"How long will you be staying in the village before your next mission?" I ask Naruto as we walk through the village together while holding each other's hands. 

"Actually, I'm all done with my missions, so I'm free whenever! What about you? Are you busy today?" Naruto asks. 

"Just training. It's still something I have to get use to with the hand signs and building up chakra. I usually do the jutsu's without a problem." I bring my hand up to my face. "When I was a demon, I had all the chakra in the world and I didn't have to worry about limiting my chakra. Now, I have all these limitations and I have to do everything by scratch, as if I'm starting as a genin." 

"I get it. You're use to your old habits and to you that was the easy way, right?" 

"That's right." I look at Naruto and nod. "But Kakashi tells me that I'm at Chunin level." 

"You're human now, so things are going to be different. With your strength, you'll catch up in no time!" 

"Thank you, Darling." I smile at him. "Oh, I almost forgot. How are you and Kurama? The 9 tails." 

"Him? We're doing okay with our training. Which reminds me. Have you felt anything during the past year? I mean, you are his host too, you know. Has he said anything to you?" 

"I haven't really thought about that. But, now that you mention it, I haven't had any contact with Kurama since the war. And I ripped his seal off when I was fighting Obito, and used his chakra when I was facing Kaguya. After that, it went quiet." 

"Really? Wanna test it out?" 

"How?" Suddenly, Naruto smirks and tugs me along with him into an alley. I blink with confusion about his action. "Darling? What are you doing?" I ask him and he leans his body close to mine. 

"Don't move." He smirks again and gently presses his forehead against mine. I feel him connecting the 9 tails chakra with mine, and before I knew it, the two of us were in a realm with Kurama out in the open. Because Naruto tamed him, he's out of his cage "Yo, Kurama!" Naruto waves to him. 

Kurama looks at me and smirks. "It's been a long time, Akina Otsutsuki. You've changed a lot." 

"You haven't changed a bit." I remark. 

"This is the first time seeing you besides Naruto. Did you forget that you are my host?" 

"It hasn't crossed my mind. Your chakra isn't visible to me nor can I sense it like I would usually do. Also, I had no idea how to contact you. I'm new to all of this. But, it's good to see you again. How are you?" 

"Rather than tagging along with Naruto, I've been fine. It looks like your demon days are behind you and you are now living your dream, being human. Congratulations." 

"Thank you, Kurama." I lightly smile at him. "How come I wasn't able to contact you? You said I was your host and I could have connected with you sooner." 

"Because you have not yet mastered my chakra. When you were a demon, you didn't have much to do because you were too powerful. You instantly connected with me once you took my chakra. But now that you're human, your chakra is limited like a normal human being. So now," Kurama smirks again, "It's your turn to take me on." 

"I have to tame you like Darling did? He fought with you?" I question. 

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy. But, I had a little help." Naruto rubs the back of his neck and had the other hand on his hip. So I have more training to do. I find it hard to believe humans trained this much. 

"I see." I sigh. "So, I have to fight you and tame you for me to be in the same boat as Darling." 

"Pretty much." Naruto nods. "But, you have to be careful. Kurama is strong and his chakra can easily consume you because of it's hatred." 

"I'm standing right here, you brat!" Kurama yells at Naruto, causing him to flinch, and looks back at me with a smirk. "When you're ready to take me on, Akina, just keep in mind that I won't be going easy on you." 

"I look forward to it." I smirk. Having said that, Naruto breaks the connection. We pull away from each other with our faces red because our bodies were close. 

I have to fight Kurama and have to tame him somehow. I am still his host, but I don't have control over him like Naruto does. I'm still in training. I don't think I can take him on just yet. 

"Are you okay, Akina?" Naruto asks me, noticing my silence. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answer. "I was just thinking about how I can defeat Kurama and tame him like you do. I'm still in training, so it's going to be a while for me to take him on." 

"If you want, I can help you." 

"As in, fight Kurama with me?" 

"No, I mean train you." Naruto smiles. "Me training you will be your training session for the day! What do you think?" 

"You will train me? Really?" I take a step forward to him with a little excitement in my voice. 

"Sure! Why not?!" 

"Darling, you're the best!" I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tightly as I giggle. Naruto laughs and hugs me back while holding my weight. 

That afternoon, Naruto and I went to the training grounds to train. We're basically going to fight with each other. This is the first time fighting with Naruto while I'm human. 

Ritsu hasn't came to get me yet, so this is the perfect time for me to see how much Naruto has developed. "Are you ready, Akina? Let's see how much you've learned." 

"Ready, Darling!" I nod. We both get into a fighting stance and smirk at each other. "Ready," I start off. 

"Set," Naruto continued. 

"Go!" We both shout and run at each other. We started off with taijutsu and our strengths matched equally. His punches and kicks were fast and his reflexes were on point. 

We couldn't aim a punch or a kick to each other because we blocked each other's attacks. So, we moved onto our weapons. I take out my sword as Naruto takes out a kunai. We clashed every time we got close to each other.

Naruto and I were equally matched for each other. It was almost like we knew what attack we were going to throw next. "Your speed is still the same. Fast as ever!" Naruto compliments. 

"And you have gotten faster!" I smirk and jump back, then perform a hand sign. "Dark Art: Triplicate!" 3 clones of me, covered in shadows with glowing purple eyes, phase out of my body and run at Naruto. 

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto performs the same technique. He knows my clones are fake because I am the only one who doesn't have a shadow covering my body nor are my eyes glowing. So for me, it's hard for me to tell which one is the real Naruto. 

My clones attack his and the one, which I'm assuming is the real one, runs at me. This time, I perform another jutsu. "Dark Style: Shadow Wave!" I throw up black water and it drowns everyone. 

I no longer have the same effect as my clones now that I'm human. Now, my clones disappear into a black mist whenever they are hit, like a shadow clone. 

'Did I get him?' I ask myself as I'm sitting on a tree branch. My clones have disappeared, but Naruto's clones are struggling in the sticky water. 'Where's the 3rd one?' 

I feel a strong presence coming from behind me. I turn around and see Naruto with a giant rasengan in his palm. "Rasengan!" He shouts and I quickly perform my own rasengan. 

"Dark Rasen!" A dark and purple rasengan forms in my palm, and I jump at Naruto. When our jutsu's clashed, it caused a very strong wind that blew the leaves off the trees and branches. It also caused a few birds to fly away. 

We both stand up and look at our surroundings, then look at each other and laugh. "That was great, Akina!" Naruto gives me a thumbs up. 

"You too, Darling!" I compliment back with a smile. 

"If you keep this up, you'll beat Kurama for sure!" 

"You think so?" 

"You bet!" Naruto smiles and walks over to me, and holds my hand. "I know you can do it, and I'll be right beside you. I promise." 

I smile again and squeeze his hand, and reply, "I know you will, Darling..." 

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