FicWad

When Clare and Yuma came back to the hideout two to three hours later, they were bewildered and in the case of the former, bemused, to see the rest of their friends lying face down on the ground; some had their asses raised as if they had tried to sit up, but gave up halfway there. And in the middle of them, looking nonchalant about everything, sat Naruto looking like he had barely drawn a sweat.

“What happened here?” A bewildered Yuma asked.

“...Naruto’s a slave driver…” Cynthia groaned.

Clare slowly nodded and she took in everyone's current state. “I see. Someone, possibly Helen, had irritated him.” She said, sounding as if a great revelation had been unfolded.

Said woman lifted her head to give Clare a weak glare. “Oi! What makes you think I had something to do with this?!” She demanded.

“Because it’s you,” Clare replied without changing her tone. The former Number 22 didn't say anything; actions spoke louder than words, and Helen put lowered her face to the ground again without a word. Clare nodded to herself with a feeling of victory welling up inside her.

Chuckling Naruto went and helped everyone sit up one by one, with Clare and Yuma going to help. Once everyone was upright and sitting down, Naruto turned his attention to Clare and Yuma.

“Any luck?” He asked them, but mostly Clare.

“I want to go South, past Pieta,” Clare said, blunt and straight to the point. What she told them had surprised everyone, even if they hid it well.

Only Helen was vocal enough to voice her incredulousness at the request. “What?! Go South past Pieta?! Are you crazy?! You wanna make yourself a target of the Organization?!” She demanded hotly, with a very annoyed look on her pretty face.

“Raki doesn’t know I’m here in the North.” Clare pointed out to her and reminding everyone else that neither of them except for Naruto, had even set foot outside of Alphonse in Seven Years. “Not only that… he must think I don’t even know he passed through this region. I can’t believe that Raki could’ve stayed up in the North for the past seven years. If he’s alive, then he must be in the South.” She added while also bringing up her well thought out reasons.

“Huh? Again with that crap?!” Helen hissed.

“You’ve been searching for that kid for the past Seven Years and no clues of him being here in the North have turned up.” Eva calmly told the former Number 47 with a sigh and a shake of her head.

“Naruto is still keeping his promise to you and even his searches have ended up with dead ends,” Flora told her friend in an attempt to let her down as gently as possible.

“Clare…” Deneve sighed with reluctance, “Sorry, but at this point, I have to say… I’m afraid that boy must be…”

Miria stopped Deneve from finishing her sentence by holding out her hand. “It is true that because we took more aura-suppressing pills after the battle and left Pieta, we had no way of knowing whether anyone that passed through Pieta, were human or Youma. It’s even possible that Naruto may have misread the auras of everything living during that day. But even so, the chances are very slim. I want to hear the reasons why you believe in something with almost zero probability.”

Everyone was quiet and looked at Clare with expectancy. Naruto, however, was looking at the ground in deep contemplation; he was missing something. It was gnawing at him, but for the life of him, he had no idea why that was. It was something about that day… when he was sensing those Awakened Beings in Sage Mode…

“I found evidence that Raki was in a village in the North. In a dungeon.” Clare revealed, surprising everyone even Naruto who halted his contemplation for a moment to listen. “His cell was the only one still locked. Either his keepers couldn’t find the key, or he was left to rot. Anyway, Raki carved out a hole in the wall. If he was by himself, there’s no way he could have done it in a day or two. But that was actually lucky. During the Awakened Ones’ attack, anyone outside would have been devoured.” She paused to gather her thoughts and everyone kept their silence, even during this pause, in order to take in Clare’s words. “When Raki emerged from the dungeon and saw how the town had been destroyed, it would’ve seemed like a hopeless scenario. However, the human food would have been untouched and if he gathered some gear together, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to survive. After that, companions… a horse… if he managed to get both...” She trailed off.

Miria closed her eyes and rested her hands near her chin. Then with a sigh, she opened her eyes and said, “An unconvincing theory… What a foolish idea.” She stated, drawing a blink and a blank stare from Clare.

“Actually…” Naruto started, drawing all eyes on him. His contemplation on what he sensed seven years ago having been all but forgotten. “While it may be an ‘unconvincing theory’ and a ‘foolish idea’ in your eyes, in my line of work that would be a lead. Granted, it’s a lead that’s been cold for seven years, but it’s a start.”

“Oh? And what would you do?” Miria asked; she was legitimately curious as to what he would do in this situation.

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. It was time for his tactical mind to shine. “I would take this opportunity to find out what the hell happened to the Awakened Ones that were part of Isley’s army. There’s no way they had gone unnoticed, and you cannot deny the Awakened Ones having banded together would have had consequences.”

“Haven’t you befriended an Awakened One? What was her name… Elda? Can’t you just ask her?” Jean asked; if she had an eyebrow, it would have been raised by now.

“...Elda would have me fuck her first before answering any questions I have.” Naruto flatly reminded the eyebrowless woman.

It certainly helped the woman was pretty to look at, but there was a ravenous hunger in her eyes whenever she looked at him. While it did get him rather… excited, when she gave him those ‘fuck me’ bedroom eyes the woman was more inclined to give him the answer to his questions if he gave her what she wanted. In her case, it just so happened to be fucking her stupid. And that arrangement started when she came to gauge his threat level against her fellow Awakened Ones sometime after the Battle of Pieta. It ended up with her going into her Awakened transformation... Him on top of her… and his dick thrusting into her snake cootch fast and hard until she was a blubbering mess. Flora had a goddamn field day when she saw that.

“You sure like it whenever that happens~!” Said woman cooed mischievously; Naruto wasn’t going to dignify that with a response because in truth, he did enjoy fucking that snake bitch silly.

“...That aside, there is also no guarantee that she would know.” Deneve said, with Naruto nodded in agreement.

Naruto cleared his throat and picked up where he left off. “Another reason to leave… is because a lot of you have things to do. Isn’t that right, Miria?”

“Eh?” Helen looked at Miria with wide blinking eyes, as were everyone else. “What’s he mean by that?”

Miria apparently heard enough as she stood up and levelled Clare with a firm stare. “Draw your sword, Clare.” She demanded while getting up with her claymore in hand. The sandy-brunette completely ignored the aghast looks being sent her way as Clare obediently grabbed her claymore and followed her out of the cave.

The other women, and man exchanged looks before they quickly donned their cloaks, armour, and grabbed their sword’s before they followed the two women out.

//

By the time the other 16 got outside, Clare and Miria were standing opposite of each other. Neither women were doing anything other than staring at one another. And given they had their swords in their hands, whatever was going through their heads was pretty serious.

“Woah, hey!” Helen cried out. “What the hell’s going on?!” She then turned to her friend and said, “Deneve, don’t just stand there we’ve gotta stop-”

“Just shut up and watch,” the woman interrupted bluntly.

“So, how am I supposed to take this?” Clare asked. “If I go south, you’ll kill me?”

“I really don’t care how you take this,” was Miria’s answer. Cold, biting and blunt; it really got through to the others that she was really serious about this duel. Then, she melted into a blur of motion with one last declaration. “With all of your strength… Come.”

While she was a blur of motion for the others, Naruto was able to keep track of Miria’s movements. Granted, she was fast but he saw and fought people who were faster than her. Not to mention she wasn’t as fast as she was before when she used her Phantom with yoki being used. However… even he will admit that being in this world for a near decade had dulled his reflexes somewhat. There was no grand battle where your opponent can reshaping entire landscapes here with but a single technique. But Naruto will admit Miria can make him go into Sage Mode immediately if she wanted to. Her aura, her yoki, was suppressed to the point he had to focus on finding her. That didn't mean she could fight him on even grounds because let’s be real here when you can reshape entire landscapes, make solid clones, transform yourself and do a bunch of other stuff then scaling would be pretty useless.

The only ones that made him put any ‘effort’ were Rigardo… and even that was a fluke. And Riful… though that admittedly was him without even trying. He didn't even have to go into Sage Mode to fight her, which was surprising in hindsight since he learned from Miria that the Abyssal Ones are The Strongest. The only time he ever did go into Sage Mode was to knock her pretty little ass out. Actually… it’s entirely possible she’s been holding back as well which would be the reason why she lost: she underestimated him. Even when she transformed the Abyssal One of the West had underestimated him. Well, that made getting the fuck out of the Western region as soon as possible a good decision on his part. In all honesty, he was surprised that she didn’t follow him out, though he guessed that the Abyssal One of the West was avoiding Isley at that point in time.

Naruto’s head snapped in the direction of the duel when he heard a crash, his train of thought coming to a screeching halt. Clare was in the middle of hopping out of the way as Miria’s claymore turned the ground she was standing on into rubble. The ground almost shook from the impact.

“A Phantom move!?” Helen cried out in surprise.

“And for real!” Deneve added, sounding just as surprised as her friend was.

Miria didn't let up in her assault and swiped her claymore at Clare with one arm; the sharp edge of Clare’s claymore met her own with a loud CLANG as they clashed. Then Miria’s sword turned before it and the woman herself became a blur of motion again as she moved, going from being in front of Clare to behind her at a moment’s notice and she was already in the motion of striking at her back!

But Clare was already moving, she had turned to face this threat and her claymore met Miria’s once more. Clare hopped back, blocking and parrying Miria’s controlled and precise strikes while the woman pursued her unrelentingly.

“Well, well, well,” a new, feminine voice sounded from behind Naruto… one he recognised as Elda. She couldn’t help but be drawn to the racket Clare and Miria were causing and came to check it out, if only out of curiosity. “What have we here?”

Naruto cleared his throat. “A dispute,” he replied evasively. “Nothing for you to worry about.” While he said that the blond was wondering where the hell she came from. How did she sneak up on them without him knowing?!

“Oh? This looks more than a dispute.” The other women, fortunately, or unfortunately, were completely ignoring the Awakened One that had joined in this little observation. They were too focused on the fighting women to take notice.

Miria had at this point, became three and it was undeterminable just who was the real one. If Naruto hadn’t seen it in action before, he would have thought she somehow cloned herself. One of the Mirias dashed behind Clare and she turned to face her as Miria had her sword brought behind her back… only for that Miria’s leg to fade away. Gritting her teeth Clare looked ahead and blocked the sword of the real Miria that came close to hitting her.

“She’s incredible!” Helen breathed in awe. “Is that…?”

“Yes.” Deneve answered her friend's unasked question, “This is something Miria has spent these past seven years perfecting… a new Phantom move.”

Three Mirias circles around Clare again and the woman was unable to discern who was the real Miria. “Damn!” The blonde cursed, before slashing at one of the Mirias. Her claymore went through the woman like she was a phantom, then she was on the defence once more by the real Miria.

“Without relying on bursts of youma power, and keeping her energy suppressed she’s built up her baseline speed. That’s the new phantom.” Deneve explained to her friend and the other women. “Even though it lacks her previous degree of speed, it provides an advantages in that she can now use much more subtle movements than she had been able to before. And above all… its greatest strength is that can she do it an unlimited number of times.”

Miria’s face was blank, utterly expressionless, but the glint of determination to see if Clare had what it takes was in her eyes. Clare the woman was stubborn and was not giving up, even if Miria had circled around her, and used her mirage to fake her out Clare would bounce back before Miria could land a hit. They were at a stalemate.

“Quite terrifying, I must say,” Elda commented from her position, sitting cross-legged on a ledge just above the cave. “You and your harem are full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“I don’t have a harem!” Naruto automatically said like it was out of sheer reflex. Yeah, the women are good looking… and many of them do want to bed him… but they’re not his harem!

He wasn’t in denial about it; they’re not his harem.

“I think they’d beg to differ,” Elda giggled teasingly, “but if you say so…” Again, the other women were ignoring the fact there was an Awakened One amongst them.

Then Clare was knocked to the ground with a well-placed strike with Miria’s claymore. Falling on her back, Clare was inhaling and exhaling audibly while Miria’s breathing was more controlled. Then Miria lowered her claymore while Clare got back up on her feet and put her claymore back into its holder, there was a look of fierce determination on Clare’s face as the two friends stared each other down.

“Here it comes.” Was all Deneve said.

There was a loud clang as Miria’s sword was seemingly deflected by an unseen force as she came in for another attack. Flora smiled proudly, knowing full well what happened. With several more clangs, the dozens of attacks that followed received the same treatment. Clare was in the middle, while there looked to be six Mirias surrounding the lone woman, all of whom were getting their attacks blocked and deflected.

While everyone else was in awe at the very fast pace action that even Naruto was having trouble keeping track of, only one person was voiced what they were thinking.

“Woah! So cool!” Helen exclaimed with a wide open mouth. “Neither one’s giving up!”

“It’s almost impossible to use the Quick-Sword style with our youma energy sealed away. She’s probably worked harder than any of us these past seven years.” Deneve stated analytically with deeply seeded impressiveness in her voice. “Accelerating her essential sword speed without releasing any youma energy, this style mainly requires concentration and right arm strength.”

“Instead of using the Quick-Sword, she’s responding by using my technique, the Windcutter,” Flora said proudly; she had never felt so satisfied when the lowest ranking claymore in the organization had learned her technique. If she had a gauge Clare’s status, she would be in the Single Digits by now… probably somewhere between Numbers 4 and 6. “I taught her, myself. The girl’s such a good student; she just absorbs everything you teach her like a sponge, I swear.”

Clare pulled out her claymore a slight tinge… and she hopped. The ground below her and Miria gained lacerations before Miria was forced to withdraw. Both Clare and Miria’s feet landed on the ground a small ways away from one another, both of them were breathing heavy.

“There’s one thing I want to ask you.” Miria started, “Is searching for that boy Raki the only reason you want to go South?”

“No,” Clare replied as she straightened herself. “I always meant to go there eventually. Raki is just one reason.”

Miria was silent for a moment as she stared, searchingly. “Then… what are your other reasons?” She asked; the woman was legitably curious.

“I don’t plan to say. There’s just various things left to do in the South. The many souls that are within me… won’t allow me to idle my days here in the North.” Clare was referring to three people she had met, one of whom had died to a certain Awakened One many years ago when she was a little girl. Another whose family had been eaten by said Awakened One. And another, who had been there on that day when she had lost everything all over again and was forced to go into hiding for her failure.

Neither of them knew that, however. Naruto, on the other hand, did have some idea but had nothing to go on.

Miria stared at Clare, unblinkingly, before raising her claymore and putting it away, surprising Clare. “Alright, with that good of an arm, you won’t lose to even the single digit ranks of the Organization.” That admission shocked Clare even as Miria looked to the others, “Sorry to say about this, but as of today, I am resigning as this group’s leader. From now on, you’re all free to go your own way.”

“What?” Helen once more spoke what was on everyone’s mind.

Miria however, was not done. “I’m going South with her… to defeat the enemies of our friends and comrades.” Her words shocked everyone… except for Elda who was kicking her feet back and forth from her place on top of the cave entrance, and looking positively bored doing so. But she held her tongue. “Don’t worry. During the past seven years, each of us has been building our strength. And as long as you stay in the North you won’t be attacked by the Organization, so-”

She was interrupted by the sound of drilling… that was coming from Helen. Thanks to her stretchy limbs, Helen was easily able to replicate Jeans Drillsword… as Naruto offhandedly predicted Seven Years prior. The woman had her left hand on her sword arm. “Hey, hey, Miria. You’re being a little cold aren’t you?” Helen said with a cocky grin, “You aren’t the only one who’s been thinking about taking down our comrades’ enemies.”

“Helen…” Miria was surprised.

Deneve sighed, “She’s right. Otherwise, what was the point of training these last seven years ‘til we puked blood? For just living to hide in the North… it’s a little too much power.”

“Deneve…” Miria was touched.

“Exactly,” Zelda chimed in, drawing the sandy-brunette's attention. “I have a score to settle after seeing so many of my companions fall like that.”

“We all do,” Queenie added with a determined look in her eye. Many of the other women stepped forward with looks of determination on their faces. Neither of them was budging on the matter.

“For Veronica… and our other comrades… I want revenge too.” Cynthia stated.

“My captain is now and always will be Miria. If my captain is going, then I’m going with her.” Tabitha, loyal to the end.

“Queenie… Cynthia… Tabitha…” Miria just looked at them. She was at an utter loss for words.

“Uh… me too, please.” Yuma chimed in politely. “I know I’ll just be a burden. But, I don’t want to end like this either. If it comes down to it, I don’t care if you cast me aside… Please…”

“I’m the same,” Juliana added, stepping up beside Yuma. “You might not find me as much use as the others, but, I want to be useful too.”

“You two need to stop selling yourselves short,” Naruto commented. “As Pervy Sage once told me: it’s often the dead lasts that have the most potential. I mean, just look at Clare! She was weaker than either of you, and now she’s going toe-to-toe with Miria.”

Miria just stared even as everyone took in his words. Then she closed her eyes, and exhaled. “Hm… this coming fight isn’t going to be like the one seven years ago, which was a fight for survival. In a certain sense, it’s a fight I’m ready to sacrifice my life for. And it will probably be much harsher than the one seven years ago. The life we managed to save, with both Naruto and Jiraiya’s help, no one would blame you for choosing to spend it here in the North.”

Queenie was tempted to say, “I would if I was dead!” but she didn't want to seem too much of a bitch. So she kept her mouth shut.

“I even suspect our fallen comrades would wish us to stay alive. Considering all this, will you still not change your minds?” Miria asked them all. No one said anything, and Helen merely chuckled as if to say ‘You do know who you’re talking to...don’t you?’. Miria exhaled and lowered her head. “I see. Everyone’s of the same mind.”

“Just beware of Priscilla,” Elda chimed in. “That girl has some terrifying power at her command. Avoid her if at all possible.”

Helen jumped and she, along with everyone else looked to Elda, “Wah!? How long were you there for?!” She demanded pointing a shaking hand at the Awakened One who was still sitting on top of the hideout entrance.

“Since Miria showed off her new Phantom technique,” Elda answered honestly with a shrug. “I came to check on what was causing all that racket and decided to stick around. Don’t mind me.”

If she wanted to cause them harm, she probably could. Even with Naruto’s help, she’d probably take a few of them down with her, given Elda’s power. Then again, that was her assumption; she had no idea of Naruto’s true capabilities. Either way, she was confident that she was stronger than any of the warriors here were individually by a significant margin.

They’d have to work together to take her out and her awakened form’s mobility would prove to be quite the troublesome advantage were they to come to blows and clearly, all of them knew it they regarded her warily.

The slight stiffening from Clare at the mention of that one’s name had told many a person that this Priscilla person is someone she wants to see dead. They had no idea why though since the blonde was rather tight-lipped about it.

“...Just how dangerous is this Priscilla?” Naruto asked.

“She’s beyond the power of the Abyssal Ones. I saw her once, and I’ll never forget her face. Her yoki aura was massive. It felt bottomless. Even if all three Abyssal Ones were to band together, she would still defeat them, I’m sure.”

That… sent shivers up many a spine present.

As for Naruto... “Sounds just like old times…” He said wistfully.

Elda giggled at that. “Someone’s more powerful than he lets on… and has a mysterious past to boot. You have no idea how attractive that is~!”

“Thanks. I guess?” Naruto had no idea how to react to that other than accepting the compliment.

“So…” Juliana began awkwardly. “What’s the plan, then?”

“Well… I don’t know about you, but Clare said she wants to head South. Miria wants to head South with her. And you all agreed to go with.” Naruto pointed out remindfully. “I think that’s the plan so far. I can keep an eye out for any strange activity though. I was trained by a Spy Master after all, so those skills I got from him will come in handy when it comes to recovering information.”

He can find out what the hell happened in Mucha as well. Isley went South with Priscilla and last he recalled, Mucha was Luciela of the South’s territory. He actually met the woman before… way back before he tag-teamed with Flora. It was around… halfway into his first month of being in this world that he first ran into her. He had no idea who she was at the time but the initial impression he had of the auburn-haired woman was that she was polite and well-spoken.

He sent clones down to Mucha to check up on her, sometime after the Battle of Pieta when no one else was paying attention, because Abyssal One or not, the woman was polite and friendly for the most part. Solitary for sure, but he treated her like a friend and so did she. There was a huge fight that occurred between the Abyssal One of the North and the Abyssal One of the South, a fight that apparently made it feel like there was an earthquake that could be felt East, West and the Centre regions. By the end of it Luciela was MIA and Isley had gone into hiding. Riful and her dumb muscle of a consort were apparently in the area too, as she had wanted to team up with Luciela from the looks of it but arrived too late. The clone stayed the fuck away though since he had a feeling if he showed himself that 14-year-old looking girl would pull a bitch fit and go after him instead. Still, Luciela of the South was still MIA… and he wanted to go check on her and see if she was alright.

“I’d most certainly be willing to help,” Elda chirped. “Can’t have my cute, little fuckbuddy getting himself hurt, after all.”

“Uh...huh…” Naruto had no idea what to say to that. “Well,” he started after clearing his throat, “If you all have everything you need we can head on down South.”

“Well… we do have some food and water in our little hideout.” Flora said as she looked to the cave in question. “It would be a shame if it were to go unused.”

Naruto let out a sigh and made a few clones who quickly jogged into the hideout to get all the food, water and waterskins sealed up. “They’ll catch up. Now that’s taken care of, let’s move… I’m freezing here.”

Miria and Clare didn't need to worry about leaving their cloaks behind, Lucia was considerate enough to bring them with her. No one had noticed the cloaks being in her hands, nor did they notice when the former Number 12 handed them to the women.

As the 19 of them started to head down South, past Pieta Helen threw her arm around Naruto’s shoulders and pointedly leaned against him. “Well, I can keep you nice and warm while we make our way Southwards if you want lover boy~” She cooed, wagging her eyebrows mischievously. To his credit, Naruto kept calm, as he was very used to her antics.

His eye twitched when Flora and Elda were both heard giggling with mischief. Flora was planning something, he knew she was. Eva… he had no idea what was going through that one’s head. Instead of fighting it, Naruto for the first time decided to just go with the flow.

“Sure,” He shrugged, “you can keep me warm if you want. But you have to let me grope you in return.” Of course, he’ll play fire with fire. He’ll get ‘burned’ but sometimes to fight fire, you have to use fire.

“Ooh~!” Helen cooed. “You’ve got yourself a deal~!” Then she grinned and looked to her friend, “Oi! Deneve! You wanna get in on this too?” If she says no, then she’ll ask Jean… and if she says no, then the former Number 22 will just ask the others until she gets a positive answer.

“Eh, why not?” Deneve asked with a nonchalant shrug. Then she strode on up and took Naruto’s other side and put her arm around his waist.

What was Naruto’s response to having two women having their arm around his shoulder and waist? He grabbed Helen’s breast and Deneve’s ass and started kneading and caressing them, moulding the tit and ass flesh like they were made of clay. Both women let out aroused mewls as they leaned against him and pressed against his palm to get more of the pleasant tingles he was giving them.

“Well, well,” Flora giggled. “That’s a pleasant surprise.”

“I blame you entirely,” Naruto commented. “You corrupted me to a point beyond repair.” Not that he was complaining. “We might take a while to head south, just so you ladies know.”

“I certainly don’t mind,” Natalie chirped. Many a woman rolled their eyes at that, I bet you don’t, their eyes seemed to say.

While they chatted amongst each other, their pace didn't slow down in the slightest… at least not until they found a place to rest for a bit along the way Soon, they would be out of the ‘No Man’s Land’ that is Alphonse and in Toulouse, the central region of their current known world.