed, that is.

"Kitsune, you there?" Naruto asked, running his fingers over the seal as he activated the channel to the outside.

"Only now you remember me?" Kitsune sneered, "I didn't even get a thanks for letting you use my chakra. Hmph."

"Alright… Alright… Thank you very much, my Kitsune." Naruto said, smiling.

"Huh?" Kitsune exclaimed as she came out, "Who is yours, you brat? — A simple thank you is fine."

"Don't just come out without saying anything," Naruto looked around. "What if I hadn't used my disguising ability?"

"Hmph, I know better than anyone how paranoid you are." Kitsune said as she sat beside Naruto like it was her bed.

"I'm not paranoid. — Okay?" Naruto retorted, giving Kitsune a stink eye.

"Whatever." Said Kitsune, lying down on the bed, fully exposing her curves.

'What the hell, Kitsune?' Naruto screamed internally, 'This is clearly on purpose — Not that I complain though, hehe.'

Naruto laid beside her, putting his arms around her waist. He was unwilling to put up with Kitsune's tricks. Naruto couldn't begin to describe how her breasts felt as they rubbed against his hands. Her tails touching Naruto's legs gave him a tickly feeling.

Kitsune tried resisting but to no avail.

How could Naruto let go of a meal delivered to his doorstep? Or rather bed?

Knowing how Kitsune was, he didn't make any decisive moves — only some occasional breaths to her ears and slight touches around her waist.

'Aaaaah' Kitsune was having a mental breakdown now. 'What should I do?

"Hieek"

Her thoughts were broken by the sudden touch she felt on her tails. She tilted her eyes to see Naruto carefully running his fingers through her fluffy tails like it was some treasure. She liked the feeling; her body wanted it too; however, her Tsundere feeling made her conflicted about what to do.

"You are beautiful, Kitsune," Naruto whispered into Kitsune's ears as he moved his lips close to her ear. "I just..."

Naruto stopped at the last minute, looking at the flustered Kitsune, who became startled after hearing his comment.

"W-what are you saying?" Kitsune grumbled. "Let me go!... right now!"

Kitsune's struggle came to nought as Naruto hugged her tighter. Seeing she didn't just go back to the seal, Naruto spoke softly into her foxy ears, "I like you, Kitsune."

His words were like a bomb to Kitsune, making her turn stiff. Following that, her face heated up, finally hearing the words she had secretly hoped to hear but never admitted. She wanted nothing more than to hug him back. The bugging feeling inside her made her stop doing that.

"Listen," Naruto spoke, "I know you may not accept me... or maybe even not like me as a lover. But — I just wanted to tell you how I feel."

'I don't want my life to be that of Zabuza; — not revealing his true feelings for Haku until after she died protecting him, losing her life in the process. But when he finally did, there was no Haku to hear that.'

Naruto thought as he hugged Kitsune, not letting her escape his grasp.

At first, Naruto didn't view her much more than a partner who works with him. She gives her chakra and knowledge while he becomes strong and fulfils his promise to save the tailed beast from their current predicament.

However, over these eight years, those feelings changed to those of something more. Naruto now cared about her to the point of making a sacrifice for her. Whatever that might be,

Kitsune, who saw his solemn face full of concern, completely stopped her resistance; she could tell he was serious, and his ever so slightly increasing heartbeat attested to that.

On one hand, there was her pride as a tailed beast, and on the other, there was her love for Naruto, the boy who was always determined to protect their loved ones and live without regrets.

However, as she was thinking, she felt the hand grabbing her loosen. A few minutes later, Naruto took his hands away from Kitsune and sat on the bed, clenching his hands, not getting any response from Kitsune.

"Haah," Naruto exhaled with a self-deprecating smile as he got up from the bed, not wanting to force something on Kitsune that she didn't like.

Kitsune panicked upon seeing Naruto get up. She felt she would lose something important if she let Naruto walk away. Her heart ached, seeing his heavy footsteps, which didn't have much energy to them.

"Wait!" she shouted, walking towards Naruto and grabbing his hand.

"It's okay. … Don't worry, I'll fulfill my promise of saving your siblings." Naruto said with a forced smile, barely audible, looking at Kitsune.

No words came out of Kitsune's mouth. She wondered how her actions just now had led to this. Naruto's words were like needles piercing her heart.

Finally coming to a decision, she hugged Naruto tightly from behind, lowering herself slightly. "I like y-you too," Kitsune said with all the courage she could muster.

Naruto, who heard her, was filled with joy. He turned around and hugged her tightly, wrapping his arms around her. He could feel Kitsune's shaking hands placing themselves around his back.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before sitting on the bed, facing each other.

After everything was said and done, it was really hard to look at each other. Naruto and Kitsune tried to maintain serious faces. However, they failed—pretty miserably, at that.

"So... are we lovers now?" Kitsune asked while looking slightly down.

"What do you think?" Naruto said as he squeezed her hand.

"We didn't even k-kiss yet." Kitsune said, steaming with her ears.

"Hehe," Naruto grinned as he slowly held Kitsune's chin, touching her lips with his thumb.

"Do you want to?" he asked teasingly.

At that time, Naruto couldn't properly reach out to Kitsune because of her height. How sad was that? So he decided to take a rain check.

"Mmm... Kitsune? — Could you turn a bit smaller?" Naruto said with an embarrassed face.

"Ooooh right," Kitsune exclaimed as she transformed into her younger version, no more than 16. "You like it little, right?"

'Oi, oi, that sounds wrong on so many levels,' Naruto's eyes twitched hearing her comment.

He also remembered a particular group of people breaking down doors and coming to arrest such people. 'Thank god this is the Naruto world... I'm also a kid, technically, so — I guess it's okay?' Naruto thought.

After transforming, Kitsune's seductiveness was replaced by innocence. It was too big of a change in Naruto's eyes. She now looked like a helpless little fox swaying her tails around.

"That suits you," Naruto said, gently touching her face. "How about we go on a real date when we get back in Konoha?"

"Mmm, hmm," Kitsune nodded, trying to maintain a tough stance. However, her tails betrayed her as they waggled happily from side to side. It was an enchanting sight under the moonlight.

"Naruto..." Kitsune spoke, "What about the other two girls?"

"Haaah ─ I decided to tell them the truth; now that you have also agreed, I will just mention you to them. It is still risky to expose your true identity."

Naruto cupped her face, seeing the subtle distress in her eyes. "Don't worry, I will introduce you to them soon."

"Mmm okay." Kitsune said bashfully as she pushed Naruto away, returning back to the seal.

"Still a Tsundere," Naruto chuckled, going back to sleep.

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[[ Next Morning ]]]

After Naruto was woken up by Kakashi, they all went to train. It was a well-known tree-climbing exercise.

Naruto, who had been learning chakra control for ages, didn't even blink as he completed the exercise. After him, Sakura finished the training; Sasuke was the third. However, Sakura's and Sasuke's times weren't much different.

Kakashi almost had a heart attack seeing them complete the training he had thought would take them the whole day. He felt delighted that his students were all geniuses.

After self-praising his talent for teaching students, Kakashi finished their training. Following that, they all returned to the village as they had to prepare for the battle tomorrow.

However, what Kakashi didn't know was the battle he was expecting would not come.

{A/N :- Click and check out author's notes.}

{Also gimme power stones if you liked the chapter.}