Let's hope I can alleviate your boredom with this chapter.

There was a rustling sound coming from the entrance to the tent. It had been left partially open to let some of the cool air in.

As the rustling continued, a scaley blue snout poked through the opening. It sniffed the air for a moment and then pushed the rest of its head through.

The mystical yellow eyes of the young dragon met the beautiful chocolate browns of Tayuya.

They stared, analyzing each other.

'What the fuck am I looking at?' Tayuya thought to herself.

Slowly, Seiteki lifted one leg and placed it inside the tent, maintaining eye contact as he did so, testing the waters so to speak. Tayuya tried not to react. He decided to push on and soon his other limbs followed until he entered the tent completely.

Tayuya didn't know if she should try to scare this thing off. It didn't seem too dangerous.

Seiteki began to walk closer, cautiously.

'Its kinda cute.' Tayuya thought as the small beast approached her.

She was a bit worried though; this seemed to be some kind of baby animal and if the mother was nearby, it probably wouldn't end well.

Seiteki finally reached her and began to sniff around, inspecting her. Tayuya on the other hand, stayed as still as possible, not wanting to scare or aggravate him.

It took a minute, but seiteki stopped sniffing her and was now rubbing his face on her hand while letting out a low rumbling sound.

Tayuya blinked in surprise. She did not expect this, but as adorable as Seiteki was she couldn't resist. She slowly began to pet the dragons head, amazed at how smooth his rough looking scales felt.

To her dismay, a couple of Seiteki's scales fell off as she passed her hand over them. It didn't seem to cause him any pain or discomfort, and it looked like there were new ones growing underneath. The newer scales looked shinier, more metallic.

Seiteki was enjoying the attention and to display that, small arcs of electricity jumped from the spines on his back.

Tayuya's eyes filled with awe, amazed by this adorable, but also dangerous, creature. As she continued to shower Seiteki with affection, she took in his strange yet familiar features. Then she had a thought.

'There's no way...'

Naruto yawned and stretched as he woke from his slumber. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he looked around the tent and instantly got the feeling something was missing.

He got up onto his feet, clad in only his boxers, and came to the swift realization that Seiteki was nowhere to be seen.

He walked to where he had laid down his blue hoodie the night before, if Seiteki was still sleeping, he would be under there. Naruto gently lifted the hoodie and found nothing. He was beginning to worry a bit.

Quickly dressing himself, Naruto stepped out of the tent and tipped his head up toward the sky, searching for anything with wings.

The sky was clear of birds, and of Seiteki.

Panic was setting in, but then he saw something strange. He could see something blue laying in the grass, and he bent down to look at it. It was one of Seiteki's scales. There were more just a few feet away.

And they were leading towards Tayuya's tent.

The entrance to the tent burst open and Naruto entered wild eyed. He set his eyes on Tayuya and could see her holding Seiteki in her arms.

"Why did you take Seiteki?! Let him go!" He yelled as he drew a kunai.

Tayuya looked puzzled and a little fearful. "I-I didn't do anything!" She proclaimed.

He held up something blue for her to see. "You ripped off his scales you sick bitch." He said with venom.

It was at this moment Seiteki decided to intervene. He wriggled his way out of Tayuya's comfortable grasp and stood in front of her, facing Naruto. He lowered his body into attack position and bared his fangs to his summoner, as electricity crackled around him.

"Seiteki? What are you doing...?" He asked in shock.

Naruto looked closer at the hostile dragon, and as he did so, his confusion grew to new heights. There wasn't a single scale missing from his body, in fact, he looked healthier than ever.

He lowered the kunai slightly and Seiteki rose from his threatening stance, the crackle of electricity could no longer be heard as Seiteki now stuck out his tongue playfully.

Naruto holstered the kunai completely and kneeled down to pet his halfway loyal summon. As he did so, he noticed the scales that were still falling off, and the new smoother, harder, shinier scales underneath.

'So she didn't hurt him...' Naruto thought.

'Then why did she take him in the first place?'

He eyed the girl with suspicion.

Seiteki was struggling against him, he just wouldn't stay still. Naruto sighed and let go of the small dragon. Seiteki then dashed back to Tayuya and once again began to rub his face on her soft hands. He let out a purring sound and his tail was swaying side to side.

'Did he come here on his own?...' Naruto wondered.

Tayuya made no move to pet the animal, as much as she wanted to, instead she looked up at the blonde boy who was sat off to her right.

He noticed her gaze and recognized it as a request for permission. The young ninja quickly darted his eyes between her and his little friend, he paused for a moment, and then made a gesture with his arms that said "Go ahead."

Tayuya didn't need to be told twice and immediately began to shower Seiteki with attention, which he was obviously loving.

Much of her attention was focused on Seiteki but that didn't mean she wasn't wary of the blonde. He showed her kindness last night when he gave her something to eat, but, what did he want? Her mind was racing through every possibility and trying to answer a single question.

Can I trust him?

'What if he poisons my food? What if he just wants info? Can he help me? What if this is all a trick?'

Questions piled up in her mind, and as every second passed, her desire to escape increased exponentially.

"...He likes it when you scratch his chin." The boy said quietly.

Tayuya was shaken from her thoughts and she looked up at the boy. In the few times their eyes had met before, this was the first time she truly looked into his.

His were different than any she had seen before. As opposed to the predatory gaze of Orochimaru, The scornful looks of her fellow sound four, or the suspicious glances of her captor Jiraiya, Naruto's showed nothing she could read.

There was no hatred or malice, no hidden intent, in this moment they were simply strangers, bonding over a pet dragon.

She scoffed at the thought, she had heard of the legendary summons during her time under Orochimaru, but who thought she would ever see one?

Nevertheless she brought her delicate hands to the underside of Seiteki's chin.

The reaction was instant as Seiteki closed his eyes in bliss and raised his head to give Tayuya more access.

"Watch out for the tail." Naruto warned.

Right on cue, The tip of Seiteki's tail lit up and small arcs of electricity began dissipating into the air. It looked like a plasma globe would, but without the glass.

Tayuya gawked at the mesmerizing display as she continued scratching the young dragons chin. The longer this went on, the stronger the arcs seemed to get.

"Alright, you should probably stop now." Naruto said with an amused smile.

In her dazzled state, she didn't quite understand what he said and by the time he repeated himself, it was too late.

The arcs had disappeared, instead, the tip of Seiteki's tail glowed with dangerous intensity.

Naruto rushed to her side and placed his hand right next to Seiteki's tail, making sure to have his feet planted firmly on the ground.

Tayuya recoiled as an arc of electricity more powerful than any she'd seen, jumped the gap between Seiteki's tail and Naruto's hand, crackling as it turned the air to plasma.

Naruto grunted as he felt the current coarse through him and channel out through his feet into the ground.

Naruto then turned to Tayuya.

"You need to be more careful." He said annoyed.

Tayuya could see that his arm was trembling. She also noticed something else, Naruto seemed to have some sort of metal lining in his sandals. Lining that was clearly used to lessen the damage his body took from incidents just like this one.

She took a glance at his still trembling arm and at his face that was wincing in pain.

'If he hadn't gotten to me on time...' She thought.

Seiteki quickly hopped up onto Naruto's shoulder and frantically began to paw at his face, showing his concern.

Naruto gave him a dirty look which caused Seiteki to lower his head.

"And I thought I told you to control yourself." He said accusingly. Just then, a voice called from outside the tents.

"Naruto!"

It was Jiraiya.

Naruto looked at Tayuya with panic, and seeing Naruto panic caused Tayuya to panic too.

'He can't know that I'm here!' Naruto thought.

'What happens to me if he sees Naruto?!' Tayuya mentally roared.

"How am I gonna get outta here without him seeing me?" Naruto questioned.

Tayuya suddenly had a bright idea. She rushed over to Naruto and shoved her hand into his pouch.

Naruto grabbed ahold of her wrist and gripped it tightly, wary of what she was attempting to do.

"I need a kunai." She said.

"Why"

"Do I really threaten you?" She asked.

Naruto scowled, but released her wrist. She dug around in the pouch for a couple seconds before fetching a kunai and then walking to the back of the tent.

"You know you could've just taken the one in my holster right?" Naruto asked amused.

Tayuya quickly glanced over to see the easily accessible kunai.

"...Of course I knew that. Shut up."

Jiraiya called out once again.

"Naruto! I'm trying to make you a great ninja like me! Get out here!"

Tayuya knelt down at the back of the tent and cut a flap just big enough for a small animal.

"Ok, now we can send the little cutie out there to distract him."

'Cutie? Guess she has a soft spot for animals.' Naruto noted.

He took Seiteki off his shoulder and set him down in front of the opening. Already knowing what to do, Seiteki took off.

Now they just had to wait. Naruto went to the front of the tent to get a peek outside, Tayuya knelt down next to him to do the same.

Jiraiya was standing out in front of Naruto's tent calling his name to no response. Though, he knew the reason why.

He hoped that Naruto and Tayuya would work together in order to avoid being detected, thus building trust between them and hopefully leading to Tayuya leaking information.

Just then, he caught a glimpse of blonde and red hair peeking through the tent flap.

'Guess my plan is working then.' Jiraiya marked.

"Naruto!" He yelled out again. "We're training today! Wake up!"

He heard something hit the ground softly behind him and turned to find out what it was. As he looked down he saw Seiteki staring at him.

'Seiteki? I figured he would be with Naruto. Oh well, guess I got to keep up the act.'

"Hey Seiteki, think you can help me find Naruto?"

Seiteki continued to stare without moving.

Jiraiya furrowed his brow slightly. "Don't tell me..." he mumbled.

Suddenly Seiteki began running full speed toward the toad sage, he covered half the distance before leaping off the ground and latching onto Jiraiya's face. Jiraiya flailed about as he tried to pry Seiteki off.

"Why?!?!" He shouted in despair.

"Now's my chance!" Naruto exclaimed as he got ready to bolt from the tent.

"Wait!" Tayuya shouted.

Naruto snapped his head toward her. "What?! I gotta go!" He said in a panicked manner.

Tayuya was going to hate doing this but she didn't really have a choice. She crawled over to where she had hidden something. Hesitantly, she moved back to Naruto, still on her knees, and held out a bowl.

Naruto blinked in realization. It was the bowl of food he gave her last night, now empty of course. He shifted his gaze to her face to see that she was looking away... in shame?

"please..." She said quietly.

Naruto looked out of the tent to see Jiraiya still blinded by Seiteki, before looking back to her. After a moments pause, he smiled broadly and placed his hand on the bowl, getting her attention.

"Well, it's the least I can do for my partner in crime!"

With that said, he took the bowl from her hands and left to sneak into his own tent.

"Partners in crime..." Tayuya repeated.

Seeing that Naruto had made it safely into his own tent, Seiteki released Jiraiya from his torment. As he landed back on the ground, Jiraiya looked at him with murder in his eyes, it was a promise of revenge.

After a moment, Naruto stepped out of his tent stretching and yawning, trying his best to make believe he had only just awoken.

"What's all the yelling for?" he asked in a sleepy voice.

"I've been calling you for twenty minutes!" Jiraiya yelled.

"Oh stop exaggerating pervy sage." he responded nonchalantly.

Something hard then smacked him in the face and as he looked he could see a small pan lying on the ground.

"Why'd you throw that at me ya old perv?!"

"If you want me to train you then your gonna have to start doing what I say, when I say it."

"Now..." Jiraiya continued. "If you want to be an amazing shinobi like me-"

Naruto scoffed mockingly and immediately had to dodge another item.

"-then you'll need to train with your summons."

"But I already trained with Seiteki, can't you teach me some new Jutsu?" Naruto whined.

"There is always more to learn when it comes to summons." Jiraiya glanced at seiteki.

'I doubt that sentence has ever been more true' he thought.

Before Naruto could complain more, he said "You need to tell this little beast over here to go back to the throat of the world and ask for a reverse summon."

Seiteki bit Jiraiya's leg in response to his little quip causing him to flinch slightly.

"Reverse summon?" Naruto repeated, confused.

"Yes. A reverse summon is when you are brought to the summons location instead of them to yours. I suspect it's what happened on your first attempt"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. If he wanted to get stronger then training with the dragons seemed like the best course of action.

"Ok! I'm ready now!" He said excited.

Seiteki nodded and poofed away, with Naruto following seconds after. As the smoke began to dissipate, Jiraiya let out a small sigh and then glanced over to the prisoners tent.

Tayuya fell back from the opening she was peeking through.

Jiraiya was walking to her tent.

Naruto appeared in a strange but familiar place. The air was cold and thin and there were nothing but trees to be seen. He was, of course, at the throat of the world, but no matter how many times he came here he was sure it would always feel foreign.

Strangely he began to sense things he hadn't during his first visit. The vitality of this place was astronomical, everything seemed to radiate energy, all the way down to the blades of grass.

The closer he looked at this place, the more he could see. How could he have missed all of this?! There were dragons everywhere, hiding amongst the trees or scurrying across the ground, but strangely they all seemed to be youngsters.

Naruto looked on in bewilderment as he witnessed one dragon feasting on the corpse of another.

'Woah... Survival of the fittest I guess...'

Sadly, his time to admire this place was cut short as he could hear the wing beat of a dragon. Touching down in front of him, Naruto was happy to see Chishiki.

"I am glad to see you, I am in need of your assistance."

leave a review if you'd like, it's helps motivate me and it's not like you have other things to do right now lol

Shout out to Otaku south and extremmoMMV for getting me out of my slump. Thank you for the support.

Stay safe.