A/N: I noticed that most of the NarutoXTayuya stories start pretty much the same way with finding Tayuya wounded after her fight with Shikamaru and Temari in one way or another, so I wanted to switch things up a bit.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 1: Discoveries

Naruto was not having a good day.

First, his sensei, Kakashi Hatake, had pawned his training for the chuunin exam finals off to someone else so that he could focus solely on his spoiled bastard of a teammate; not that that was anything new. Then, the creep that was supposed to take over his training got knocked the hell out by some weird old guy on a big-ass toad. After that, the perverted old man had agreed to take over his training instead, but was just spending his time peeping while Naruto was trying, and failing, to walk on water.

"Will you stop being a damn pervert and help me?!" Naruto finally yelled after once again pulling himself out of the water. Naruto was currently wearing his usual orange track pants and a black t-shirt while his orange jacket was hanging from a nearby tree. He had spent the better part of two hours repeatedly falling into the pool of water he was attempting to walk on with little progress to show for his efforts. The white-haired pervert known as Jiraiya turned to level a glare at the young blond for distracting him from his "research". However, noticing an odd fluctuation in the boy's chakra, he called him over.

"Come here and lift your shirt up," Jiraiya told him making Naruto narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"How the hell is that supposed to help me walk on water, you old pervert?"

"Just shut up and do it, brat," Jiraiya growled in irritation. Naruto was still skeptical, but did as instructed anyway. Telling the boy to channel some chakra, Jiraiya studied the seal that was now revealed on the boy's abdomen. While the eight trigrams seal seemed to be functioning properly, the white-haired sannin easily spotted the reason for the boy's problem; there was an odd-numbered seal placed over it that was disrupting the boy's control.

"Look, a distraction!" Jiraiya yelled as he pointed to the left drawing the young blond's attention.

"Wait, what?" The only answer Naruto received was five chakra-infused fingers slamming into his stomach causing him to fall onto his back. Naruto groaned as he sat up and glared at the man who just knocked him on his ass for no reason. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Don't worry about it; just go try walking on water again," Jiraiya waved him off as he turned back to the bush he had been peeping from, but kept an eye on the young blond out of the corner of his eye. Muttering curses under his breath, Naruto did as he was instructed and went back to the water to attempt to stand on the surface. To his surprise, he actually managed to stay atop the water instead of falling in like he had expected.

"I did it!" Naruto yelled excitedly as he jumped up and down on the water. "Look pervy sage; I did it!" Jiraiya turned to admonish the boy for the ridiculous nickname, but stopped when he noticed something that definitely shouldn't have been there; there was a thin sheet of ice floating near the blond's feet.

'It's the middle of summer; how could there possibly be ice here?' Jiraiya thought with narrowed eyes as he looked at the ice that was rapidly melting before turning his gaze to Naruto who was still running in circles atop the water. The answer to where the ice came from was apparent as more ice would occasionally appear beneath Naruto's feet.

'That answers one question, but just raises several more!' Jiraiya internally groaned as he restrained himself from trying to pull his hair out in frustration. The biggest question of course being "how the hell does Naruto have ice release?!"

"I have to run a few errands, brat; meet me here tomorrow at 10:00," Jiraiya said before vanishing in a shunshin before Naruto could even respond. Seeing that it was still fairly early in the afternoon, Naruto decided to work on his physical conditioning and started doing pushups.

[5 Hours Later]

A young girl looking to be about 14-years-old was currently making her way through the streets of Konoha looking for a place to eat. The girl stood at approximately 4'10" with dark pink, almost red, hair that extended to the middle of her back with long parted bangs framing either side of her face and one between her brown eyes. She was currently wearing fairly casual attire consisting of a loose tan shirt, black skin-tight shorts. She also wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages and a black cap with bandaged sides that kept her bangs in place.

"There you are, Tayuya; where have you been?" a portly man with orange hair asked as he approached the pinkette from behind.

"None of your fucking business, fatass," Tayuya snapped back earning a grimace from the large man.

"Please don't use such vulgar language, Tayuya; it's very unladylike."

"Fuck off, Jirobo; I'll talk however the fuck I want," Tayuya snorted in annoyance as she turned to walk away again. "Now piss off; I'm gonna go get something to eat." Jirobo let out a sigh before shaking his head and walking away knowing that the pink-haired girl would do what she wanted no matter what he said.

After exploring the various shops and restaurants for a while, Tayuya finally came across a little ramen stand that smelled rather enticing and caused her stomach to growl. Never having had the noodle dish before since it wasn't served in Oto, she decided she might as well give it a try. Brushing the flaps at the entrance aside, she took in the interior of the cozy little shop. It seemed to be a rather plain stand with yellowish-tan colored wallpaper on the otherwise bare walls and two small tables off to the side that were unoccupied. The more common choice of seating was apparently the stools situated in front of a bar as that was where the other customers, two nondescript chuunin and a blond kid were seated. Sitting down at the available stool next to the blond kid, she looked up to browse the menu.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen; what can I get you?" a girl in her late teens with black eyes and brown hair tied back with a bandana asked the pink-haired girl after she sat down.

"Yeah, I'll take a…" Tayuya trailed off as she tried to decide what to order. "I guess I'll try a regular miso ramen," she finished earning a nod from the waitress who relayed the order to an older man further back that was clearly the cook.

"I'll take another pork miso with extra narutomaki, Ayame-nee," the blond told the girl behind the counter who smiled and put in the order.

Looking at the boy out of the corner of her eye, Tayuya noticed that his golden locks were arranged in unruly spikes and his eyes were probably the brightest blue she had ever seen. His skin was a light tan color and he had three strange, whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks. Tayuya might've thought he was a little cute, kinda like a puppy or something of the sort, if it wasn't for the hideous orange and blue jumpsuit.

"Here you go," the girl Tayuya had idly noted was named Ayame said as she placed both her and the blond orders in front of them.

Thanks," they both said before grabbing a pair of chopsticks and breaking them apart. Tayuya didn't even get her first bite of noodles into her mouth as she turned to the loud slurping noises coming from her right side to see that the blond had already eaten half of his bowl.

"Holy shit," she couldn't hold back her exclamation that was a mix of both amazement and disgust. "Slow the fuck down, blondie!"

"Hm?" was the boy's intelligent response as he turned to her with noodles hanging from his mouth that he proceeded to slurp up. "Sorry; I can't really help myself when it comes to ramen," he apologized while scratching his head sheepishly.

"Well if you get any of that on me I'm gonna shove that bowl up your ass!" Naruto paled at the threat and nodded his head rapidly before going back to his meal at a more reasonable pace. Satisfied that the boy was eating like a civilized human being, Tayuya returned to her own bowl and finally took her first bite.

"Holy shit!" Tayuya's eyes widened at the symphony of flavors in her mouth. "This stuff is awesome!"

"Yeah it is; Ichiraku's is the food of the gods!" Naruto nodded reverently. Proceeding to devour her bowl, though at a much more subdued pace than the blond, Tayuya let out a sigh of satisfaction once she had finished the broth.

"Thanks for the food; I'll be back," Tayuya said as she paid for her meal and walked out of the ramen stand. Naruto thought about going after her since she seemed to understand the glory that is ramen and wouldn't mind a friend who actually enjoyed his favorite food, but decided getting more ramen was more important and ordered another bowl.

[The Next Morning]

It was nearly 10:00 and Naruto was once again standing in the clearing he had trained in yesterday waiting for Jiraiya.

"It's good to see you haven't picked up your sensei's habitual tardiness," Jiraiya commented as he entered the clearing.

"So what's the plan for today, pervy sage?" Naruto asked earning a groan from the self-proclaimed super pervert at the nickname the boy had come up with.

"Before we get to your training, take this," Jiraiya said as he handed the boy a small slip of paper.

"What's this for?" Naruto asked with a look of confusion before Jiraiya told him to channel his chakra into it. Doing as instructed, Naruto and Jiraiya were both surprised when the paper simultaneously became soggy and split in half before becoming encased in a thick layer of ice.

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "So does this mean I have the same kekkei genkai as the Yuki clan?" Naruto asked making Jiraiya raise an eyebrow that the boy knew about a, as far as he was aware, extinct clan.

"How do you know about the Yuki clan?"

"I met a boy named Haku Yuki on my first C-rank mission. Well, technically it turned into an A-rank mission."

"Interesting," Jiraiya mused as he stroked his chin with a thoughtful expression. "Do you know where he might be?"

"He died…" Naruto looked down with a sorrowful expression as he thought of the boy who had been his friend for a brief time.

"That's unfortunate," Jiraiya frowned as he lamented the loss of someone who may have been able to teach the boy.

"Do you think I might be related to someone from the Yuki clan?" Naruto asked hoping he might have a lead on who his parents are.

"I suppose it's a possibility," Jiraiya answered. 'I know Kushina was a pureblood Uzumaki, but Minato was an orphan so I guess it's not impossible to think he was related to the Yuki clan somewhere down the line.'

"So could you teach me how to use my bloodline?!" Naruto asked with a wide smile, but it turned into a frown when Jiraiya shook his head.

"Sorry, the only thing I know about Hyoton is that most of the jutsu ended in the dog sign. Seeing as the Yuki clan was wiped out, you're pretty much on your own as far as your bloodline is concerned."

"Well that sucks," Naruto frowned as he dropped down to sit in a lotus position. He could somewhat remember some of the techniques Haku had used, but that doesn't mean he had any idea how he did them.

"It might help if we worked on your wind and water affinities first since Hyoton is a combination of the two," Jiraiya offered helpfully immediately brightening the young blond's mood.

"Really? That'd be great!"

"And since you know the shadow clone jutsu, you should be able to get the basics down pretty quickly," Jiraiya nodded earning a confused frown in response.

"What do shadow clones have to do with wind or water?" Naruto voiced is confusion making Jiraiya look at him in disbelief.

"You mean you've been using them this long and don't know the secret behind them?"

"What secret?" Naruto asked earning a sigh from the toad sannin.

"Make a clone and have it follow me," Jiraiya said making the confused blond look at him oddly before doing as instructed. Telling Naruto to stay where he was, Jiraiya led the shadow clone out of sight before dispelling it with a punch to the face.

"What the hell was that for?!" Naruto yelled as Jiraiya came back into the clearing.

"Do you understand now?" Jiraiya asked making Naruto scrunch his face in thought for a moment before his eyes widened in realization.

"I get my clones memories?" Naruto asked getting a nod of confirmation in response. "How the hell did I never notice that?!"

"Probably because you only use them during combat so you're too occupied on the fight and don't really notice that you aren't directly on the receiving end of the attacks; plus, you're an idiot," Jiraiya explained ignoring the indignant "Oi!" he received for the idiot comment.

"So what are we going to do now?"

"That depends; how many clones can you make without feeling exhausted?" Jiraiya asked making Naruto once again scrunch his face in a thoughtful expression.

"Probably…300?" Naruto nodded thinking that seemed about right while Jiraiya stared at him with a blank expression for a moment before shaking his head.

'…Damn Uzumakis; I swear they're all chakra monsters,' Jiraiya groaned internally. "Alright, go ahead and make 300 then and have them split into two groups. Naruto nodded before the area was flooded with a sea of orange-clad blonds.

"Alright boys; split into two groups," Naruto commanded earning various affirmative responses as the doppelgangers divided themselves and awaited further instruction. Jiraiya created two clones that approached the separate groups and led them in different directions. The group that he labeled as "Group A" was led into the nearby forest while the group labeled as "Group B" were led to a stream.

"So what am I supposed to do while they're off doing whatever it is you're making them do?" Naruto asked; the grin he received in response was not very comforting.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

[With Clone Group A]

"This is far enough," Jiraiya called out making the large group of blonds stop in a small clearing surrounded by trees. "This is what you're going to do," Jiraiya said as he plucked a leaf from a tree and held it out it so the group could see as the leaf suddenly split in half down the middle.

"Woah; how'd you do that?" one of the clones near the front asked.

"Try to picture your chakra splitting in half and grinding against eachother until the two halves sharpen eachother, then rejoin them," Jiraiya explained with a shrug. The clones nodded before each took a leaf and held them between their hands. With looks of intense concentration on their faces, the clones all tried to do as Jiraiya instructed. Pulling their hands apart, they were surprised to see a small tear in the bottom of the leaf.

"Hmm, maybe this won't take so long after all," Jiraiya whispered to himself with a proud grin.

[With Clone Group B]

"Alright, all of you line up along the banks and take a seat," Jiraiya commanded and waited until the group had all taken a seat. "Here's what I want you to do." With that said, Jiraiya placed his hand just above the surface of the water. The clones all watched closely as a string of water lifted up and began weaving between his outstretched fingers.

"How'd you do that?"

"Keep your chakra calm and let it flow gently with the water. After that, you need to redirect the flow of the water. I can't really explain it any better than that; you'll just have to figure it out." With that said, the Jiraiya clone wished them good luck before dispelling itself and leaving them to figure it out on their own.

[With Naruto]

"You're an evil bastard," Naruto groaned as he glared at Jiraiya whose smug smirk never left his face. Naruto was currently standing in the clearing wearing nothing but his boxers as the majority of his arms, torso and legs were covered in various seals; according to Jiraiya, they were gravity and resistance seals. As if the increased gravity and restriction of his movements weren't enough, he was also holding a boulder bigger than Choji above his head while doing squats.

"You're the one who asked me to train you seriously so quit bitching and keep squatting," Jiraiya shot back before peeking through the bushes to see a group of women who were swimming in a large pool of water at the base of a waterfall.

"So are we going to do anything else for the month, or are you just gonna keep trying to kill me under the guise of training?" Naruto bit out between groans as he tried to keep his shaking legs from giving out. Jiraiya didn't immediately respond, but bit his finger before doing a series of hand signs and slamming his hand on the ground. A sealing array spread out from the point of contact before a puff of smoke appeared and dispersed to reveal a large toad that was roughly the size of the boulder Naruto was holding up. The toad looked at Jiraiya before sticking out his tongue which was wrapped around a large scroll.

"How would you like to be the next toad summoner?" Jiraiya asked as he unrolled the scroll revealing several names.

"No thanks," Naruto declined the offer making the toad sage blink his eyes in confusion at being turned down.

"What do you mean no? Toads are amazing!"

"It's nothing personal; I'm just not interested," Naruto repeated before dropping the boulder and finally collapsing to the floor; he struggled just to roll onto his back.

"I think you're underestimating how powerful the toads are; even the Yondaime was a toad summoner!" Jiraiya continued attempting to convince Naruto to sign the scroll making him groan.

"I'm sure they're very powerful and all, but I'm still gonna have to pass." Jiraiya sighed before deciding he would try again another time.

"In that case, we should probably work on your taijutsu. That whole brawler-style thing you've got going on needs to go; you're a shinobi, not a street fighter."

"Well I've never had anybody teach me before so everything I know is self-taught," Naruto shrugged not really minding the insult to his taijutsu; or rather, lack thereof.

"We'll get started on that tomorrow; I think we're done for the day," Jiraiya smirked as Naruto tried and failed to get to his feet. Deactivating Naruto's seals and tossing him his clothes, Jiraiya waited for him to get his clothes on before tossing the blond over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carrying him home.

As if to add to his fatigue, Naruto was hit by a whole new wave of exhaustion as her clones chose that moment to dispel; he barely managed a small smile at the progress his clones had made before finally passing out.

[3 Days Later]

Naruto was currently on his way to Ichiraku's for lunch. He had completed the first stage of wind and water manipulation yesterday, so Jiraiya had given him the day off to celebrate. Making his way into his favorite restaurant, Naruto took his usual seat.

"Hey, Ayame-nee; can I get a pork ramen?" Naruto greeted the brunette who smiled and gave her father his order. Looking around, Naruto was surprised to see the redhead from the other night sitting a few stools away.

"Oh, hey; you're back," Naruto greeted the pink-haired girl who looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"What do you want, blondie?"

"I just wanted to say hi; we never got to introduce ourselves the other night," Naruto smiled at the girl who ignored him in favor of watching the chef, Teuchi Ichiraku, make their noodles. "Anyway, my name's Naruto Uzumaki; nice to meet you."

'Why does that name sound familiar?' Tayuya wondered as she turned to the bowl of ramen that had just been placed in front of her.

"So what's your name?"

"None of your fucking business," Tayuya responded as she brought some noodles to her lips before slurping them up.

"Geez, all I did was ask for your name; no need to be such a bitch about it."

"The fuck did you just call me?!" Tayuya growled as she grabbed Naruto by the collar of his jacket.

"You heard me!" Naruto shot back as he returned the girl's glare with one of his own. The two continued their stare down for several moments before Tayuya smirked and released her grip.

"You've got some balls, blondie; I'll give you that much." Any further conversation was interrupted when an androgynous man with dark blue hair and wearing green lipstick entered the stand.

"There you are, Tayuya; I've been looking all over for you." The blue haired man said as he took a seat next to the pinkette.

"What the fuck do you want, Sakon?" Tayuya growled as she glared at her teammate.

"We're supposed to be meeting up in about an hour," the lipstick-wearing man answered ignoring the girl's crass language.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone," Naruto said as he left the money for his ramen on the counter and moved to leave. "See ya around, Tayuya~" Naruto smirked as he said the girl's name in a sing-song voice.

"Damn your big mouth, Sakon," Tayuya growled under her breath as she followed the blond out of the stand prepared to bash his head in until he forgot her name, but stopped to stare in confusion when she noticed that everyone he passed by seemed to give him a wide berth and glare at him hatefully.

"Come on, Tayuya; we need to get back."

"Tch, whatever; let's get this shit over with."

[20 Minutes Later]

"Greetings, Orochimaru-sama," the sound four all bowed as the snake sannin entered their underground hideout.

"Hello, my faithful minions; I hope you're all doing well," Orochimaru greeted with feigned affection.

"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama; what can we do for you?" Sakon asked as the de facto leader of the group.

"Tell me; what do you all know of Naruto Uzumaki?" Orochimaru asked earning confused looks from Kidomaru and Jirobo while Sakon looked to Tayuya for an answer.

"Tayuya has spoken with the boy, my lord," Sakon nodded his head in his female teammate's direction from his bowed position.

"Kukuku, how convenient," Orochimaru smiled sinisterly as he looked to his pink-haired subordinate. "I want you to keep an eye on the boy, Tayuya."

"Forgive me for asking, Orochimaru-sama, but what is your interest in the boy; he doesn't seem like anything special?" Tayuya asked with a confused expression.

"That boy is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki," Orochimaru informed earning wide eyes from each of them. "I want you to see if he could be convinced to join us."

"As you wish, my lord."

"Excellent; that will be all for now." Not waiting for a response, Orochimaru's presence vanished completely as he sank into the ground.

"Well then; it looks like you'll get to see your little boyfriend again," Sakon smirked earning a growl from Tayuya.

"Fuck you, Sakon." Ignoring Kidomaru's snickering and Jirobo's usual comment about her being unladylike, Tayuya left their hideout to track down her target.

"Troublesome blond," Tayuya groaned unintentionally emulating a certain lazy Nara. "At least I won't have to spend as much time with these assholes."

[The Next Day]

"So what are we doing today, pervy-sage?" Naruto asked Jiraiya as he entered the clearing. Jiraiya groaned at the nickname, but otherwise ignored it.

"Well I don't know any wind jutsu, so we'll have your clones work on water jutsu while we work on your speed and taijutsu."

"Awesome! What kind of kickass jutsu are you gonna teach me?!" Naruto asked excitedly, not even minding that he was likely going to be run ragged training his speed; the opportunity to learn a new jutsu more than made up for it.

"I'll be teaching you two techniques; the Water Bullet and the Water Whip." Naruto wore an ear to ear grin hearing that he would be learning two techniques.

"Let's get started!"

A/N: I know things are out of order from canon such as him learning elemental manipulation so early, but I always felt it was stupid how limited Naruto was in terms of jutsu; with his chakra reserves, he should be a ninjutsu powerhouse. And yet, for most of the series, he was restricted to only using shadow clones and rasengan; and even after that, his other techniques are pretty much all just different rasengan variants.

Anyway, thanks for reading.