FicWad

Two days later

The day in Morris was quite uneventful for the most part. The most that some residents were preparing for was the journey to wipe out a small army of bandits that have banded together in retaliation to them wiping out entire bandit camps throughout the years. The new arrivals in the form of Miata, Clarice and Nina were being trained in the usage of chakra, the more experienced ones were still practicing chakra control, and was giving advice to the newcomers. And the Awakened Beings that arrived in Morris a few days prior, were now mingling with the locals, like the other hybrids and were getting themselves jobs to help out.

Though in one part of the citadel, shit was going down for a certain blond and two of his wives.

“YOU BASTARD!! YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!”

“AHH, PRISCILLA, YOU’RE CRUSHING MY HAND!”

“GOOD! FEEL MY PAIN A SECOND TIME!!!”

“SECOND, DON’T YOU MEAN THIRD!?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!”

To Naruto’s right, Cynthia gave him a violent jerk as she screeched, “DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH! HOW THE HELL COULD YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN?!”

“AGAIN!? OUCH! CYNTHIA YOU WANTED THIS!!”

“WHEN I SAID I WANTED SEVERAL MORE KIDS, I MEANT ONE AT A TIME, YOU FUCKER!!!”

“I CAN’T HELP HOW MANY CHILDREN YOU HAVE AT ONCE!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAH!” There was a loud crunch as Cynthia’s bone crushing grip made him regret his choices in life. “FUCK!!!” Cynthia and Priscilla were knocked out of their anger when they heard Kurama’s voice mixing in with Naruto’s. The blond looked at Cynthia with mad eyes, and the latter saw that his irises were red and slanted, “CYNTHIA, YOU BROKE MY FUCKING HAND!!!”

“I’m sorry…” Cynthia whimpered with a trembling lip as she finally let go of his hand. Priscilla likewise did the same out of fear she would end up doing the same.

Both Tsunade and Shizune pitied the blond as they helped Cynthia and Priscilla deliver their kids, respectively. Yeesh, they were temperamental - and they winced sympathetically when they heard the sickening crunch coming from Naruto’s hand.

Holding his wrist as he whimpered in pain Naruto moved away from the bed and started pacing back and forth. “Ahhh… this is gonna hurt..,” taking a deep breath, Naruto was suddenly enveloped by a bubbling crimson cloak and he grit his teeth as more crunches and pops radiated from his hand. The bones therein quickly reset themselves and healed. He bent his fingers repeatedly to test his hand out.

“Keep pushing, Priscilla,” Shizune called out, “I can see the head.”

“You too, Cynthia,” Tsunade added encouragingly. “You’re doing well. Keep it up!”

Walking between their beds, Naruto placed a hand on each girl’s shoulder, the blonde giving him an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry!” Cynthia whimpered between breaths as she did her best to muscle through her labor pains.

“It’s okay, honey,” Naruto assured. “Now, push. You’re almost there. You too Priscilla.”

Priscilla wailed as she gave a mighty push. The wailing of a little babe echoing throughout the chamber.

“That’s it!” Shizune exclaimed, she gave the brunette a look of encouragement, “Another hard push, Priscilla!”

“FUUUCK!!!” with a mighty roar, she gave just that and Shizune eased the baby out, wrapping the child in a warm blanket. She removed the cord from the baby and checked its gender.

“It’s a boy!” Shizune announced.

“LUCKY BITCH!” Cynthia wailed, the pain getting to her once more. “HOW THE HELL DOES ONE WOMAN END UP WITH TWO SETS OF TWINS?!”

“Keep pushing,” Tsunade urged. “I can see the first one’s head.”

“I AM PUSHING!” Cynthia snapped back, clenching the bed covers with all her might. “YOU TRY PUSHING OUT TWO! FUCKING! KIDS! AT THE SAME TIME!!! GRAAAH!!!”

Ignoring that, Tsunade kept urging. “Almost there! One more time!”

“FIIIIIIIINE!!!” and with a mighty roar of her own, Cynthia did just that and pushed with all her might. She was not spending another second in this amount of pain; not again! Two pairs of twins is enough for her! She didn’t want another pair again. Ever. Tsunade eased the first child out, snipping the cord from the baby and wrapped it in a warm blanket. Shizune took the reigns and eased the other child out, she did the same thing and wrapped it in a blanket after the cord was severed.

“It’s a boy,” Tsunade announced.

“It’s a girl here,” Shizune added seconds after her mentor.

“Oh… yay…” Cynthia cheered underwhelmingly, as her head hit her pillow. “...a boy and a girl… I thought I had two daughters though?”

“Even doctors can make mistakes.” Tsunade admitted with a shrug. And the one she made a while ago was partially wrong. “What are their names?” the former Kage asked.

“...Naruto, who was the name of your mentor?” Priscilla asked.

“Which one? I’ve had quite a few?” said blond asked.

“The one who was killed by a disciple of his,” she clarified.

“...His name was Jiraiya.” there was his dad as well, but Tabitha took that one.

“‘Jiraiya, then,” Priscilla croaked, lying back on the bed with a dramatic plop. “His name is Jiraiya.”

“Mine are Robert and Rebecca,” Cynthia added, looking like she had just died. Poor thing probably felt like it, too… she perked up a little when she felt Naruto giving her a kiss on the lips.

“You did good. Breaking my hand aside, you did good Cyn.” he told her with pride. Then he looked at Priscilla and added, “You both did good.”

Both women smiled tiredly at him. Then with a groan they closed their eyes and went to sleep; giving birth had taken a lot out of them. It was unsurprising, really.

“I’ll take the children to their cribs and move them in here.” Tsunade announced, “They need their rest, but after several days, they can move around again.” the former Hokage looked at Naruto, “You may want to save a batch of… innards for Priscilla. She’ll be hungry once she fully recovers.”

“Got it. I’ll… preserve a batch for her to eat later on.” he replied.

----

“Sabaku Taisou!” With that growl, Gaara slammed his hands on the ground and several geysers of purple erupted from the sea of sand before him. Those damn creatures the populace were calling youma were a lot tougher than he’d initially anticipated, but he managed. One didn’t become a Kage by being shit on the field, after all.

It certainly helped they didn’t seem to be particularly intelligent, if he had to guess, their average was about the same as that of a human. They didn’t have any strategy outside of ‘blending in and eat as much people as they can’ or ‘disguise as human, ambush people on the highway’. Honestly, it was embarrassing. He saw and heard more complex planning from 13 year olds, and his friend was one of them, back in the day!

“These things are what the populace are having trouble with…?” Shukaku deadpanned as his head emerged from the goard. His star shaped pupils blinked as he looked around. “Purple blood too… you know, if they’re such a menace, then why didn’t these villages or towns develop methods to finding one themselves instead of hiring one of these ‘silver eyed witches’? All they have to do is cut a person and see if they bleed purple.”

“People develop fear for the unknown and what they do not understand,” Gaara explained. “That tends to keep them from thinking rationally. It is, unfortunately, one of the traits we as humans all share.”

Shukaku scoffed, “If they’re going to panic, after something like this, then it’s no wonder these youma are capable of infiltrating their ranks. Back home they would be snuffed out the second they’re discovered.”

“Back home, we have discovered chakra to skew things in our favor,” Gaara pointed out. “These people don’t even have that. Were I not able to use my sand techniques, this would have been significantly harder.” Then, the redhead stomped his foot and the sand turned into a sheet of fairly smooth rock, so as to make traversing it easier.

“You still would have won in the end.” the racoon pointed out to him as well, “Sand or not, you’re stronger than these things. You may have been outnumbered, but, in the real world numbers do not win a battle.”

“Numbers can be a deciding factor in any battle. Naruto proved that. I fear even I would have been overwhelmed eventually.” Gaara said. “But enough of this. We have been significantly delayed and there is no telling how… messy things may get if this shipment takes much longer to deliver.”

He looked over his shoulder and noted that Matsuri was none too happy about many a local, fair maiden blatantly ogling him. “That’s the last of them,” he hollered. “Let’s move out. Uzumaki Naruto is waiting for us.”

----

Meanwhile, in Staff.

“IN THE FUTURE, THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD WILL BAND TOGETHER TO DECLARE WAR UPON A HARMLESS PLANT AND LOSE! OBEY YOUR CORPORATE MASTERS AND FEAR THE DEVIL’S LETTUCE! FEAR IT, I TELL YOU!!!”

The entire room was quiet after that prediction of the future, as Sistina plopped back down on her bed and happily snoozed away.

“...Okay, now I have questions…” Noel said in disbelief.

“We all have questions.” Sophia said in exasperation.

“You heard nothing yet.” Miranda said with a sigh “I was around the longest, with Chloe, Licht and Lutecia coming second. And I unfortunately heard quite a bit of stuff from her. I just… hope I’m dead by the time some of them come to pass; from the sound of it the future is just… confusing and horrible.”

“I’m still having nightmares of a clown and a king starting a world war over who makes the best sandwich,” Cassandra muttered. “The body count bogles the mind…”

“...what the heck is a clown?” Chloe asked.

“Maybe some type of entertainer? Like a musician?” Licht suggested.

Cassandra shook her head from where she laid on her bed. “No. The clown is making a sandwich and is fighting a king over who makes the best one. So obviously it’s not an entertainer. It must be… someone worse.”

“...I’m just hoping we’re not around when the world war breaks out.” Lutecia shuddered. “I may be one of the strongest of my generation, but I can’t fight an entire world by myself. That would be insane.”

“So… Miranda, who is to be revived next again?” Neideen asked, for once not molesting the pigtailed blonde. Or anyone else for that matter.

Those poor twins, though...

Miranda sighed as she knew where this was going to go, “The ones that are going to be revived next are Elizabeth and Uranus-” cue Neideen sniggering at the last word, “-and once they’re up, that will be everyone assembled.” she added conclusively, acting as if Neideen wasn’t sniggering and ignoring her completely. “After that I have no idea what we’re going to do, outside of being sent to fight the Ladykiller.”

“It would be safe to assume that we will undergo some manner of training,” Roxanne pointed out. The woman in question may have been a bitch of the highest order, but she was a smart bitch. Even Cassandra had to admit that much. “If the Organization wants to be successful, in getting rid of the Uzumaki then they would want us to be as strong as possible. Furthermore, strength means little if you know nothing about your opponent. They would likely give us everything they know about him and base our training on the knowledge they’ve procured.”

“We already know a little about him, thanks to the Divine Oracle. And we know he is training his little group in powers ‘beyond our imagination’.” Licht pointed out. “Though, the only way for us to get knowledge on our enemy is through her.”

“As far as we are aware, yes,” Roxanne replied. “However, it is reasonable to assume they are keeping an eye on him.”

“A fair point.” Chloe agreed from where she laid on her bed. “It seems they’d be risking far too many resources if that wasn’t the case. Hell, even I wouldn’t agree to this plan in Rimuto’s shoes, had I no real way to acquire some understanding on the man we’re being sent to fight.”

“That would be another potential factor, now that you mention it,” Noel chimed in from her corner of the room. “The guy we’re fighting seems to be a human - an absurdly powerful, foreign one, mind you, but a human… so, I’m guessing they’d try and break our conditioning and get us used to fighting humans, so as to ensure that we don’t hesitate.”

“So, what do we know, so far?” Cassandra asked, “If we pile up our knowledge on the subject of our discussion we may gain more knowledge on him. It may be theoretical knowledge, but, any is better than none.”

“He is human, as Noel pointed out,” Miranda began. “And he seems to be similar to us in some ways; he has a powerful demon inside of him, and has the ability to make copies of himself that is capable of reaching into the thousands.”

“His demon makes him powerful too.” Roxanne added, “Him wiping Pieta off the map is proof of how strong he is.”

“I did manage to find a report where the Numbers 5 and 3 fought him,” Miranda added once more, “he went into a human sized form with… four tails I believe? They weren’t able to hurt him. The Number 3 even tried to cut him in half from head to toe, but her claymore didn’t even cut him.”

Lutecia hummed thoughtfully, “Which means he is strong even in a weaker transformation. Do we know what he looks like in that form? Was it said?”

“The reports Numbers 5 and 3 gave had claimed he looked like he was coated in red energy, but still somewhat human-shaped,” Miranda said. “His mouth looked more like a jagged line and his eyes were solid white. He had long, fox-like ears and four tails. This transformation seems to.be self-destructive, though. When he transformed back, he cried out in pain and had no skin.”

“And this was a weaker transformation,” Roxanne mused, the wheels in her head immediately starting to turn. “This may explain why we have yet to see him in that nine-tailed form, again. It stands to reason that these transformations take a lot out of him. So, we very well could just have to outlast him.”

“Sistina claimed he is capable of turning into a form resembling golden flames,” Cassandra reminded them, “and she implied he is capable of defeating us all when he is using that. And since Hysteria, who is the fastest among us here, is implied to be unable to keep up with him, it stands to show he is faster than her.”

Roxanne nodded in agreement. “It also was implied that the Blade of Evil and Dust Eater technique were better suited for dealing with him, due to their unpredictability. What we need to do to succeed is learn how to work together as a unit and complement each other’s skills. Teaching each other our techniques would also give us all an advantage.”

“...I just remembered something.” Miranda said, “The reports said the Ladykiller was able to move faster than the eye can see, without using yoki. He was even able to stop the swords belonging to Numbers 3 and 5, with but a single finger. Again, without using yoki.”

“All the more reason to teach each other our techniques,” Roxanne stated. “Combining Cassandra’s Dust Eater with Hysteria’s Elegance and Chloe’s strength and having us all able to do so would allow us to, at least, have a good fighting chance against him. I hate to say it, but Neideen would likely be the most likely to beat him with those techniques, seeing as how she has the most raw power, already.”

“Loathe as I am to admit it,” Cassandra muttered. “You have a point. I’ll see what I can do about teaching everyone my technique… but you will learn it last for good measure. I still don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”

“Understandable, I don’t blame you.” Roxanne replied with a good natured shrug. The woman didn’t want to antagonise anyone here, not after hearing Sistina’s predictions on the matter. Lame as it sounded, it truly was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, she really wanted to at least meet the blond.

“...Now that I think about it, Roxanne knows more techniques than any of us.” Miranda pointed out. “She has Neideen’s yoki perception, Uranus-” cue Neideen snickering again, “Ahem… the Blade of Evil, as well as Elizabeth’s Beautiful Sword technique. She can also hide her yoki, too. Out of everyone here, she is better equipped for fighting him.”

“Precisely,” Roxanne chirped. “And I for one am not feeling so… eager to be ‘impaled upon his mighty spear,’ so I will gladly teach everyone here my Yoki Veil technique, as well as everything else I’ve learned.” she may be a backstabbing bitch of the highest order, but even she didn’t want her ‘comrades’ to end up defeated by this mysterious warrior in such a humiliating manner… if only because preventing it from happening to them will also keep that shit from happening to her by extension.

Even the most charitable of acts could easily be motivated by selfish intentions, after all…

Sophia leaned up slightly as she looked at the others. “So... does this mean we’re all in agreement to teach each other our own techniques? Because if we are… then, you’re going to have to make some adjustments to those plans of yours.” she pointed out to them. “No offense to Miranda of course, but, is she even capable of using the Dust Eater? Because Noel’s technique requires one to be very athletic to use, and my technique isn’t one that can be learned since my technique revolves around my strength, which is close to Chloe’s.”

Cassandra sighed. “It would require some flexibility and agility training, but anyone can learn it, I suppose. I actually invented it by learning how to dance.”

Hearing this, Chloe chimed in. “Sound like we have some training to do, then,” she said, then the woman looked to Sophia. “Also, my technique isn’t purely physical. It’s partially yoki-based. To be more specific, I channel a pulse of yoki through my limbs to amplify the force of my blows. It’s tricky, but if you have good control over your yoki, I can teach it to you. If not, I’ll see what I can do about sharpening your control.”

That was news to Sophia, “Really? My strength isn’t yoki based, it’s purely physical.” she was able to cut through solid stone with just her base strength alone, so to hear that the Infamous Heavy-Bladed Chloe’s strength was partially yoki-based instead of it being pure physical power was quite the surprise to her.

“No offense, but that’s probably why you weren’t able to recreate my Strong Arm technique,” Chloe pointed out. “It’s impossible to mimic through physical means, alone. Believe me: I tried that avenue, first.”

“My reflexes are actually very much the same, in that regard,” Licht said. “I use my yoki to increase the speed of my strikes when using hand-to-hand. I never gave the technique itself a fancy name, though… It’s more of a fighting style.”

“My Agile Speed Attack is pure physical; after the process of turning into part-youma was complete, I noticed how naturally fast I became without using yoki… So I learned how to do cartwheels.” Noel sheepishly said. “I tried cartwheeling without the use of my hands later on and added a claymore afterwards.”

“Sounds a lot like my technique,” Cassandra added. “I’m sure we could learn yours after we all know mine.”

“You can, but unless you're naturally fast, then it won’t be as effective. Yoki can be used to enhance it, though.” Noel told her with a shrug.

“My Elegance is not easily taught, because it’s equal parts yoki-based and physical,” Hysteria added. “You will need speed training first, regardless, if I am to teach you my technique.”

“I’m pretty sure Neideen’s yoki perception can be learned… without having to remove one of your eyes.” Roxanne pointed out to them. “It’s how I learned it, after getting a few pointers from her.”

“Yeah, self mutilation isn’t a requirement,” Neideen said with a chuckle. “Mine’s probably the easiest to learn. If you were to use an eyepatch like mine, or even blindfold yourself, and focus on enhancing your other perceptions that way, then it can be done. It’s more efficient that way.”

“Noted…” Cassandra replied. Then, she addressed everyone in the room and asked, “so, I take it we start when the other two are revived then, and fill them in?”

“That will be preferable,” Roxanne agreed. “That way we can all start at the same time.”

“They are being revived today, correct?” Sophia asked as she looked at Miranda expectantly. The woman is Dae’s impromptu assistant, after all, so logically, she would know about it.

“The revival should take place tonight,” Miranda confirmed. “He was delayed after we caught wind of Numbers 9 and 4 disappearing, so we had to focus on creating a new batch of trainees.”

“Disappearing?” Noel asked, “Do we know how?”

“No…” Miranda sighed. “All we know is that they were sent to deal with a large pack of youma and were never heard from again. We didn’t even find any bodies. Oddly enough, their tracks just… stopped at one point and another seemed to appear out of nowhere. We assume it was the Ladykiller.”

“Or a youma that can fly took them off their feet and killed them in midair.” Cassandra pointed out. “Some youmas are capable of flying, after all.”

“It’s also possible that an awakened being snatched them up,” Miranda agreed, but with the threat Naruto poses, the Organization has adopted an ‘assume the worst’ policy. He has shown the ability to just pop up out of nowhere, after all. Hence the report made by Numbers 3 and 5. And before Numbers 9 and 4 disappeared, a few days prior, Number 21 was sent to clear out a village that was infested by youma. She ended up disappearing in a similar fashion, though, a few warriors in the vicinity had felt a single, but frighteningly large spike of yoki coming from her direction, apparently right before she vanished.”

“That could have been an awakened being, though.” Noel pointed out to her as well. “It is common that a town infested with youma is cleared out by an awakened being who wanted to inhabit an abandoned town by itself. By the time Number 21 got there, the youma could have been already cleared out and she had to face an awakened being instead. It won’t be the first time this had happened.”

“That is rather likely, and there is evidence that there was an awakened being there, since there was a large fist sized crater in the road, along with several giant footprints… but, no corpse,” Miranda said. “Either way, we have strict orders to be prepared to fight her, just in case the Ladykiller intervened. Her team was on good terms with him at the time, after all. Number 20, Camilla the Charmer, was sent to gather information on him for that reason. When a Handler asked her about it, yesterday, she stated that her comrades have not been detected in the area, but she’s not known for her yoki sensory. They could have easily been hidden from her, seeing as how the Citadel of Morris is perched on a mountain rather far from the inn she’s occupying.”

Roxanne frowned at that. An ability to just pop up out of nowhere would make strategic formations virtually useless. “And now we have a theory that he can just appear wherever he wants out of nowhere. This talk is revealing more to us than the Organization ever did.” the wavy-haired, pigtailed woman said.

“To be fair,” Miranda chimed in, “Dae was going to bring us all into a meeting with the Elders after we were all revived. He said we’d be given all the information the Organization has on the Ladykiller, then. It makes sense. That way, we could all be told at once what we need to know and discuss some kind of strategy to deal with him.”

“That is if they have any worthwhile information,” Licht told her with a snort. “Do they even know who they’re going up against?” she asked rhetorically, “Sistina said he was the type of person that never gives up, despite of the odds that tell him to do. And he has the power of ‘Beasts of many Tails’, with him. And she said ‘Beasts’, not ‘Beast’. As in there is more than one.”

“A handler that went to the Ladykillers homeland across the sea, did report that he had met a giant monster-like turtle with three tails.” Miranda concurred with Licht’s statement, “So there are more Beasts with many tails out there. But they’re on the Ladykillers continent.”

“We’ll likely have to fight them afterwards,” Roxanne said with a sigh. “As well as his wives… two of whom are Abyssal Ones, in addition to another awakened being that’s stronger than them, and over twenty warriors. Possibly more awakened beings on top of all that. A frightening force, indeed...”

“...why is the Organization picking a fight with him, again?” Sophia duly asked, then she answered her own question before anyone else could. “Oh, right, because they have a death wish.”

“He is inciting a rebellion against them and has shown malicious intent,” Miranda clarified.

“Malicious intent, how?” Hilda asked, giving Miranda a light frown. “Do we have any confirmation that the Ladykiller has actually killed one of us?”

“No,” Miranda said with a sigh. “However, he has turned them against the Organization and has killed some handlers. He also is fashioning them into some kind of army, according to Camilla’s reports, and is in the process of training them to kill humans. According to her, he brought no less than ten warriors and five awakened beings, including the former Numbers 1 and 2 to ‘take care’ of a bandit problem in the area around Morris, just two days ago.”

“So, he’s basically making himself look like the good guy in this conflict,” Roxanne said thoughtfully. “He’s hiding his ill intentions behind well-crafted excuses.”

“If he’s all the way in Morris,” Cassandra asked, “then how was it delivered so quickly?”

“Camilla’s report was delivered by someone named ‘Winged Anastasia’,” Miranda replied. “She’s apparently figured out some kind of flying technique which allowed her to get here so quickly.”

“AAAAAAAH!!!!” Sistina yelled out without warning, startling the living shit out of everyone as she sat up with wide manic eyes. She hyperventilated as she held her left arm in a tight grip; her single eye snapped around the room in a cornered animal. “S-six r-purple ringed eyes… how did he face such a foe alone… let alone kill three of them?!”

“What?” Roxanne asked oddly.

“The one of perversity, full of self-loathing, mentor of the Ladykiller, fighting two of his former disciples… fighting six deceased men with purple eyes the one of perversity did. Managed to kill three, but they were brought back...” Sistina looked down at her left arm and stared owlishly at it. “A destroyed arm he suffered, a crushed throat he was dealt. Stabbed six times in the back. He perished, only to force himself back to life, to send a final message to his last student….”

“That student was the Ladykiller, I take it?” Roxanne asked.

“Yes. His godson.” Sistina confirmed, finally coming back to her senses. She shook her head with a groan. “Much like Naruto, this former disciple was able to destroy an entire village in the blink of an eye. A massive one… twice the size of Rabona, and was able to defeat an entire military force with those six deceased bodies alone. The Ladykiller bested him, and he was weaker at the time than he is now.”

That… scared the resurrected warriors.

“R-right,” Sophia muttered. “I’m starting to like Roxanne’s idea.”

“It gives us a much better chance of survival,” Sistina admitted. She knew they wouldn’t win regardless, but she was also aware that the training would make them more appealing to Naruto. He liked strong women, so she kept it to herself.

“Just… what the fuck are we dealing with!?” Chloe hissed in a panic. “We’re fighting against someone who managed to take down a former disciple of his godfather’s; a man who was strong enough to stomp an entire military force with just six people, and then crush a village twice the size of Rabona; and he was stronger than the Ladykiller at the time!!”

“Which is why we must work together,” Sistina said. “As a unit, we have the potential to be far more than the sum of our parts. No man is undefeatable.”

“Yeah… even though he seems unstoppable.” Noel shuddered. “He must be a genius of fighting if he was able to take down someone who was a lot stronger than him at the time.”

“Naruto has fought in many great battles. A giant one tailed demon, before he was of age. A young boy, who inflicted many fatal injuries on him. A man who had many hearts; Pein, the former disciple of the perverted one. A man in a mask who was once former disciple of his father's. A man of purple eyes, the beasts of many tails feared. A beast of great power, capable of reshaping entire continents. A woman with horns resembling the ears of a rabbit… a force of nature, who once single-handedly took over and ruled the world, through sheer brute force, thousands of years ago.” Sistina looked at everyone and said, “He is truely a genius of battle. To beat him, we must be aggressive. He is not a quick thinker, so going after him fast and hard would be the best course of action.”

“Noted…” Roxanne mused aloud.

If anything they can use this information to prepare themselves for when the time came.

----

In the West, around the Dragonspire Mountains.

As the small detachment consisting of hybrids and awakened beings were several hundred miles out of Morris. The whiskered blond leading them was a clone, since the real one had to stay behind when Cynthia and Priscilla went into labour around the same time, a day ago. And as luck would have it, both women’s waters broke within half an hour of each other, so the original was going to be rather busy.

The original, of course, had given the clone his father's kunai, and he was to use it once they were close to the bandit camp so he could take the place of his clone.

.Accompanying the doppelganger in question were Alicia and Beth, obviously, as they needed their conditioning broken the most. True to their word, Zelda and Pamela were there as well. Flora had also joined in, conceding that Naruto and the others had a point.

Aside from them, Miria decided to join them, seeing as how she was the primary tactician. Ophelia was also eager to join, as was Team Evianna. Along with them were Dietrich, Irene, Clare, Helen, Deneve, Queenie, and Undine.

Contrary to Camilla and Anastasia’s reports, there were a combined 19 warriors and Awakened accompanying the clone. Evianna, Irene, Dietrich, and Miria were masking their yoki, though, to make the group seem a bit smaller to any warriors passing by, as was the clone. The former Number 47 was serving as a second pair of eyes, just in case.

“How far is this camp?” Evianna asked the clone out of curiosity.

“I asked father Isaac, and he told me they were lurking around the Dragonspire Mountains,” the clone replied, “Where they are exactly, though, he didn’t say. However, the malicious intent I can feel is… big. Like a small army numbering in the hundreds… possibly a thousand or two.”

“No pressure then.” Miria muttered.

“Look on the bright side,” Helen piped up cheerfully, “We’re…” she trailed off as she tried to think of something to brighten their day.

“...going to use the techniques the boss and Team Samui have taught you?” the clone offered, with a bemused grin. “Don’t underestimate how much of an advantage that is. It’s actually a pretty common practice for villages in the Elemental Nations to have their genin units take on entire bandit camps at ages as young as twelve. So long as you don’t get reckless, you should be perfectly capable of dealing with this.”

“Yeah, what he said!” Helen added, sounding just as cheerful as she did before. “We can totally do this! We just have to kill a bunch of humans, is all.”

“You’re saying that as if it’s a good thing.” Deneve pointed out to her friend blandly.

Helen shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m trying to not think of the negatives. On one hand we’re learning how to use the techniques of Naruto’s homeland. On the other, if we do this, there is no going back. Besides, these guys are a threat to all the innocent villagers in the area. I’d rather not be to blame for some little kid losing his parents, because I backed down. If we don’t deal with them, that’s the least these fuckers will do.”

“Indeed.” the clone closed his eyes and focused on the malicious intent. They were staying in one place this time around. Seems they were learning from the past mistakes of the other camps that were wiped out. He opened his eyes and at the girls from over his shoulder, “Alright girls, it’s time for you to put your training to the test: we are going to jump onto the trees and leap from branch to branch. Let’s see if you can catch up, hmm?”

The girls all nodded with varying degrees of eagerness. The clone smiled at them before he chakra leapt onto a tree branch, and continued leaping from branch to branch. He looked over his shoulder and could feel pride welling up inside of him at the sight of the other girls keeping pace with him as they leapt from branch to branch.

It didn’t take them long to narrow the gap between themselves and the bandits, since they were leaping over the majority of obstacles in their way. Once they were close enough, the clone stopped and tossed his kunai to the ground to signal the original that they were in position.

Not a second later and the original Naruto appeared next to the tri-kunai in a yellow flash. Looking up the original Naruto saw his clone give him a two fingered salute, before dispelling himself just as the girls landed on the branches around him.

He immediately knew where they are thanks to the clones memories and started to plan accordingly.

“Alright,” Naruto said, as he picked the tri-kunai out from the ground and pocketing it. “First, we need to observe these guys and formulate a strategy. See what the best angle of attack would be, figure out if they have any prisoners and how to deal with these guys without the risk of hurting them… that kinda thing.”

“We can use a combination of Kage Bunshin, Henge and Evianna’s ability to fly to scout around,” Miria recommended.

“We’d be giving ourselves away to any warrior that is in the area.” Glissa pointed out. “Even a partial transformation from so many Kage Bunshin is enough to get the Organization curious. Never mind making the clones themselves.”

“And we want to avoid another ‘Pieta Campaign’,” Pyrrha added.

“The Organization likely knows by now that we are dealing with the bandits,” Miria pointed out, “We just gave them an… inaccurate number. Also, it gives us better revenue by attracting more villagers. More villagers, means more hands to help maintain the village. As for the Organization, it will tell them we’re willing to kill them, now. Fear is a powerful weapon.”

“Tell me about it,” Naruto said to her concurringly. “I’ve seen what fear does when it’s weaponised first hand.” the blond sighed and leapt back onto the branch ahead of Miria and took a kneel, as he looked at the girls. “You make a good point though, Miria. But, henge can let you transform into anything. Including birds. You can easily cover ground by making a few dozen Kage Bunshin and Henge them into birds and fly around to gather intel.”

Miria giggled at the praise. “So Evianna transforming is out; but having a few of us disguising our clones into birds can work just as well.”

“Yup,” Naruto said. “So, what is the most common species of bird in the area? Does anyone happen to know?”

“That would be the black thrush,” Irene stated. Many a person in the group have her an odd look, prompting the silver-haired woman to sigh. “I was living in the woods in an area like this for several years, by myself. One tends to get bored under such circumstances and I’ve had plenty of time to study the wildlife here.”

That made sense.

“Huh, kinda similar to me when I was with Pervy-Sage for nearly three years.” Naruto said, and when he got looks from the others, he shrugged with a ‘what can you do?’ expression, “I mostly looked at the wildlife when I was on the move. We never did stay in one place too long. And it was mostly outside; so, I had plenty of opportunity to look.”

“Fair enough,” Miria muttered. “So, that do these black thrushes look like?”

Irene sighed. Was she really the only bird watcher in the group? Oh, well… She swiftly created a clone and then it transformed into a small, black bird with red eyes and a white, spotted underbelly. It was only about four inches long from the tip of the beak to the very end of its tail. The little bird then clone took to the air and perched onto Naruto’s shoulder.

“Well aren’t you a cute little thing,” the blond said rubbing the disguised Irene’s clone under her neck and beak. She seemed to enjoy that very much. He then looked to the group and said, “Miria, Evianna, Betty, Ophie, Flora, and the twins should do the scouting with Irene’s clone, here. That way, everyone else can save their energy for the fight.”

Giving the transformed clone an intense look, the aforementioned women then produced their own clones, before having them transform into little black thrushes. They took to the air and perched themselves onto Naruto’s shoulder, head and arm.

“Black thrushes are pretty little birds.” Naruto said, chuckling as he rubbed them under their necks and beaks one by one. They really seemed to enjoy that too.

Several girls in the group giggled at the display.

“All right you lot, take to the sky and scout around the North and West. That is where the malicious intent is coming from.” the blond instructed the disguised clones. They gave him a single nod, before taking to the skies to scout around in the directions he gave them. “Interesting fact: you can make a clone right now, and dispel them a second later, and the clones that are still around will get their memory too.”

“Very nice,” Miria said. That opened up so many strategic windows…

“C’mon, let's keep moving!” Naruto said to them, before he leapt on over to the next branch, and the next, and the next. Miria leapt after him, as did the others.

----

Five hours later

Naruto, and the 19 women that were with him were overlooking the campsite that was more than just a campsite. It was a damned fortification. Palisades and a wall made entirely of wood and brick protected the tents and wooden fort on the inside. He couldn’t see all that much from the outside, but what he could see was cause for concern.

There was a lot of armed bandits. And from what he could glimpse on the inside were several people doing military drills. At least that was what he thought he saw. There was straw dummies in there too.

Naruto looked to Irene, who was kneeling atop of a branch above him. It was a thick one, so he couldn’t see her properly. Only the top of her feet. “Irene, make a clone and dispel it. I want your bird clone to tell us is on the inside.”

“Got it.” Naruto heard the silver-haired woman make a clone, and promptly dispel it not a second later. After a little while, a little, black thrush fluttered on over and perched itself onto a branch before the group. Then, one poof later, a second Irene was standing before them with a dire look on her face.

“It would appear that they are preparing for war,” she said. “A particularly charismatic one among them is organizing them - a big, burly guy somewhere in his 40’s or so with a beard and a scar over one eye.”

“Seems what you said was true,” Ophelia said from Naruto’s left, “All it took was someone smart enough to organise them.”

“Indeed,” the clone added. “He seems to be former military from the way he carries himself. The other bandits also look up to him.”

Naruto frowned. “Are there any prisoners?”

“Several,” the clone said her frown deepening. “Mostly women, though there are a few smaller girls… at least two who are around the age of five.”

“Alright…” Naruto scowled, this just turned from an annihilation to a rescue mission then. “Ladies, change of plans, we’re going on a rescue mission.” he told them, “I want you girls to transform into black thrushes as well; you’re going to fly in, transform to normal and get the prisoners out. Evianna, instead of disguising yourself as a black thrush, you’re going to transform into your awakened form and cause havoc at their flank gate.”

“What about you?” Clare asked.

“I’m going to distract them at the front, of course,” Naruto said with a chuckle. “But if any of you get a chance to kill someone off, then do it quietly, hide the body, and sneak away. We don’t want them to know what’s going on until after the prisoners are safe. Any of the women here who are experienced mothers should look after the kids, as well.”

That meant the twins, Miria, Ophelia, Flora, Zelda, Clare and Undine. Said women nodded in acceptance, giving him varying looks of determination.

One or two of the others looked a bit envious, but kept it to themselves. Glissa was especially so. But she would have a brat of her own in due time.

“I’d also like to keep this camp as intact as possible,” he added. “It would serve as a good outpost if we’re able to create a functioning militia.” It certainly sounded like a good idea. That way the villagers of Morris wouldn’t have to rely entirely on him for keeping them safe. “Everyone know the plan?” he asked. They all nodded and he said, “good. Let’s get going, then.”

The women, excluding Evianna, all disguised themselves as black thrushes and flew over the bandit campsite. Evianna herself merely took off her frilly dress and transformed into a metallic harpy.

Instead of charging at the campsite outright, she looked at her lover. “Just tell me when to raise hell, love,” she said with a smirk.

“I’ll give you a whistle,” he replied.

“Alright. Go get ‘em, then~!”

Naruto nodded to her and hopped down to approach the front gate. Not even a minute later, the guards spotted him and one yelled, “Halt! Who goes there?”

“The guy who fucked your mother last night, that’s who, bitch!” he shouted back, chucking a kunai at him. He only grazed the man’s cheek as the weapon tumbled harmlessly to the ground.

“Fuck!” The bandit cried out. “You son of a bitch!” With that, he notched an arrow and shot back, only for Naruto to casually swat it out of the air and give him a one-finger salute.

“Oh, sorry about that. You missed.” he said with a taunting smirk, “Try again, why don’t you? You might actually be able to pull off a miracle with your god awful aim, and hit me this time.”

The bandit responded with a growl and pulled three arrows from his quiver, rapidly loosing them in quick succession. Once again, Naruto casually swat them out of the air with the same taunting smirk.

“Really?” the blond asked, almost amused, “Do you really think loosing more arrows in quick succession will change how awful your aim is?”

“Motherfucker!”

“Yours wasn’t complaining~!”

----

Off in the back of the palisade, a large, bald man with a cross-shaped scar on his head didn’t know what hit him. All he was doing was guarding the tent where they kept the prisoners, then there was a poof and, before he had time to react, there was a sharp pain in his neck. The world started spinning and everything went black.

A passing woman among the bandits looked over her shoulder when she heard his head bounce and saw... nothing. Wasn’t Ralf supposed to be at his post, this time of day? Where the hell did that oaf go?

Ugh, he was pleasuring himself, again, want’ he? That dumbass couldn’t keep it in his pants for one more hour? Seriously?! Times like this, she questioned her infatuation with him...

With a growl, she marched on up to the tent, only for a golden-clawed hand to rip her throat out before she could react. The bandit gurgled and fell forward, caught by Glissa as she surveyed the area. The coast was clear, for now.

Behind her, Clare and the twins looked rather blue in the face at how nonchalantly the awakened brunette had killed those two bandits.

“Less staring, more rescuing,” Glissa hissed, her arm shifting back to normal. More little, black birds fluttered into the room and several poofs later, everyone was there and accounted for.

The prisoners understandably looked at the new arrivals warily as Miria cleared her throat to get their attention.

“Lord Naruto of Morris sent us to rescue you all,” she said. “You have nothing to worry about, we will give our lives to ensure your safety.”

While some still looked wary of her, others visibly calmed down. This woman knew what she was doing and their lives were better in her hands than those of the bandits.

“S-so, you’re with the Ladykiller, then?” a young woman in her teens asked. She was a redhead with brown eyes and freckles.

Miria blushed a bit. “I always hated that nickname of his, but yes. I’m one of his wives, in fact. You have nothing to worry about, though.” Taking a moment to word it carefully in front of the kids, so as not to harm their innocence any further, she elaborated. “He’s only interested in women who show interest in him. If you don’t want him to touch you, he won’t.”

There were two more poofs and the women noticed the corpses missing as Pyrrha rolled up and tucked away a scroll.

“Undine, would you be so kind?” Miria asked gesturing to the cages. “Pyrrha, set up a privacy seal so no one hears.”

The redhead nodded while Undine smirked. Many a woman in the cages nearly jumped out of her skin as the dual wielding blonde bulked up in the blink of an eye. So focused were they on her that the women failed to notice the strange glyphs suddenly appearing on the sides of the tent. Then, in the very next moment, the doors were ripped off their hinges one by one, startling the hell out of the prisoners, though they were grateful for the save.

Once her job was done, Undine shrank back down to her base form and crossed her arms with a smug grin.

“How are we going to get out of here?” one of the women asked. “There’s hundreds of them outside!”

“My husband is at the front gate, causing a ruckus,” Miria explained. “We also have several warriors right here. We just need to deal with them quietly.”

“Also, if you see some of us using ‘strange powers’, then don’t be alarmed; the Ladykiller taught us them to fight more effectively.” Flora informed them,

The redhead from before shrugged. “I’ve never met a so-called Claymore, before. I’d just assumed the Claymore Organization taught you how to turn into birds, when you popped up… mainly because of the ‘Silver-Eyed Witch’ moniker.”

“That moniker is something given to us by you people,” Undine said with a shrug, “It’s not surprising you came to that conclusion - even though it’s wrong.” then she looked to Miria, “So we got the cages open, the next step is getting them out, so how do we do that?”

“Pyrrha and I will sneak out and clear a path for you and the others,” Glissa volunteered.

“I’ll come with you.” Irene volunteered. “The more that is with you clearing the way, the less time they take to get out.”

Pyrrha didn’t mind having someone more experienced going with them. Glissa especially was glad for the extra hands. “Alright,” the dark-haired awakened said in agreement, “having someone much more experienced than us coming along will help out. So having you with Pyrrha and I is appreciated.”

“Alicia, Beth,” Miria called out. “You go with them, too.” Then, she looked to Pyrrha and said, “help them out with breaking their conditioning, will you? They’re the ones who need it most, and you have the best personality for helping them through it.”

The redhead nodded grimly. “I’ll do everything I can,” she said.

The dark-haired awakened looked to Irene and added, “Irene should take command of this group then. She has more experience than I do.” Irene was a Number 2, then Number 3 back in her heyday. And while Glissa is no longer a hybrid, some conditioning from her time as the Organization’s warrior had remained, namely letting someone with a higher rank than her take command. Seeing as how she was a former Number 45, though, that was likely for the best.

Miria nodded. “That would be reasonable.”

The twins exchanged a worried glance, but joined the group, regardless.

----

Now swatting away the arrows of twenty bandits with hundreds of the projectiles strewn about or imbedded in the ground around him, Naruto yawned in complete and utter boredom. “Are you lot even trying to hit me?” he called out to them in a tone of utter boredom. “Really, I’m just one person.”

“That is it!” one of the bandits yelled out in frustration. They were being mocked by this little prick! The bandit in question was a middle aged man, with a receding hairline and three scars on his face like someone tried to claw it off. “I’m going out there! Someone get the boss over here!”

“He is just one person!” shouted another.

“He is deflecting our arrows like we’re amateurs!” the scarred man yelled out. “Get the boss! Now!”

Once the gate was open and the man Irene’s clone had described earlier was seen on the other side, Naruto gave Evianna a sharp whistle. He disguised it as a taunt by giving the bandit king the middle finger, before deflecting several more arrows.

To his credit, the man addressed him with a cool head. “So, you’re the one causing my comrades so much trouble,” he said. Eyeballing the arrows at Naruto’s feet, he then drew his sword, readying it in a wrath guard stance. “Let us see just how skilled you are, then, no?”

Meanwhile, Evianna took to the air and was careful to use the trees as cover as she circled around to engage and harass the bandits on the other side of the camp.

Naruto wasted no time charging forth, expertly dodging and deflecting arrows along the way as he closed the gap. His one-tail demon cloak bubbled to life as his nails lengthened into razor-sharp claws.

The bandit king swung down in a diagonal slash, but it was a feint. Just as Naruto was about to knock it aside, he was notably impressed to feel it give him a good whack in the side. Had it not been for the Kyuubi’s yoki, that would have been a lethal blow. He grabbed the flat of the sword and gave the shocked bandit king a vicious grin, he was even more impressed to see that he was keeping his composure, though his shaking were a dead give away to his fear.
The bandits behind the bandit king were screaming their heads off when they were overcome by the pure malice that was now emitting from the blond. While it was nothing like the Version 2 he showed for the first time on his way to Pieta, it should be more than enough to scare the pants off these fuckers.

And, from the sound of their screaming and falling off the battlements of their wooden and brick walls, it more than did that.

The man, falling back on his training, quickly reigned in his fear and gave the blond a cautious glare. “What are you? A youma? Claymore?”

Naruto’s grin widened and said one word that threw the man off guard. “Human.”

The bandit king frowned. Well, if he was human, he could be killed. Stepping to the side and grabbing the portion of his blade behind Naruto’s hand and turned the sword to bash the blond in the face with the crossguard.

Naruto hadn’t expected the sword to be used in such a way and backed off as he blocked the blow. It was surprising and legitimately impressive.

“Heh heh heh,” the blond chuckled, “I gotta ask: former military?”

The bandit king grinned, readying his sword in the ox guard stance as he asked, “isn’t it obvious?”

“Then I guess I should put my military experience into use. Lesson 1: awareness.”

The bearded man gave Naruto a quick jab with his sword, testing the waters and trying to apply some pressure while going in for another good whack.

The blond, though, easily sidestepped the thrust and following slash. The one tailed cloak around him slowly dispersed and once it was gone and his features went back to normal, he pulled out a book and started reading it right in the middle of the fight.

Now thoroughly irritated, the bandit king started gripping his longsword blade and going in close.

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just read a passage or two.” the blond said nonchalantly.

Not missing a beat, the bandit king replied, “and I’m trying to kill you; please do be so kind as to die.” He punctuated his request with a pommel strike to the head, followed by a slash to the neck when that failed.

“Well where is the fun in that?” the blond asked, before casually crouching down as the bandit king tried to behead him, “I want you to work for it. If you can make me take my attention away from my book, then I’ll move on to the next lesson. That is if you’re capable.”

The bandit king snarled at him; then he instinctively looked behind him when he heard several of his men scream out in fear. Then he looked up in the direction they were looking. “What the...” nose diving towards the ground was Evianna, she spread her metallic wings and several feather-like spikes shot out from them.

She was at the back of the reinforced campsite, and while he couldn’t see anything, they could hear the projectiles slamming into the ground. With several people, his men, screaming in agony.

The bandit king frowned deeply. He returned his attention to Naruto and started slashing away. “You!” he barked. “What the hell is that?!”

Naruto didn’t bother taking his eyes away from his book, “No one you should worry about.” then he did take his eyes away from the book to glance at the glaring bandit king. “Dead men shouldn’t worry.”

The bearded man frowned. “Indeed,” he said. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll deal with your friend when I’m done with you.”

At that, Naruto chuckled and went back to reading. “Come on then,” he challenged. “Deal with me.”

Seeing as how his blade wasn’t working against the blond, the bandit king flipped his sword over and went in for a murder stroke to the head. When the first one missed, he followed up, using the momentum and redirected the blow into a second one, then a third.

Naruto ducked and weaved through his blows. He easily evaded them all, and what pissed the man off was that the kid in front of him wasn’t even looking at him! That should have told the man that the blond was not a normal person, since he was able to avoid each and every slice, jab and whack he performed, all without taking his eyes away from his book.

“Lesson 2,” Naruto declared, “ninjutsu.”

There was a sickening crack as the pommel of the bandit king’s sword made contact with Naruto’s skull, only for the blond to go up in smoke, replaced by one of his comrades. “What the fuck?!” Never in his life had the man seen such a thing. Was it magic? Some kind of demonic power?

Evianna took to the sky again, turned around and started doing barrel rolls as she nose dived yet again, throwing projectiles from her wings. Several of them were launched at the bandit king himself, though to his credit, he dodged and deflected them quite readily.

Though impressed, Naruto had no intention of sparing the man. He could feel his malicious intent; he was full of greed. He probably thought he was deserving of everything he took. People like him do tend to think that way.

He sensed his girls were leaving the campsite. That was more than enough time for his girls to find out where the prisoners are caged, and break them out. Naruto closed his book with a sigh, and caught the edge of the sword with his bare hand, a thin veil of his chakra coating his limb and preventing the metal from breaking skin. “I think I distracted you long enough.”

The bandit king blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes. “You’re no human! No human can stop a blade with their bare hand! What are you!?”

Naruto chuckled. “I am human. I never said I was a normal one.” he clarified. Then he made, seals for Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit and Snake with his free hand, before bringing before yelling out, “Fūton: Daitoppa!”

Because Naruto had lost an arm, he had to relearn the seals for many a technique with just one hand. He became proficient at it.

A gust of wind shot from the blonds mouth, and it knocked the surprised bandit king off his feet, and sent him tumbling violently across the ground for ten yards. Naruto kept a firm grip on the sword belonging to the man; he looked it over, turned halfway to face the palisade, before throwing it to the wall. The sword was embedded deeply into the bark.

Naruto looked back to the bandit king when he heard him groaning, and was mildly surprised to see him getting back up. He was obviously hurting from the way he was carrying himself. A broken arm, or a dislocated shoulder it looked like. The blond blinked owlishly as the bandit king popped his shoulder back in place, but the arm, now that Naruto was able to see it better, was clearly broken and bleeding.

“…I’m impressed. I thought you’d be knocked out at least.” he said, casually walking over to the man.

The bandit king growled at the blond. It would take more than a little wind to put him down. He’s killed youma before, and had almost been killed by many of them in the past. This… this pain was nothing compared to the gashes they managed to inflict on him.

“Defiant too.”

“You can’t be human.” after that, and the previous feat before it, the casual way he dismissed that flying youma… he couldn’t possibly be human. He wasn’t a Claymore either, he didn’t have the silver eyes. He could either be one of those rare youmas, a voracious eater, or he was some type of youma that had never been seen before!

“I am human.” Naruto sighed with a shrug. “Like I said before: I never said I was a normal one.” He looked up upon hearing some light fluttering. A black thrush perched on his shoulder. He recognized it as Clare. He rubbed her under her neck and beak with a grin, “Coming to check up on me?”

There was a poof and Naruto found himself being hugged from behind. “Can you blame me?”

“No. Not really.” he chuckled, then Naruto looked back at the bandit leader and found him looking at Clare with his eyes as wide as saucers. “How are the prisoners? Are they all out?”

“Indeed they are,” she said, “Captain Miria made sure of that… A few in particular seem eager to meet the man responsible, even... though Miria’s not happy about it at all.”

Naruto chuckled at that. “How are the kids?”

“Fairly well, for the most part. They seem to be orphans, though. Not sure what to do with them…”

“Okay. And Alicia and Beth?” he was worried about them, since they were the ones who would be most affected by killing human beings.

“They... they froze after they got the blood of humans on their sword. They seem to be in shock and completely unresponsive. Irene, Glissa and Pyrrha are making sure nothing happens to them.”

“Noted…” Naruto sighed. Then, he saw the bandit king being tended to by the few among his comrades who decided to grow a spine. How they managed to slip through escaped him. Then again they may have passed by while he was distracted by his wife. “So… will you do the honors?” the blond asked grimly.

Clare frowned, but nodded. She drew her sword and with a blink, her eyes turned gold with slit pupils. She stepped out from behind her husband and rushed the bandits. The sound of blade cutting through flesh and bone filled the air, and Clare was behind them. Her sword dirtied with their blood. The bandits, their boss included, spurt blood from multiple gashes as they literally fell to pieces - bloody chunks hitting the ground with a series of sickening plops. The former Number 47 shuddered, feeling sick to her stomach.

This just made her feel… dirty.

Naruto was by his woman’s side in an instant, pulling her into a loving hug and rubbing her back. There was a loud clang as Clare dropped her sword and hugged him back.

“For some people, taking a life will never get easier,” he said. “For others, it does.”

“Does it get easier for you?”

“...No. It never does,” Naruto admitted, hugging her tight. “I never liked killing. Fighting sure, but, having to kill always gave me a sick feeling. But, sometimes, it’s necessary. I try to take comfort in the fact that I am protecting others from the people I have to deal with.”

Clare nodded. “Thanks…” she whispered. Then, she sighed. “I think I’ll be okay, but Alicia and Beth will need your attention. Pyrrha’s trying her best to comfort them, last I saw, but you’re the one they cling to.”

“I’ll go see them now, then” he said, with a sigh; Clare would have taken that as her cue to leave, but Naruto pulled her along with him, “what about the rest of the bandits?” he asked.

“They’re mostly scattering,” Clare said. “Others are barricading themselves into the more fortified buildings, likely trying to come up with a game plan or preparing to make a last stand.”

“I see. Once I comfort the twins I’ll see to taking out the rest of them.” he pulled Clare into a comforting hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You girls did good.”

With that, he held Clare close and the two reappeared beside the twins, startling the hell out of Glissa and Pyrrha.

The former Number 47 groaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” she muttered.

Naruto chuckled, giving Clare a peck on the forehead, before turning to address the twins. “So… what’s this I hear about you two freezing up, hmm?” he asked, with small smile. The Uzumaki patriarch didn’t give them time to respond, seeing as they’re more likely to think he’s disappointed in them if he did. No, instead, he sat down between them and pulled each twin into a one-armed hug. “It’s okay,” he assured, giving Alicia and then Beth a peck on the cheek. “Killing isn’t easy for me, either.”

They slowly looked at him and blinked. Naruto inwardly winced when he found they had reverted back to being emotionless. Back to when he first met them.

“Hey, I’m not disappointed in you.” he gave them both another peck on the cheek and comfortingly rubbed their backs. “You both took a very big step. And the fact you committed to it, makes me feel really proud of you two.”

Both Alicia and Beth smiled shyly as they clung onto their man. Naruto wrapped his arms around them, continuing to rub the twins’ backs. He took note of a few ladies having taken a defensive formation around the twins. Aside from Pyrrha and Glissa, who’d taken on their awakened forms, Irene, Zelda, Helen, and Deneve had created a defensive ring around Alicia and Beth.

“So, Clare told me we still got a few more left in fortified buildings. I was planning on taking care of them myself, but seeing as you’re all here, what is your plan?”

At that, Zelda gave her husband the most unsettling grin he’d ever seen. “I could smoke them out,” she recommended. “And when they run out, Glissa and Pyrrha can cut them down. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds good.” he concurred with her plan of action; then Naruto looked to Helen and Irene. “Helen, Irene, you both can use water jutsu so you're on fire control. Make sure it doesn’t spread to any of the other buildings. I’d like to use this camp as an outpost if possible.”

“On it,” Helen chirped with a playful salute. Irene gave him a silent, stoic nod of agreement.

“Zelda, Clare, burn them out,” Naruto commanded. “Glissa, Pyrrha, get ready to cut them down.” As he called their names, each girl perked up and nodded. “I’ll standby to make sure everything goes smoothly. Deneve, you erect some walls to create a chokepoint for the bandits. I want them to be easy kills for Glissa and Pyrrha.”

“Alright,” Deneve replied, then she made the seals for Tiger, Hare, Boar and Dog before slamming her palms to the ground, shouting, “Doton: Doryūheki!”

Immediately, two walls of mud and rock shot up on both sides of the doorway, creating a narrow passage to their position. Then, a few more shot up to cover all the windows but one for good measure.

Immediately after seeing their comrade's job done, Zelda and Clare wasted no time blazing through a few handseals of their own.

“Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!”

“Fuuton: Daitoppa!”

The gust of wind merged with the fireball and it became a raging inferno, aimed straight at the unblocked window - setting the wooden obstructions covering it from the inside ablaze and blowing them inward to light up the building’s interior. It didn’t take long for smoke to start billowing out of the room, as several voices cried out for someone to put out the flames.

“Clare,” Naruto called out, “blow some more wind in there to fuel the fire. Zelda, chuck a few more fireballs in there.”

“You got it!” Zelda replied.

“Alright.” Clare said.

Then they did just that, and the people inside began to panic as the interior of the building was getting filled up with smoke. There were several crashes and bangs from the sound of men and women scrambling to unseal the windows and doors, only to find that most of them have been blocked with a layer of earth.

“What the hell?!” One voice cried out.

“They’re trying to smoke us out,” another shouted. “Prepare for a fight!”

“Glissa, Pyrrha, get ready,” Naruto calmly told them. “They’re going to come out at any second.”

Not a second later, the only door that was uncovered burst open with several armed people funneling out of the burning building. Pyrrha wasted no time, lashing out with her tongue and tossing the first man she saw several stories up into the air and leaving him to plummet to his death. Meanwhile, Glissa charged forth with a battlecry and her sword raised high in a roof guard. One poor sap logically tried raising his shield so while thrusting into her gut with a short spear. To his credit, that was precisely what he should have done, and had his opponent not been an awakened being, it would have dropped her like a brick.

But, alas, that was simply not the case. Glissa easily sidestepped his thrust and lopped his shield arm clean off with a horizontal slash. Following up with a downward slash, she cleaved the man in twain, before slicing another man’s arm and head off with a diagonal false-edge cut. Pyrrha wrapped her tongue around another man and reeled him in, before leaping up and crushing his skull under her hooves with a sickening crunch.

A woman carrying a two handed sword tried to lop off Pyrrha’s head, only for a tri-kunai to be thrown in the middle between the two. And Naruto appeared in a yellow flash, hand holding the grip of the kunai and a Rasengan in the other. The blond gave the brunette a glare dead in the eyes before driving the spiraling sphere into her gut. The woman let out an agonised cry as she felt the sphere of energy grind itself through her armour, skin and muscle before it expanded and sent her flying back into the building in a gory display.

He made a disgusted face when the woman’s guts, skin, muscle and bone trailed all the way back to the building. At least she died quickly… he looked at the next bandit and tossed the kunai behind him, teleported behind the man and stabbed him in the back of the skull. The man slackened almost immediately and fell to the ground.

Naruto was gone as soon as he appeared, giving Pyrrha and Glissa room to keep going.

Sparing Naruto a grateful look, the former went back into the fray - albeit with more caution, this time around. Glissa, meanwhile, was happily chopping away, her sword cleaving through flesh, bone, leather, gambeson, and even chainmail with little effort, thanks to her demonic strength.

The other girls, even Pyrrha, were a bit unnerved by how much fun she seemed to be having. She was even cackling!

“...well...while some don’t like it when they kill, others, take enjoyment out of it.” Naruto said standing beside Helen and Irene. He scratched his cheek, chuckling nervously. “Glissa’s clearly the latter. I don’t mind nearly as much as I probably should, but I’m certainly glad she’s on our side.”

“You do draw some… unique people to you.” Irene told him. “I suppose I should not be surprised you are capable of bringing people like her to your side.”

“You know it!” he grinned cheerfully, and gave the silver-haired woman a playful spank. “And I wouldn’t change it.” he finished that statement by giving Helen a playful spank, and grabbing both women's asses.

‘You relentless tease~!” Helen chuckled.

Not wanting to be shown up, Zelda took a deep, calming breath and slipped into the fray to back Pyrrha up, much to the girls’ and Naruto’s surprise. Her blazing claymore lit ablaze and coming down upon the head of one hapless bandit chick, the former Number 24 grimaced as the now-flaming corpse hitting the ground with a thud, but carried on, shifting into a more defensive stance.

“H-holy shit!”

“She caught on fire!”

“Dude, her sword is on fire! She’s probably the one who set the building ablaze! Get her!”

“Oh, do come closer so we can slice and dice you!” Glissa giggled with a tint of madness in her eyes.

Zelda frowned as the bandits focused their attacks on her, she was quick to retaliate as the last man to speak charged her - impaling his head upon her claymore from under the chin with a quick jab. Glissa lopped the head off another and followed up with a second slash chopping the woman beside him in half. Pyrrha’s tongue grabbed a man by the arm as he came in for an overhead swing and Zelda lopped him in half from groin to head with a false edge cut, before beheading the man behind him.

While the slaughter carried on, Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin and then chuckled as he felt Alicia and Beth clinging onto his arms. He needed that. The blond showed them his appreciation with a peck on either woman’s forehead. They closed their eyes and smiled at the show of affection, before leaning in to rest their heads on his shoulders.

“...this is pretty hot. Eh - them fighting I mean.” he quickly clarified for the others; he did not want them to think he was some kind of sicko that got off on watching people die. “They make one hell of a team.”

Helen snickered while Deneve sighed, “You like strong women, we know.” the latter said.

“‘Strong’ or ‘weak’, I would still like you.” Naruto reminded her. “I’m not sure why, but I can’t help but smile at how much Glissa’s enjoying herself. Pyrrha’s kinda cute, even in that form, and Zelda’s determination is also pretty damn charming.”

“You wanna fuck ‘em?” Helen teased him with a wide smile.

“I certainly wouldn’t mind fucking them,” Naruto chuckled. Then, he muttered thoughtfully to himself, “Pyrrha’s the only one here who hasn’t really approached me, now that I think about it, I wonder how she feels about it...”

“She strikes me as the shy type,” Clare chimed it. Then, she gave Naruto an impish giggle. “Give her time and I’m sure you’ll get a piece of that ‘cute’ ass.”

Naruto couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “She does have a cute ass,” the blond admitted with a grin. “Even in her awakened form she has a nice ass. Covered in fur as it is.”

“What am I then? Chopped liver?” Helen asked in faux anger.

Naruto grinned and cupped pixie-haired woman’s rear as he said, “From what I remember you have a nice ass.” Then he gave it a firm squeeze and playfully added, “I might need to see it again, to make sure my memory is right~.”

Helen giggled, shaking her booty for him. “We’ll see, you stud~!”

----

It didn’t take too long for Naruto and his girls to clear out the palisade: only a few hours or so. Seeing as the majority of the prisoners they rescued were girls, with two being around 5 years old, Naruto made sure to keep a fair distance out of expectation of them being jumpy. He was also expecting for someone to approach him, since Clare had told him that a few were eager to meet him… though no one had come up to say ‘hi’ yet. But he was patient.

So he fiddled around with his tri-kunai for a bit.

The first was a brown-eyed redhead with freckles. She seemed to be in her mid teens or so and fidgeted shyly as she approached. “Uh… hi. So, I take it you’re the man responsible for sending those women to rescue us?”

Naruto held the handle of his tri-kunai and gave the girl a smile. “Yeah.” he confirmed, “My name’s Naruto. A lotta the locals know me as the Ladykiller, because of all the women I’m staying with… the name is lame though. And if they’re telling you I’m a womanizer, it’s a damn lie!”

The redhead bit back a giggle, unable to help but find that cute. “I’m Nalani,” she said with a curtsey. “Please to meet you. Tell me, is there any way I can repay you?”

“You don’t need to repay me for anything,” he told her with a warm chuckle. “I’d do it again for free, because I can’t stand seeing people suffer like that.”

“It’s easy to see how you’re popular with the ladies, then,” Nalani replied with a giggle. “Women around these parts are suckers for a man so kind. I insist, though. I’m a good cook, and I hear you have a castle. If you want, I’d be happy to be your chef or housekeeper. It’s the least I can do...”

“Well we could do with a cook, or a housekeeper. But are you sure? The people living there aren’t… well… normal. They’re like the Claymores only, older. Much older, and they have their own quirks.”

“I don’t mind at all,” she replied with a bright smile. “After seeing what these women can do, I’m not sure anything can surprise me.”

Naruto gave a nervous laugh, “ha ha ha ha, you’d be very surprised.” they have over a dozen awakened beings living there, at least two of them are streakers. “I’ll give you a test run first, just a few days to let you think it over, while you’re there. If you’re okay with the company, we’ll keep you. If not, I’m sure there are a few places in Morris you can find a job and a place to stay.”

“Alright,” Nalani beamed. “That sounds good to me~!”

Naruto chuckled warmly at the girl. The cheery demeanor she had, despite what she’d been through was rather cute… and impressive, if he were to be honest. This was one hardy girl.

After hearing her and Naruto chatting it up so happily, many of the other girls felt encouraged to approach the blond as well - much to Miria’s irritation.

Once she was done taking inventory, the former Number 6 was none too happy to see no less than five of the rescued prisoners showering her man in praise and gratitude. She cleared her throat to get Naruto’s attention and when she did, Miria said, “these bandits had quite a haul on their hands: ten wagons, twenty horses, several weapons and suits of armor, and over 10,000 bera, just to name a few of the items we found.”

Naruto let out a low whistle. “Woah. That’s quite a lot,” he separated himself from the grateful women surrounding him, much to their disappointment, and said, “in that case I’ll take care of the haul. You girls did quite a lot here already.”

“It was a pleasure, honey,” Miria said with a smile.

“We’ll get a caravan ready and see if we can find these girls a place to stay in Morris, until they can get back on their feet,” Naruto added. Miria bit back a scowl when she saw them swoon at that. “Also, Nalani, here, has offered to be our cook or housekeeper as a token of her gratitude.” He gestured to the redhead in question. “Given our… ‘company’ I’m going to give her a test run, just to make sure she really wants to take that occupation.”

“Very well,” Miria sighed. Then, she yelped and giggled as she was scooped up into a loving hug.

“You know I love you, Miria,” Naruto said with a warm chuckle. “Remember: I’m yours; right?”

“Damn straight,” Miria said possessively. She then gave him a peck on the lips. “I’ll let the others know that we’re preparing to leave.”

“I’ll go make some clones and get everything ready to move in the meantime, then.” he told her, then he let his wife go but not before giving her another quick kiss. Then after that he went to gather the loot together, while Miria went to let everyone else know they are to prepare to leave.

----

It took a while to get everything loaded onto the wagons, but thanks to him using Kage Bunshin the amount of hours it would normally take had been lessened to just one hour. So it did take a while, but not time wasting amounts. Naruto made more clones and left them behind to clean up the fortress of bodies and to repair any buildings that were damaged in the assault. And for the obvious one, where Zelda had set it on fire, it had to be demolished for rebuilding.

The people that were rescued, are now riding on the back of the wagons as they made their way to Morris. A few of his family were riding on the back too. Naruto himself was on point, leading the way.

Miria was among the exceptions, riding on horseback to scout ahead with Undine, Flora, Betty, and Evianna. They and the remaining former single-digits also created clones to take to the sky as black thrushes, while the original Alicia and Beth were keeping Naruto company as one would expect.

“Today’s outing was a success, I think.” Naruto suddenly said. Then he looked to the twins, “What do you two think?”

They both smiled at him shyly as Alicia was the one to answer. “I think so too,” she replied, then the former Number 1 averted her gaze, “I didn’t like it when I had to kill a human, though; I also wish I hadn't frozen up like that.”

Beth nodded in agreement, looking a bit dejected, herself.

Naruto pulled them both into a one-armed hug. “I know how you both feel,” he said. “It’s not easy. But, what you did saved the people that were taken away by those bad men, from a fate worse than death. You also helped prevent the deaths of many other innocent people. You’re heroes, now, and I won’t let anyone make you think otherwise.”

Alicia and Beth smiled at that, feeling remarkably better.

Then, a little black thrush fluttered on up next to the wagon and with a poof, a clone of Miria took its place, walking next to Naruto to give her report.

“It would appear that a fairly large caravan is approaching Morris,” she said. “They are being led by someone with a powerful yoki signature.”

“A powerful yoki signature?” Naruto mused; a possible awakened being perhaps? How odd that this person is approaching Morris with a large caravan. Could it be some kind of cover? He gave the clone of his wife a thoughtful frown. “Who’s leading them? Were you able to get a good look at them?”

“He’s dressed like someone from your land,” Miria replied. “A redhead with a giant gourd on his back.”

THAT got Naruto to abruptly stop in his tracks and he looked at the sandy brunette with wide eyes. “A giant gourd!? You’re sure?!”

Miria frowned worriedly and nodded.

“Ha… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Naruto began to laugh loudly and heartfully. His loud laughter had gotten the attention of several others, though they didn’t say anything to state their curiosity. They merely eavesdropped on him as best they could. “Let the scouts know to not engage him. If that really is the person I suspect, then they’d be outmatched.”

The clone nodded. “Anything else?”

“Have them meet up with him peacefully and tell them ‘the hero of the war is heading in their direction’. He’ll know what it means.”

The clone of Miria nodded and went up in a poof of smoke.

“...Who is this person?” Beth asked. If the mere mention of a specific detail was enough to get this kind of reaction from her man, then he must be someone of great importance. Or someone who is a great deal to Naruto.

Naruto, noticeably more cheery, had his eyes closed and a giant grin on his face as he reached out with his senses to located this caravan. “A friend,” he said. “You’ll meet him soon enough. At our current pace, it should take us a quarter of an hour to get to him, if I’m not mistaken.”

----

When Miria received the memory of her clone, she frowned with concern and curiosity. She had never seen or heard this sort of reaction from her husband before. Nevertheless, she did as instructed.

The meeting between her team and Gaara was a… tense one. The redhead viewed them with no small amount of suspicion, having sensed their yoki. But, the message he received from them had piqued his interest, so he humored these strange, foreign women… mostly because they were careful not to provoke him and his ninja.

The women in question were unnerved by the redhead’s lack of emotion; he honestly reminded them of Alicia and Beth. But, there was something about him that nagged them. Miria, especially... but for the life of her, she had no idea why.

Indeed, it hadn’t taken long for Naruto’s caravan to arrive. And when Gaara laid his eyes on Naruto for the first time in years, he smiled.

“When I heard you of all people were here, I couldn’t believe it!” exclaimed a widely smiling Naruto, as he eagerly approached his friend. “What are you doing here?”

Without missing a beat Gaara answered, “Word has reached the Hidden Villages that you are opposing an organization that is similar in some ways to the Akatsuki.”

“And you came here to check up on me.” Naruto said; it wasn’t a question it was a statement.

“Of course,” Gaara replied, holding out a hand.

Naruto happily grabbed and shook it. “It’s good to see you, again.”

Then someone else joined the conversation.“Yay, we found him! Can we go now?! I have such a crick in the neck!” Shukaku complained.

“Wha-what the?!” Miria, and many others, reached for the handle of their sword in alarm and wildly looked around for something that wasn’t there.

Naruto blinked owlishly and slowly looked over his shoulder at the gourd itself. “...Is?” he asked his friend, pointing at the gourd that is normally used to carry his sand around.

“Yes. He too wanted to see you.” Gaara confirmed.

“...ah.” the blond tried so hard to keep himself from sniggering. He really did.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up… make fun of my misery why dontcha!?”

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Naruto chuckled warmly. “I’ll set up a place for you to roam around freely without causing everyone around you to shit themselves. The locals here are a bit… jumpy.”

“Naruto, what’s going on?” Clare asked, walking up to the front of the caravan. “Why are we not moving?”

“Oh! Sorry,” Naruto chuckled. “This is my friend, Gaara. The Kazekage of Sunagakure no Sato.”

“A Kage!? Here?!” Miria almost fell off her saddle at the revelation.

Those who heard of the redhead were in as much surprise as Miria. This was the infamous Gaara of the Sands! Someone who was psychotic and a sociopath before he met Naruto!

“Yup,” Naruto chirped. “There is nothing to worry about. He’s my best friend, remember?”

“You told them of the time I tried to kill you, didn’t you.” Gaara said with a sigh; and the way he said it was phrased as a statement, not a question.

“Yeah, one of my wives was actually very much like you when we first met,” Naruto explained. “I had to kick her ass to get her to calm down; a few of them read my autobiography, though, so some of them learned about it that way.”

“Fair enough,” Gaara said with a shrug. “Now that we’re together let us travel to our destination together as well.”

“Alright!” the blond agreed with his friend wholeheartedly. “We can catch up too!”

“I’m sure this would be easier if you lead the way,” the redhead added. “We were late, because we ran into several youma along the way.”

“Oh? We were on our way back from clearing out a bandit campsite. We rescued a lot of people they had taken from their homes.” he jerked a thumb at the cargo and added, “we got quite a bit of loot from them, too. Though I’m pretty sure a bit of it belongs to the prisoners. We’ll sort it out back in Morris.”

Gaara nodded. “I’ll get everyone ready to move, then.”

With that, the redheaded kage immediately started barking orders to his men and they were back on the road within the minute.

----

The return to Morris went without a hitch as the old friends got caught up.

“So what happened to the Shinobi Union? It is still a thing right?” Naruto asked.

Gaara sighed heavily. “Konoha was unanimously ousted when the Suna Incident happened, but it is, for the most part.”

“...I think you should give Konoha a chance. Not to let them back in, but, to be associated with the Shinobi Unsion. If what I heard is right, Tsunade personally killed the people who authorised the ‘mission’ that ended up became that shitshow. And ever since he took the hat, Kakashi’s been cleaning house in her absence, as well, I hear.”

“So I’ve heard,” Gaara said, “but politics are… complicated - a lesson I learned the hard way. Most of Suna’s people are unwilling to even give them the time of day, for the most part. There are exceptions, of course. Anko-San and Sasuke are well received among my village’s people, but as I’m sure you could tell at the time, I wasn’t the only one who wanted to declare open hostility towards the Leaf when I heard what happened. It had opened the old wound from when the Daimyo of Wind started doing business with Konoha, instead. I simply lead the charge.”

Naruto let out a tired sigh. One problem solved and another springs up in its place. The same old shit. “Truth be told, the Suna Incident wouldn’t have even happened, if it weren’t for a few specific people that had gotten my ninja licence revoked. They were all over the Elemental Nations; they were powerful people too. People with influence. The type Daimyo would listen to.”

“We know that now,” Gaara said with a nod and a sigh. “But mending the relations will take time. Iwa’s especially unwilling to help, because they’ve feel Konoha can’t be trusted after seeing what they did to you. The new Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, is especially spiteful towards them, I hear.”

“The more I listen, the more I want to go back and just… bust some heads like I use to do.” the blond admitted with a low chuckle. Then he latched on to a more brighter subject, “So Kurotsuchi is the Tsuchikage now? Onoki finally stepped down at last?”

“Yes, he literally said ‘I’m too old for this shit’ when he passed down the torch, I hear,” Gaara said.

Naruto snickered at that, “That doesn’t sound like him at all. I thought he would have held onto that hat until he died. He seemed like the type of guy to do that.”

“He was stubborn enough to try,” Gaara replied with a smirk. “But, the man was quite old. It was only a matter of time before his age caught up to him, and I hear Kurotsuchi inherited his stubbornness.”

“She calls me minion; and she’s a bit crude. I think she got that from him.” he said with a chuckle; she’s still smoking hot though. He certainly wouldn’t have minded being her minion in another life… “Her heart is in the right place, though. I’m sure she’ll do fine leading Iwagakure.”

Unable to help but overhear their conversation, a jealous Alicia muttered, “you want to make her one of your wives, don’t you?”

Naruto let out a loud, hearty chuckle at that. “I admittedly wouldn’t mind if she offered, but I don’t think that’ll happen.” he admitted. “She’s a Kage, now. Kurotsuchi can’t exactly drop her duties to her people and come here to elope. Not to mention she thinks of me as a minion. A subordinate… she even treats me like one.”

“Like Priscilla,” Alicia pointed out, completely unconvinced.

“Priscilla is... different,” he countered somewhat weakly. Truth be told, he didn’t mind, because she loved him, regardless. “She and I are very close, just like I am with all my wives. Kurotsuchi, though, doesn’t seem to like me.”

Deciding to give his friend a hard time, Gaara replied with an unusually impish grin. “I beg to differ.”

“Wait, what?” Naruto looked at his friend owlishly. “What do you mean?”

“As I said, Kurotsuchi is especially spiteful towards Konoha,” the redhead explained. “To the point that she’s even rumored to have been motivated by… personal reasons. In short, most of us back home suspect she has a secret crush on you.”

“That’s just speculation though,” the blond pointed out, “Hell, you remember how much hate they had for Konoha-nins after the Third War, right? As much as I would love to believe that I solved everyone's problems, there are some grudges that can never go so easily.”

“That old grudge is precisely why she would keep her feelings a secret, though,” Gaara added with a shrug. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was trying to convince herself that she didn’t like you. My sister has a similar attitude towards Shikamaru, so I know what it looks like.”

“I TOLD YOU I DON’T HAVE A CRUSH ON THAT BUM!”

Naruto couldn’t help but grin as he turned to look at said sister, “Oh, hey Temari! Is Kankuro here, too?”

The beet red blonde sighed and nodded. “He’s keeping an eye on everything in the back.”

“Oh, okay, it’s nice to see you again by the way.” then he grinned impishly and asked her, “How is Shikamaru by the way?”

“H-how should I know?! I haven’t seen him in months!”

“Alright, alright,” Naruto chuckled, letting it drop. “Hope you and your siblings like it here. Morris is a nice town… very peaceful.”

“How long until we reach there?” Gaara asked.

“Not too long now actually,” Naruto said, gesturing to a large castle on the mountain ahead. “That citadel over there is where I’m staying; that said, we should be there within an hour or so, given our current pace. The town is partially obscured by the surrounding hills, so it’s hard to see from here.”

“...That’s a big fortress.” Temari said with wide eyes.

“With how many people are living there, it needs to be,” Naruto replied with a chuckle. Then the blond looked to the eldest twin and brought her in a one armed hug. Alicia stopped glaring immediately and leaned into her husband’s shoulder. “There’s a village the castle overlooks as well; and since everyone likes to call me ‘Lord Naruto of Morris’, you can say I’m technically a Kage, myself.”

“You would find a way to get that title,” Gaara said with an amused grin. “You’re not one to give up.”

Temari chuckled in agreement.

“Truth be told, that title was somewhat forced on me.” Naruto said with a grin of his own. “Not that I mind, it just kinda happened.” then he snapped his fingers in remembrance, “oh, now that we’re on the subject of Morris, there are people there who have their own… ‘quirks.’”

“So I’ve heard,” Gaara said. “You’ve apparently collected quite the… diverse harem. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.”

“Well, just to give you a little heads up - one is a streaker and likes to glomp me out of nowhere… she’s also strong enough to have Kurama worried, and in his words, she could fight the five Kages and win. She’s very… possessive of me, too. She just had a kid, though, so she’s likely keeping to herself.”

“Noted,” Gaara muttered. “I’ll be sure not to anger them, including the one you mentioned.”

Temari added, “I’ll keep my distance so no one gets the wrong idea. You’re cute, I’ll admit, but not my type. No offense.”

“None taken,” Naruto chuckled. “We all have our preferences.” then he gestured to Alicia, “Alicia here is practically glued to my hip. So is her twin sister Beth. When I first encountered them, Gaara, they were worse off than you. And knowing what you went through, that is saying something.”

“Pardon me if I don’t believe you, but, how could they have had it worse than Gaara?” Temari asked.

Naruto looked to Alicia and asked, “Is it okay if I were to tell them what happened to you?”

Alicia frowned a little at that and looked at the ground in front of her contemplatively. Then Alicia looked back at her husband, her decision made. “...You, told me what had happened to you. Gaara’s story has been told too. I feel it is only fair if you were to tell him what I had gone through.”

“Okay,” permission granted Naruto turned to his Gaara and Temari. “Alicia and Beth were taken from their father when they were several months old. Then when they underwent the transformation to become what they are, the Organization tried to break them.” he paused to collect his thoughts and to keep the vicious growl that threatened to escape the back of his throat. Then he picked up where he left off, “They tried to strip them of their emotions and made them undergo grueling training for as long as they can remember; the Organization tried to make them into emotionless killing machines, that are incapable of individual thought. Alicia here is able to transform into… what is basically a demon, and with her sister’s help, her soul is protected from being lost forever. This is all in an attempt to create a demon they can control. When I first ran into them, they barely had any emotion. They couldn’t feel anger. Love. Or Pain. Let alone understand what they were.”

“That’s… horrible.” Gaara admitted, now that he looked at her - really looked at her, the redhead could what his friend was talking about. Alicia’s expression was blank. Featureless. More so than his. It was… unnerving.

“She seems to have improved, then,” Temari pointed out. “You’ve always had a talent for healing people.”

“I try,” Naruto said with a chuckle. “It’s not always easy, but it’s still worth it in the end.”

----

Quite some time later in Staff, Miranda let loose a tired sigh as she helped Dae with unhooking the last two warriors, Elizabeth and Uranus, from the machinery. Now, it was just a matter of time and the whole band with be together.

When she questioningly looked to the hooded man, he waved her off, so she took that as her dismissal and left the room.

The Number 35 was becoming a little suspicious now. He had done this quite a few times on her. But, she didn’t question it. After all he always had her come back when they were making signs of movement. Oddly enough, they would always be naked when that happened…

A shudder ran through her body; he didn’t do… that to them while they were unconscious! ...did he?

She didn’t want to think about it.

And, of course, her train of thought came to a screeching halt when Neideen glomped her from behind. “Hey, cutie~!” the one-eyed woman whispered into her ear.

For once, Miranda was grateful for the distraction, but would die before admitting it.

She let out a sigh, “...hello, Neideen. Please don’t grope me.” the pigtailed blonde pleaded with her.

“Awww~! What’s wrong, my pet?” Neideen cooed. “Something got you in the dumps?”

“I… guess?” Miranda offered weakly. “I guess I’m just nervous, is all.” she let out a weak laugh and tried to get Neideen to let go of her.

“You don’t want to fight, I take it?” the former Number 9 asked, cocking her head.

Miranda looked over her shoulder and gave the one-eyed woman a flat stare. “Do you want to fight someone that can make several thousand copies of himself?” she deadpanned.

Neideen shrugged. “I don’t, simply because he seems to be a nice guy. His heart’s in the right place, and he has a legitimate reason to be pissed off. But, unfortunately, at the end of the day, he is a danger to the innocent lives of the world… or continent, it would seem. If he kills the organization, the youma will run amok and no one wants that.” Neideen sighed. “I hate so say it, but taking him out is ultimately the lesser of two evils. It’s our duty to protect the people.”

Miranda was taken aback by that, looking at the perverted woman like she’d grown a second head.

“What?” she giggled. “I was a single-digit, y’know… for twenty years, no less! One doesn’t tend to keep a rank like that for long, even with raw power, if they don’t have their priorities straight.” She then gave Miranda a playful swat on the rear as she let the former Number 35 go. “Now, let’s see if we can get you whipped into shape for the big day, no?”

“A-ah, okay.” the pigtailed blonde yelped. She was pleasantly surprised by the former Number 9; now, if only she kept that mindset instead of focusing on molesting other people…

----

A few hours later, Miranda wanted to kick herself for looking a gift horse in the mouth, earlier, as she let out an undignified squawk upon feeling a hand on her ass. Of course Neideen would turn this training exercise into an excuse to molest every last one of the other women she was ‘training’ in yoki perception.

“You’re not focusing~!” Neideen sang to the now-blindfolded former Number 35. “Try to focus on my yoki and avoid me.” she reminded her with a leer. The only person who didn’t need to do this exercise was Roxanne; since she already knew it.

“The Ladykiller had used a similar exercise. Only they had to fight him.” Sistina said, and she certainly wouldn’t have minded being a part of that little exercise… if only for the outcome of those who were caught. She was still getting wet dreams from that vision she had all those years ago~!

“Of course an insatiable womanizer like him would find any excuse he could to grope and fondle countless women,” Roxanne muttered.

Miranda did her best to reach out with her senses and predict Neideen’s movements. The exercise she was being given was surprisingly well thought out. Her not wanting to be groped served as motivation to get it down while her eyes and ears were rendered useless by the blindfold and Neideen’s quiet movements. She also couldn’t use her hands to feel around for her, because the former single-digit was too quick. All she could use was her yoki perception. In short, she was being forced to sharpen it naturally by being forced to rely on it to keep Neideen from groping her.

Cassandra, who sat cross-legged on the sidelines, scowled deeply as she resisted the urge to march on over and deck a one-eyed bitch. “Naruto is a foe who is trained to fight dirty. He was teaching them to fight an enemy who would use any means to kill. Even causing embarrassment to make it harder to fight him.” the elf eared woman clarified in Naruto’s defence, since he wasn’t here to defend himself. Not to mention the way he did it was pretty damn ingenious. “I dare say they had improved to the point they are capable of putting even him on his toes.”

“Still a pervert,” Roxanne grumbled.

“He had over 10 warriors fighting a small number of his clones like they were an Awakened Being. He was using only the most basic of abilities,” Sistina pointed out, “He still managed to wipe the floor with them. Pervert or not, he is the last opponent you want to underestimate.”

“You seem to know a lot about this, and you weren’t there.” Noel pointed out.

“I saw it all in a vision before I died,” Sistina explained. “Then I was underwater with some… weird, low-pitched music coming out of nowhere. Like… Daaaa-na. Daaaa-na. I can’t explain it, but it sounded like some sort of string instrument I’ve never heard before.”

“...weird.” Sophia said.

“...Wait, you saw it in a vision before you died. And you ended up underwater…” Roxanne said, blinking owlishly. “D-did you think you were actually there?” if she did then that was one fucking shitty way to go.

“I don’t know, actually…” Sistina muttered, frowning in confusion. “It’s fuzzy. All I know for sure is that I was in a trance at the time. I saw visions of Naruto’s life from early childhood to his campaign against the Organization. Then, I saw us trying to fight him off and seeing his terrifying might. It.. scared me. Then, I… died.”

“They said you suddenly screamed your head off for no apparent reason and jumped off a cliff to your death.” Sophia said, grimly. “I guess... we now know the reason why you did that.”

“Eaten by sharks. What a way to go. It was a lot better than I how went, at least… Fucking Isley.” Lutecia grumbled. She still felt bitter that over getting killed in such a humiliating manner. If she could, she would love to give that prick a taste of his own medicine.

“He was so overwhelming.” Sistina muttered uncomfortably. “Powerful. In the vision that led to my death, we were divided and there was little communication or teamwork between us all. Because of this, he managed to kill us, one by one.”

They would still lose against his terrifying might; that part of her vision had not changed. What did change was what would happen after they were defeated.

Originally, when they fought the blond, he massacred them without mercy. He tore into their ranks and ripped them to shreds. Their deaths, while quick, was brutal and graphic. It… scared her.

Now, however, they were working together and putting up one hell of a fight. They still end up being defeated by him, but instead of dying, he merely healed them and later they end up having sex with him and becoming his wives.

She prefered this outcome more than the original one.

“We’re still going to lose aren’t we?” Chloe asked with a sigh.

“The future is not written in stone. Even the bleakest of outcomes can change with enough effort.” Sistina replied. “The vision of our battle with him has changed. We all live. Not die.”

“We also have his babies…” Licht reminded her; then she let out a sigh, “I’m not sure what I like more: your original vision where we all die. Or the ‘current’ one where we all have his babies.”

“...How do we have his babies anyway? Didn’t our conversion to becoming half-human, half-youma make us barren?” Hilda asked; that was what griped her the most. They had that unhealable gash reaching from their neck on down to their crotch; the stitching may have done the job at keeping their guts from hanging out, but she’s pretty damn sure the conversion had made them barren. Not to mention having their bellies stretch out when they’re having a baby would give a lot of strain on their stitches.

“I do not know.” Sistina replied; the Divine Oracle was being truthful here. She had no idea how they have his babies. “Perhaps his people have a method we do not know about. He is from a land where they use a mysterious power after all.” the elf-eared woman pointed out. “It… appears to be how he’s able to heal our stigma. This is how he won over so many of the organization’s warriors in Pieta. The one known as Drillsword Jean swore her loyalty to him the instant he healed hers and now, she’s one of his most devoted wives.”

Now that got everyone’s attention; they all stared at her in utter shock and awe - Miranda pulling up her blindfold to stare Sistina in the eye.

“He can heal our stigma? This isn’t some sick joke, is it?” the former Number 35 asked frantically.

Sistina shook her head, no. “No. It is not. It is a… very well guarded secret, among those loyal to Naruto. And for good reason.”

“What reason would they have for keeping this a secret?” Chloe demanded. The Organization had tried every method they could think of to get their unhealable gash closed; the best they could do was crudely stitch it shut. And here, the Divine Oracle was saying the person they were going to right had a way to get that fucking gash on their front closed?

“If the Organization discovers that he can heal our stigma, they will stop at nothing to get their hands on him. They will send everything they have against him, just so they could have his power for themselves,” Sistina explained grimly. “This also poses a threat to the multitude of children he’s already produced with the lovers he has already, which is why he and his lovers have holed themselves up in the citadel of a fortified town in the mountains to the West. It’s a far more defensible position.”

“Oh shit…” Noel cursed with her eyes wide with realization, “and if the Organization finds out he has kids you can bet the Organization will be very interested in them, since they’re his offspring.”

“As well as that of either a hybrid or an awakened being,” Sistina confirmed, she closed her eyes and concentrated on her foresight. “At least one should have been produced with a foreigner from his land, by now, as well. They’d be very interested in him, as well. And… if his allies from his land discover what the Organization has done to their hero, they will declare war. We may be powerful, but there is no way we are equipped to fight a war against no less than five nations… possibly more.” she opened her eyes once more, and she gave everyone a grim look. “The timeline of that possibility is rather muddled, so it’s hard to tell just what we would be facing in that case, but if my memories of his early childhood are correct, then all of them are capable of what Naruto is able to do - albeit on a far lesser scale.”

The room seemed to go cold as everyone therein shuddered in fear.

“It would appear that we are in quite the precarious position…” Hilda muttered. “Perhaps… perhaps this can be dealt with diplomatically? M-maybe we can convince him to leave and take his wives with him?”

“Naruto does not break a promise.” Sistine told her with a sigh, “As long as the Phantom is determined on fighting the Organization, he too shall fight them.”

“W-well, on the bright side of things, he’s not after us warriors particularly.” Roxanne said with faux cheer. But everyone knew she was trying to hide her fear. Going up against someone capable of wiping out town is one thing. Going up against thousands of people that are just as capable of what he is doing, but on a far lesser scale would be a nightmare.

“Damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” Cassandra sighed.

Chloe sported a determined look, crossing her arms with a defiant huff. “Well, if we’re fucked either way, then we might as well go down fighting.”

“...How about we do the obvious thing and just ask him?” Miranda said questioningly, “We all know he’s convinced the warriors that were sent to Pieta that the Organization are the ones who made the youma, and all that. So… when we go to fight him, let’s just ask before we do anything.” the former Number 35 looked to Sistina. “You say he isn’t the leader of this rebellion, and that one of his lovers is; so, she must have been the one to convince him.”

Sistina closed her eyes and focused on her foresight once more. “...the one of the phantom, Miria, has told Naruto she wants to take down the Organization. Something about... Exper-something... experiments? Everything else is muddled. But what she has said has convinced him to join her cause. She is the one at the root of all this, the one who convinced him and her comrades that the Organization is the one creating the youma for some sort of nefarious gain.”

“Miria...what happened to you?” Hilda sighed. “You were such a good kid… Why are you doing this?”

“As strong as I am, I wouldn’t mind just straight up asking him. I’ve been eaten once by Luciela, I am not eager to go through an ordeal like that again.” Chloe said with a shudder. She did not want to run the risk of pissing off thousands of people from his homeland. “But, again, we’re fucked either way,” she added grimly. “If I’m getting eaten a second time, I might as well go down fighting.”

“Sadly, I agree with Chloe,” Neideen chimed in, crossing her arms with a frown. “It seems like we’re being drawn into this fight whether we like it or not. One one hand, he is putting the people of the continent at risk. On the other, we’d have to go through him to confront Miria, and that’s assuming she’s even willing to talk - not likely, given her vendetta. We’re fighting, either way, though keeping his ability to heal our stigmas a secret is probably for the best, if only for the collective sake of his children.”

No one had the heart to argue with her on that last point. Well, Roxanne did, but she’s trying not to piss anyone off, so she kept her mouth shut. Furthermore, she didn’t like the thought of having to fight off those children’s mothers to collect them. She knew damn well how protective a woman was of her kids, and two of them were Abyssal Ones!

“...I’m still for asking him.” Miranda said with a pout. There just had to be a way to avoid this. While the Organization is determined on getting rid of Naruto, there just had to be a way for them to solve this matter peacefully!

“As am I, admittedly,” Roxanne chimed in, “if only to avoid such a complicated situation, but it would be wise to prepare for the worst. If negotiations fail, we will have to fight them.”

“Indeed,” Cassandra added. Agreeing with that bitch put a bad taste in her mouth, but the scorned former Number One knew a good point when she heard it. Then, she looked to Hilda and asked, “so what exactly is your connection to Miria? We can all tell you have one, I’m sure.”

“I was her best friend.” Hilda admitted, drawing a wince from Cassandra. “I was on the verge of awakening, and I gave another warrior my black card so she could deliver it... but, the bitch I gave it to tore it up in front of me and laughed.” the former Number 6 scowled at the memory, her fists clenched so hard her knuckles became white. “And when I saw her again, I was an awakened being; Miria delivered the killing blow.” she frowned and looked at herself, “How I came back to being a hybrid, upon being revived is a mystery for me though. I’ll say Dae had something to do with it and leave it at that.”

“She was revived to emotionally compromise Phantom Miria in the upcoming conflict,” Miranda added grimly. Many women in the room did not like the sound of that - Cassandra, especially. Then the former Number 35 addressed Hilda directly. “But, seeing as how you and she are so close, maybe she’ll be willing to talk to you?”

“Phantom Miria holds you dear to her heart to this day,” Sistina added, groaning uncomfortably as she held a hand to the side of her head. “I see... that she even names her firstborn daughter after you.”

Hilda’s head snapped to Sistina in utter shock. “W-what…? She… she named her firstborn after me?!”

The Divine Oracle nodded. “Your death affected her more than you know,” Sistina answered, she closed her eyes and focused on recollecting past events. “She misses you dearly, and… her personality has changed since your death. She is far more cynical, now… more serious - only reverting to her old self around Naruto.”

Hilda squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to cry. “Miria…” she whispered. Then she opened her eyes again and looked to Miranda since talking to the blond and her friend was her idea. “I-I’ll talk to her. Maybe seeing me again will get her to open up.” She let out a deep, calming breath. Deep inside, though, there was a pang of guilt and rage at the memory of that warrior who caused all this in the first place. “Does… does anyone know what happened to a warrior by the name of Ophelia?” The hollow tone promised a world of pain for the woman in question, telling all that this chick had better hope she’s dead. Hell, a few of the warriors present hoped she was out of sheer pity for the suffering she’d elsewise endure.

Sistina hummed, “The one called Ophelia had awakened years ago. She was the first awakened being Naruto had encountered.”

Once again, Hilda took a deep, calming breath. Either she was dead or one of his lovers, then. Either way, she was not getting her revenge on the bitch.

“...Is she dead?” Sophia asked, glancing at Hilda with worried eyes.

“No,” Sistina answered, “Naruto and Ophelia fought. Naruto won, and he helped her come to terms with herself. By now, she should have born him two children… maybe three? I’m not quite sure. By the time we were to meet the Ladykiller, he had impregnated her with a fourth, but the timeline has been warped, so it’s hard to say.”

So she was the latter, then… Great, just great… Hilda growled, but took a moment to calm back down.

Judging by her reaction, though several women present were quite easily able to surmise that this Ophelia was the woman who’d torn up Hilda’s black card. This realization gave Roxanne, in particular, hope that if they did lose and become his wives, then Naruto theoretically should at least be willing to look past her misdeeds in the past and treat her well.

Perhaps Sistina wasn’t delusional, after all...?

The woman in question suddenly went stiff, her eyes wide as she yelled, “IN THE FUTURE-”

“It was going so well!!” many a women screamed out in despair.

“A GREAT WAR SHALL BE WAGED BETWEEN WOMEN WHO WANT A FICTIONAL MAIDEN TO BETROTHE A SPARKLING LORD OF THE EDGE AND THOSE WHO WANT HER TO BOARD A SHIP WITH A CAKE OF BEEF!”

----

Back in Morris, Gaara looked rather nervous as several of the castle’s residents were seen dragging many a poor sod into one of the buildings within the bailey.

He almost jumped when he felt his friend's hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, Gaara. Just… ignore the-” the screams of the poor sods could be heard from the building they were dragged into before they were abruptly cut short, “-screams.” he finished, with a sigh.

“I still find it hard to believe that so many of them are among your lovers,” the redhead admitted. “But, as long as they are treating you well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

“Quite a few of them are my lovers, you know.” Naruto told his friend with a sheepish grin, “You already met three of them.”

“I see…” Gaara muttered. “Out of curiosity, which ones are among your lovers.”

“Evianna, Glissa and Ophelia.” Naruto said, pointing to each woman in question. “Evianna’s more of a friend with benefits, though. The same goes for Helen and Deneve.” he pointed at the two best friends in question as well. “Glissa’s my fiancee, as is Clarice, over there. She’s an… unusual case. Her body rejected the conversion to becoming a hybrid, so she was deemed a failure. I saved her from a suicide mission a while back. The kid clinging to her is our adoptive child, Miata.”

“She is… different.” Gaara said; he was talking about Miata of course; even from where he stood, he could see there is something wrong with her.

“She’s thirteen years old, but has the mind of a 5 year old. Miata thinks Clarice is her mum. She wanted me to be her dad, so, I agreed.”

“You always were said to have a heart of gold,” Gaara said with a small smile.

“I can’t stand the sight of people being miserable. You and I both know what that is like more than anyone.”

“Indeed,” Gaara muttered, deciding to change the subject. “I take it the twins are also among your lovers? I saw the look Alicia gave my sister a while back.”

“Yeah, they’re the possessive type,” Naruto said sheepishly. “So are Miria and Priscilla.” Upon saying the streaker’s name he gestured to her as she pulled the last hapless sap from one of the wagon. “You got any dead missing-nin or bandits preserved in a scroll? I’m expecting a new arrival called Chronis coming any day now.”

“I don’t, unfortunately,” Gaara said. Of course Naruto would be the one asking such outlandish questions.

Naruto shrugged. “I’ll see if I can get Pyrrha to hand one of hers over, then,” he said. “She’s the redhead with the ponytail. Turns out she has a knack for fuuinjutsu.”

“Is she also among your lovers?” Gaara asked.

“Nope, though she does seem to like me…” Naruto said with a shrug. “I’m not sure if it’s because she’s just shy or if I’m not her type, but she hasn’t actually approached me, yet. So I’ve been leaving her alone about it. She’s very friendly, though. Same goes for most of the other awakened beings… the female ones, at least. I’m not into guys. My other lovers among them are Riful and Europa.” He pointed out which one was which as he called their names. “The latter and I have just started our relationship, though, so it’s hard to say where I stand with her, just yet.”

“It would seem you have a child on the way,” Gaara observed.

“Two, actually,” Naruto replied. “One of my other wives is also pregnant, though she’s only a couple months in. She’s in the castle, looking after the kids with a few of my other wives.”

“I see,” was all Gaara had said. Then he frowned, upon Shukaku detecting a familiar source of chakra, “So this is where Lady fifth ended up.”

“Hmm? Oh Granny-Tsunade? Yeah, she’s been here almost as long as I was.” Naruto explained. “I didn’t find out about it until a few months ago. Now she’s helping out here and there.”

“She hasn’t tried anything has she?”

“Excluding her acting as our doctor and helping the ‘complicated ones’ by growing them some food to eat, then no. She hasn’t tried anything. In fact, she blames herself for what happened to me.” Naruto answered. He crossed his arms and inhaled deeply, and exhaling. “I’m planning on asking her to take Clarice as her apprentice. As well as a few others, here. Tsunade won’t be around forever, and short of killing, these women, and men are practically immortal. If they are able to grow their own food, then, they won’t have to move from place to place looking for something… or rather someone to eat.”

Gaara stared at his friend in silence for a moment, before he nodded with acceptance. What he said made sense; Tsunade is still regarded as the best damn medic in the Elemental Nations, if anyone can teach these people how to grow their own food, it will be her.

“I see. As long as you know what you are doing then I will not argue with you.”

“It’s nice to hear you be so understanding.”

“You’re my friend.” the way he said it, made it sound as if it should explain everything. And for Naruto, it did. The redhead trusts him, and is his best friend, so he would believe him until proven otherwise.

“It’s so nice to see you two bond again, but can I please for the love of my father come out of this damned Gourd?! I’m cramping up in here!” Shukaku complained.

“Are you able to shrink yourself?” Naruto asked.

Shukaku’s shrunken head emerged from the gourd to stare at him. “I may be a mass of chakra, but I am also made of sand. Changing my size is child's play.”

Naruto made a thought sound, “...make yourself human sized and you can come out.” he bargained.

Shukaku didn’t hesitate. “DEAL!!”

The racoon broke down into sand, that then proceeded to defy gravity and physics as it emerged from the gourd. This supernatural act had captured the attention of nearly everyone in the bailey and they watched as it slammed against the ground beside his former host, much like a titlewave. Then the sand began to take the shape of a really chubby raccoon, and continued to grow in size and height until it was the height of an adult.

“Oh, thank god!” the tailed beast groaned, reaching back to massage his neck. “That damn gourd was giving me the pins and needles.”

“You’re made of sand and yoki, Shukaku.” an amused Naruto pointed out, “you can’t get pins and needles.”

“IT WAS A FIGURE OF SPEECH!”

“...Mama, why does that animal look like it is made of sand?” Miata innocently asked.

Clarice blinked owlishly. “Uh… I don’t know?”

“That is because he is made of sand, dear.” Naruto told Miata with a chuckle. Then he looked at Shukaku and gave him an impish grin. It immediately put the tailed beast on edge as the blond looked back at the young girl. “Want to hug him?”

Shukaku’s eyes grew wide, “H-hey, now! I’m not the type of tailed beast to hug- ack!” the racoon found himself interrupted when a squealing Miata tackled him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Naruto chuckled heartily at the awkward display.

Shukaku gave his former tenant the most desperate, pleading look both Naruto and Gaara had ever seen. “G-Gaara! Naruto! Help! I’m not good with kids! What do I do!?”

“Hug her back?” a thoroughly amused Naruto suggested.

Shukaku whined at that, but he nevertheless did as the blond suggested. Everyone in the bailey, and looking out of the windows and doorways, could see how nervous the tailed beast was. It was honestly adorable.

Naruto chuckled at the heart warming display with a wide faced grin. He didn’t think he would see Shukaku of all tailed beasts hugging a child.

“Naruto!” Galatea and Veronica both came running out of the castle, as did Yuma, Rafaela, Diana, Emelia, Eliza, Jean and Tabitha shortly after. Veronica was worried, “There is a foreign- who and what is that?” she began only to pause and change her sentence upon noticing Shukaku being hugged by Miata.

“Someone who is being hugged against his will!” the one tailed racoon whined.

“For someone who is ‘being hugged against his will’, you’re not doing much about it.” Naruto pointed out.

“She’s a kid; I’m not going down that route again.” deadpanned the racoon. He already fucked up Gaara’s childhood; and after befriending both his former host and Kurama’s, he didn’t want to revert back to his old ways. He liked them now.

Diana narrowed her eyes as she really looked at the sandy racoon. “...wait a second. He’s a tailed beast, isn’t he?” she recalled Naruto saying there are more than one tailed beasts, and that one of them was a racoon made of sand. He never mentioned how many tails the raccoon had though.

“Yep! I’m Shukaku! The esteemed One Tailed Tanuki!” the tailed beast introduced himself with a great deal of pride.

The warriors and a few awakened present took a long, hard look at him upon hearing that and a few noted that he was significantly stronger than the average Number One, though Riful was quite proud that she was stronger than him by leaps and bounds.

Suddenly Shukaku glared at Riful. As if he knew what she was thinking; “Hey! What are you thinking over there, you brat?! You better not be thinking you’re stronger than me because of the lack of tails! I get enough of that from that smug ass fox!”

Riful blinked in surprise, but shrugged it off with a polite smile. “Just appreciating my place in life,” she giggled. “I’m not one to rub it in others’ faces, though, so you have nothing to worry about. I’m also older than I look.”

Shukaku merely squinted at her, before letting out a snort. “Coulda’ fooled me,” the Takuni said, “Also, I can tell the form you’re in now is fake. Your yoki is constantly coursing through your body to keep up the facade.” then he suddenly looked to Naruto and asked, “You told them about us tailed beasts, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I can’t exactly keep something like that hidden for long.” Naruto pointed out. “Especially after taking on Kurama’s form and wiping an entire city off the map…” he then scowled deeply as the memories of Natalie opened up and old wound. “Though, to be fair, I had a damn good reason to be pissed,” he added, muttering under his breath.

“Yeah… I remember being told about that.” Shukaku said sympathetically, and he growled with relief when Miata stopped hugging him. Though he sighed exasperatingly when she sat down and snuggled up against him seconds later.

Naruto released what he meant by that: the shared mindscape the tailed beasts all share. To be honest, he wasn’t that surprised Shukaku knew about it.

“Enough with the depressing shtuff!” the Tanuki shouted with enthusiasm, only changing his last word at the last second upon realising there is a minor here. “It’s good to see you again, brat! It certainly felt like a decade had passed!”

“The last time any of us saw Naruto was eight to ten years ago.” Gaara pointed out, “But, yes, it certainly has been a long time.”

“Yeah, it has,” said blond chuckled. “It’s nice to see you, too.” he clenched his hand into a fist, holding it up for Shukaku to fist bump.

The tailed beast grinned, and bumped his fist against Naruto. The blond felt the familiar but foreign rush of Shukaku’s yoki surging into his body. Shukaku’s yoki synchronising with his own.

Everyone, excluding the visitors from the Elemental Nations stared on with rapt attention when they felt Shukaku’s yoki mixing with Naruto’s own.

“A little gift,” the Tanuki said with a grin. “You never know when a little more ‘oomph’ can come in handy.”

Naruto grinned. “Thanks, Shukaku!” then he looked to his best friend, and asked, “So how long are you here for? It took me around a year to get here by boat, the first time. And since you didn’t show up via the seal the Raikage has, I’m guessing you came here by boat?”

“Indeed we did,” Gaara said with a nod. “I had volunteered to deliver this ‘meat shipment’ for you, as you can tell. Seeing as how everyone back home is so eager to know how you’re doing, I figured a second opinion from another Kage would be for the best. If it turned out that Ei wasn’t exaggerating, it would also help bolster relations with Kumo.”

“Ah, well, as you can see,” Naruto gestured to the women and men that were around, “Ei wasn’t exaggerating.” then he looked at the caravan for a moment, then back to his friend, “If you want, you can stay here for a few days to get some rest. We can easily send you back to the Elemental Nations through the seal we have set up with Kumo.”

“That would be good, thank you.” Gaara agreed.

Naruto grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder. With another familiar face here, his day was brightening up!