Still the Flashback, Naruto's POV, about 4:30 A.M.

After falling asleep in each other's arms, Yorokobi and I were awoken abruptly by the blaring of Kurama's air horn as he yelled commands into our ears as loud as he possibly could.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! IT'S A NEW DAY WHICH MEANS WE HAVE 45 MORE MILES TO COVER! IF WE'RE LUCKY WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET TO JIRAYA'S AROUND NOON TOMORROW BUT WITH YOU SQUISHY CUPCAKES LOAFING AROUND LIKE THIS WE WON'T BE THERE TILL MID-DECEMBER! GET UP! GET! UP! ONE TWO ONE TWO! TWO FOUR SIX EIGHT! I'LL KICK YOUR BUTTS IF WE ARE LATE!"

"Alright, Kura, jeeeeez. Ya don't have to be so rude about it." I mumble. 

"I'LL BE RUDE IF I PLEASE BOY I AM YOUR GUARDIAN AND I--" Kurama is cut off as Yorokobi hits him with a shoe. Where does she get them? 

"KURAMA IF YOU ARE NOT OUT OF OUR PERSONAL BUBBLE AND DEAD QUIET IN 2.76 SECONDS I WILL DROP KICK YOU TO IWA! IT IS 4:30 IN THE GOSH-DANG MORNING! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH YOU STUPID FOX? LET. US. SLEEEEEEEPP!" Yorokobi bellows. Kurama retreats as he is almost blown away by the sheer volume of the roar. Thank goodness she's yelling away from my ear and not towards it, because my ears would be bleeding.

"Thanks Yoro-chan." I whisper.

"Don't mention it Naru." She replies and snuggles deeper into my chest. We fall back asleep. We wake up at a comfortable 7:30. 

"Alright, Kurama now we can go." Yoro says with a yawn. 

"Thanks for your permission your highness." Kurama says flatly. They are at each other's necks today. We take down camp and hit the road.

"As I said before I was rudely interrupted, we have 45 miles to cover today so we have to move fast." 

"But everything I have on is weighted! How am I supposed to move fast with all this heavy crap?" I complain.

"I'll tell ya how. You suck it up, maggot." Kurama replies. I swear he may as well be a drill sergeant. I pick up the speed with a grunt. It's gonna be a loooooong day. 

Yorokobi isn't a ninja, so jumping from tree branch to tree branch is quite difficult for her at first, but after an hour or so she's jumping alongside Kurama and I quite easily. Everything goes smoothly until I feel a sudden weight on my chest, and I fall all the way to the ground. 

"Ah! What was that?" I yell.

"It was getting too easy for you, so I added more weight!" Kurama replies.

"Why would you do that to my Naru-kun!?" Kobi-hime screeches as she hits him with a shoe from her bottomless pit of shoes. 

"Haha! Yes Yoro-hime! Avenge me!" I cheer. She hits him with two more shoes. "Get destroyed Kura!" I yell. We get moving again. It's about 4 by now and we have about 15 miles to go. I know, however, that it's only a matter of time though before the ROOT ANBU find us again, and shoes won't be enough to fight them off. I am not going to lose Yoro. 

--------------------------small timeskip to about 9---------------------------------------------------

We finally make it to our camping site after much horsing around and with probably 20 more pounds on my weighted vest. It's dark by this time. We are about 30 miles from The Land of Waves. We plan to leave early, about 5, and Yoro has promised not to get angry again. After a delectable dinner of cup ramen, we hit decide to retire due to the early start tomorrow.

"Okay Yoro, here is your tent. No way I'm letting you two in the same tent tonight, even if your intentions are innocent." Kura says.

"You're not my dad, Kurama!" I say to him.

"That's not true Naruto, I'm basically both of your parents." He replies.

"Not fair!" Yoro whines. 

"It is too fair. You are both too young to be sharing tents." Kura says.

"Alright Kura.. we weren't gonna do anything naughty anyway." I say dejectedly. 

"Hmph." 

We go to bed, Kura and I in one tent, with Yoro in another close by.

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I wake with a start as I hear the rip of canvas. I run outside and see a squad of ROOT taking off with my Yoro-hime. Kurama rushes out right after me.

"That was a low tactic. They knew I was with you, so they went for Yorokobi to draw you out." He growls. I'm too angry to listen, though. Those ROOT will be dead before sunrise.

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It has been a long while! Man I feel bad for hangin yall out to dry like that. I forgot about the story for a while, but I'm back now and I'm hoping to update every week or two. Man, I've missed this.

Sorry if I'm rusty, 

Natsu8Hokage