Chapter 043

The one that fired the arrows from his crossbow reloaded while his companions charged at the pair with swords.

Naruto gritted his teeth and was about to draw a kunai to deal with them, but was stopped when Tayuya pushed him back down and pulled out her flute. Without even needing to second think her next move the girl blew into her instrument and began playing a speedy yet familiar tune. Naruto looked at her when his ears caught the sound of beautiful music filling the air and, even when not the intended target of the technique, the jinchuriki knew exactly what this was.

"Genjutsu?"

The sound waves traveled fast. The guards advancing on the two kids were immediately caught by the melody and within seconds their screaming charge transformed into a muddled stumble. Moments later, they all collapsed face first onto the walkway, knocked out in one shot.

Tayuya removed the flute from her lips and grinned, before looking back down at Naruto pinned underneath her. The pair stared at each other for several seconds, taking a moment to contemplate why they appeared so close to each other until their actual positions became realized. Blushing brilliantly, the musician hopped off of Naruto so quickly it almost looked like she shunshined and as soon as she was back on her feet, started playing with her hair.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the genjutsu splash back, Naruto pulled himself up till they were both standing. "See. Didn't I tell you that you weren't useless?" the boy exclaimed, "Thanks for the save, Tayuya-chan."

The redhead looked back at him firmly, "Don't think anything of it. You saved my life, so it only made sense to return the favor."

"Whatever you say," Naruto chuckled before looking back down over the railing, where he could see half of the chamber was already filled and that the water level was steadily rising. "Yeah, we should get out of here."

"How long will it take, do you think?" Tayuya asked, referring to the boy's vast knowledge and experience in destroying everything in his path.

The blonde looked down at the metaphorical watch on his wrist. While his companion became a little bit irked at his attempt to look professional in his task, it did bring a small tweak of a smile to Tayuya's face seconds before Naruto brought his arm back down and opened an ear to their surroundings. The sound of creaking pipes and bursting banks became all too pronounced by this point, earning an understanding nod from the jinchuriki.

"We've got twenty minutes till this place brims, then I'll remove the walls," Naruto stated, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Do you want to get a good seat to watch the fireworks?"

Tayuya raised an eyebrow, "A good… seat?"

"Wouldn't want to miss the final act," the jinchuriki said, shrugging his shoulders. "They're the best bits in a play. Come on. It'll be fun."

Lips turning upwards, Tayuya shoved him in the shoulder firmly. "Lead the way then, shithead."

Chuckling at the affectionate nickname Naruto began jogging down the walkway, where both he and his partner in crime hopped carelessly over the unconscious guards, leaving them to roll around where they were lying and plotted a course for the nearest exit. "Why'd you give me that nickname anyway?" the blonde asked curiously while climbing a flight of stairs, looking back to see a smirking Tayuya following close behind. "It doesn't seem like something you should really say in public."

It was crude and should have been demeaning too, but coming from the musician it didn't feel too bad. It actually made him laugh a little on the inside.

"Only to you, blondie. I don't know. I guess it just suits you. What? Did you want me to add an affectionate suffix to your first name like you did mine or do you want something even worse like wonder boy, kitty-kun or Mr. Whiskers?" the girl joked while giving him a wink. For some whacked up reason, her first choice sounded much better.

Naruto sighed, "Well… I guess shithead's at least a step up from dead-last and loser." No doubt. Those names had been getting old for quite some time now.

It was funny. No matter where he went or who he ran into, there was always somebody waiting for him up ahead with a new title to add to his name. Seriously. Was he a magnet for this crap? Surely there wasn't that much shrapnel flying through the air that he was constantly clipped by it on every pass. Not even Sasuke got this much affection and he was supposedly the best damn student in the group with the largest fan club ever recorded.

The jinchuriki swore as he started hiking up stairs with Tayuya that he was going to get a new title when he got back home, and none of that spirit hazing nonsense that the rest of his class had come up for him. He wanted an epithet that was cool and did his image justice.

OOO

After several minutes of climbing, the pair eventually arrived at one of the emergency towers in the middle of the dam. The hatch was kicked open and the swallow trailing after the two children flew out first, shortly followed by Naruto and Tayuya, the latter of which was a bit out of breath. The jinchuriki pulled the girl up to safety and made sure that she was okay before flipping the exit shut.

"Well… that was fun," Tayuya muttered, brushing her greasy hands down her shorts. "Slow down a bit next time. Those last two flights nearly killed me."

"Sorry about that," Naruto replied sheepishly, "I always forget that I've got way more stamina than anyone else I know. I can run forever at any pace I set."

"Why do I find myself believing that?" the red head wondered out loud while giving the blonde a thorough look over.

"Come on. Let's get over to the other side before the barriers burst. I want to get off this damn thing in case it decides to cave in on itself from the water eating away at the weight bearing pillars," Naruto said while extending a hand to her.

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