A Darker World

Sneakyfox: yeah Naruto is having an effect on Konohamaru. Thanks for wishing me a happy holiday.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Naruto arched his back until his hands were able to touch the ground. Upon contact with the dirt he started to walk them forward until his back just reached an uncomfortable point. He had always been flexible, but since starting his training with Jiraiya he had become more so. Holding the position for a count of five in his head, he slowly started to stand back up and glanced over at Konohamaru who was similarly making his way through his morning stretches.

Yesterday he had agreed to help him befriend Inari, but he still had no idea how to go about it. Inari had not emerged from his room until just before dinnertime. They had both apologized to each other, but just then Jiraiya and Tazuna had come back and related the events of their day. Naruto, like everyone else, had become enraptured by the story and had backed Konohamaru when he had asked to come along the next day to see if there would be another battle.

Jiraiya had refused of course, saying it would probably be several days before the man made another attempt and they had training to do. So, the next morning, like every day they had been with Jiraiya they got up bright and early to train. However, for a change they weren't deep in the woods. They could even still see Inari's house through the trees.

"Alright boys I'm going to get going now," Jiraiya said as he clapped his hands together to get their attention. "Now, I'm going to leave a clone behind for each of you to practice your Taijutsu on and when you destroy them I want you to practice throwing your weapons. Tsunami has agreed to make you lunch so just go ask her for it whenever you get hungry. Take it easy today, though, because after dinner I think it's time you finally learn a jutsu."

Konohamaru's shout of joy was drowned out by Naruto shouting, "Really? Which one? Will we be able to summon toads like you?"

Jiraiya smiled at their enthusiasm, but disappointed them when he said, "It won't be that complicated, but it's something every ninja uses. So train hard today, but don't exhaust yourself." He made a hand sign and suddenly there were two more of him. Then the two clones made additional hand signs and transformed into two new and distinct people.

With a wave over his shoulder, he started to walk away, but after a second of hesitation Naruto chased after him.

"Hey wait up."

The white haired man paused and turned around with a questioning look on his face. Naruto came up short, not sure exactly what he wanted to ask him or more precisely how he wanted to word his question. Yesterday, Inari had said that Jiraiya was going to die. At the time, he had dismissed it, but last night, after hearing about the battle, he had woken up and wondered, what would they do if Jiraiya did die? It had somehow seemed like a more real concern in the dead of night then it was now, but he wanted an answer.

"I'll be back," Jiraiya said in a rare show of true empathy.

"What if you don't? I... " he trailed off not wanting to say he didn't want to go back to how things were before Jiraiya had come into his life.

"Naruto, I'll admit that this guy is good. If he wasn't, I wouldn't be trying to recruit him, but I'm sure I can handle him." He paused and not seeing that he was reassured added, "Here watch this," Jiraiya said biting his thumb as he knelt down. He did a quick series of hand signs that were too fast for Naruto to follow and slammed his hand down only to quickly repeat the process.

The clouds quickly dispersed and revealed Monkiibijinesu, the monkey that sometimes helped Konohamaru to train and a small purple frog.

"Listen, you two, I need you to be my fail safe plan. If I die, I want you two to look after the boys and get them safely to Kakashi. You can sense Kakashi's chakra, right?" He said addressing the small toad.

The toad closed its eyes for a second and said, "Yeah-yeah-he's-really-far-away."

"Yeah, but you could get them there if you had to right?"

"Yeah-yeah."

"And you would help protect them along the way, Monkiibijinesu?"

The monkey glared back at Jiraiya as if he had just insulted him. "You should remember that we allow you to summon us, but only because the young Sarutobi is in your care. We have sworn loyalty to the Sarutobi clan and once he is capable of summoning us you will no longer have the ability. Thus, I shall always protect the young Sarutobi whether you wish me to or not."

"You see Naruto," Jiraiya said deliberately ignoring the monkey which only seemed to irritate the fur ball further, "even without me around, you two will be okay."

The blonde was sort of relieved, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to being in the care of a toad and a monkey. "Yeah, I guess."

"Good now get to your training," Jiraiya snapped at him in a playful manner "And you two stay concealed. A mercenary ninja doesn't draw too much attention, but talking animals, that gets people talking."

With that, the man got up and started to walk away again and Naruto watched them leave before he felt a tug on his shorts. Looking down, he saw Monkiibijinesu staring up at him. "You should get to training because I'm still not sure if you're right for him."

At first, Naruto wasn't sure what the monkey was saying, but once it dawned on him, he felt a very strong urge to kick the little creature.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It had taken Naruto a while to figure out why Jiraiya always transformed his clones when he had them practice their Taijutsu. Of course, it was days like these that made it a lot easier to understand. His opponent was taller than him, like they always were, but today he was more heavyset, his movements slower than the woman he had fought last time. His blows, though, were more powerful and because he wasn't fast he seemed to concentrate on blocking his attacks instead of deflecting them.

Jumping backwards to avoid a punch, Naruto then sprung forward attempting an ax kick, but it was blocked and the clone lurched forward, pushing him off balance and causing him to crash to the forest floor.

"You're still telegraphing your moves. You have to let them flow more naturally," the clone said.

Brushing a leaf off that was clinging to his face, Naruto spat to get the taste of dirt out of his mouth. The clones constant critiquing of his fighting abilities was one thing that never changed, no matter what the clone looked like. He had been sparring against this clone for quite some time now and even though they had stopped for breaks, he was tired and wanted to end this now.

The clone had taken a few steps back, giving him a little room to get up and for once he tried to think how to attack. Using his body to conceal his movements, he gripped a handful of dirt before charging the clone in an only half fake blind rage. He threw the handful of dirt into its face. The clone had been prepared for an attack, but he had been expecting a punch or a kick, not dirt thrown in his eyes and it caught him completely by surprise. As he reached out towards his eyes, Naruto pushed his advantage, jumping onto the clone, knocking him over. He delivered one powerful punch to the clone's unprotected face which snapped his head around.

"That's enough," the clone snapped.

Naruto hesitated, he felt an urge to continue the fight, but he fought that desire and slowly stood. He took several steps back from the clone, but it gave no sign of rising.

"The dirt was a nice trick, but you should never use that against a real opponent in a friendly spar. The eyes are a good place to attack because they're very hard to strengthen unlike every other part of the body. A scratched retina is in the end a scratched retina." The clone let out a sigh and said, "That's it for today." As the cloned dispersed, it left behind a pile of dirt.

Turning away, Naruto wondered what exactly a retina was. Making a mental note to ask someone later he turned to look through the trees at Konohamaru some forty feet away fighting his own clone. Konohamaru's clone was slightly different than his, a little taller and less broad. Despite the reach difference, though, his friend seemed to be doing quite well against it. Naruto started to make his way over to the two.

Konohamaru dashed in staying low and struck the clone's knee from the side. The clone stumbled back, favoring his knee and the younger boy used the opening to run at a nearby tree, and using it as a spring board, managed to kick the clone in the head. Unlike Naruto's clone, that was apparently enough for this one to call it a day and it disappeared in a puff of smoke upon contact.

He was just about to congratulate Konohamaru when he heard clapping. Turning, he saw Tsunami standing about twenty feet away smiling. She came closer and smiled as she said, "That was really impressive. You boys are really working hard."

Her comment made Naruto wonder how long she had been watching them, but when he glanced over at Konohamaru he was smiling at the praise. The three of them slowly gravitated towards each other and he felt oddly relaxed around her. As a rule he didn't like adults, but Tsunami radiated something he liked. Naruto wasn't sure why he felt comfortable around her, but he did.

"Listen," she said as the three of them stood in a small circle, "I know I promised I would make you something to eat, but I have to go run some errands. So, I made you two sandwiches and I left them in the fridge. You can have them whenever you want. I made one for Inari too, but I don't know when he'll come down for it."

"Oh, so you won't be at home for a while?" Konohamaru questioned.

"I'll be gone for at least two hours, is that okay with you two?"

"Sure," Naruto said with a shrug. He didn't add that Jiraiya sometimes left them alone for hours and he rarely made food before he left when he did.

"Well, then I'll just leave you two to do whatever you have to do."

"Thanks," Naruto said as she turned to leave. He felt a tug on his leg and looked down to see Konohamaru grinning up at him. Naruto was not the brightest, but even he could do this math in his head. With some of their training done plus no one around to interrupt them equaled sex.

They waited a few minutes to be sure Tsunami wasn't coming back before heading inside the home. Kicking off their sandals, Konohamaru ran down the hallway tempting him with a smile over his shoulder. Naruto followed after him, almost feeling himself becoming dumber as blood left his brain. He chased him into the room they were sleeping in and slammed the sliding door behind him.

Konohamaru stood in the center of the room grinning at him as Naruto fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace. They kissed, their tongues wrestling as he started to peel Konohamaru's shirt off. They were both sweating from the earlier sparring and the odd smell of his sweat just turned Naruto on more. He felt arms pulling at his shirt and he paused to take it off before going after Konohamaru's pants.

A second later, the younger boy was naked and Naruto sat back on his heels as Konohamaru did a little spin, showing off everything he liked. He liked looking at the younger boy, from the tips of his toes to the top of his hair. Naruto really couldn't pinpoint when he had started appreciating his friend in this fashion, but he would have been happy to spend the rest of the afternoon looking at him like this.

Of course, Konohamaru wouldn't be happy to do that as there was a part of him that wanted special attention. Leaning over he took the younger's member in his mouth and started to slide up and down on it. He actually only had about an inch on Konohamaru, but it was such a thin thing.

Closing his eyes, he listened to the sounds Konohamaru was making as a guide to what to do next. Then he heard a creak of wood that sounded like it came from behind him. Startled, he turned half expecting to see Tsunami standing there, but was more shocked to see her son staring through the slightly open door.

The fact that he had been caught doing something with Konohamaru didn't really bother him, but he remembered that Jiraiya had told him not to do anything where others would see did worry him.

Konohamaru, who had not been given such a warning hardly missed a beat when he said, "Inari, come in."

Inari hesitated for a second, but the door slowly slid to the side and he took a single step into the room. "What are you two doing?"

"Having fun," Konohamaru answered as he walked towards the boy. After a second, Naruto got up and followed him. He noticed that Inari's eyes had looked on to Konohamaru's erection which was still pointing upwards even though his had practically returned to normal.

"He had your thing in his mouth," Inari said before adding, "I didn't mean to spy."

"Oh, that's called a blow job," Konohamaru supplied.

It took Inari a supreme effort to look Konohamaru in the eye and ask, "Why would you do that?"

"Because it feels good and I like making Konohamaru feel good," Naruto supplied.

"Yeah," Konohamaru added before surprising everyone by saying, "do you want me to give you one?"

For several heartbeats there was not a single sound in the room. Naruto looked at Konohamaru surprised he would suggest something like that. Up until now, Konohamaru had only done things with him and he sort of thought it would stay that way. However, this was a feeling that Naruto didn't know how to express.

"Um, no I don't."

"What? Why not? It feels really good," Konohamaru said turning to Naruto for support.

The blonde could see his friend pleading for support, and like always he couldn't deny him. "Yeah, it really does."

"See?" Konohamaru said apparently thinking Naruto's support would be enough to convince the other boy.

"No, you're trying to trick me," Inari said taking a half step back.

"No, we're not," Konohamaru protested. "I want to be your friend."

A strange expression crossed over Inari's face at that moment, but it was so brief that Naruto couldn't recognize what it was. Then Inari said quietly, "You're not going to make fun of me?"

"No."

"And you're not going to try to bite me?"

"I'm better than that," Konohamaru protested.

"And it really feels good?" Inari addressed the last question to Naruto.

"Yeah, if it didn't why would Konohamaru let me do it?"

Inari looked down at the floor for a long time and when he looked up he had made a decision. "What do I have to do?"

Konohamaru smiled and said, "I'll do everything."

Taking Inari by the hand, Konohamaru led him over to the wall and leaned him against it. He fiddled with his overalls for a minute, but when he released one side the other quickly followed. With a little tug they fell to the floor revealing that Inari wore boxers like they did. Then, with a little help, he removed the other boy's shirt and threw it behind him. Dropping to his knees, he pulled Inari's underwear down as he knelt in front of him. Then, for the first time since he had started stripping the other boy Konohamaru turned to him and said questioningly, "Naruto?"

Konohamaru leaned to his side a little and Naruto had his first good look at Inari without any clothes on. Oddly, his first thought was that Inari would have been popular at the House. He had a gentle roundness to him which gave him a little stomach that was completely unnoticeable when he had his clothes on. Of course, what his friend was referring to was the nub between his legs.

It took him an additional second to realize what Konohamaru was really asking about though. "Yeah, it's fine. Lee had one just like it. It's normal."

"Okay," Konohamaru chirped.

Inari, his face slightly red with embarrassment said in a confused and worried tone, "What?"

Naruto was about to answer, but Konohamaru went to work with no warning. He smiled as Inari jumped on initial contact, and then when he looked down his expression changed to something different. Although Naruto couldn't see what the other was doing he was sure that he was going all out.

Absentmindedly, Naruto tried to think back on his own first time receiving a blow job, but he drew a blank. He couldn't even remember if it was before the House or after. Over the years he had so many clients that many of them were just faceless entities. When he concentrated he could remember a few clients here and there. Some stood out because they had been particularly kind and others because they had not been.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a moan from Inari as his cheeks flushed and he slowly slid down against the wall. A moment later he was smiling when Konohamaru asked him, "Did it feel good?"

Inari smiled and Naruto realized that this was only the second time he had seen the boy smile since he had met him as he said, "Yeah."

"Friends then?" Konohamaru questioned.

"Friends," Inari agreed.

A smile tugged Naruto at the corner of his mouth as the two boys shook hands. He was happy for Konohamaru, but his stomach was upset.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Here let me help you," Jiraiya said to Tsunami as he stood up from the table.

"You don't have to help you know. Besides didn't you say you wanted to show your two boys something after dinner?"

"I did," he said remembering his promise earlier to the boys and the repeating of it just before dinner," but they seem to be getting along with Inari right now so I will show them in the morning."

"All right then. You dry, I'll wash," Tsunami said handing him the dish towel.

Jiraiya was not a fan of cleaning dishes. In fact, he considered it the most annoying part of camping and the fact that he had been doing it now for years at a stretch had not endeared the act anymore to him despite his chivalrous nature.

As he was handed the first dish he said, "I wanted to thank you for yesterday. I wouldn't have been able to get to the bottom of the situation like you did."

She chuckled. "It wasn't that hard really. I had a good idea of what happened before hand."

"No, you're really on the ball with him. I don't know how you do it."

This time she did laugh. It was a real laugh and not one like a hostess practiced. At that moment he realized it had been a long time since he had heard a woman laugh like that. It was nice. "What did I say?"

Shaking her head, Tsunami said, "Sorry. It's just when dealing with my son, half the time I have no idea what to do and the other half I'm bluffing." She saw his disbelieving look and added, "Let me tell you a little story. My husband was a fisherman and he died just a month after Inari was born."

"I thought," he interrupted before being cut off.

"Kaiza was my second husband," she corrected him without looking away from the sink. "Anyway, when he died, I moved back in with my father. Still, I was determined to raise my boy as best as I could. Well, time went on and Inari got older and then he had his first day of school. He was nervous, but most kids are. I dropped him off and I'll admit I had a hard time leaving him there. I was used to having him around all day. Anyway, when I went to pick him up later that day I found out that he had cried most of the day."

Jiraiya took the next offered dish and said awkwardly, "Some kids have a tough time."

"Yes, but it took me a while to realize how much I was at fault."

"What do you mean?"

"It's simple really. There aren't any kids around Inari's age who live close by. It's all older people. I used to take him to the park, but he would always play by himself while I would talk to some of the other parents. So he spent all his time with me and I didn't have much of a problem with that. I like that he would help me hang the laundry or even clean. Purely by accident, I had turned him into a mama's boy."

"Oh, I see." He had known a few kids like that growing up. Orochimaru came to mind or at least how he had been when they first met. It was kind of annoying to be around such people, but once he finally started to get to know Orochimaru he turned out to be a decent kid. Of course, that was a lifetime ago.

"I tried to do what I could, but really, there wasn't much I could do. I encouraged him to make friends, but that didn't work out too well. I even got him a dog so he would have some companionship, but it was stolen."

He felt as if he should say something, but he had no idea what to say to that. So he just made a grunting sound of acknowledgment.

"However, he also met Kaiza that day so in the end, I guess it was good. Inari started spending a lot of time with him and so did I. He was a wonderful man and he helped Inari emerge from his shell. Of course, he was killed four months ago and Inari sort of just went back to the way he used to be. So, as you can see, I'm not really on the ball."

Jiraiya nodded, but said reassuringly, "You doing your best."

"I hope so." She was silent for a minute and then handed him a glass and said, "So what was the question you wanted to ask me?"

He looked up and in the reflection of the window he could see she was smiling. "How did you know?"

She shrugged, "Mothers intuition."

He thought for a second and realized that having some input would be better than having none. "Naruto and Konohamaru have only been my apprentices for three months, but I recently discovered that they don't really trust me." He paused for a second and added, "I want them to trust me."

"You never had kids?" She questioned.

He was tempted to say not that he was aware of, but instead said, "I was never married. I had a Genin team once. They were Naruto's age, but the situation was different." He almost said that they were normal, but that would not have been an accurate description either, at least to a civilian.

"Well, trust comes with time."

"I'm not so sure about that," Jiraiya said with a sigh.

"Someone had to trust you with them. After all, they are in your care."

"They're both orphans and nobody was really taking care of them," he corrected.

"Homeless?" She questioned turning to face him, sympathy written across her face.

"It was something like that."

Tsunami looked at him and he realized he had said too much. "Jiraiya, what are you not saying?"

There are moments in battles where one has to make a decision in the blink of an eye and the end result is life and death. In conversations, similar situations arise and at that moment Jiraiya had to make a decision.

"Tsunami," he began, "up until three months ago both Naruto and Konohamaru were working in a brothel as prostitutes."

Her expression slackened into one of complete and utter shock. Then, under her breath she said, "Those poor boys."

"They're not bad kids," he quickly added.

"Hold on, I need to sit down."

He took her by the arm and led her to the table and pulled out a chair for her. After a second, he took a seat across from her. She was silent for a minute, but eventually said, "I can see why you're concerned about them trusting you. I doubt they trust anyone."

"They trust each other," he interjected.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say." She was silent for a minute and then asked, "Do they talk about it?"

Jiraiya had no doubts of what "it" meant. "Not really, I've been trying to avoid the subject with them."

"Maybe you shouldn't," she suggested.

"What do you mean?"

She sat forward in her chair and said, "I've learned three things about boys as a mother. The first is they're going to get scratched up. The second is they need their secrets and the third sometimes they need to talk."

He sat back in his own chair and wondered if it could be that simple. For once he tried to figure out if he had not inquired about their past because he thought it might upset them or upset him. Pushing it to the side for now, he asked about a more pressing concern. "Are you still okay with them staying here and playing with Inari?"

She looked at him confused. "Of course I am. Listen, my son has never had a kid his own age in his room like he does right now. Besides, from what I've seen Naruto seems like he's a good kid.

"Yeah, that he is."