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Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Also this story is a lemon fiction therefore is intended for people of a legal age from wherever they come from. So if these type of stories offend then stop reading now. Thanks.


Eroninja: Little Black Book


Chapter 2: The Women of Kanji’s Harem


Events take place just before and after Chapter 61: Grand Opening


Kin looked at the book that she had compiled of the women whom she had researched in the aftermath of the raid on Kanji’s compound. Tsunade had asked her for a final threat assessment of the women that had been a part of Kanji’s harem. In total Kanji had managed to kidnap and/or enslave close to sixty women. Most of those women had simply been taken based solely on looks and had fortunately been reunited with their families and loved ones.


The reason for the threat assessment though was that some of the women were dangerous, and whereas most had been civilians who had no idea how Kanji had controlled them. A few might have developed an idea or had come to learn the truth, which could put Naruto and his lovers at risk. Fortunately, the majority of the women she had looked into did not have a clue as to the truth of what had bound them to Kanji as he had been relatively secretive with that knowledge. But there had been one at least that had helped abduct some of the women and had often watched Kanji despoil his captives binding them to him. She had been present when Naruto had appeared in Kanji’s compound to rescue Tayuya. At the moment, it appeared that she had yet to share her knowledge and had dropped off the Earth completely, but Kin decided to delve into her last since she was likely the biggest threat.


The other reason Tsunade had requested it was because some of the women were skilled warriors and after suffering as they had, might become threats to the world at large. Looking at the list she put together she was about to start going into detail but stopped as her partner said, “Oh wow, we are going to look too cute as servers.”


Kin turned towards a just showered Rin. Wearing only a towel, Rin held up the black business cut cocktail dress that they were to wear during the opening ceremony of the Whirling Tides Manor. “You seem awfully excited for a night of serving lords and such drinks.”


Rin smiled as she said, “I guess I’m just catching the excitement you can feel in the village. Remember, this night isn’t just for the privileged. Since almost the entire village are part owners, because they helped supply the extra revenue needed. They’ll also be attending, and have been celebrating all day.”


“Plus it will give us a chance to get close to a few of the Daimyo that Naruto may need to seduce in the future,” Kin said mission oriented.


Her tone caused Rin to pout before saying, “You’re no fun. All you do is think about work.”


Kin let a serious look appear on her face for a moment, before letting it fade in favor of lustful grin as she replied, “Work hard…”


“…Play hard,” Rin finished for her before adding, “We’re going to have to have Naruto reward his two sexy scouts.”


The dark haired former Sound-nin nodded before stating, “That goes without saying. But first it turns out that Tsunade is going to be attending so I need to finish this report. Thanks to that tip you dug up, we finally have located one of the missing women. I think she’s going to want to investigate that one herself.”


Rin nodded as Kin turned back to her threat assessment so pulled her towel off to get ready for what was sure to be a busy night, and then a very enjoyable afterparty.

****************************

Kin closed her eyes for a moment to compose her thoughts before taking up her pen to write.


Tsunade as you’ve suggested I’ve revisited some the women that I’ve previously visited as well as to gather more information on how they ended up with Kanji. To begin, I suppose I should start with the women I consider to pose no to minor threat to get them out of the way. The first would be Milia Rage. It was a false name obviously, but was the one she was given by an unknown Organization when she was just a child. This group specialized in turning children into into lethal human weapons. I tried to find out more, but this group as I’ve previously reported is extremely secretive. The purpose of it seems to be to conduct research into how to create human weapons in the same mold as Jinchuriki. I suspect that it might be linked to a Hidden Village of some kind or other powerful group as Rin and my questions nearly made us targets. Luckily we escaped before they located us, although granted it wasn’t like they actually made a move but sent a couple of low rent thugs. However, it is my opinion that this is to make us underestimate them or dismiss them as anything but a common criminal group with delusions of grandeur. Yet, I have little doubt that this group that I’ve simply dubbed the Organization will pose a threat in the future. Despite the consensus being that they do not exist, however for the duration of my report I’m going to act as if they do.


Sadly though the reason Milia does not pose a threat is because she is dead. She had originally been tasked with killing Kanji, and much like Tayuya tried to, staged an assault on his compound. This information I learned came from when I looked for information on another woman on the list as the client was the current Daimyo of Hot Water Country, who also serves as the head of Yugakure. Since Kanji and he had researched the scroll together, he was angered by Kanji’s betrayal, regardless of the fact that he intended to turn on his partner as well. He didn’t want Kanji to complete his research so hired the Organization to eliminate him.


After Milia’s capture the Organization was furious since they believed the Daimyo had not divulged all the relevant information. He didn’t, for obvious reasons, but they didn’t kill him as they rely on his information network far too much to remove him from power.


Although I can’t be sure, I can only guess why the Organization didn’t make any further attempts on Kanji. The first is that once Kanji gained control of her, he obviously learned a great deal of their secrets which he used to blackmail them into leaving him alone. The second is that having lost one agent, they deemed the Daimyo enough of a untrustworthy client that they decided making a second attempt would be foolish so cut their losses.


When we eliminated Kanji though, they quickly moved to eliminate their agent who refused to go back. They achieved this by using an unaware pawn, a young man that became smitten with her, who lived in the village she was hiding out in. They brainwashed him and turned him into an assassin. I believe Milia could have stopped him, but refused to kill an innocent. The young man regained control of himself after the deed was done. He would later take his own life as well.


*****************************

Kin paused to think about the group she had mentioned further. The Organization was truly something that spooked her. The reason was that even she was beginning to second-guess herself about if they actually existed. Rin and she had passed their information about the group onto Tsunade after they had discovered Milia’s fate. But despite the Hokage’s best efforts she had been unable to uncover anything more than they had. Even the Hot-Water Daimyo barely knew much about who he was dealing with. At present, the consensus was that Milia was perhaps a kunoichi of a minor village that valued its secrecy. Much like the Lock Village in the Land of Keys, who would exile young future Shinobi so they couldn’t give the slightest clue about their home. Therefore most treated the rumors of men in black and children being bought or stolen that Rin and she had uncovered was just a smoke screen to send investigators on a wild goose chase.


Tsunade hadn’t dismissed the possibility of such an organization existing, after all their own activities to bring the Shinobi world closer could in time also one day be subject to similar rumors for her to just dismiss them. But, with everything else on the Harem’s plate Kin could understand why it wasn’t at the top of anyone’s priority list to uncover the truth. Still, Kin didn’t want to forget about them either which was why she had included Milia in her threat report despite her sad fate.


*****************************


Deciding to go with a few happier stories next she began to write.


The next woman is the one I personally fought against during the raid on the compound. It turns out her name was Yuri Sakazaki. Her family ran a relatively well known Dojo in Tea Country. She had been kidnapped by a gang intending to sell her. The gang was for the most part decimated by her brother and his friend. But, they had managed to offload her to another group before they could rescue her. She was then in turn sold to another group before ending up in a slavers market called the Bazaar where Kanji purchased her.


Despite what she has suffered it truly appears that she has recovered thanks in part to her family. She doesn’t appear to know anything of value about how Kanji controlled her. She seemed to believe it was so sort of hypnotic suggest that had been given to her while still under the influence of the drugs she had been given. I believe that was when Kanji took her, and appears to be the first time he didn’t wait for the drugs to wear off since she seemed to have no memory of the event. From what Anko was able to uncover from the journals she recovered, he wasn’t all that attracted to her, but had purchased her to begin training up his other captives as his more powerful slaves were too disobedient and under far stricter controls for the task. That appears to be why he didn’t wait for the drugs to wear off as the sick fuck usually always wanted to see the look in their eyes when he took them. She had also been one of the last to be added which is why she didn’t suffer as much abuse as some of the others. From what he learned from her though Kanji began to purchase large amounts of the drugs the slavers used likely to begin increasing his forces and adding less resistant women.


Although she doesn’t appear to pose any threat, there is a slight risk she knows more than she is letting on. She has recently moved to the Hot-Spring Village, she claims it is to fulfil her dream of starting her own dojo figuring she could offer self-defense lessons to some of the rich clients the village sees. But, considering that it was the home village of Kanji, it likely isn’t a coincidence. I’ll probably break off from Rin for a while to check-up on her after tonight.


The next two women were one of the first ones whom I sent back information on. Leona Heidern and Whip are part of a mercenary group that operate primarily out of the jungles in Southern Tea Country. They have returned to their group where Leona is the adopted daughter of its founder a man named Heidern. His decedents were some of the unaligned shinobi that refused to join any of the shinobi villages during the founding of Konoha and the others preferring to remain unaligned rather than serve the Daimyo of a particular country. They tend to also take more long term missions then most shinobi villages tend to accept as a result, but it is the jungles of Tea Country that they consider home having been driven there in order to escape the purges that many unaligned shinobi experienced in the Land of Lightning and Land of Earth when clans refused to conform to the new system that started over a hundred years ago.


Leona and Whip were abducted when while stationed in the Country of This, serving to bolster its forces, it was destroyed by Sasori of the Red Sand. They had survived the assault of the Performance of a Hundred Puppets jutsu as did a few of their fellow mercenaries, samurai, and villagers. However, while trying to reestablish order most of the remaining people were killed or taken prisoner by the bandits that descended on the country to loot it. The prisoners were then sold to a group of slavers associated with the people that run the Bazaar. By revisiting some of these cases I’ve been able to determine that the Bazaar is where Kanji purchased a fair number of his slaves. It makes sense as it would allow him to remain relatively unknown while amassing slaves for his collection as some of his writings that I’ve seen to help me with my research detail. Furthermore, rumors state that quite a few powerful people have been known to frequent the Bazaar when it has been held.


I haven’t been able to uncover a guest list or anything of that nature not that it would help since I’m of the opinion that most use intermediaries. Kanji did personally attend, but posed as an assistant there to bid on slaves as a proxy for one of his false identities. There hasn’t been a Bazaar recently primarily due to our group’s destruction of the Southern Wolves. Although they were just one of the groups feeding slaves to it, Iwa took the opportunity to purge a great many of the other ones operating in the Land of Earth’s borders much to the anger of the Earth Daimyo, who rumor had it was a frequent guest at the Bazaar. This might explain why although the locations where they are held often changed, a great deal of the Bazaar’s events were held in the Land of Earth.


Rin and I are keeping our ears open for any word of a new event being held as I believe it would be worth investigating and shutting them down permanently. It has occurred to me if there are any more people with Naruto’s abilities they might avail themselves of the Bazaar as well in order to avoid attracting attention to themselves. The story contained in our Scroll did seem to suggest the possibility other versions may be out there which can teach the Binding.


Getting back to the women though, after Kanji’s death Leona and Whip returned to the main base in Tea Country. Leona’s father had searched endlessly for them, but when no sign of them turned up had been forced to assume their remains where one of the ones lost in the fires started by the looters. They shared their stories and as mentioned thanks to their family-like group, have overcome their hardships, but I believe Leona’s father is just as keen to destroy the Bazaar as I believe we would be. His own information sources have been scouring for any evidence of when and where a new event will be held. I do not believe either woman has a true understanding of how they were controlled; they were taken against their will so Kanji needed to use a lot of commands using the Binding to force them to obey him. To their way of thinking it was akin to a long term Yamanaka Mind Body Disturbance Technique forcing them to obey his commands. They do not appear to have any direct knowledge of the Binding or idea of who rescued them.


****************************

Kin paused in her writing for a moment smiling as Rin hummed to herself while putting on her uniform. She turned towards the Konoha medic as the kunoichi asked, “What do you think, panties or no panties?”


Kin was treated to the sight of Rin sitting on the bed that they were sharing in the temporary staff section of the Whirling Tides manor dressed in her outfit, but with her legs parted enough to see that at present she was definitely leaning towards not wearing underwear. However, despite finding her mouth watering from the sight of Rin’s smoothly shaved slit responded, “Definitely panties. Some of the guests are bound to be lecherous and powerful men, and these skirts are pretty short. You don’t want to flash the wrong guy and give him the wrong idea. They’ll be plenty of time later to lose them.”


Rin giggled as she said, “But what if I want to flash the right guy and give him the right idea?”


Kin shook her head in amusement as she replied, “Well considering how wet you look already just thinking about it, I’m sure he’ll be able to tell if you ask him to take a look.”


“Good point,” Rin said turning her backside to her scouting partner causing the skirt to ride up showing more of her smooth mound off, “I better wear black underwear to match the dress and to hide any spots that might appear.”


Kin turned back to her report making a mental note to follow suit, as while she was playing it pretty calm, she wasn’t much better off in the wetness department and was sure to get worse when around her lover. Returning to her task she wrote.


*****************************


The following women could be considered mid-level threats but this is mainly due to the fact that for the most part their movements, knowledge, or motivations still remain somewhat of a mystery. I do not believe them to be overly dangerous to us, but unfortunately they have done an excellent job of disappearing or their locations prevent further investigation at the moment.


The first is Xiao Lon the woman that fought against Shizune during the raid and who is the illegitimate daughter of the leader of the Hizoku clan, which is one of the Clans of Iwa. She fell under Kanji’s sway apparently when Iwa attempted to tie up loose ends about how they distracted the Daimyo of the Land of Noodles from his combating their efforts to undermine his leadership. She managed to track him back to his compound, but ended up being captured by his other guards. It seems she was incapable of harming the innocent women she encountered which led to her defeat. Unfortunately, I have not been able to ascertain much about her current status. She has returned to her clan, and I’m guessing has resumed her duties. However, at present she remains an unknown. Based on Iwa’s actions though in the aftermath of Kanji’s death I do not believe she was aware of the truth of her situation while under his control. It might be prudent to look in on her when Naruto’s ambition reaches into Iwagakure. But otherwise I do not foresee her being much of a threat in revealing the existence of the Binding or to the world at large.


The next woman worth a brief mention is simply named Shermie. She quickly disappeared after Kanji’s death so there is not much to report. From what I’ve gathered from Mabui, who says the name and description matches a missing-nin from Kumogakure, she was a powerful lightning user. Nothing is known about what drove her to become a missing-nin or to slaughter the team that she was with. As killings were done by lightning jutsu it was assumed she had been the culprit, but it is possible that she was perhaps already under Kanji’s control as she was known to be rather flirty. However, there is no evidence that Kanji ever traveled to Kumogakure, moreover it wouldn’t explain why he would believe his jutsu was ineffective against kunoichi as she disappeared before he approached Naruto. There were some strange writings found in her apartment during the investigation into her disappearance. It seemed to make mention of a cult of some sort, but that lead never developed into anything. But you told us to keep an eye out for that Cult called the Descendants of the Moon so there might be a link in regards to her going rogue. But as to her current whereabouts or knowledge I cannot say. As such I would say she could be considered a potential threat which we may encounter in the future.


The Blond woman that attacked Hinata is named Saya, which we know from Kanji’s journals. I would put her threat to us at somewhere between low to slight. The primary reason for the elevated threat status is due to where she ended up, which is a small island relatively near the Land of Water. I tried to book passage to it, but was rebuffed. The reason is due to it being the home of Nadeshiko Village. From what I could learn from my research not much is known about it other than the fact that it is apparently a village comprised entirely of women. It would be something to be worried about if Saya knew about the binding as I’m sure you can imagine how thrilled they would be to learn of such a jutsu. The island has been relatively quiet at the moment, but that fact seems to have the locals rather nervous. According to them, the women of the village had recently kicked out all outsiders including the few approved traders that they worked with in the past. The locals believe this means that they are preparing for a Mate Hunt, which is much as it sounds, and basically consists of a bunch of women leaving the island in search of men. The reason this concerns the locals is this seems to be a break from their typical tradition of challenging potential lovers and if defeated marrying the man. In this case, they literally hunt down such men to bring them back to the village. What happens there no one knows as the men captured are never heard from again. For the time being there isn’t much more we can learn about her, but considering we don’t have a bunch of enraged kunoichi looking to kill men capable of using the Binding I think it is relatively safe to assume she doesn’t know of it.


Moving on, Suiren was the woman who Haku faced during the raid. We only know that she was returned home along with the other women we were able to drop off near Rain. Since much of the Land of Water is still an informational void, we haven’t been able to uncover anything of what she had been up to since. This isn’t likely to change unless tonight proves to be the success that Karin is hoping for. I know she hopes to use tonight’s audience with the Wave Daimyo to purchase the now defunct Gato Shipping Company and its left over assets. After it went out of business, the Daimyo of Wave seized the headquarters located at the port Gato built in his country and has been standing idle since. Karin believes tonight to be the start of the next phase of her plan which is to purchase the Company and its assets to begin competing with companies that ship to the water locked countries. It should also help the land side of the business since with a fleet of ships, according to Karin, our imports prices from those island countries would also drop drastically as well. Provided things go according to plan we should be able to get some information on her in the future.



*****************************


“You better hurry up,” Rin said fully dressed and giving herself one last look in the mirror, “we need to meet with Tsunami to receive our final instructions for the evening.”


“I’m almost done,” Kin said running through a quick list of what she needed to do to get ready for the evening. “If you want to head off first I’ll be right behind you.”


“Is that a polite way of saying to leave you alone so you can finish?” Rin asked with an amused giggle before heading for the door.


Kin laughed as she replied, “Well it might let me concentrate.”


Rin stuck out her tongue as she exited the room, causing her partner to shake her head at the medic’s playful nature. Turning back to finish the report, she began to concentrate on the women that caused her the most concern.


****************************


The next three are perhaps of the greatest concern although the first on the list would not be a direct threat to us so much as the world at large. The ironic thing is that truthfully her being under Kanji’s control might have been keeping her in check. That woman is Baiken. She is a vagabond that sells her sword to the highest bidder, which is how it is believed she ended up in Kanji’s employ at least before he managed to bind her. Since her release though, her rampages have become almost legendary often slaughtering indiscriminately. She seems to take jobs that would put her into conflict with Iwagakure, or Amegakure in particular, but for what reason I cannot say as her past isn’t exactly an open book. I do know that the injured eye and missing arm were injuries that seem to be from a trauma that she experienced before becoming a sellsword. It might be tied to her apparent hatred for the Shinobi of Iwa and Ame, but as far as I know those two countries never worked together in the past. So either each village wronged her separately or there is a connection that I’m just not seeing.


I do not believe she is a threat to our ambition due to any special knowledge that she might have, although one of the three present in Kanji throne room when Tayuya was captured, but seeing as she is little more than a paid killer with no close associates and an axe to grind with Amegakure it is likely she might target its current leader at some point. Not to mention any Iwa shinobi that Naruto eventually brings over to his side. Or just anyone that crosses her path on a bad day really from some of the stories I’ve heard. Plus, considering that she fought Yoruichi almost to a standstill I would say she is quite powerful as well. She has gone to ground recently so I can’t say that doesn’t fill me with a certain amount of dread.


The next woman that could be considered an extreme threat due to her knowledge was the Anbu Kunoichi from Yugakure by the name of Taki. As I previously mentioned my looking into her whereabouts resulted in learning more about Milia as well as the Organization. Taki was present for Naruto’s appearance in Kanji’s compound as well as was there for much of Kanji’s trial and error at making slaves that didn’t need massive controls to do his bidding. Plus, she does have direct knowledge of the Binding and knows that Naruto has multiple lovers attached to him. That this knowledge hasn’t been used by the Daimyo of Hot-Water Country against us means she never reported it to him. I can think of several reasons why that is. I’ll detail those in a moment, the reason her threat level is so high is due to her disappearing shortly after returning to her village. In truth, although I suspect that she returned, the rest of the village was under the impression that she had never returned from the long-term mission that The Daimyo of Hot-Water sent her on, which consisted of killing Kanji.


This does leave me to the conclusion that she might be dead, since I doubt the Daimyo wants it known that his weaker technique The Enticement Touch, which he has taught his kunoichi and shinobi to fleece the secrets from the influential guests of Yugakure, is derived from the much stronger Temptation’s Touch. Not to mention both jutsu connection to The Binding of which she was Kanji’s first unwilling victim. Up until that point, he had actually made an effort to seduce some of the women he had taken. His success rate was pretty good to be honest although slow and he avoided kunoichi. But, from what he learned from raping Taki, he began to forcibly take women, which was when he gathered all of the above. This is about the time that he also began to buy women from the various Bazaar events that were held as he figured getting them to lower their guard no longer mattered. Still, he quickly learned that having a bunch of powerful women that wouldn’t act on their own and were constantly searching for ways to circumvent the controls placed on them wasn’t exactly a winning solution either.


Taki could be an extreme threat since her silence and disappearance doesn’t necessarily mean her knowledge can’t be used against us. There are several scenarios that I see having played out which can explain both. The first is that she returned to her village and was killed as a result of what she might know. I doubt she shared anything with the Daimyo as having been a victim of the Binding she likely didn’t want to see it fall into his hands. As such she wouldn’t tell him of Naruto either since he is the only one currently that knows it, and could pass the knowledge on. It might also be because she recognized that Naruto does care for us, but to be honest I doubt that. I think she would view the Binding as being too dangerous and would try to eliminate a user of it if possible. Therefore her being dead might be the best case scenario for us.


The next scenario is that the Daimyo is aware she might know more then she told so has stashed her somewhere secure until she decides to talk. I believe torture would likely be used, but she probably wouldn’t break, again since her knowledge hasn’t been used against us, at which point the Daimyo would likely consider her too valuable to kill, but wouldn’t exactly want her lying around Hot-Water Country. I unfortunately have been unable to pick-up any clue as to where she went after returning so wherever he stashed her it must be pretty secure.


The last scenario is perhaps that the trail I picked up was similar to that of a wounded animal returning to its territory, but she never actually returned to her village. Being aware of the connection between the Daimyo and Kanji, she must have known going back could be a mistake. She might have created the trail to fool any people like me looking into her. The reason she would head back was to return to the territory that she probably knew like the back of her hand, and once there take the steps necessary to erase herself completely. Naturally if that is the case then it means there is a woman out there with knowledge of our existence, so she might be keeping tabs on us. Our own security precautions are pretty good so I would like to believe we would detect any such person, but it is possible one or more of us are under surveillance without realizing it. Since she knew of Tayuya, I made her aware of the potential threat. She mentioned a woman that has been hired as the Head of Security for the Studio Koyuki works for. She seems pretty certain that she isn’t Taki, as she has detected no signs of her using a henge and her figure isn’t an exact match, but she thinks the woman has been just a little too curious about her activities.


I find that last scenario to be the least likely. I think Taki aware of the Daimyo’s connection to Kanji would try to placate him that he was dead, but remained ignorant of the truth. Whether or not he bought the act, or simply considered her to be a loose end to be tidied up is impossible to say at present. But I don’t think she would have wanted to leave her home in the Daimyo’s care so would have tried to remain close to eventually bring him down so can’t see her abandoning it. Although most of the currently quasi-shinobi and kunoichi of Yugakure seemed to have abandoned their pride, there seems to be a few core members left that miss the old days and were loyal to the previous head. Taki was definitely one of these, so I cannot see her not trying to restore it to how it was with the knowledge she gained.


But at present her whereabouts are unknown and that alone makes her a threat to us. However, as mentioned it might be a threat that has already been taken care of. Considering the length of time, I doubt even if she is imprisoned somewhere that she’ll talk as that would be the only thing keeping her alive and I’m sure she would be aware of that fact.


That brings me to the most dangerous woman on the list, Momo Hinamori. This former priestess was truly and fanatically loyal to Kanji, and also is one that has eluded all of our best efforts to find her. Furthermore, she possesses more than enough evidence to put together at least a working theory about us. Also, she saw the seal under Tayuya’s foxmark so knows Naruto’s name and although they never interacted face to face, we can’t assume Kanji didn’t share some details about the man he wanted to turn into his apprentice. We also know that Momo was his favored slave simply because she did so passionately serve him and so it is safe to believe she would be made aware of more of his plots as well.


Kiyomi killing Kanji in front of her has likely created an extremely dangerous individual no doubt consumed with a desire for revenge on those that killed her savior as she viewed him. This might have been one case where Kiyomi’s being merciful might not have been a wise decision. Of course hindsight is twenty-twenty and Kiyomi unaware of her story likely believed Momo would come to her senses. That she has so completely disappeared is a worrisome sign, although I do not believe she would talk as in a sense our secrets are Kanji’s as well. But, I do believe she is out there plotting and that is definitely a reason for concern.


*****************************


Kin looked at her report checking it over when a knock at the door caused her to turn. To her surprise Rin stepped back in causing her ask, “Did you forget something?”


The kunoichi smiled for a moment, before bursting into a cloud of smoke which revealed Tsunade, who Kin had sensed checking her foxmark when the henge had ended. The woman was dressed in her Hokage robes as she was attending the opening as an official invite of the Great Tree Shipping Company since Karin hoped her presence would have led further credence to the notion that the company she ran was vastly different from Gato’s. Kin knew for a fact that Tsunade would have vastly preferred to be wearing an evening gown and appearing at the function on Naruto’s arm. But that was a spot reserved for Ayame; although she was sure Sakura would be occupying it as well.


“Hey, don’t tell me you are in that much of a rush for my report.”


Tsunade shook her head, before replying, “No. I am curious but the reason for my visit is that I wanted to inform you that once Naruto’s stay at the hotel is over he’ll be heading into the Land of Rice Paddies. His official reason for going is to guide a woman in search of her missing family, while his true mission is to attempt to curtail the bandit activity that has begun to disrupt trade to the north in the aftermath of Orochimaru’s death.”


Kin felt some excitement at Tsunade’s words, but put it aside in favor of commenting, “It’s not a surprise the Land of Rice Paddies has exploded with bandits. Orochimaru wasn’t good for much, but he kept things orderly and no one cared what happened to bandits so a lot of them ended up as subjects for his experiments.”


Tsunade agreed adding, “Unfortunately with him dead and Sasuke setting those prisoners free so Karin would follow him, a lot of those prisoners set up shop in Rice Paddy Country as the country was in shambles. The Fuma Clan has tried to stop the bandits but sadly they are vastly outnumbered, and the Daimyo would seem to prefer using his money to maintain a somewhat lavish lifestyle.”


“Hence why you need a reason to send Naruto north,” Kin said seeing where Tsunade was going. Despite her excitement at the idea she said pensively, “My sister and I didn’t exactly part on good terms. I doubt she wants to see me again.”


Tsunade placed a comforting hand on the dark-haired girl’s shoulder before stating, “Don’t be so sure. Besides Naruto was the one that suggested you. I think he knows you would like to at least try, but would also like someone there in case things go as you fear.”


Kin nodded before standing and saying, “Well I need to get ready for tonight. The report is on the desk, and there is a folded envelope in my book on Kanji’s women. That’s the location of the woman you were interested in seeing again. I think she would appreciate you being the one to look in on here.”


*****************************


“Mommy look,” a young girl said while running towards a woman with white hair standing on the porch of her home held a rabbit that she had caught. She tripped causing the animal to leap free as she fell forward and hit the ground.


The woman moved as quickly as she could with her swollen stomach, squatting down to help the girl up she said, “You really must learn to look where you are going. If you really want to be a kunoichi you can’t be tripping all over the place. Now go get cleaned up for dinner.”


“But mommy, you said you’d teach me how to use chakra today.”


“I’m sorry baby but the doctor said I need to take it easy. It’ll have to wait until after your sister r is born.”


“You promise!”


“I promise.”


The girl grew nervous as she asked, “You aren’t going to disappear like after I was born are you?”


“I’m not…” the woman began to assure her daughter, but all color drained from her face as she noticed a blonde woman standing at the edge of the property she shared with her husband. “Baby, go inside with your father.”


“But…”


“Go, please!”


The child did what she was told as Karura stood slowly, mainly due to her nine-month pregnant belly. She heard footsteps approaching from inside the house and seeing the loving man that had found her and nursed her back to health after her attempt to destroy Leaf village about to step outside said,
“Stay in the house.”


“Kagu…” her husband said afraid to lose his wife once more.


“Please, I… we both knew this day might come.”


Kagura slowly walked towards the woman observing with a passive face giving nothing of what she was thinking away. Coming to a stop before her, Kagura said, “Tsunade, I suppose I should feel honored that you came for me yourself. I…I know you have every reason to deny it, but will you please hear my request.”


“Go on,” Tsunade said.


“Before you take me in for execution… please let me hold my baby with my husband and daughter.”


Tsunade looked up to see the man watching from the entryway to the home his daughter holding on to his leg. Recognizing the girl had the same colored hair as Kagura she said surprised, “You have a daughter!”


Tsunade couldn’t see any of the cold-hearted woman that she remembered in the former Anbu and current missing-nin standing before her as she answered, “Yes. She was conceived shortly after my…”


Kagura trailed off, and in her voice Tsunade could hear shame and guilt at what she had done, but keeping her voice dispassionate the Hokage said, “Tried to destroy the village, and force my apprentice to kill herself.”


Kagura hearing the emotional distance in Tsunade’s voice, nonetheless stated, “I’m no longer that woman Tsunade. I swear it. I’ve learned where I went wrong in life.” She looked back towards her family before turning back to state, “Please… once the baby is born I’ll turn myself in. Just give me a little more time… I’ve lost so much of it already.”


“You’re referring to your time as a slave of the man named Kanji correct?”


“W-what! How do you know about that?” Recalling the woman that called her name she suddenly said surprised, “You were there! I always figured the people that the women that attacked us belonged to the master of the woman that had tried to sneak into the compound. Kanji had us on guard when a bunch of women… Wait don’t tell you the same thing has happened…”


“Hardly,” Tsunade assured the woman, “Let’s just say that whatever my situation is, I’m participating of my own volition. Now, how did you find yourself a slave to Kanji?”


Kagura still felt a desire to scrub her skin clean from the many abuses she had suffered at Kanji’s hands. A part of her feared that despite her words, Tsunade now found herself in a similar situation. However, after years of seeing the face of miserable women being controlled by whatever power Kanji had mastered, the woman before her seemed more vibrant and alive then she ever remembered her being. Getting over her revulsion she explained, “The woman named Ikaruga that I killed tended to hunt missing-nin for cash before Kanji collected her as he liked to call it. I had just given birth to my daughter when Kanji passed through with that pink-haired bitch. She recognized me and informed him of who I was. I asked her why once and she told me that she had just wanted to destroy the happy life I have built for myself. Kanji sent her after me since he knew it wouldn’t be like I could go to anyone for help. I managed to beat her, but Kanji threatened my family… I gave myself to him to keep them safe.”


“Then you should stay here to make sure they are,” Tsunade said turning away.


“But… what… I don’t understand.”


“I simply had to confirm for myself that the threat to my home was over. The woman that sought to destroy it is no more.” Tsunade stopped before looking back and saying happily, “The woman before me would have made a fine apprentice.”


Kagura appeared noticeably touched by the words of the woman she once looked up to. She watched the Hokage walk down the road stopping by a fence upon which a young man with blond hair sat. The man leapt down and although they didn’t overtly show any affection towards each other. She noticed that as they walked side by side their fingers often brushed against each other. “Mommy, who was that?”


“That was the woman that all kunoichi looked up to,” Kagura said turning towards her daughter.


“Uh, uh mommy, because I look up to you,” her daughter said causing the once hardened woman to tear up as she knelt down and pulled her child into a hug. “Thank you,” Kagura said both to her daughter and the woman who was going to let her watch her family grow.