FicWad

The next day, Erica's silver eyes fluttered open after having a stressless sleep. It was also the most comfortable she had ever been! The young girl had no idea if it was the mattress, or the quilt, but she could just lay there in bed for hours more. It was that comfortable! She sat up with a grunt and let out a happy sigh. She wondered if everyone else Ladykiller Naruto brought with him felt as comfortable as she did?

As if on cue, she heard someone groaning just outside her door.

"What's wrong, Mama?"

"Morning sickness, honey," Clarice muttered, just loud enough for Erica to hear. "I'll be fine."

"Papa said morning sickness is when you like someone. So you really, really like Papa?"

"More than I thought was possible." In the hallway, Clarice let out a tired chuckle, patting her 'daughter' on the head as they passed by Erica's room. "C'mon, honey, Mama's hungry. Who knows, you might see a clone of Papa along the way."

"I prefer the real Papa…" she muttered. "I can't smell the clones. It feels like they're not even there."

"We are just chakra constructs," Miata and Clarice looked ahead of them when they saw a clone of Naruto closing the door to the teleport room. "So us not having a smell would make sense." he then adopted a hurtful look that Clarice knew was fake, "I'm hurt that you only want the Boss around though… since I am him in every way."

Clarice smiled and patted Miata on the head. "I'm sure she didn't mean it. Right honey?" she asked looking at the girl who was shyly looking down at the stone tiled floor.

"No…" Miata said, then she looked up and gave the blond a teary eyed look along with a trembling lip, "I'm sorry Papa… I didn't mean it. Honest..."

Naruto waved her apology away and went over to bring the near crying girl into a comforting hug. "It's fine, Miata. Don't worry about it." he chuckled and went down to peck her on the scalp. "I know! Do you want to eat some chocolate? I bought a whole bunch of 'em last night."

Her expression brightened up considerably at that and she nodded frantically. She liked chocolate!

"I do! I do! I do!" she chirped happily.

Chuckling once more, Naruto ruffled her hair and said, "Alright. Then let's go to the dining hall - I left a few dozen sacks of them there."

Meanwhile, back in her room, Erica giggled at the exchange as she heard them walk off and pried herself from bed. The mention of food made her stomach growl. She's never had chocolate either due to it being too expensive to buy back when she was still fully human. And the Organization didn't buy them anything, due to it being 'a waste of resources'.

Maybe she can get a piece if she asked? She really wanted to try one!

Luckily she didn't have to get changed, due to Erica sleeping in her bed with her two-piece bodysuit. A bath would be nice, though. She'd take one later. She threw the covers off her, made her hair presentable, and made her way to the chamber door and opened it. The young former trainee looked to her right and blinked in surprise when she saw the Ladykiller with two people. Her silver eyes widened with curiosity, she could sense yoki in the woman with brown hair… but why did she have brown hair? Shouldn't her pigment have faded away to platinum blonde or something?

Her curiosity getting the better of her Erica emerged from her room, closed the door behind her, and jogged over to the trio hurriedly.

Naruto looked behind him from over the shoulder, having heard the sound of feet tapping the stone floor and the door closing. He smiled upon seeing Erica approaching the three of them with an overly curious look on her face.

"Hey Erica! How was your sleep?" he stopped, greeted and asked the former trainee. And when he addressed her, Erica became shy and nervous when Miata and Clarice both stopped themselves and turned to look at her.

"I did," she replied nervously, her silver eyes darting between Clarice and Miata. Her eyes lingered on Miata though, something about her was… familiar. She had no idea why however. Maybe she saw her around the barracks?

"Hello." Clarice gave the shy girl a friendly smile with an equally friendly wave. "My name is Clarice, and this is Miata." She said, gesturing to herself and her 'daughter', "What's your name?"

"E-Erica." She shyly replied; the girl gave nervous looks to the 'mother' and 'daughter' duo, and with her curiosity rearing its head again, she couldn't help but ask, "M-Miss, how come your hair is brown? Shouldn't your hair have lost its pigmentation like mine and hers?" she gestured to her own hair and Miata's as she asked.

"Clarice's body rejected the conversion process," Naruto explained, wrapping an arm around the brunette's shoulder. "Not sure why, but I probably saved her life by treating her."

"I don't understand it myself," the brunette added, "My yoki was almost non-existent before Naruto healed me… I still don't know why my pigmentation didn't change afterwards either."

"I don't mind it," Naruto said and lovingly pecked Clarice on the cheek. "Your brown hair is special. And it makes you more unique than all the other hybrids here."

She blushed and giggled at that.

Erica, meanwhile, fidgeted shyly, a heavy blush staining her own cheeks bright red upon seeing the loving exchange. It was so… weird to see. "S-So, where are you three going?" she asked; while she did know they were going to the dining hall to get Miata some chocolate, she didn't want them to know she had been eavesdropping from her room.

It paid off as Naruto answered her with a smile, "To the kitchen to get Miata some chocolate." he lovingly ruffled the hair of the girl in question, "Do you want some too?" he paused, and gave the girl a knowing look, "That look on your face - you never had chocolate before have you?"

"My parent could never afford it," she explained. "And the Handlers are stingy with their Bera; said it's a waste." she gave him a hopeful look, "Can I have some?"

"Of course!" he told her with a bright smile. "I bought several sacks yesterday. Come on, maybe we'll see the other girls there." he beckoned her to follow them, and Erica did coming up to Miata's side and walked beside them as they made their way to the dining hall.

"So… how long have you been here for, Mister Naruto?" Erica asked.

"Oh… around five years now. I was in Nile for a while, then Raby Castle for a few more months after that. Morris was meant to be a fallback, but the Uzumaki Clan got too big for Raby to hold. Morris was bigger and not to mention more defendable due to where it's built, so we moved here." the blond answered. It helped the other survivors of Pieta came not long afterwards and settled in. They were instrumental in getting the town back on the map.

"Uzumaki Clan?" Erica asked, cocking her head to the side with adorable confusion.

"Uh… I suppose it would be called 'House Uzumaki' here. The Uzumaki were a noble family back where I came from, but were almost wiped out due to… reasons." Naruto sighed and shrugged. "I'm… well, I was the last known living member." Naruto squinted thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, I think I remember it being mentioned that Karin is a member, though I never talked to her to find out," he muttered. "Beside the point. Seeing as how I'm the last known male member of the clan, that makes me the Clan Head by default. I've been busy reviving the clan for the past few years, now."

Erica blushed heavily at the implication. "I… uh… see," she said with a nervous chuckle. So, did that mean Clarice was pregnant with his child? It was pretty likely.

After several minutes the four came to the dining hall and for Naruto, Miata, and Clarice they were not surprised to see the tables stocked with food. Erica on the other hand was. Her eyes lit up as the scent of the food reached her nostrils. It made her mouth water!

"The chocolate is in the kitchen. I'll go and fill up some bowls for the two of you." Naruto told them. Then he went to the kitchen, only to stop and look at the trio, "Go get a bite to eat. I'll be joining you soon."

Erica didn't need to be told twice. She immediately went to a table and took a seat. She grabbed a plate and proceeded to grab as many fruit, bread and other sources of nourishment that was within arms reach. She may not have to eat a lot, thanks to the operation done to her, but she could still eat a lot if she wanted. And right now she wanted to eat a lot!

Miata and Clarice took a seat opposite her and went to filling their plates. Clarice ate modestly, only having a healthy amount of food on her plate; a few fruits, some bread rolls, some dried and smoked meat. Miata went for having more meat on her plate, though she balanced it out by having some fruit, and several bread rolls with butter put on it. For the finisher she had some warm milk to wash it all down.

Erica giggled, shyly commenting on Naruto. "He seems so nice," she said.

"He is," Clarice concurred wholeheartedly with a dreamy smile.

"Papa is the best~!" Miata chirped after swallowing her food. "He takes care of Mama, and me, and everyone else here!"

"Oh? Do tell," she said, feeling a bit more comfortable, now. "I'm dreadfully curious!"

----

Naruto, the original one, was deep in contemplation as he sat atop Kurama's head with crossed legs. He was in the shared mindscape of the Jinchuuriki, though it was only him, Kurama and Isobu currently occupying it.

"So they haven't moved at all?" he asked the three tailed turtle.

"No. Those things haven't left the Organization's walls, yet." Isobu answered. "It's surprising. I would have thought those men in black would have sent them in the dead of night."

"It only proves they're more cautious than we're expecting them to be. From the looks of it, this Organization won't send their new weapons out until we are there." Kurama said with a huff.

"Well, if I was in their shoes, that's what I'd do," Naruto said with a shrug. "In their mind set, they would want all their assets on hand for when the true battle comes. We don't have many awakened beings with us, only four: Priscilla, Riful, Soleil and Robin. Everyone else is back in the West. So these Abyss Eaters are probably going to focus on the four of them once they're deployed."

"Are you still going to use that form to fight them?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah. I want the Organization to know just what they've been fucking with." the Uzumaki Patriarch replied with a wide, menacing grin.

"I'm surprised you didn't take any more non-humans with you." Kurama said; then he quirked a brow and rolled his eyes up to look at his vessel. "Why didn't you take more than four?"

Naruto shrugged and gave his friends his reason for not doing so. "It would have been more strategic, in hindsight, to bring a few more and spread them around the teams. But if I did that, it would have left Morris more open for retaliation, assuming the Organization was smart enough to think that far ahead." he paused for a moment to cross his arms and to collect his thoughts. "Awakened Beings are stronger than hybrids; a lot of my girls would disagree with that, but the facts are there. They have hides that even steel has trouble getting through. Hell, even the claymores the hybrids use have trouble biting into some of the tougher ones. That said, I figured that if they sent a team out to Morris, they'd be one hell of a defense. Besides, my kids are there. I'd rather give them the best defense as reasonably possible, just in case."

"Fair enough," the fox grunted. "I still think taking more than four would have been wise."

"It's a little too late to change my plan isn't it?" the blond pointed out amusedly.

"Yeah… you and your little harem is already moving to the Organization while we're in here talking."

"Even though he could have snatched one or two more of his 'awakened' women up with the Hiraishin." Isobu pointed out to them with an eye-smile.

"If I need to, I will," Naruto nodded. "That's another reason I left them behind… at least most of them. They're serving as backup, just in case."

Kurama huffed approvingly, "Good to know you're thinking more with your head than charging head first into the heat of battle with no plan at all."

"I can think ahead when I want to, you know." Naruto said, leaning forward to look into Kurama's eye with a deadpan expression on his face.

"You rarely do." Kurama pointed out with a smug smirk.

Isobu closed his only eye and sighed in exasperation, "Oh, you two…" but he couldn't help but be amused at their antics. Kurama hasn't been like this since they were little chakra constructs. But he wouldn't change this. Not for anything.

---

Naruto opened his eyes and found he and his entourage were on the road. It was barren now, having passed the snow a little over two hours ago. Now they were on a straight path to Staff itself. They were in two groups though, due to the plan the Uzumaki Patriarch laid out the day before.

Raftela, along with Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth are to lead Samui, who was taking Teams Guy and Ebisu with her, to the Eastern Evacuation shelters. Omoi is going to secure a safe path for them with Teams Asuma and Kurenai. They're still together though, mainly for safety purposes.

He also sent a few more clones to set up some Hiraishin seals on the paths to the West and South. That would allow him to cut off any escape routes once he dealt with these 'Abyss Feeders' Sistina warned him about. He wouldn't put it past them to try and sneak away into the mountains while they're fighting with their forces.

That bald guy with the fedora he met all those years ago - he seems like the type of person to do that. Now that he thought about it, he never did get the man's name. He was Clare's Handler though, wasn't he? Naruto inwardly shrugged, it wasn't his business.

"Naruto," said blond turned to Queenie, "are you going to give us that yoki cloak for this?"

The blond blinked; that was a reasonable question. He didn't see the harm in answering - plus it was polite to answer.

"I honestly wasn't going to, mainly because you ladies are more than capable of taking care of yourselves now." he admitted with a hapless shrug, "But now that I think about it, being too careful never hurt anybody. I'll give you all the Kyuubi cloak for some extra 'oomph' when we're close."

"That would be advised," Riful chimed in with a nod. "I'd feel more safe if I had that cloak. The name Abyss Feeder, sends a shiver up my spine."

"I'd bet, it's a weapon those old coots in Staff made to kill you." Teresa said with a prominent frown. "If they're as deadly as Sistina made them out to be, they would be able to kill Priscilla if they are given enough time to adapt to her."

"Which is why I'm going to fight them going all out." Naruto told them. "They won't be able to stand against me when I'm in my Rikudō Sennin Mōdo, no matter how strong they are."

"English please honey," Miria sighed.

"Six Paths Sage Mode." the blond said with a sigh of his own. "It's called Six Paths Sage Mode when translated into your language." he chuckled and gave his woman an amused smile, "You've been helping Karui translate my autobiography, and yet, you haven't learned some of the words."

"To be fair I haven't read your untranslated work…" Miria pointed out. "I couldn't read the kanji at all."

"That's fine if you don't know how to read Kanji. It is in a different language after all." the blond told her with a loving smile. "Raftela," said blonde straightened at being addressed, "Once we get close enough to Staff your group will have my permission to split off from the rest of us."

"Understood," she replied robotically.

"I'm going to have to break you out of that," he sighed, before dragging the woman into a one armed hug. "I really want to hear some emotion in your voice. Don't get me wrong, you speaking the way you are has its own charm… but putting some feeling behind your words makes you more sexy. And you can be sexy." he pecked her on the cheek and whispered into her ear, "I remember all the naughty things you were whispering in my ear when I healed your stigma, you naughty girl~!"

She blushed heavily and shuddered, biting her lip. "It is far easier to show emotion when we are copulating," she explained, sounding more timid but it was very subtle. "I'm not good at expressing, otherwise."

"That's fine." he told her with reassurance. "Alicia and Beth were the same way, especially at first. It'll take some time, but you will eventually be able to show emotion like they can." He kissed her on the cheek again and moved to her neck where he started nibbling at the crook of her neck. "And it all started with them innocently sleeping in my bed. Maybe you should do the same~" the blond teased her with a husky tone.

"When we are done here, I look forward to it," she cooed.

"There we go~" he purred, rubbing his nose against the crook of her neck. "that's the Raftela that knows how to be seductive~!"

"There is a time and place for that, Naruto. Now is not it." Camilla told him with an amused giggle, with the Captains, shinobi and awakened beings concurring with the 'Charmer' wholeheartedly. Raftela was the only exception.

"I know, I know." he relinquished his hold on Raftela and with a sigh went right back to leading them to Staff. The Organization's Headquarters isn't far away from them if the memory he received from his clones nearly six years ago was right. Right now, for the upcoming conflict with the Abyss Feeders, he needed to get his head in the game.

If he was in Rimuto's shoes, then sending out the Abyss Feeders would be the first thing he would do when confronting a force of this size. He would want to cause as much damage as possible and throw the enemy into disarray. After fatiguing them he would give the order for the rest of his 'tools' to swoop on in and clean house.

If nothing else it gave him plenty of motivation to engage this weapon and put them down as fast as humanly possible. It would be a mercy for them, for these Abyss Feeders; to live, blind and driven mad by a ravenous hunger with no rational thought. Root has done some questionable things, hell, even Akatsuki has done some very bad things - even leading up to a World War - but the Organization is coming out as worse than both organizations from the Elemental Nations!

But… maybe there is a way for him to control them. If they're made from the flesh of Awakened Beings, then maybe, just maybe there is a chance they will submit if they realise he is the 'alpha'. If they're anything like the youma halves of his girls, then they should know he is an Alpha.

But he isn't holding his hopes up for that. 'Ravenous Hunger' and 'Abyss Feeder' are names one would want to run away from really fast.

Of course, there is also the possibility that the handlers would bitch out and try and run with their tails between their legs. Hence, the clones he made, and sent, to the South and West of Staff for that very reason. If those black-clad fuckers tried to slip away right under their noses then they had another thing coming.

Of course… this research facility of an Island is big. He wouldn't be surprised if a few had managed to slip through. It happens all the time. Not only that the Organization was here for centuries. There is a good chance they have hidden passageways in their headquarters to escape into, in case a rebellion like this one did succeed.

Shaking those thoughts Naruto continued leading his small platoon of rebels and shinobi through the barren desert lands of Sutare.

----

Just under 10 hours later.

As the rebellion came to a stop near the mountain-build-town, the memories of his clone infiltrating it came to the forefront of Naruto's mind. He could see several large free-standing buildings, with the biggest one in the middle resembling a fortress; and it was that very fortress he had infiltrated - and now that he thought back, the blond had seen several women when they were trainees. Clarice, Anastasia, Letitia, Camilla, Dominique to name a few. He may have seen Pyrrha, Glissa and Megan as well.

Staff was literally built into the mountain range and was positioned behind a cliff; and now that they were here everyone can sense Isobu lurking behind the settlement, under the sea. Unlike the last time, when he was running up the wall, they were approaching it from the front. Purposely showing themselves to the handlers and their defenders. Naruto could see well over 200 soldiers, quite a few of them were silver eyed women at that, were positioned over the rocky ridges further in. It gave them the height advantage. Now that he looked closely, two of those silver eyed women were twins… young ones too. They were barely out of their preteens.

Naruto looked back at his women, who were a notably smaller group. Raftela, Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth, along with Teams Guy, Ebisu, Asuma, and Kurenai were missing.

"Be careful, everyone, those weapons the Organization made are around here somewhere." warned a cautious Naruto.

"We know," Priscilla replied with a crack of her knuckles. "You'll be taking care of them while we distract the others long enough for the second team to get in and out, right?"

Naruto nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. They're most likely sneaking in the same way I did, as I speak." he was referring to the time he had snuck in via the wall walking, along the side of the mountain years back. "Until this 'weapon' of theirs is taken care of, do not use yoki."

"Chakra it is," Riful chirped. "That's bound to give the Handlers a heart attack~!"

Naruto chuckled, ruffling the homicidal loli's hair. Then he looked ahead and walked on up. He quickly held an arm up, telling them not to move. He didn't want them to get in the crossfire in the upcoming fight.

Then he came to a stop, crossed his arms, and waited.

"Naruto," a worried sounding Isobu started, "Those yoki signatures are on the move."

"They're not aggressive, though." Kurama pointed out with a low, thoughtful huff, "They seem to be… following someone. Like an attack dog waiting the signal from its master."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that. There was only one person in the Organization that could have made them. A madman insane enough to have brought back several dead women, and was sick enough to cut open little girls and implant them with the flesh and blood of youmas. And now Awakened Beings.

It had to be none other, than Dae.

"And there they are…" Naruto grunted, as several… scantily clad women slowly appeared on the rocky ridges in before him. A few of them wore chest bindings and underwear, along with some mediocre protection in the form of paudrens; but a lot of them were topless. And they were admittedly attractive; but their bound eyes and mouths took that away slightly.

"...Those things are an abomination." A rightfully pissed off Kurama growled, "They are an affront to Nature itself!"

"I agree with you there." Kurama's vessel concurred, "I wonder if they can be subdued though…"

"Naruto! Now is not the time to be thinking with your other head!" the fox bellowed aghast.

"I'm not." the blond corrected, "Though I will admit I'm kinda thinking with my heart, here. I'm wondering if I can pacify and heal them."

Kurama grunted. "I doubt it; they are, for all intents and purposes, broken."

"Broken people can be fixed." he pointed out to his friend. "And I was told that Harja saw me as an alpha due to her Awakened heritage. Maybe the same applies here…" because they were made with the flesh and blood of Awakened Beings the Organization has somehow procured, that might be a possibility. "It's better to try, than not to, right?"

"Naruto… some people cannot be saved. You know this." Kurama sighed as he knew his words would fall on deaf ears, no matter what he said, "But if you want to try, I won't stop you."

"Thank you, Kurama." the blond said and he genuinely meant it. Then he squint his eyes and counted how many of those, uh, 'women' are up there. There's nine of them.

Then, walking up to one of the ridges behind the nine women, the blond found a familiar looking face… well, not that familiar, not having seen him again after six years of course. But he could remember that smug looking smile on his face, along with the fedora and sunglasses. It was hard to forget someone that Kurama said reminded him of Orochimaru after all. Rubel if his memory served him right.

And beside him was another man; and like Rubel, he was garbed in all black, with his head covered by a hood and walked with a cane. He was, simply put, grotesque to look at - due to the fact he was missing the skin on half his face. This left one eyeball and half of his teeth exposed.

The deformed man's eyes landed on one particular woman when he saw her. The only indication he was surprised was the widening of his left eye and the slight drop of his mouth. And he had every reason, too, considering he had tried and failed reviving her.

"Huh… So that's why it didn't work," he muttered aloud. "She had already been revived."

Naruto looked over his shoulder, and chuckled as he turned to address him. "So you did try reviving her, after all."

"Of course," Dae chuckled. "She was the most powerful Number One in history."

"Strongest, eh? Sure, she's strong, remarkably so, but compared to the people I faced - she's nothing special. No offense!" he quickly added while looking at Teresa with wide eyes.

"None taken," said woman shrugged nonchalantly; she wasn't going to call him out on it. After seeing the Ten tails in its first form, she can admit with confidence that thing would kill her.

Dae frowned slightly and shrugged, before snapping his fingers. The Abyss Feeders all perked up and shambled forth. "Terribly sorry for having to so rudely cut this conversation short, but we have observed your ability to plan ahead and fight dirty over the years," Dae pointed out. "For all I know, you're serving as a distraction so that the members of the Crimson Guard I don't see with you can rig our fortress with explosives."

"I'm not much of a planner, actually," Naruto admitted with a shrug and chuckle. "That's Miria's forte. I tend to fight without planning ahead." Those nine women were growling now that he was getting close to them. "I am good at thinking on my feet, though. Hard to stay alive when you're stupid." He came to a stop and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. He could feel his forehead protector still tucked away in there.

Suddenly, he got a devious idea. Naruto looked directly at Rubel, knowing he had gone to Konoha all those years ago. "Anyway, do you want to know a little secret?"

Dae chuckled. "And what would that be, my boy?"

Chuckling himself, Naruto took out his forehead protector and wore it proudly. "Konoha and the Elemental Nations are not happy with you."

"If and when I have to deal with them, I shall bear that in mind," the deformed man replied with a smile and a nod.

"Kurama! Are you ready?" he yelled out, seemingly in thin air to the onlookers.

"Brat, I was born ready!" the fox declared with a wide, menacing grin; inside of Naruto's mindscape, the titan sized fox was now sitting like he is meditating. Kurama clasped his hands together in front of him and concentrated.

At that declaration, Naruto's clothes were coated in yellow yoki; at his abrupt transformation his jacket automatically opened up, revealing a circular design that is featured prominently over his stomach; the whisker-like markings on his face become thicker to resemble three rectangles, and six magatama markings are present around his collar; his trousers were black, but turned to yellow when it got to his shoes. Various other dark designs appeared along his body, resembling similar but vastly different circular designs that was on his stomach. Behind him eight hand-sized orbs of black manifested and floated behind his back. his eyes once a vibrant blue, were now yellow, and his pupils are now a cross of vertical fox-slits with horizontal toad-slats.

Then, in an instant, several arms of pure yoki shot forth, snatching up the Abyss Feeders, and shocking the hell out of the onlookers. He smiled flatly. They should be shocked. This was the first time he'd been in this form since healing Clarice, and even then, she was the only one who'd seen it up until now.

The Abyss Feeders got more frantic; more, dare he say, frenzied, in the grip of the hands made of solid yoki. The bindings on their mouths were ripped off as they violently opened their mouths, revealing the sharp teeth that was hidden underneath as they howled and hissed at him.

Naruto just...gave them a flat look. "I've seen a lot of scary things…this is…underwhelming." with that the Abyss Feeders were tossed back where they came from. Then the transformed blond looked at Dae. "Is that all you got? Because if it is then I am...underwhelmed. I was expecting your Abyss Feeders to be more terrifying, to be honest."

It appeared, however that he'd spoken just a teensy bit too soon, as three of them extended their necks, their heads shooting forth as their jaws separated. One bit down on his leg, another on his shoulder and the third one almost comically enveloped his entire head in her jaws.

"...Right… credit where it's due, that actually kinda startled me." the blond admitted.

"...Naruto?" Undine called out. "Are you okay?"

Naruto gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, I'm okay... This kinda tickles actually." he said with admittance. Then he reached up with the hand giving the thumbs up and carefully pried the female off his head.

"It…tickles?" even Priscilla looked perplexed by that.

"Yeah. I'm ridiculously durable. So their gnawing only tickles." giving the Abyss Feeder a mocking pat on the head before pushing her away; he then used the other yoki limbs to carefully pry the other two heads off of him and forced them back to the rest of their bodies. "Again, I was expecting them to be more terrifying."

"This is seriously underwhelming." Kurama's deep, growling voice added through Naruto's mouth, catching everyone by surprise. "Those women behind us are more threatening than these so called 'Abyss Feeders'!"

"How intriguing!" Dae said, talking loud enough for only Rubel beside him to hear. "It appears he has a split personality…"

Naruto and Kurama have impeccable hearing though and was able to hear what the disfigured man said. "Wrong, flesh sack. I am the Tailed Beast within Naruto." he grinned cockily and added, "And our souls are linked together in perfect harmony."

Dae, of course, having heard two specific words came to a different conclusion of that statement, "Soul linked…" his one good eye went wide with realization, "my god, he's a Soul Link experiment from that far away land."

That... was actually pretty accurate, Kurama and Naruto both had to admit. It was wrong. But not by much.

The nine Abyss Feeders howled and charged at the synchronised human and Tailed Beast. Naruto, or rather Kurama, gave them a disinterested look before grabbing two of them by the scalp and the rest with his yoki arms.

"I know you want to try and subdue them, brat. So here goes nothing!" Kurama then sent his purified yoki and his father's chakra into the three Abyss Feeders. Almost immediately they slumped over. Like a puppet having its strings cut. He blinked, looking genuinely surprise. They weren't dead as they were still breathing. He looked thoughtful ; could his father's power really have… yes. That must be it. Their minds were broken, yes, but that didn't mean his old man's power couldn't repair them.

"Looks like we can fix 'em, eh, Kurama?" Naruto said.

"To an extent, at least,"/] the bijuu internally replied and corrected. "They're still going to be a bit… off. Whatever that old man did to them is at least partially irreparable, but they won't be completely mindless beasts, anymore."[/

"Got it." then Naruto retook control of his body and gently set them down. The nine Feeders dropped down to all fours, frantically shaking their heads or falling over in confusion.

"Very interesting," Dae said aloud with gleeful intrigue. He was almost cackling with how excited he was. Naruto looked at him with a stern frown; that man reminded him a lot of Orochimaru than Rubel ever did.

Then, the blond perked up as he found several of the Abyss Feeders at his feet, nuzzling at his legs and whimpering, as if trying to get his attention. The others surrounded him looking almost… jealous, somehow?

"What the fuck…?" Priscilla had no idea how to react to the sight, and she was not alone in that.

"Uh…" Naruto admittedly had no idea how to react either. "G-good girls?" he said to them with uncertainty, the blond went and itched the scalp of one of the near naked women nuzzling his waist. Did she just giggle?

Indeed, she did…

"Absolutely fascinating…" Dae whispered in wonder. He then perked up as they started to snarl at him. "It would appear that they've been turned over to his side. Ladykiller, indeed…"

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!" said blond asked with distress, "Kurama! Why are they acting like this?! You said you healed their minds right, so what gives?"

"The hell am I supposed to know! I never used my old man's power before! Let alone with my own!" The tailed beast answered through Naruto's mouth, startling the Abyss Feeders and the onlookers thoroughly. "I'm in the dark on this as much as you are! They seem better though. They're not rabid animals."

"...point." Naruto said after regaining control. He looked behind him at his harem, then back at the Abyss Feeders, "Uh… can the nine of you understand me? Move your head up and down for yes, left to right for no." he asked them.

The Abyss Feeders giggled and all nodded.

He exhaled with relief. He was getting somewhere. "Okay, if you are able to smell the people behind me, they're with me. No hurting them, okay?"

They nodded, again.

"Okay…" this was damn awkward. More awkward than he expected. Clearing his throat Naruto looked behind him and said to his little platoon, "Looks like the Abyss Feeders are on our side, now. I have no idea how."

"They're on your side," Priscilla corrected with a jealous frown. "They want to mate with you, I can smell it."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Miria and Naruto both muttered in exasperation. Seriously, how the fuck?!

Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead, "You're on my side. Therefore, they're on your side too." he looked at the Abyss Feeders and asked, "Right?"

They tilted their heads cutely in confusion. They didn't know what he meant by that.

"Women behind me are friends. No hurting, friends, right?" he stressed certain words to make sure his point had gotten across to them.

They nodded.

"Good." he gave Priscilla a bright smile, "See? They're on your side too… hopefully." he trailed off with uncertainty at the end. He shrugged, if they still didn't understand the women behind him are on their side, then he can teach them… once they stopped grabbing at his crotch. Naruto looked down to see one with long, straight hair, hugging his leg and fumbling around his groin, trying to release his dick. As tempting as that was, this simply wasn't the time and place for that. Not to mention her jagged teeth would hurt him if she was intending to giving his dick some oral loving. "No. Stop that, right now," he gently scolded her. "We have bad people in front of us!"

The girl flinched and frowned, though she had no eyes to do so with, she 'looked' up at him with a pout.

Naruto sighed and ruffled her hair. "Now's not the time. I need to deal with that man you growled at earlier, first." She perked up at that, and so did the others, as they turned their attention to Dae and Rubel.

"Seems your 'tools' have swapped sides," Naruto told the mad scientist with heavy sarcasm and disdain. "What are you planning to do next, I wonder?"

"I say we run," Rubel said after clearing his throat. He did not like the odds of surviving this.

"You don't have much of a chance of getting away… through land or sea." Naruto told the fedora wearing man with a flat smile. "If I were you… I'd choose my next action very carefully." he warned them threateningly. He was purposely delaying them; the blond was trying to give the second team currently inside of Staff enough time to get those trainees out of their hiding place.

Everyone in on the plan knew this. Even Dae pointed out that he could be a distraction, and he was hit the nail on that; so he needed to keep distracting. Just long enough for the others to get out of there.

Not privy to their new alpha's schemes, the Abyss Feeders started skulking on up to the two men in black, growling hungrily as they prepared to lash out at these bastards the best way they knew how.

"Easy you nine, let's hear what they have to say." Naruto chuckled stepping forth and bringing them to heel. He noted that these girls seemed disappointed, eager to literally eat these two alive. "Damn," he said, addressing Dae, "it looks like you did one hell of a job at pissing them off. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to make them mindless animals."

"That was the intention, yes." Dae said with admittance, and to the disgust of both Naruto and Kurama the disfigured fucker was proud of it! "They are my latest inventions; weapons capable of killing the Abyssal Ones. Though, they unfortunately, seem to be defective now. They are not at all useful for their 'intended' purpose. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test subjects to make more reliable Abyss Feeders. There is always room for improvement for those prototypes."

"He's just digging his grave isn't he?" Naruto mentally conversed with Kurama.

"He is the type of person that only cares for results. Not the means. You would do the world a favour by putting him down like the dog he is." the Bijuu grunted with disgust.

The Feeders snarled at Dae in unison, wanting so badly to eat him. It was very tempting to let them.

Naruto looked down at the… women, by his side. Then at Dae. He sniffed and grabbed one of the Truthseeker-orbs floating behind him and made it turn into a staff, to which he pointed it threateningly at Dae.

"You die first." he declared. Naruto looked at the Abyss Feeders by his side and said two simple words, "Get him."

All nine enthusiastically leapt forth, startling everyone as even he had lost track of their movements, at first. That initial burst of speed was nothing short of monstrous! They weren't even using yoki, which was even more surprising. Seeing as they were solely focused on Dae, and Dae only, Rubel got the hell out of dodge.

The mad scientist's screams and mad cackling could be heard for miles as his own creations literally tore him apart, and then they were abruptly cut off.

Naruto turned to the rest of the women behind him. "Ladies, you know what to do." he told them, then to the surprise of everyone he defied gravity and flew up into the sky. He looked around and surprised everyone yet again when a titan-sized, Golden flamed Nine-Tailed-Fox with dark lines and circular patterns around its body separated from the blond.

The ground shook violently as the yoki construct of Kurama touched the ground. "Ah. It's nice to be out of that seal." he said gruffly through the yoki construct. Then he huffed and looked down under him to gave the awakened beings and hybrids a flat stare, "What are you lot waiting for?! A sign from the gods?! Go kill those meatsacks in black!"

It helped that said 'meatsacks', apart from the other hybrids still on the Organization's 'side' were all wearing black. Even the armour clad soldiers were wearing black. And there were those ninja wannabe's too.

Riful giggled menacingly as she unraveled and shifted into her awakened form, before bolting off to the farthest exit. Seeing as how she could cover the distance in the shortest amount of time, the Abyssal loli took it upon herself to deal with sealing off that one. With a wide menacing grin, Priscilla's yoki spiked as she went into her awakened form, and blitz the first group of men she saw and tore into them like a hot knife through butter. Soleil and Robin exchanged looks, shrugged and threw themselves into the fray. They took to unsheathing their swords as they charged on in, let out an excited war cry as they launched themselves at another group of men carrying spears and shields.

To the men's surprise, the two awakened beings got a two tailed yoki cloak in the shape of a fox; similar to the one Naruto gave to Teams Miria, Undine, Flora, Veronica and Jean when they were in Pieta. The metal of their spears didn't even manage to pierce their skin. The polearms snapped at the wood, curtsey of Soleil and Robin slicing through the wood effortlessly thanks to their abnormal strength that was further enhanced by the kyuubi cloak.

That was the trigger for everyone else to follow suit. They pulled out their claymores and ran into the fray and began to slaughter the men of the Organization. For Anastasia herself, she used her Winged technique and flew.

As for Naruto himself, he flew in ahead and landed in the middle of the remaining hybrids. They understandably raised their claymores, but were smart enough to not engage him; they didn't want to fight and were clearly scared of him.

Naruto gave them a smile and a friendly wave, "Hi."

That was the last thing they'd expected from him.

One brave soul glared at him defiantly. "What did you do with my sister?!" she demanded. The woman in question was relatively young, looking to be in her mid-to-late teens with her hair in a pair of high pigtails with flat bangs.

Naruto looked at her in genuine perplexment. "Sister…? Forgive me, but you'll have to be more specific. Who is your sister?"

"Her name is Henriette," the woman barked. "She was sent to reinforce the Northern defenses and then she and all the other trainees disappeared. I felt it!"

"Oh, the brave one! She's alive and well in Morris, with the other trainees and the rest of the Crimson Guard. My lovers over there and a few friends are watching over them."

Just as the woman was about to say something, she was interrupted by a girl with long, curly hair and a blindfold. Her golden locks were unusually vibrant for a hybrid, bearing a healthy shine. "He speaks the truth," she said.

Naruto blinked and leaned in with squint eyes. "...Sistina? Is that you?" she really reminded him of her. He couldn't see her ears though, but she did remind him of her.

"I am not," the woman replied. "My name is Savra, current Number 11 of the Organization."

"Oh. Pleased to meet you, Savra." he gave her a slight, but polite bow. Though she couldn't see him do it, Naruto swore she smiled and nodded at the gesture itself. "Sorry for the mix up there Savra, you look like her. So I take it you have some questions for me?" he asked, looking over his shoulder for a brief moment when he heard one man give out a particularly painful scream before it was snuffed out.

"What are your intentions?" She went straight to the point. Though she showed no emotion, Naruto could tell it was because she was dead serious. If this woman didn't like his answer, she'd kill him… or try.

Naruto could feel her negativity; she was scared. "To rescue you lot. Honestly, if I had my way, I would have made this place into a crater like Pieta. But, I wanted to pull you girls and the trainees out, first. I have a second team extracting the remaining trainees, right now."

Savra let loose the breath she'd apparently been holding for what felt to her like an eternity, visibly calming down. "He speaks the truth," she said, to the other warriors' shock.

"Of course I do." he chuckled. "Oh, and if you had tried to strike me down like you intended to if I 'lied'" he bent his fingers with sarcasm there, "my truth-seeking orbs would have erased you from existence. Not being mean, I'm just stating a fact for your own safety."

Then, Naruto heard nine thumps and sighed in both amusement and exasperation. He didn't even need to look to know it was his new pets.

"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK?!"

"No. You can't eat these people. They're friends. Down girls." he looked at them to make sure they did as they were told.

They sat there and stared, looking at him curiously.

Naruto coughed into his hand. "These girls are called 'Abyss Feeders', a new weapon made by Dae. He's dead now, and they're on my side. To make a potentially complicated story short: they were made with the flesh and blood of awakened beings. Like you had the flesh and blood of youma put into you. Of course, being the sick fucker Dae is, he destroyed their eyes and from the looks of it tried to remove all traces of humanity and make them crave the flesh of their target… I managed to repair most of their mind. I have no what happened to the last part though." The blond sighed as he looked down to see the one who'd been fondling him before was at it again, much to the warriors' collective embarrassment. "Not here," he said.

She pouted, but obediently popped a squat by his side. She then giggled as Naruto ruffled her hair.

"So, uh, any other questions?"

"ASK THEM IF THEY'RE GONNA JUMP YOUR BONES!" The yoki construct of Kurama yelled to him in the background.

Naruto immediately turned and yelled, "FUCK YOU KURAMA!" he made several hand constructs to give Kurama the finger. Even going to far as to enlarge them just so the golden fox could see it.

"I'M STRAIGHT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A GENDER!"

"I IDENTIFY MYSELF AS A MALE! CLOSE ENOUGH! SO FUCK YOURSELF!"

"FUCK YOURSELF YOU EGOISTIC SELF CENTERED PRICK OF A TAILED BEAST!"

"Uh…" The girl with the pigtails stared at the blond oddly. "C-can I see my sister, please?"

"Hmm?" Naruto looked at her as if he hadn't been shouting obscenities with a massive one-thousand foot tall yoki construct. "Oh sure, right after we finish here. I have to make sure those men in black aren't getting on the boats…" he cocked his head and smiled, "Isobu? Can you take care of that problem for me?"

He got his answer by a massive explosion of water behind the cliffside, with several ships in various states of major disrepair being thrown clear across the sky. Bits and pieces of the ships landed around Staff and within it. Naruto enlarged his yoki made hands to shield the gathered hybrids and his new pets from any potential wreckage. That didn't stop several of the warriors from screaming in panic when they felt the utterly massive yoki spike and heard the destruction, though.

"Thank you, Isobu!"

"You're welcome, Naruto." the turtle said aloud, allowing everyone to hear it from beyond the cliff. The ground shook as the sound of the Earth cracking echoed for miles, and soon, almost everyone let out a panicked scream when they saw two gigantic armoured hands rise up and grab onto the mountains, crumbling the earth under its grip. Then it pulled itself up, crumbling the mountains even more under its weight. First came the gigantic shell, followed by the muscle-like tissue, and then its head that is covered with a huge, shelled forehead and lower jaw - both of which bore massive spikes. It's single red and crimson eye looked down at Naruto fondly. "Five years I've been waiting down there. It feels great to be able to do something, no matter how small it is."

"W-what in the absolute hell…" One of the other warriors said; she was a woman with short, chin-length spiky pale blonde hair, and a small but noticeable beauty mark on her cheekbone near her left eye. The woman was shaking in her sabatons. She looked like she was about to faint from sheer fright. The woman in question was close to doing just that; this… this thing was much taller than any awakened being. And the amount of yoki it contained was insane!

Naruto took a look at her and sensed she was strong; a Single Digit if he had to guess or close to it.

"This is Isobu. One of the nine Bijuu, massive demons that now serve as guardians of my homeland. They're all close friends of mine. Kurama, the Nine-Tailed fox behind me is another, though he's sealed inside me. What you see behind me is basically an extension of his consciousness. It's… complicated. But as Kurama said earlier: our souls are linked in harmony. Our linked souls and mutual trust is what allows me to… well… be in this form." he tried to explain to them as best as possible.

"Fascinating…" one girl sighed in dreamy wonder. She was the only one who'd not been phased by the goings on, thus far and appeared to be the youngest one here. She looked to be about thirteen years old, with messy, wavy, golden hair done back in a hairband, but Naruto could feel the power radiating off of her.

"Name and number?" he asked her politely. This one was dangerous, but… interested him. She reminded Naruto a lot of Riful and Ophelia.

"Tanya the Evil is what they call me," she chirped, "I was Number 13, but in light of so many warriors going missing, I was slated to be promoted when all of this was done, so I currently have no official rank."

Naruto had some real red flags rearing up at the name. But he pushed it aside. "They joined the rebellion; you'll find a lot of them here fighting by my side, actually," he admitted, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Oh, look, there's Anastasia now." he said, casually pointing to said woman flying above them. She passed by them looking for some more men of the Organization to kill. Her claymore was dirted with red blood, many a warrior had noticed. "Some are back in Morris, though," the blond added with a nonchalant shrug.

"Rumor has it that you impregnated them," Savra pointed out with a perplexed frown.

"Some of them, yeah, but not all of them," Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "Having one's fertility returned is a side effect to getting your stigma healed, after all."

That resulted in several warriors present perking up in interest, especially when Savra made no indication that he was deceiving them - Tanya, especially. The 'evil' former Number 13 licked her lips hungrily at the thought of how powerful her children would be if this strapping male specimen were to sire them.

"You can really heal our stigma?" Henriette's sister asked, looking genuinely hopeful.

"Yeah. I would offer to heal it for you now, but, you know," he gestured to the slaughter that is happening around them while they casually talk. Plus there was a bemused Isobu watching them. "Stuffs are happening," he looked at Henriette's sister and asked, "So, what's your name and number?"

"Heidi," she replied. "Number 25, as of the most recent shift."

"Pleased to meet you, despite the circumstances Heidi." Naruto said to her, giving the young woman a respectful incline of his head. Then his attention was brought to two young twins, barely out of their pre-teens who walked up to him and completely ignored the Abyss Feeder sitting beside him who was giving them a warning growl. "Down girl," he lightly scolded her, before itching the blind woman on the scalp.

The twins came a stop in front of him and they stared up at him, blank faced. But there was a brief glimmer of curiosity in their eyes. Being twins they were identical, they had short, pale hair in a bowl haircut and like Jean and Agatha, they have no visible eyebrows. They had small paudrens on their arms, leaving their shoulder blades exposed to the open and around the sides of their necks. Other than that they wore a modified version of Alicia and Beth's form fitting two-piece bodysuit that left their backs exposes completely.

"I was told there was a new pair of twins that replaced Alicia and Beth. I take it you're them?" he asked them, crouching down to get to their eye level. The girls didn't say anything, but they nodded. "I see…" he took a deep breath and looked them straight in the eyes, "I'm responsible for that, and I'm sorry for what the Organization put you through for the past six years."

They blinked and curiously tilt their heads; it took everything in Naruto's power to not gush over how cute they looked.

The one on the left spoke first, her voice in a monotone. "Where is Neideen?"

"Back in Morris." he answered her. "Do you want to see her?" he knew these were the very twins that Neideen was having her way with. It seems she left an impression on them. Whether or it it's a good impression remains to be seen.

"We miss her," the one on the right stated, sounding every bit as robotic as Alicia and Beth did, all those years ago.

"I'll bring the two of you to her, once we're finished here." Naruto promised. Then he gave them an encouraging smile and sat down with his legs crossed. Except he wasn't sitting on the ground, Naruto was instead floating several inches off the ground but kept himself eye level with the twins. "So, you two must be pretty strong if you're to replace Alicia and Beth. I heard you have an improved Soul Link, as well."

The twins blinked and nodded, blushing slightly at the praise. They had never been praised before. It felt… nice.

"Hmm… we might have to work with your emotions, though. Not having them is a weakness." Naruto said and started rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he looked at them. "It'll take some time and effort, but if I got Alicia and Beth to have emotions again, then, I can help you two get them back as well. You're younger than them too, so, there's a good chance the Organization hasn't… for lack of a better word… beaten it out of you completely."

The twins nodded, no knowing how else to react.

"Alright, I'll bring you to Morris and get your Stigma healed up. Then I'll see about helping you with getting your emotions back."

Their eyes lit up at that.

"So… what are your names?"

"They don't have names." One of the women said with obvious disgust, and it wasn't for the nameless twins. It was for the Elder who wanted them to be even more broken than Alicia and Beth. "Just their Number,"

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Naruto plastered on a smile. He ruffled their hair with affection, drawing a blush from the two of them. "I'll name you two myself, if you want me to?"

The twins exchanged looks, then they looked back at him, and nodded in union.

Naruto closed his eyes and puckered his lips thoughtfully, "Hmm…" his eyes opened again, and he looked at the left twin, "I'll call you… Ava," he then looked to the right twin, "And I'll call you Eva. What do you two think?"

The twins smiled faintly at that, liking the names.

"Ava and Eva it is, then," Naruto chirped. Then he looked at the woman with the beauty mark near on her cheekbone under her left eye. "So, what's your name and Number?"

"I-It's Leia, I was Number 14. But, like Tanya I was to be promoted after all this was over. I currently have no rank of my own." the woman in question answered while nervously rubbing her arm.

----

Meanwhile, with Samui's group, the team of nine ducked and wove about the fortress, several men in black 'going missing' in their wake. Hysteria was doing her job rather well; the woman was moving so fast the poor bastards in black weren't able to react in time to her claymore leaving them in two, doing most of the work as she helped Omoi's unit clear a path for Samui's. Raftela, Rosemary and Elizabeth were serving as secondary pathcutters, leading the way for Samui's unit while picking off any Handlers who were lucky enough to get out of the first group's way - they didn't want the bastards to go raising the alarm after all.

As a result, they were almost at their destination in half the time it would have otherwise taken. And with Raftela giving them directions, and keeping them on the right track, it kept them from going astray.

"They should be right down this hallway," Raftela pointed out, she said as they turned the corner.

"I can sense multiple yoki signatures nearby." Rosemary added, and they all came to a running stop. "They are in separate rooms. It's been a while since I was last here but I clearly remember there being less doors." the killer of Hysteria looked at Raftela as she asked, "has the Organization refurbished Staff with new rooms?"

"Perhaps," Raftela stated. "I was still a toddler when you died, so I have no knowledge of Staff's layout from before I became a trainee."

"I don't even remember this place from my time." Elizabeth said as she looked around idly. "This was just a mountain. When the one called the 'Failed Experiment' awakened, I suspect they made these evacuation shelters just in case another incident like that was to happen. To protect their tools from being 'broken' too early, I suspect."

Hysteria shook her head negatively, and went to correct her fellow Crimson Guard. "No. You're wrong. Luciela of the South had awakened before my generation. And they didn't build any extra facilities here after she killed half of their warriors." she hummed, looking thoughtful as she stroked her chin. "I think they did it after I almost killed off the generation I was a part of. Due to the lack of warriors after the Rockwell incident, I suspect they had to replenish their...conscripts, through questionable means. Having more, 'volunteers', means they can replenish any gaps in their ranks quickly. It would be the case of 'we have reserves' if one is to think of it that way."

"It is entirely plausible." Raftela said robotically. "But we should achieve our original mission while the others are distracting the main force." Then she walked to one of the doors and with the tact of an infant, she unceremoniously kicked it in.

As one would expect, Raftela kicking the door in had startled everyone on the other side. The startled screams of young girls could be heard on the other side as the stoic woman stepped inside with a purpose.

Ino blinked owlishly. "...Even Sai has more tact than that." she said with exasperation in her voice.

Moegi was the first to jog on up towards the doorway, followed by her teammates, Lee, Tenten and Samui.

"A-A Crimson Guard?" they heard the voice of one girl say in surprise.

"Yes." Raftela replied. "The leader, in fact. I have been sent to extract you from Staff and bring you all to safety."

"Is… is it because we're under attack?" another girl asked, "I heard they sent forty trainee's to reinforce the North… but no one's heard from them since then."

"They are safe." Raftela answered her, "They have been extracted by the Lord of Morris."

That had gotten them to whisper and murmur to each other. Some with excited curiosity and others with uncertainty.

Then Hysteria leaned in and told Raftela, "We should get them out of here while we still can. Lord Naruto can't keep distracting the Organization forever. I'll go open the other doors, the sooner we get this done the quicker we can get out of here." the woman walked on down the hall to another door and opened it. She quickly drew her claymore and deflected a spear with the flat of her blade; she saw it was one of those men who was garbed in black from head to toe. His eyes went wide with recognition when he saw just who he tried to attack; Hysteria gave him a flat smile before cutting the bastard down. "Nuisance." the former Number 1 stepped over the body and surveyed the room. A large group of young girls, from ages 13 to 18 were huddled together in a corner. They were looking right at her with wide eyes, though the older ones were standing in front of the rest protectively.

Their eyes went wide with recognition upon seeing her armour.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," she sighed sincerely. "I was sent here by the Lord of Morris to get you out of here before he levels Staff."

"Y-you're with the Ladykiller?"

Hysteria looked at the girl who spoke, one of the younger ones. "Indeed I am," she said with a grin. "He lives up to the name, too. I've never seen a man so good at pleasing a woman~!" Her gushing drew blushes from several girls and she let out a chuckle, "However, a lot of things the Organization has said about him are false. He isn't a demon in human skin, nor is he brainwashing anyone. He is similar to us, in fact, only more… 'stable' I suppose the appropriate word for it is."

"He's not a bad person?" One of the older ones asked, she had pointy ears and long wavy-blonde hair that reached to her butt. "But… but what about those rumours he's been spreading? That the Organization's been the one making the youma? And the awakened beings?"

"I confronted him about it, with the rest of the Crimson Guard," Hysteria pointed out. " He provided the evidence he had on hand to back up those claims. Many of those stolen documents he'd used as proof were hand written by Dae, himself. Seeing as how we're actively helping him now, I'm sure I don't need to say much more than that."

The girls visibly didn't like the sound of that, though some of the more… presumably hormonal ones looked dreadfully curious.

They all exchanged looks, before they all got out of the corner one by one and slowly approached the woman of Elegance. "So…. how big is he?" one of the older ones, asked with an intrigued look. She had straight, shoulder-length blonde hair and had quite the impressive rack and physique on her.

"Longer than I thought possible," Hysteria giggled. "I'm still wondering how he made it fit~!" she took off her helmet and leaned in almost conspirituality, "He can even heal your stigma; it's one of the most closely guarded secrets we've been keeping up until now. The procedure also appears to make us fertile, again. He's had several kids with other warriors as a direct result~!"

Several girls perked up at that, many of whom had always wanted to have children and had been devastated to learn that becoming hybrids had made them barren. If he can truly heal them… their prayers would be answered!

Then Hysteria put her helmet back on and gestured for the trainees to follow her. "Come along now, the Lord of Morris is distracting the main force for us. It's only a matter of time before they are aware of it."

Now with more eagerness behind them the trainees' all followed Hysteria the Elegant out of the room. They all carefully stepped over the body and pool of blood that was around him. They found Raftela, Rosemary and Elizabeth in the hallway with several foreigners by their side. They immediately got them curious.

Hysteria saw their curious looks and chuckled, "Those twelve are foreigners, they are from the Ladykiller's continent to the West. They're friends, here to help us extract you all, so there is no need to be wary of them."

Kiba blinked as he took them all in, "A lot of them are old enough to still be in the academy." the Inuzuka said in well hidden surprise. "Though many are old enough to have already graduated." he looked to Raftela and asked, "Care to explain for me? I get the younger ones are still being trained, but the older ones look formidable enough to be deployed."

"47 warriors on the field. No more. No less. Those who die on a mission, send their Black Card, or awaken after passing their limit, are immediately replaced with the reserves. Had the Ladykiller been intending to kill the warriors outside, they would have taken their place." the woman answered stoically. Then she cocked her head to the side and added, seemingly as an afterthought, "However, due to many of us defecting, or 'going missing' over the past few days with Staff being attacked on top of that, there has not been any time in granting promotions or deploying the reserves."

"Chaos and panic does tend to make people forget." Shikamaru yawned off to the side. "The more they panic, the more mistakes they are prone to make. They had less 'warriors' than they would normally have out there. So they probably forgot about the older ones."

"That or they're just arrogant." Choji pointed out with a shrug. "Anyway, how many more are there? Is that all?"

"There are two more rooms containing trainees." Raftela answered. "I shall go to them."

"Actually…" Elizabeth said, "maybe Rosemary and I should get the other two?"

"I agree," Rosemary nodded concurringly. "No offense, but, your lack of tact when kicking the door down scared them. And Hysteria was attacked when she opened hers. We'll get these ones."

Raftela blinked, then nodded robotically. "Very well."

With that said and done, Rosemary and Elizabeth reached out with their senses and quickly found which doors the girls were behind, before scurrying off to fetch the remaining trainees.

Meanwhile Moegi, Tenten and Ino went over to the ones already fetched and tended to them, making sure the girls were doing okay. They were reserved, and liked to keep to themselves some were aloof as well. It was completely understandable. These girls reminded them of Root, Sai in particular. It was a shame he couldn't come along, but alas the painter was on a mission when Naruto came knocking on their doors. Literally.

Of course, Hysteria's group were very interested in what the woman had to say about Naruto. Many of them were interested in him for… 'academic purposes'. Others, however, were far more blatant, much to the relatively puritanical Tenten's embarrassment. Hysteria was thoroughly amused by this, and kept her answers to their questions to a simple 'Yes', 'No', 'Maybe', and 'You'll have to ask him yourself'.

After several long minutes, Rosemary and Elizabeth came back with two groups of girls. These ones were well into their late teens. Now that everyone was assembled, Raftela beckoned everyone to follow her out of the evacuation shelter.

----

Meanwhile, back in Morris, there were now several trainees in the mess hall trying out chocolate for the first time. Naruto couldn't help but find their looks of amazement to be so damn adorable! They were so gluttonous too, albeit in a good way. It showed they were enjoying the treat he got yesterday.

Sitting at the end of the table was Luciela and Rafaela; the two sisters were happily watching the trainees devouring the chocolate like it was the last thing they were ever going to taste. The former leaned against the table and looked at one of the older trainees, a willowy and well endowed teenage girl with messily-spiky, platinum-blonde hair. Her name was Nala. "You know, Naruto has a cool way for you all to train without hurting yourselves, right?"

Nala perked up at that. "Oh?"

The ginger nodded, "Uh-huh, there's a training 'simulator' in the bailey, it's hard to explain, but what it basically does is that it puts you in a life-like situation. They're either real events, or purely fictional, like in books. If you 'die' in it, then you are put in a death like state until the simulator ends. He's been adding quite a bit of stuff to it, as well. He sparred with Alicia and Beth, and was stabbed through the chest and stomach - but when it ended, he was perfectly fine. So you can get life-threateningly injured in there and you would be fine, once you're out here."

"Really, now?" Nala was now intrigued and she looked at Naruto with interest. "Can he show me?" she asked, before looking back at the Abyssal One of the South with curiosity.

Luciela shrugged, "He can show you. But it depends if someone is using it or not. It is a good way for us to improve our techniques and, in some cases, get some experience." she explained.

"I'll ask him about it, later, then," Nala chirped.

"He'll probably want to heal your stigma first of all. And if you really wanted to, you can even learn to do something like this…" as she talked, Luciela raised her right hand and willed it to be enveloped by fire. The sound of flickering flames had caught the attention of every trainee, and they were astonished to see her hand was enveloped by fire - only it wasn't burning her skin. She grinned at their astonished looks and closed her hand; the fire snuffed itself out, leaving behind the smell of smoke and embers in the air. "Naruto taught me how to do this, you know. You can be taught it as well, if you're willing."

"I'll certainly think about it…" Nala said with increased interest. She will most definitely think about it.

After that little fiery display Luciela showed, Naruto knew he was going to get a lot of visits from these girls. Hell many of them were even looking at him with their silver eyes showing interest, plot-inducing intrigue and hunger. Though, the last one was with the older ones who were around 16, 17 years old… with one or two exceptions. He still looked like he was in his late teens, thanks to his Uzumaki heritage. It was strange how no one called out on it. No one from Konoha called out on it, which was even more surprising since they were more ignorant of the Uzumaki Clan. He wasn't going to complain though.

"I'm going to head out," he told Luciela. Miata and Clarice - more Clarice - wanted him to set up the simulation for them so they can use it. They should be out in the bailey by now.

"Okay. The Original is coming back soon, right?" the ginger asked.

"Yeah. Once the rest of the trainees are out of there, Kurama's going to turn the place into a crater along with Isobu. Then he's going to bring everyone, trainee and warrior, back with him."

Luciela slowly nodded and smiled. "Okay. I'll see you around, then." she let out a surprised yelp and giggle when the clone suddenly appeared beside her and gave her a loving kiss on the lips.

"See you around," he pecked her on the lips once more, before leaving the dining hall and the citadel altogether.

----

Several minutes later the clone found Clarice and Miata waiting in the bailey. The brunette was talking to Miata with a motherly smile, while the mentally young girl was listening to her with rapt attention.

Both Miata and Clarice were wearing two remarkably different outfits. Clarice herself was wearing a fairly simple halter dress, red and white in colour - similar to one her mother wore, according to the brunette - and a pair of black tights and a matching pair of shoes. Miata, meanwhile, appeared to have fallen victim to a case of overprotective mother syndrome, as she was garbed in full armour, consisting of a brigandine over a maille hauberk with sabatons, spaulders, gauntlets and a kettle helm to top it all off. The poor thing frowned deeply, not liking how stuffy all this armour was; not to mention all the extra weight it gave her. It was different from what she was use to.

"I have to admit, I was surprised when you told me you wanted to use the simulation, Clarice. You are pregnant, after all." the clone announced, startling the mother and daughter figures.

"I'm not going to use the simulation." she corrected with a polite smile, "But my Shadow Clone is. I found out I first met Jean in Dabi was a Shadow Clone. I'm going to use that technique to train."

"Ah, that's a good idea." Naruto nodded approvingly. "Go right ahead and make the clone. Make sure to reinforce it."

Clarice nodded and made the seal for Naruto's signature technique. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and with that declaration, a single cloud of smoke poofed into existence beside her. It dispersed revealing another Clarice. She stretched her arms above her head and groaned.

The clone smiled and waved, "Hi. Let's get this done, no?"

"Sure, but first," he looked at Miata and couldn't help but shake his head with amusement. "As heartwarming your protective instinct for Miata is, Clarice, she doesn't need all this armour. I designed the simulation so that any 'fatal wounds' you take in it, don't carry over when it ends. Miata could get stabbed in the stomach in the simulation or even decapitated, but once it ends, she'll be perfectly fine. If she 'dies' in there, then she'll just be put in a death like state until it's over, just like she's sleeping."

"Ah…" both Clarices sheepishly rubbed the back of their heads, "This was the first time I ever used this. I got nervous and wanted Miata to have the best protection as possible." the real brunette admitted. "Will we have enough time for Miata to get changed?"

"Of course," Naruto told her. "She can get rid of the armour. She can keep the underclothes on though. If Miata wants to that is." both Clarices and Naruto looked at the heavily armoured girl in question, waiting for her answer.

"I want out." the poor girl sounded so dead, it completely lacked her normal enthusiasm. It goes to show what she thought about all this added 'protection' her Mama made her wear. Naruto could barely keep himself from chuckling.

"Alright, but let's leave you in some armour, though," Naruto said; then he proceeded to take off her kettle helm, brigandine, and spaulders one by one. Having all this protection was good and all against common bandits; but if this training simulation had them fighting against a shinobi then it would only become a burden, or in the worst case scenario: a death trap. All she was left wearing now was the maille hauberk, gauntlets and sabatons. Naruto put them down to the side in a nice pile, with the exception of the helmet, and ruffled Miata's hair with affection. "There you go, how do you feel now?"

"Should I not have the helmet?" she asked, pointing at the kettle helm. "I would be better protected, right?"

"I was just about to give it back to you," Naruto chuckled. And he proceeded to do just that, taking the kettle helmet and handing it to her as an offering. Miata took it carefully from her Papa's hands and put it on her head.

Naruto turned and pressed his hand against the invisible barrier, and a mass of blackness suddenly formed around it, concealing what was inside. "Do you two want a debriefing?" he asked, directing his focus and attention to the mother/daughter duo and the simulation at the same time.

The clone of Clarice looked at her 'daughter' who in turn looked at her. Then they looked at Naruto and nodded. "We do," and the two of them stood at attention.

"Alright…for this simulation, you two are going to start out in a forest; people have been going missing without a trace. There are no bodies, just articles of clothes left behind. The enemy is unknown. You'll be going in dark, with no clue on what you're going to be facing."

Suddenly Clarice felt like a bundle of nerves. She was nervous now. "U-uh… is there a dark history with the area?"

Naruto took his hand off the barrier and shrugged, "In this instance, there is a rumour that an experiment gone wrong has taken place in that very forest. No one knows how long ago that was; but no one's managed to confirm it - because anyone that tries, ends up missing in there." he jerked a thumb at the simulation behind him. "You're going in there with little to no knowledge of what you're looking for. But keeping a close eye on your environment is key to surviving. Good luck you two."

Miata blinked at him. Then she took hold of her 'Mama's' hand and dragged the clone into the simulation with her with enthusiasm. The barrier solidified behind them, effectively trapping them inside until the simulation finished. The game was afoot.

Naruto stepped behind the real Clarice and wrapped his arms around her waist; he pulled her nice ass against his groin and started giving her loving kisses on the crook of her neck. Clarice mewled heatedly as she started grinding up against her man.

"Gods, I love it when you do that~" he growled into her ear; then be started nibbling on her earlobe, all the while he moved his hands from her waist to her breasts and took a healthy handful of them in his palms. "Your ass is easily your best asset~!"

"Oh, I know," she giggled, feeling the heat radiating from her cheeks. "That's why I go out of my way to use it~!"

"You've been 'using' it ever since I said I loved it." he pointed out with a chuckle of his own, kissing along her jawline and her cheek. Then he made her turn to him in order to give his woman a loving kiss on the lips. "Now, let's see how your clone and Miata deals with my little… surprise."

Clarice nodded with a smile and wiggled herself into a more comfortable position in her husband's arms. This simulation should be interesting to watch.

----

Inside the simulation, Miata and her 'Mama's' clone looked around staring oddly at their surroundings. It was a forest. That much they knew. And Miata didn't sense anything out of the ordinary either… well, aside from several of the plants and bugs being far bigger than they should be, anyway. Were mushrooms supposed to be capable of getting that big?

"Miata… stay close. Don't go off on your own, okay?" the brunette said, giving the young girl a kind, reassuring smile. Miata looked up at her curiously, wondering why she didn't want her to go off by herself; then the warning Naruto gave them moments before came to mind and so she nodded understandingly.

With that, Clarice lead the way, her sword at the ready with Miata following her example. Soon, the two found themselves in a large clearing with a small, but conspicuous sunflower in the center. As they left the treeline, Clarice knew something was amiss. Strewn about the clearing, especially around that flower, were thousands of discarded clothing items.

She frowned thoughtfully. Was this where they would find this mysterious enemy?

Miata sniffed the air. "Something's wrong, Mama… it smells like fear and dead people." She looked at the flower and pouted in confusion. "It's coming from… that flower."

Clarice looked at the young blonde in confusion, "The flower? Are you sure?" she asked looking between her and the flower repeatedly for a moment.

Miata looked up and nodded with affirmation, "Uh-huh. It's coming from the flower." she looked up at the brunette with innocent silver eyes. "What should we do, Mama?"

Clarice narrowed her eyes as she thought on what to do. There was thousands of clothes strewn around it. And Miata smelled fear and dead people from the flower. But her logical mind couldn't comprehend such a thing… it didn't make any sense! How can something so small be the cause of all this? Her eyes narrowed even further in thought; unless there's something else in the clearing. That had to be it. "Stay close and keep an eye out for anything else, honey," she said.

"Okay…"

With that the two delved into the clearing. Clarice being in front, Miata was close behind. They stepped over the articles of clothes as best they could as they made their way to the middle. Where the sunflower was. Suddenly Clarice stepped on something hard and metallic and came to an abrupt halt to look down, causing Miata to bump into her due to not expecting it.

The young girl took a step back and looked up. "Mama?" she pouted with concern when seeing the ashen look on her Mama's face. "Mama, what's wrong?"

Strewn about among the clothes were no less than nine uniforms and claymores. Clarice recognized the crests on each one, too: Nina, Camilla, Elise, Miria, Tabitha, Jean, Cynthia, Helen, and Deneve; there they were, apparently amongst the victims of whatever she and Miata were fighting. Was there other warriors that became victim themselves to this creature?! She quickly looked around the clothes; the brunette couldn't see anything, but that didn't mean there weren't more than nine! There was thousands of clothes here, the weapons and armour of any unlucky warrior could be under them for all she knew! Hell, whatever got to them can easily hide their weapons and armour under these articles of clothing. There are plenty of clothes piled up together. She can see other familiar, black outfits, jumpsuits and armour among the piles, too… Shit! So there are more than nine!

What scared her most though, was that this… thing they were up against was strong enough to take out single digits.

Granted, neither of the ones she could identify outranked Miata, but still!

"Miata...whatever is here is strong enough to take out several single digit warriors." she warned, and gestured to the armour in front of her "Take a look."

The girl in question frowned at the sight. She recognized Auntie Miria and Auntie Cyn's crests immediately. She growled viciously, "Whoever did this will die." she declared viciously.

----

Outside the real Clarice gave Naruto a curious look.

"What could possibly be strong enough to take out single digit warriors?" the brunette asked; she couldn't see the crests, due to not being there in person; not to mention those uniforms were far away.

Naruto just gave her a mysterious smile, "That's a secret, honey" he replied, before pecking her on the nose. "Remember: even the unlikeliest of things can be deadly if they were altered enough. The ones who took this simulation before you and Miata learned that the hard way."

----

As if on cue, several tentacles shot forth from the sunflower without warning. Miata cried out to her 'Mama' as the tentacles snatched the brunette up before either of them could react. The colour of Miata's eyes went from silver turned to a demonic gold, with her pupils turning to feline-like slits, it was pure reflex and the love for her Mama that made Miata lose her temper. With a vicious roar she launched herself at the tentacles, her sword reared back and ready to cleeve into those plant-tentacle things grabbing her Mama!

A blur of motion later the plant hissed viciously as it withdrew its dismembered limbs, the tentacle-like vines oozing green ichor. Dropping to the ground with a grunt of discomfort, Clarice hastefully uncoiled the vines around her as she rapidly crawled away from the sunflower. The stumps that were vines had pulled back into the flower and were promptly replaced. This time, however, when they launched out once more, the vines snatched Miata up instead and shook her until she dropped her weapon. As Clarice got back up and tried to lash out at the flower directly, several of the vines snatched her up by the ankles, and legs, coiling all the way up to her dress and leaving her dangling upside down, a safe distance away. Then, the flower shook her as well, as it tried forcing the brunette to drop her own sword.

"M-Miata! Br-break fre-e-e! Use yo-o-ur yoki to tear the vines apa-a-a-art!" Clarice shouted as she was being shook around like a ragdoll. She saw Miata tear several youma apart with her bare hands, so what could mere vines do against such monstrous strength? The brunette was confident that Miata would be able to overpower those vines and tear them off by the roots one by one. And also, she was not going to relinquish her hold on her sword!

Clarice reached up and tried to take hold of one of the vines coiled around her ankles. Key word being tried. It was hard to do when you're being shaking around like a ragdoll.

Miata, meanwhile, let out a vicious roar as she did as Mama said and tried to tear the vines apart. But, they kept moving with her every time she tugged at them, giving her just enough slack to prevent her from snapping them, as several of the vines wriggled under her clothes and started slipping them off, with her armour being the first to go. Her kettle helmet fell to the ground with a metal 'CLANG!', followed by her gauntlets and spaulders; then the vines slipped under Miata's maille hauberk, slipping out of the neck area and pulled harshly against the chainmail with so much power the rings popped and the padding underneath ripped like toilet paper, the useless garment falling to the ground in a heap. All she was left in now was her trousers.

Clarice squealed in outrage as she felt the vines slipping under her dress and undoing the the ties keeping it up, before letting it slip off over her head.

----

Naruto chuckled upon seeing the naughty black lingerie Clarice's clone was wearing under the dress. "Someone's a naughty, little milf~!" he whispered into her ear. "I want to fuck you so bad, right now~!"

Clarice, of course, was predictably silent. She was too busy watching a seemingly harmless flower completely dominate her clone and Miata with nothing but viney tentacles. It was unsettling to say the least.

"Naruto, why is the flower the 'enemy'?" she just had to ask him.

"To get the point across," Naruto chuckled. "Never judging a threat by its appearance alone is a very bad idea. Besides, I gave them some clues: people have been going missing; clothes of the previous victims were left behind. The forest was used for some failed experiment. I never said they had to kill it. They could have easily turned around and walked away and they would have been fine. The purpose of the exercise was threat assessment, not combat. Your clone and Miata failed in that regard, but there's still a chance for them to escape. If they don't screw it up anyway." he pointed out to her. Then he started grinding against her buttocks with vigour, and kneaded her tits. "Still, I love your naughty lingerie, you sexy milf~"

Clarice turned beet red at that and mewled hungrily. She put her arms behind his head and started grinding her nice ass against his groin, altering her movements with his. She could feel his erection poking her… so she vigorously ground against it. Oh, how tempted she was to just bend over right then and there~! She might just turn herself around and give him a very enthusiastic blowjob if this kept up~!

----

Meanwhile, Clarice's clone was not enjoying herself in the slightest! She snarled and went to grab at the vines once more. "Get off of me!" she cried out in righteous fury, doing her best to pry them away as even more started stripping her down and out of her lingerie and stockings until she was stark naked.

Miata was fairing even worse, now stark naked herself, as the vines slipped her trousers off her ankles, and completely bound with her arms pinned down, she squirmed with all her might as she was pulled towards the flower. The plant seemed to open up, a gaping, drooling, circular maw stretching out from the center of the bloom, as she was pulled towards it.

Her eyes grew impossibly wide in fear and realization. It all made sense to her, now! The clothes, the lack of bodies, the fear and smell of dead people… This thing stripped them down and ate them! Miata immediately brought out more than 20% of her yoki as she struggled with all her might and was actually succeeding in getting out of its viney grip, though it still held firm.

"M-Mama, h-help me!"

Hearing her 'daughter' cry out, Clarice released her yoki for the first time in her life with a roar of motherly rage. She had no idea how much she used, but it was a lot - far more than she even knew she had! With another ferocious roar, she instinctively combined her wind chakra with her sword and slashed at the vines. The blade of wind cut through them like a hot knife through butter, and she was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. She righted herself in mid-fall, landed in a crouch and bolted off to rescue her 'daughter' with all the righteous fury of a mother grizzly.

Her golden, slanted eyes narrowed dangerously as several vines shot at her. Clarice rolled under them, got back up and started slicing and dicing at the others that were in front of her. She didn't stop moving while doing this, because the brunette knew if she stopped for a second then the vines would capitalize on it. She had no idea where this sudden burst of power came from; she knew it was from within, she knew it was her yoki. But she didn't know she had access to so much! And the small amount of training she did manage to do with those coloured ninja came in handy for enhancing the cutting power of her sword.

Though that was more from, instinct than anything else.

"LET HER GO YOU BASTARD OF A PLANT!" roared the brunette, now within striking distance of the sunflower itself. She lashed out at it at terrifying speeds, slashing and chopping the vines at the base before decapitating the flower and slicing the head to bits. It let out a defiant hiss, before it was abruptly cut off.

Clarice took to uncoiling the vines off her 'daughter' as quickly, and as carefully as possible. "Miata! Miata, are you alright?!"

The girl in question launched herself forth and clung onto her Mama, crying out to her. "I… I think so," she whimpered. Miata looked up and was shocked to see Clarice's eyes were a demonic gold. "M-Mama, your eyes have changed!" she said, her previous fright all but forgotten at this new sight. "What happened Mama? Are you okay?"

Clarice actually laughed with relief. Thank the gods she was still so innocent. "I-I'm fine, honey. I just… wanted to get to you. Hearing you call my name like that... something in me just… snapped." she tried her best to explain but it was difficult. This was quite new to her. She let out a breath, "How did the others lose to that thing? They're strong and they have more experience than the two of us put together!"

Neither of them noticed the vines were being pulled underground. They were to busy comforting each other from that blood-pumping experience to notice. But then, they heard the sound of movement and both women looked to see the flower starting to bloom once more.

"Oh, hell no…" Clarice muttered. Miata's face was conveying the exact same thing her Mama was feeling. Disbelief, denial, and exasperation.

The brunette took hold of the younger girl's hand and went to run away from the sunflower as fast as humanly possible. But the deceptively harmless plant had already bloomed to full blossom by the time the two naked girls stood up. Several dozen, and newly made vines shot out of the plant with the intent to grab them. However, these vines were much different than the previous ones. They were broader and thick-skinned for one and quite a few had angry looking 'veins' on the surface as well.

Hearing the sound of movement behind her, Clarice growled and turned, swinging her sword with the intent on cutting them down, only to learn the hard way them being broader was not for show. The edge of her sword bounced harmlessly off the skin with a clang, not even scratching it.

Then, the vine-like tentacles seized the women once more as they screamed and squirmed in the flower's grasp. Clarice dropped her sword and tried to pry the vine-like tentacle off her wrist, only for another one to seize it too.

"L-Let. Us. GO! You Bastard Plant!" Clarice roared, her tits jiggling enticingly as she struggled to escape its grasp with all her might.

She was pulled towards the flower first, its circular, gaping maw opening wide to accommodate the brunette. Still, she and Miata squirmed with all their might as Clarice was pulled in head first, her vision obscured as she felt the wet, fleshy innards of the flower sliding down her face. Slowly but surely, it happily gulped the brunette down, stretching and expanding to impossible proportions and slurping lewdly as it enveloped her torso. The flower crudely gulped and slurped, pulling its meal farther and farther into its expanding stem, despite Clarice's persistent struggles.

"MAMA!" Miata wailed as she saw Clarice's feet disappear into the plant, before the massive bulge shrunk down, revealing the feminine, struggling figure of Clarice before it sank below the surface, fully ingested. With a cry of ungodly fury Miata's yoki spiked once more as she struggled against the flower's grasp. It was all for naught, however, as she felt her head getting pulled in and soon after, everything faded to white as she was ingested in the same manner.

----

As the barrier collapsed and a fully clothed, armoured and terrified Miata sat in the middle with two swords beside her, Clarice groaned at the memories of her dispelled clone. She glared at her husband and lightly kicked him in the shin. "Thanks for the nightmare fuel, you jerk!" Then, she immediately ran over to Miata and tending to her.

"Imagine having to fight thousands of those things, only human looking and can mimic you down to the last detail. Then thank me for the nightmare fuel," Naruto chuckled without humour. Though he followed after her to comfort Miata. He sat down in front of her and said, "For what I put you through, I'll let you get in one good punch on me, okay honey?"

Miata glared at him halfheartedly, looking more disappointed, now that Mama being there calmed her down. She nevertheless punched him on the arm. "You… bad man…" she sniffed. "Bad Papa… So mean..."

"Well you did learn something," he pointed out. "Anything can be deadly. I didn't say you had to fight it. You could have just turned back the second you saw those piles of clothes." the blond sighed and brought the scared and softly crying girl into a comforting hug, "But, I have to say, you did well against something unknown. If it wasn't for Clarice, you would have been 'eaten' first. That was truly awe inspiring what your clone did, Clarice," he praised her with a smile.

The brunette in question blushed and gave him a small smile.

"You had the right idea too, cutting off its head the way you did. It gave you enough time to get away… but you didn't use that opportunity to do that. And that mistake was what ended up costing you your 'lives' in there," he sighed, but he wasn't disappointed in the slightest. In fact, he was grinning like a madman. "Still, I'm proud of you both. You fought well against an opponent you had no clue about. Even Miria went down faster on her first try."

Now, poor Clarice was beet red. She performed better than a Single-Digit?! Such a claim left her awestruck. Then something caught her attention, "First try? Miria retook it?!" she wouldn't dare take that simulation again, not after that experience.

Naruto chuckled and nodded, "Yep. She likes a challenge. What you girls partook was the easy difficulty. Your only mistake was underestimating what you were up against. Miria made the same one, actually, and used what she learned for the second round."

"And… what's the next one?" Clarice asked, with a thoughtful look on her face. Maybe she can… do the same thing? She hated herself for thinking up such a thing but if that was the easy difficulty then she had to see what the other ones are like.

"That would be 'medium'; instead of there being one sunflower, there's three," Naruto explained. "Those ones, however, are more... uh… 'playful'." seeing as there is a child amongst them - mental wise, anyway - Naruto had to alter his wording at the end.

Clarice gave him a flat look. "Miata's definitely not doing that one…"

"Fair enough," Naruto chuckled. "I wasn't intending to have her do so, anytime soon; physically, she is capable of doing that one… mentally, on the other hand… not so much,"

Miata frowned in confusion at the conversation, and did her best to piece together what Mama and Papa meant by all that. So far, she's not having much success. It was for the best, whether she knew it or not…

Doesn't mean she won't try and find out about it, though...

----

Meanwhile, back at Staff, the real Naruto, who is still in his Rikudō Sennin Mōdo was looking at the trainees that had been rescued by Samui, Tenten, Rock Lee, Moegi, Konohamaru, Udon, Omio, and Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Raftela, Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth. Many of them were older than he was expecting and quite a few were giving him hungry, if somewhat flirtatious looks.

Behind the trainees one could see the dismembered bodies of handlers and soldiers strewn about. Red blood dirtied the rocks around them.

"Is, uh… is that everyone?" The Uzumaki Patriarch asked, looking to Raftela since she was the one who led the second team.

"Yes. Every trainee and warrior has been found and accounted for." the woman robotically answered. She looked at the Abyss Feeders, sitting by Naruto's side, and cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "And it seems you had managed to turn the Organization's new weapon against them." she stated.

"Yeah. I did. Long story short: Kurama and I healed their minds as much we can, and they have some semblance of humanity. Anyway," he looked up at the yoki construct of Kurama, and Isobu who was behind the settlement, "let's get started on wiping Staff off the face of the Earth, shall we?"

"Finally," Isobu grunted with excitement and anticipation, "I always wanted to blow this stain upon humanity away into nothingness. You still have that man in black with you right? That one with the Fedora?"

Rubel had tried running away when Dae had gotten his disfigured face eaten by his own creations. He didn't get far, courtesy of Alicia and Beth who transformed and dragged his sorry ass to the others and made him watch as the Organization was systematically destroyed. Of course, he didn't look too bothered by it. He seemed almost happy, even to see everything that happened here get unravelled so. It perplexed many present.

Naruto made a mental note to have Ino interrogate him, later, as a result. That smug bastard needed to learn that those little secrets inside that bald head of his were not safe from a Yamanaka. He just needed to make an arrangement and see what kind of payment she'd require.

"I told you that Konoha and the Elemental Nations weren't happy with you," Naruto told the smug smiler from the corner of his eye. The black-clad man was on his knees, hands bound behind his back. The guy was impressively calm for one whose life hinged on Naruto's decision.

"And I told you we Tailed Beasts would come for you if you dared hurt our friend." Isobu growled at him. "We don't make light threats."

"Damn straight!" Kurama barked concurringly.

"I got a couple of questions I have a feeling only you can answer," Naruto said as he walked to Rubel with a frown. "and I will know if you will lies or tell half-truths. If you refuse… well… we have other methods to getting answers out of you." He then turned to Kurama and Isobu. "But first, let's see about turning this town into a crater."

"You'd better get inside of me then. I can protect you from the blast." Kurama said and he leaned down to their level and opened his maw.

Naruto leapt inside first, the Abyss Feeders followed after him almost immediately. Using his scent to track where he went. Then the shinobi teams followed suit without hesitation; then the Crimson Guard went next, followed by the awakened beings, then the warriors and trainees.

Ava and Eva grabbed Rubel by the arms and dragged his sorry ass into Kurama's maw. With everyone inside him and behind Naruto, Kurama closed his maw and sat up.

"Alright, let's get this done!" Naruto declared. He held his hands out in front of him and Kurama opened his maw once more as a Bijuudama formed in front of them. Isobu likewise did the same and formed a Bijuudama of his own.

"BIJUUDAMA!" Naruto, Isobu and Kurama bellowed at the same time as they launched their large spheres of death and destruction at the ground in the middle of the settlement.

Everything went white the moment the spheres of yoki touched the ground. This was followed by a near deafening explosion that rocked the continent for a moment; the explosion was so loud, and so big, it could be heard and seen for several hundred miles. Those who couldn't hear it certainly felt it, as even in Morris, the trainees Naruto had rescued earlier panicked upon feeling an overwhelming presence far beyond even their wildest dreams. The power of a Tailed Beast was nothing to scoff at.

Each and every trainee and warrior stared in morbid awe with the exception of Savra. But even she and the Abyssal Feeders were taken aback from the sound of the blast and the sheer power they felt. It was unreal…

"I've never seen or heard it up close before…" an awed Miria said, after the sound of the blast went down to manageable levels. She had seen the mushroom cloud, and felt the shockwave from a weaker Bijuudama all those years ago in Pieta. And she had seen the second mushroom cloud from the much more powerful Bijuudama that destroyed Pieta. But this was on another level, entirely! Only Kurama's yoki kept them from being vaporized at this range!

"Neither have I," Moegi whispered in utter awe. "I've heard stories of how devastating they can be. But this was more than I was expecting."

"Heh," Kurama scoffed goodnaturedly, "This isn't our strongest attack. Naruto and I have even deadlier and more destructive attack in our arsenal. But that would be overkill for smallfry like these insects."

"Is everything done here?" Isobu asked Kurama and Naruto both from his side of the mushroom cloud. "The Organization is finished, and those yoki signatures I could sense underneath the surface have been extinguished."

"For the time being," Naruto nodded. "I still have other things to do, before I can come back for an extended period of time, but now, everyone here is just a little safer." They still had the rest of the youma to take out, but with the Organization finally dealt with, they will soon become a memory.

"I see, then in that case I will take my leave. You have everything handled here." The titan-sized turtle let out a deep rumble, and it took everyone a moment to realise that Isobu was laughing. "Have fun with your family, Naruto. I will see you and Kurama around."

Then everyone heard the sound of rocks crumbling and sea parting as Isobu lowered himself back into the sea. Then he completely submerged himself and slowly swam away.

"See ya around, Isobu!" Naruto called out, waving the giant turtle demon goodbye for now. Then Kurama lowered his head to the ground and opened his mouth, allowing everyone inside the yoki cloak to step out. Naruto was the first one out, followed by his new pets and then the trainees. The warriors, both new and old, filed out soon after, and so on. The last one out was a predictably-lazy Shikamaru as he dragged his feet.

With the fight said and done, Naruto let his chakra cloak drop, only to let out a sigh of both amusement and exasperation as three of the Abyssal Feeders immediately started fumbling with his trousers.

"Well, aren't you thirsty girls?" he chuckled.

Miria groaned irritably. "Oh, for fuck's sake… Just take them somewhere private and be done with it!"

The feeders all started trying to strip him down excitedly when Naruto's awkward boner came into being at his wife's words - much to the dismay of many... and the interest of others.

"I bet you want to fuck him," Priscilla chirped mischievously.

"Keep that up and I will show you your place, once and for all," Naruto teased.

Priscilla grinned lewdly and turned around to give herself a teasing swat on the ass for his viewing pleasure. "Then why don't you come here and show me my place, my precious Breeding Stud~?"

"Please don't," Shikamaru muttered. "There are children present."

"A lot of them are horny bitches," Priscilla waved him off dismissively. "No less than two damn thirds of them want to mate with my stud. Besides, they're old enough to make their own decisions. And thanks to that display of power every one of them will now see him as the ultimate alpha."

"C-can we?" a particularly brave one timidly asked.

"Uh… we'll see." Naruto answered, "First thing's first - I need to get all of you to Morris… and maybe deal with these ones," he added, gesturing to the girls sniffing around his crotch as the fumbled with his clothes. "I… might have to be right back, at this rate." he coughed, "I also have to heal your stigmas too; and there's the fact I need to get these ones back to the Elemental Nations and give them their second half of the payment, as well as setting up a training device for my friend. I have a lone few days ahead of me..."

Speaking of said friend, Tenten was cackling off in the background as she dragged the unique claymores, along with some other weapons she had… procured from the aftermath of the short, but deadly war. She had several dozen swords, spears, daggers and shields sealed away into a handful of scrolls.

"...You enjoying yourself over there, Tenten?" Naruto called out to her.

"You know it," she cackled.

Naruto chuckled at her enthusiasm. But, the blond's amusement was interrupted when his new 'pets' figured out how to undo his pants. "Woah, there," he said, keeping them from pulling his trousers and boxers down right then and there. "Yeah, I'll… have to be right back."

Seeing as how all nine of the Abyssal Feeders were latching onto him, so it wasn't too much of a problem disappearing with them in a flash of gold. He didn't go far, though. The blond and his new pets reappeared at the southmost exit of… the new crater, resulting in several sensor types among the women and young girls perking up with no small amount of interest.

Hell, even Ino was starting to feel rather… frisky, and she was spoken for! Perhaps… perhaps she could convince Sai that it was his…? No! Ino shook her head to dislodge those thoughts, immediately. Bad girl!

----

Naruto was probably going to hate himself in the morning for this, but the instant he was a somewhat respectable distance away from all the prying eyes, he let go of his trousers, allowing the girls to pull them down. He was not disappointed to note that the one who'd been trying to 'mate' with him was now stroking him off and doing a surprisingly good job of it.

"You're pretty good at that," he told her with a low groan, "I would love for you to take it in your mouth, but… your teeth." They were sharp as fuck and looked like they could tear metal apart. He didn't want them anywhere near his dick. "Bend over, girl. You're first in line."

The blind woman visibly perked up at that and immediately scurried onto all fours, raising her admittedly-nice ass towards him. This one was also completely bottomless, which would prove rather convenient. Stripping down entirely and chuckling as a few of them started rolling around on his clothes like dogs in the grass, he came down to a crouch behind the Abyssal Feeder who'd been actively trying to fuck him. He placed a hand on her rear and started playing with her cootch, ensuring that it was wet enough for him. He didn't want to hurt her, after all. He drew a pleasant, cute, little gasp from her. When he was convinced this chick was ready, he lined himself up and sank into her. The feeder let loose a pleasured, guttural moan at the feel of her insides being stretched to capacity. Slowly, he sank into her, savouring the feel of her tight, hot cunt squeezing him so pleasantly. When he bottomed out, his balls touching her clit and drawing a shudder from the blind woman, he waited for just a moment and gave her time to adjust. The, he placed both hands on her hips and slowly started to fuck her like a dog would a bitch in heat.

----

Back in Morris, Sistina let out a sigh as she spotted Neideen carrying off a flustered trainee like a sack of wheat - cackling like the perverted madwoman she was. The Divine Oracle didn't need her foresight to know where that shit was heading…

"...Is Neideen trying corrupt someone again?" Sistina let out a sheepish chuckle when she heard Naruto ask her in a dull tone.

"Undoubtedly... though in that case, she's just trying out the new flavours of innocence you brought home."

"Uh-huh…" the clone of Naruto exhaled, "So she's a lolicon, huh? Never thought she was one… though I'm one to talk." he chuckled sheepishly.

"Oh, you have no idea," Sistina giggled. "They literally had to lock her out of the trainee barracks and post a dozen guards to keep her from 'distracting' the new recruits. Didn't stop her from going after the twins, though. She named them 'Twitchy and Squeaker' after a while, and they became rather close."

"If her having their way with them is any indication, I would be surprised if they didn't get really close," he chuckled pointedly. "If they're anything like Alicia and Beth were six years ago, then she might be the one who can help give them their emotions back."

"Possibly," Sistina replied with a smile. Then, she perked up and smiled as a mental image came forth, a brief vision of the future that left a smile on the woman's face. "Also, the four of you are going to be having a lot of fun, soon." She giggled. "Just be careful; they will become pregnant if you don't pull out, and Tsunade will not be happy."

"Uh… good to know?" suddenly the blond looked off in the distance, and the ground trembled a moment later.

"Woah!" Sistina took hold of Naruto to steady herself. Then, she felt it, a huge amount of yoki that simply dwarfed anything she sensed before. And if she felt it, then it stands to reason the others felt it too. "What… what was that?"

"That would be the Boss finishing off the Organization once and for all." the blond answered. "You're, finally free. No one is going to hunt you ladies down anymore." he allowed himself to smile, "And we're going to be having company soon. I'll wait around until they come back before dispelling myself."

Sistina took a calming breath and nodded. "I never thought it would feel so… overwhelming."

"Having the chakra of all the tailed beasts, plus the Six Paths Sage would do that." Naruto chuckled, and he gave Sistina a knowing look. "When Obito and Madara were the Jinchuuriki of the Juubi, they were essentially physical gods in all but name. I'm the closest thing to being a Juubi Jinchuuriki that exists, right now. But you already know that, don't you?"

She gave him a teasing grin, "You know it!" then she gave him a serious look and asked, "So all that is left is hunting the remaining youma, right?"

"Yeah. And after that, we can finally have my ancestral island all to ourselves."

"A few of your wives will wish to stay here and watch over your territory," Sistina pointed out. "Riful, Priscilla and Luciela would be the obvious ones."

"Of course they would," he sighed, "Riful does own the West and Luciela owns the South. And with the Organization out of the picture, Priscilla would be taking over the East. It'll be a shame if they did stay here though, they're some of my more devoted women after all." He shrugged at the thought of them staying here though, they would stay here to 'watch' his territory. Either that or they want to stay here to make sure Isley doesn't get any smart ideas and try to take over the other regions.

"There's actually a few reasons behind why they wish to stay here, beyond that," Sistina pointed out, lowering her voice to ensure no one overheard. "Most notably Harja… and Elspeth, Lilith, and a few others. They'll be providing future alibis when blaming Garth is no longer an option. Neideen and I will be here, as well, so your family will be in good hands."

"I see…" Naruto honestly didn't know how to feel about that. "So, there'll be more… awkward situations to come, then?"

"Harja and Little Teresa have outright fallen in love with you," Sistina pointed out with a shrug. "A few more are soon to follow, and I'm sure you know who.

Naruto sighed, able to name every last one of them off the top of his head: Elspeth, Damia, Lilith, Chandra, Samantha, Liliana, Nissa, Hanna and Susan. He glared at his traitorous dick as it twitched quite happily at the thought.

Sistina giggled at that.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up why don'tcha…" he mumbled childishly.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help but find that rather cute," she clarified with an amused grin. "While I fully understand why you'd wish to take back your ancestral homeland, though, I see no point in forsaking the territory here that you've invested so much in, anyway. So, maintaining a foothold here for when your lovers are feeling homesick would probably be for the best. It would certainly make life easier, down the road. Also, the people here adore you. Some even want to have your kids." Grinning impishly, she simply couldn't help but teasingly add. "Hell, some will in nine months or so. You did fail to pull out of those hotel workers, after all."

"...That's a good point, actually." he chuckled. He had honestly forgotten about that. And now that she brought it up, letting his wives and girlfriends come back here whenever they're feeling homesick is ideal. And the populace of Morris do adore him, as she said. "Thanks for bringing it up."

"Of course," Sistina chirped, "I'm here to help in any way I can~!"

Naruto chuckled and cupped Sistina's face, leaning in and giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Oh, there you are~!" Roxanne cooed as she turned the corner. She then immediately scurried on up and clung onto Naruto's arm with a giggle. "So, what've you been up to?"

"Just checking on everyone, making sure everything's running smoothly," the blond replied. "What about you?"

"I'm bored," she answered, and changed the subject at the same time, "what does that thing in the bailey do? It looks interesting."

"Oh, that's a simulation seal," Naruto said. "Basically, it replicates a scenario that I put in, either from my own experiences or my imagination. If you 'die' in the simulation, you're put into a death-like state until the simulation is done and come out good as new. It's perfect for training without getting yourself hurt."

"Ooh! Very interesting…" Roxanne grinned. "I'll see about giving it a try, soon. But right now, I'm in the mood for snuggles."

"Alright," Naruto chuckled and brought her into a one-armed hug. "The Boss will be coming back soon. The Organization is done for now."

"I take it that's what the massive yoki spike was?" She was only asking to confirm, as it seemed unlikely for that not to be the case.

"Yup," Naruto nodded. "Kurama and Isobu both used Bijuudama to flatten Staff, soon after the Boss extracted all the trainees and warriors."

"So we're going to have even more guests, then?"

Naruto glanced at Roxanne from the corner of his eyes, "Yep. Why? Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. I don't. Just make sure you make enough time for us."

Naruto chuckled and drew a yelp and giggle from the blonde as he pulled Roxanne into a one-armed hug. Then, he made her knees buckle on the spot with a heated, loving kiss. "I'll make all the time you need~!"

Now thoroughly flustered and dripping wet, the once-homicidal blonde looked at her man longingly and pulled him into a smoldering liplock of her own. With each passing second she deepened the kiss and pressed herself up to his chest, slipping her tongue into his mouth, only withdrawing when she needed to breathe.

----

Nearly an hour later, Naruto let loose a grunt of exertion as he emptied his balls one last time into the freshly-deflowered cootch of a short-haired Abyss Feeder. The contracting inner walls practically sucked the seed right out of him, drawing it into her womb so that his little soldiers could swim forth in search of her ovum. As Naruto pulled out, the woman in question plopped down onto her side and panted heavily in exhaustion. That was the last of them. Naruto couldn't help but feel a perverse satisfaction at the sight of his seed dripping out of every last cunt in the area. Standing back up with a grunt and no small amount of effort, he fetched his clothes and produced a clone to bring keep them company and bring these women back to Morris, once he was done. With all that out of the way, the original flickered off and rejoined the rest of the group.

Miria raised an eyebrow at her man when he reappeared in the center of the camp. Everyone looked about ready to get going. Scarlet was also looking rather proud of herself, having clearly did one hell of a job in managing everything.

"I'm impressed," Naruto chuckled. Pulling the sandy brunette into a one-armed hug. "I didn't expect everything to be packed up when I got here."

"The redhead was very helpful," Miria grudgingly admitted. "She's one hell of a manager, I'll give her that." She then looked to her husband and asked, " so what happened to those 'Abyss Feeders'?"

"Got a clone keeping an eye on them and getting them cleaned up," Naruto replied. "He'll bring them back to Morris when they're ready."

"If they cause trouble…" she gave him a warning look, and silently conveyed what he had to do if they showed any indication they were going to harm anyone.

"...I know, honey. I know." he wasn't going to risk his lovers or kids around them if they decided to go and start killing for no reason. So far they listened to him, but would they listen to the others? "I'll see if I can convince Ino to check on their mental states and give me a good idea of what to expect with them. Maybe we can treat them over time, but it's hard to say."

"Sometimes, you're too kind hearted for your own good," Miria sighed, before pulling her man into a hug. "But, I wouldn't have you any other way."

"It's one of my best assets~!" he teased and reached down to grab her ass. "And I know you love my brand of kindness."

"Oh, get a room, you two," Shikamaru groaned as he approached.

"How's Temari?" Naruto asked, not taking his eyes off his wife.

"Troublesome," the lazy Nara muttered. "She's constantly nagging me to get up and do things."

"Well, my certain way of 'doing things' happen to be me doing my wives." he said, finally taking his eyes off of Miria for a brief moment to give his lazy friend an amused look. "You should try it with Temari, sometime. It's totally worth it, and it seemed like she needed the attention, last time I saw her."

"Ugh… don't remind me. Gaara is very protective of her after that fiasco. We haven't been together ever since that incident."

"Officially?"

"Yes. Officially. Relations with the other Hidden Villages plumited. We still meet up from time to time, though." Shikamaru gave Naruto a look and said, "the last time was a few days ago, and she told me that if we met up again, I should tell you that Anko's been worried sick about you… and that someone in Suna's been missing you."

Miria gave her husband a flat look, "Let me guess: Maki, right?"

Blinking Naruto and Shikamaru looked at her. "How'd you know?" the latter asked.

"It was implied, but not stated, in Naruto's autobiography that he fucked her an undetermined amount of timer after the Suna Incident." Miria pointed out, pointedly avoiding the mention of Naruto admitting he'd been with 41 women in the Elemental Nations. "But make no mistake," she got a gruff moan out of Naruto when she reached down to cup his groin enticingly, "this is mine."

"I know, I know," he chuckled and leaned down to kiss her lovingly. She mewled into his mouth and kissed him back. After a moment had passed and a disgruntled groan from Shikamaru, Naruto withdrew from his wife's lips with a content sigh. "We should get back to Morris now. And get you all ready to go back to Konoha." he said looking to Shikamaru with a smile.

The lazy Jounin smiled back and nodded. "Everyone's ready to get going now." Then, he threw a thumb over his shoulder, to Rubel who was still on his knees with his hands bound behind his back. After that display of power that utterly annihilated the Organization, the black clad man was looking at Naruto with a mysterious smile. "So, what do we do with him?"

"Have Ino interrogate him when we're back in Morris," Naruto said. "After that… well, it depends on what we find in that slimy head of his." The guy's attitude, even after he, Kurama and Isobu wiped Staff off the face of the Earth, was too damn suspicious for anyone's liking.

"Roger that," said blonde chirped, giving Naruto a playful salute.

"Alright everyone, let's get back to Morris." Naruto called out, "Grab hold of each other and me, and we'll be there in the blink of an eye." After that everyone instructed the newbies to grab hold of them, while they in turn took hold of Naruto and those who were also holding on to him. Ava and Eva were holding hands with Alicia and Beth. The successors and precursors were getting on rather well. Once everyone was holding hands, and in Rubel's case holding him by the shoulder, Naruto teleported everyone to the citadel's bailey. It was the ideal location because it was wide and overall, spacious.

Several of the young women they'd rescued nearly jumped out of their skin, having not expected such a sudden transition. They blinked owlishly and looked around in curiosity, much to Naruto's amusement, as everyone started spreading out.

"Welcome to Morris everyone!" Naruto said with great enthusiasm. "The citadel has plenty of accommodations for all of you. You will find the rest of Miria's faction in there and around town."

Several of the girls marveled at this castle's sheer size, while others wandered about curiously and the rest ventured off either towards the bailey or the town. Naruto chuckled and created a few clones to keep an eye on the new arrivals - the kids, especially. Then, he turned to a particular blonde, knowing that her skill set would come in handy for a few tasks he had. "Ino, you mind coming with me? I have a favour to ask… Specifically involving our… least willing guest."

The Yamanaka nodded in understanding, "Alright. Where do we bring him, then?"

"We have a prison nearby. We'll put him in there." he beckoned her to follow him, but not before getting Rubel on his feet and dragging him along.

"There's no need for shoving, my boy." Rubel chuckled.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're an enemy. I don't know why you're happy to see the Organization destroyed, but we'll find out soon enough."

"Because I wanted to see them ended for my own reasons, of course," Rubel clarified with a playful grin.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him. The man wasn't lying. And Miria did mention a war on the 'Mainland'... the gears began to turn in his head. If he wanted to see them ended, then, does that mean he is with the enemy of the Organization? What were they called again…? 'Dragonkin'?

"You're on their side, aren't you?" He said with narrowed eyes. "The side of those creatures called 'Dragonkin' on the mainland."

"Indeed I am," he stated.

Naruto frowned and said, "then, we're going to be having ourselves a nice, long conversation." Looking over his shoulder to see Miria furrowing her brow in concern, he said, "You mind coming with, Miria?"

"Not at all."

Then, there was a golden flash as a second Naruto appeared with the Abyss Feeders in tow.

"Ah, just in time," the original chuckled, calling out to them. "Over here, girls!" The nine of them perked up and scurried on over to his side with nary a hint of hesitation.

"Oh, dear," Rubel sighed. This 'conversation' was not bound to be a pleasant one… To make matters worse, Priscilla decided to tag along of her own volition.

----

The prison was not far away, sitting at the very base of the hill that the citadel was on top of and tucked away in a little corner of the mountain range- just close enough to the town for proper use, but just far enough away and close enough to the castle that any inmates would be of no significant threat to the villagers in the event of a breakout. This was where Naruto, Miria and Ino took Rubel and put him into his own cell. He had his wrists unbound now that he was no longer a threat to them.

"I want some answers from you. And if you're lying to me, I will know. And if you refuse to answer… we have our ways of getting information out of people that are too stubborn for their own good." Naruto said to Rubel from outside of his cell. Miria and Ino were beside him, though the latter was giving him a look of narrow eyed intrigue while Miria was glaring at the man with suspicion. The Abyss Feeders shuffled about behind them, sniffing at the man and licking their lips hungrily. Finally, Priscilla was lounging in a corner with her arms crossed, but prepared to murder the man if he pissed her off.

Needless to say, Rubel was in quite the precarious position. "Very well, then," the bald man said. "What do you want to know?"

Naruto crossed his arms, "You're working for the Dragonkin. How long had you been infiltrating the Organization for?"

"Just shy of two decades." Rubel shrugged. He would have been happy to answer that one without any fuss, as he saw no harm in giving away that information in particular.

"What was your mission?" Miria asked him with a frown of contempt.

"Sabotage and information gathering. The Organization wasn't as secretive as they thought themselves to be. I was to gather as much information as possible and sabotage in their attempts at creating this 'perfect soldier' of theirs."

"The perfect soldier, huh. I'm going to guess it would be these 'controllable awakened beings'? The Soul Link experiment?" Naruto asked for clarification.

"Among other projects they had in the works," Rubel confirmed with a nod. "The Abyss Feeders were another such project, as was a method of resurrection like with the Crimson Guard. They had no less than a dozen more that were never gotten around to, thanks to your efforts."

"The Abyss Feeders?" Naruto looked back at them, then back to Rubel, "How many more of them were going to be made?"

"They were planning on creating and maintaining a team of eleven, but had to stop at nine, due to their limited resources," he replied. "The ones you've tamed were just prototypes; a test run, if you will."

The long-haired one that had been so grabby with Naruto several hours ago snarled viciously at Rubel upon hearing that.

"Needless to say, they still retain some humanity," the bald man stated. "Though I doubt their minds will ever fully recover from what Dae did to them, I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually did."

"They were grafted with the flesh and blood of awakened beings, had their eyes destroyed and their mouths and eyelids sewn shut." Naruto said with a disgusted scowl, "I've seen some pretty sick shit, but the things the Organization's done trumps quite a few of them. Brainwashing, propaganda, kidnapping orphans and turning them into youmas, just to name a few of the atrocities they've committed."

"I'd be glad to help them out," Ino said, looking at one by her ankles with an empathetic frown. "I can also bring over a professional healer with more experience if the situation calls for it."

Naruto gave her a thankful smile and nod at that.

"And there's the fact you people had my father turned into a youma!" Priscilla added with a nasty glare.

"To be fair, the Organization didn't actively make the villagers of your hometown lock your family up like that," Rubel pointed out, "that would have been bad for business."

"Nearly every bad thing that happened on this 'Testing Ground' can be traced back to the Organization. The youma, the awakened beings…" Miria said with a deep frown. "And there's the experimentation you bastards performed on us."

"Indeed, it can." Rubel nodded. "Though, for the record, I only had a hand in trying to get Konoha involved in this little power struggle. It simply wouldn't do, after all, if you were to get involved with the actual war and complicate matters for my faction. So, I tried to get them to convince you and your faction to leave."

"Naruto has the power to shatter this entire continent by himself. It wouldn't 'be' a complication for your faction, it would be a slaughter fest." a gleefully maniacal-looking Miria pointed out to him.

"I don't want to toot my own horn… but it's completely true." the blond admitted with a shrug.

"...'Toot my own horn'?" Rubel asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

"It's a figure of speech." Naruto shrugged. "But yeah, if I was to get involved… I would destroy both sides. Just because."

Ino looked at him in surprise. "That's not like you."

Naruto scoffed at that and gave the blonde a stern look. "I may be a nice guy, but even I have limits." he then looked at Rubel and said with a dark look on his face, "Clare told me this fucker sent her to fight against a male awakened being with Miria, Helen and Deneve, and they all nearly died. Then, he sent Clare to work with Ophelia, who is like Gaara and Anko combined, and she almost died, again. Then the fucker had the nerve to send both Clare and Jean to the North on a suicide mission!" He took a deep breath as his temper began to get the better of him. He ruffled one Feeder's hair when she tried nuzzling up to him comfortingly. "I'm an easy going guy, but hurting my loved ones is a certain way to get onto my shit list!"

Seeing his mounting frustration Miria and Priscilla also both comforted him to the best of their ability. Naruto smiled and pulled them both into one-armed hugs.

"In my defense, I was simply following orders as her Handler," Robel explained with an uncaring shrug.

"That's not helping your case," Naruto growled at him.

"In my position, what could?"

"How about not sending them to their deaths? Or, gee, I dunno, maybe treat them more than tools to be used and discarded whenever it suits you?" he said with a heavy amount of sarcasm. Now, several Feeders were actively trying to comfort him, rubbing their faces against their alpha much like cats wanting attention.

"A little late for that, wouldn't you say?" Rubel asked rhetorically. "Again, I was simply doing my job and I couldn't compromise my mission by getting attached, now could I?"

Suddenly Naruto blinked and tilt his head; he furrowed his brow and slowly nodded. Then, suddenly, his eyes went from blue to crimson. "You're lucky I'm sealed inside of Naruto right now." Kurama gruffly said. He gave Rubel a narrow-eyed glare, "If I was out, I would have gone and murdered your entire people. And I would have taken a lot of pleasure doing so."

"Indeed, I am lucky, then," Rubel replied, his smile wavering slightly. "Are there any more questions you have for me?"

"If we let him go then his lackies will come here." Priscilla pointed out.

"They'll come here if he tells them what's been going on," he corrected with a smile. "But Rubel is smart enough not to tell. Right?" he said giving the bald man a firm glare at the last part.

"I'd rather not take a chance," the Awakened brunette stated. "If you let him go, I'm liable to eat him, myself, just to be sure."

"Much as I would rather not advocate for such an… unseemly way to deal with this problem," Miria added, "I agree with her. Rubel is not to be trusted."

"Oh, I totally agree with you two." Naruto agreed, but he raised a finger to add, "But think of it this way: if he tells there are survivors here, and they invade to get rid of you, then not only would his people have to contend me, they would have to fight all nine Tailed Beasts, the Shinobi Union, and the Uzumaki Clan, too. That's tens of thousands of people who can do the same stuff as I can, plus nine titan-sized, natural disasters. All nine who are capable of manipulating the elements themselves. Cruel as it sounds, if they're seriously dumb enough to provoke all of that, then we should let natural selection take its course. It's only a matter of time before they learn about us, anyways."

"Naruto has a point," Ino concurred, "Everyone in the Elemental Nations knows of the remade Uzumaki Clan, now. If anyone is dumb enough to attack you, then the Shinobi Union - plus Konoha - would jump to your defense and snuff them out to the last man. Hell, some would even go so far as to eradicate their society, entirely. Iwa certainly would."

"Again, as cruel as it sounds, if they're dumb enough to pick a fight they don't have a chance in hell of winning, then natural selection should take its course." Naruto concluded with a nonchalant shrug. He didn't like idea of war, or wiping out an entire society, but he will let it happen if that was how far he had to go to protect his family.

"Get some of those ninja stationed here and I'll consider it," Priscilla grunted.

"It would be wise not to rest on our laurels," Miria pointed out. "Until you popped up, Priscilla was the strongest being on this continent. If given enough time, even she would have fallen to the Organization with those experiments they'd been up to." She then gave one of the Feeders a disapproving look. "The woman currently nuzzling your crotch is a testament to that."

Naruto had to give her that one. "Yeah. I can agree with you on that one. They may not be able to use yoki, but they can sense it. If it wasn't for my… uh… Six Paths Sage Mode, this one would have bit my head clean off." He ruffled the Feeder's hair, noting that she was the long-haired, grabby one. "I think I'll call you Gaki, until we find out your actual name… if possible," he added playfully.

Gaki giggled at that, liking the nickname, even though she didn't know what it meant. The amused smirk on Ino's face told the other three people in the room that she knew what it meant. But she didn't say anything.

"Anyway…" an unamused Miria trailed off, "It's also worth noting that he has valuable information on our abilities and locations. If his people do decide to pick a fight with us, they could use that."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Naruto with a mysterious smile, "There are some things that even you don't know about my mother's side of the family. And as for the information and locations? Well that's why we have Ino, here. She'll wipe them from his head."

"What do you mean there's some things I don't know about your mother's family?" Miria asked him with an odd look.

Smiling Naruto leaned in, covered the side of his mouth so Rubel wouldn't be able to see what he's saying, and whispered, "My Mother's side of the family, the original Uzumaki Clan, has masks that can summon gods and goddesses to the physical plane. I just need to convince someone to hand them over."

Miria's eyes lit up at that, "That… is… quite something." To say she was stunned to learn about that was an understatement. "Why didn't you use them in our campaign?"

"They weren't necessary, and would have required me to actually seek out someone who would have taken years to find on my own," Naruto pointed out. "Gaara and old man Ei have been trying to find them for me for a while now. Once we're done here, I'll be helping out with that, myself." Naruto then turned to Priscilla and smiled. "I'll see about hiring someone from the Elemental Nations to help keep an eye on things here while I'm reclaiming and restoring Uzushio. I can afford quite a bit, so don't worry about that."

Priscilla crossed her arms and huffed. "We'll see…"

Naruto reached over and pulled her into a one-arm hug, as best he can with the Abyss Feeders around him. "Anyway, Ino, get inside his head and get any information about these Dragonkin and their faction. If they do attack this continent then I want to know their strengths, weaknesses, their numbers, everything."

"Got it," Ino gave the man in front of her a flat smile. "Any info floating around in that noggin of his, is as good as ours."

Naruto nodded and gestured for her to get started. Nodding back the blonde made a unique hand seal that neither Miria or Priscilla had seen before, and said, "Shintenshin no Jutsu."