FicWad

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

Chapter: The Chunin Exams: The Sequel: A Build up to the Event! Part II


Konohamaru was sitting in the Clan Council Chambers while the Hokage was outlining the Village’s preparations for the upcoming Chunin Exams. He had found it somewhat difficult to pay attention for a majority of the meeting as his clan wasn’t really involved nor had any financial interests tied to them. Still, he began to focus in on what was being discussed as he suspected that something more was going on behind the scenes as Tsume Inuzuka, who often looked and acted bored during similar such meets as she often gave off the impression that she only attended because otherwise Tsunade would drag her to them and chain her to the desk was fully attentive while the Hokage expalined the village’s increased security precautions.

Taking in what was being said, he became rather confident that his hunch was on point as he felt the amount of security the Hokage was putting into place was somewhat extreme. He apparently wasn’t alone as Hiashi Hyuuga raised his hand, and upon being acknowledged by the Sanin stated, “Lady Hokage, is there a threat to the village that we have yet to be made aware of? Considering the nature of the portion of the exams that we will be hosting, the amount of security being put into place seems rather excessive. More to the point, the forces that you have placed outside of the village would seem to indicate that you expect some sort of incident that may require you to stop a force fleeing from the village.”

Tsunade frowned before her gaze drifted from Hiashi to his daughter and chosen heir, Hanabi, who was sitting beside her father. Konohamaru suspected that Tsunade’s frown was more to do with the Hyuuga Clan Head calling out the increased security during the meeting, rather than approaching her more subtly over the matter. But, not wanting to appear as if that was her reason, she was directing her focus onto Hanabi, who would be participating in the exams, and so was trying to appear as if her visible displeasure was due to a participant receiving advance information on the nature of the exams. A subtle feint that he imagined Tsunade was going through with since as the Hyuuga were such famed readers of other people’s body language, even had she tried to suppress her feelings in regards to his question, it may have caused him to become all the more inquisitive over the matter.

Still, Konohamaru suspected that if he could draw such a conclusion as to what had prompted Tsunade’s reaction, then it may have occurred to Hiashi as well which was why he was surprised when the Hyuuga took the bait to reply, “There is no need to call attention to my daughter’s presence. I kept my inquire deliberately vague so as not to provide any insight as to the nature of the exams that she will face in Konoha. However, as it has already been stated that the final exam is to be held in Kumogakure, the security measures that you are taking seem rather high for the slightly increased foot traffic which we typically would see when the final exam is not held in Konoha. Generally, outside of the teams themselves, the only other visitors related to the exams are runners for the various gambling houses that report on which teams will not be moving forward.”

Konohamaru was rather surprised to see the Hyuuga call out the Hokage’s nonverbal insinuation, particularly as it would seem to indicate that he was less inclined to believe it had been a feint to cover her reaction to his question. Especially as it would seem to indicate that the reason Hiashi would have reacted in such a manner was due some rumors that had reached Konohamaru’s ears that many Hyuuga were openly questioning his decision of favoring his younger and less seasoned daughter over his first born, and thus could not afford to allow it be thought even among the gathered clan heads that he was giving his chosen heir advanced knowledge on the nature of the tests that she would face.

“Fair enough,” Tsunade conceded before stating, “To answer your question, no there has been no intel from official sources which would indicate that there is some threat readying to strike during the exam.” Directing her attention to a white board that had been wheeled into the chamber, and which contained a map of Land of Fire and which detailed the locations of the various Anbu and Shinobi teams that would be put in place during the exam phase being hosted in Konoha she explained, “Let’s just say that I’m hedging my bets. It is no secret that relations between Konoha and Kumo have worsened since Yugito Ni defected in order to join Akatsuki. Which considering the Raikage’s nasty habit of using peace talks or other official functions to act as cover for his plots, I simply thought it prudent to put some safeguards into place.”

Hiashi was too disciplined to let it show whether or not the Hokage’s words prompted any concerns within him. Although, Konohamaru suspected that as one of the Raikage’s past plots had targeted his eldest daughter, he had to feel some concerns that his decision to let Hanabi participate in the exams could be offering her up on a silver platter. Naturally though, he couldn’t give voice to those concerns, which truly made Konohamaru regret taking the position of clan head as the politics at times really made his skin crawl. Particularly a situation as what he was currently witnessing unfold where a father couldn’t ask the next follow up question for fear it would make him or his daughter look weak, which if word got back to his detractors in the Hyuuga could be used to undermine his position. Feeling some sympathy for the man, he asked what he felt would be a logical follow up, “Um…Lady Tsunade if that is the case, wouldn’t it be better to just cancel the exams. I mean all the security measures in the world are not going to matter if whoever you’re afraid that he may target ends up traveling straight into Kumo.”

“Actually, we believe should a potential target end up making it to the finals, that would be when they are safest from any such plots,” Tsunade replied causing a look of confusion to appear on Konohamaru’s face.

Although, due to the Hyuuga’s table being closer to the front of the room where Tsunade sat, Konohamaru doubted that Hiashi had seen his confusion at the Hokage’s answer, and as such he was surprised when the Hyuuga explained, “If Kumo is indeed plotting to kidnap individuals during the exam, then they will want to act before the final exam. As for starters, the longer the exams go on, the greater the likelihood an individual that they are interested in is eliminated. But, perhaps equally important is that should the kidnappings happen while they are hosting, then the blame will fall squarely on them regardless of their actual guilt or innocence.”

“Considering what happened when they targeted your clan,” Konohamaru countered which caused Hiashi to turn to face him for a moment, “it doesn’t seem like that would be something they care about.”

Hiashi turned back towards the Hokage as he replied, “The events of that night did not unfold as the Raikage would have preferred.” Konohamaru bit his tongue as he had the urge to fire back a retort that he wasn’t an idiot, and considering how the attempt to kidnap Hinata was thwarted it was obvious things hadn’t unfolded like the Raikage wanted. He was glad he did hold back as it would have revealed he that he was perhaps still a bit immature when the Hyuuga without indicating he thought poorly of him explained, “The reason Kumo’s involvement came to light was due to my catching their ambassador in the midst of abducting my daughter. But, the treaty signing that he used as cover had been attended by dignitaries from all across the continent. Had things proceeded as planned, Hinata likely would have been passed to a third party who would have been tasked with smuggling her to Kumo, while the following morning, their ambassador would have carried on as if nothing had happened. Suspicion would still have fallen on him perhaps, but without any proof, chances are he would not have been detained. Less the Raikage threaten to pull out of the peace treaty, a ploy he still used despite us catching his agent red-handed.”

Most of Hiashi’s reply was delivered in a calm detached manner. But, although his last sentence was delivered in much the same tone, there was a slight edge to his words which indicated the Hyuuga had some lingering resentment and anger in regards to the incident. Not a difficult thing for the young Sarutobi to understand considering how he had been forced to sacrifice his brother to maintain a peace with a man who had targeted his daughter.

Konohamaru was unsure how his grandfather could even make such a request of someone, but attributed it to the same type of thinking that many generals needed to employ where they knowingly sacrificed some believing the losses were outweighed by the potential gains. Still, while he understood that by sacrificing Hiashi’s brother a war was adverted, Konohamaru wasn’t entirely convinced it was the proper way to handle it. After all, he imagined that the Raikage had anticipated that his grandfather would want to avoid a war no matter what, and so had given his blessing for the operation believing that he could bluster his fellow Kage into backing down should it fail. Focusing on Tsunade, he considered the possibility that perhaps it wasn’t simply bluster and the Raikage would have gone to war if pressed, especially considering his current actions if uncovered could certainly lead to one as he doubted the current Hokage would be quite as willing to let him off the hook.

His attention recentered on Hiashi as the Hyuuga asked, “Lady Hokage, while you are claiming there are no official sources leading to your taking these precautions. I imagine that you have some thoughts on who may be targeted.”

Tsunade inclined her head before stating, “Yes. I think it is most likely the target would be Naruto Uzumaki.”

Hiashi inclined his head, before replying, “A fair guess. He still likely imagines that the Uzumaki had some hand in the jinchuriki of the two tails defecting to join Akatsuki.”

Tsunade nodded in agreement as she said, “My thoughts exactly.” Directing her attention towards Hanabi, she added, “Still, it is hard to imagine that Kumo has any participants in the exams who would be a match for him, and so could engage with him using them as cover. Therefore, it is best to assume that anyone who has been targeted in the past by one of his plots should proceed with caution.”

“Noted,” Hiashi replied turning his gaze slightly towards his youngest daughter who didn’t appear to be concerned by what was being discussed, but nodded in understanding. Focusing back on the Hokage, he said, “I have no further questions.”

“Okay,” the Hokage stated before asking the room, “Are there any other concerns related to the exams that the council would like to address?”

Chouza Akimichi raised his hand, and Konohamaru quickly began to lose focus again as his concerns were related to the restaurants within his district. As such, he found his thoughts drifting towards his love life, which he attributed to how despite the seriousness of the topic that had just been discussed it had been related to Naruto’s in a sense. As while he had never discussed the matter of the two-tailed jinchuriki’s defection with the blond Uzumaki, as he knew that she was his lover, he had no doubt of Naruto’s involvement in it. Not that Konohamaru truly cared, since she was a grown woman and so he imagined that it had been her desire to defect, and so he had acted to allow her to live as she wished.

But, what was somewhat annoying to him was that even during a formal Council Session, he was being reminded of the fact that Naruto had a bevy of beautiful women all seemingly willing to satisfy his every desire. Particularly as he was currently in a room full of them. Meanwhile, he was in a relationship with a woman that in order to be alone in a room with her, often meant circumnavigating the security of the palace where she lived with her uncle. Which meant that outside of some kissing and some petting over her clothes, he had yet to be truly intimate with her. Konohamaru had for the most part accepted that a relationship with Naho would have its challenges. Which, while sometimes his more suspicious side suggested that the distance he was perceiving growing between them was because Naruto has seen a use for her in his desire to unite the shinobi world, and so had seduced her. He didn’t truly put much stock in those moments of doubt, instead seeing them as just a byproduct of his rivalry with the Uzumaki, and his mind using it to express his own doubts in other fields. After all, Konohamaru knew that as far as rivalries go, theirs was extremely one sided, with the only thing Konohamaru could hold over Naruto’s head being that he was currently a chunin, which he doubted he’d be able to continue to do after the close of the upcoming exams.

Still, while Konohamaru did have a decent record as a shinobi, Naruto’s by comparison was exceptional. Although, when he had complained about the quality of the missions that his team were accepting back in the day, his former sensei Ebisu had informed him the important thing wasn’t the fame that was attained from the missions, only that they were completed in a professional manner. Which, although he accepted the wisdom in his sensei’s words, he imagined that should he ever find himself in a head to head competition for the Hokageship with Naruto, most people would have no idea of his accomplishments while the Uzumaki’s were quite well known to the people of Konoha. All of which, bled into his own self-conscious about how he was so far behind his rival in their chosen field, and so it was simply pointing out there was another place where he couldn’t even compare. Not that Konohamaru had even really wanted to, at least until recently due to his reunion with Kaede.

Being honest with himself, Konohamaru couldn’t say that the feeling to perhaps start up another relationship was due to his childhood crush on her having remained at the same intensity over the years. Instead, he attributed the desire being due to his relationship with Naho having for the most part stalled, while Kaede since her return had quite strongly indicated that she was more than willing to pick up the slack. On more than one occasion, she had extended to him an invitation to visit her at her home. He had declined them, usually with the excuse that with the exams being just around the corner, he was too busy due to his duties as a chunin and as the head of the Sarutobi. Which while true enough, the real reason for his hesitance to take her up on them was because he just didn’t trust himself.

One such reason presented itself in the moment, as he thought he heard Tsunade calling an end to the meeting. So pulling out of his thoughts, he focused on the front of the room and frowned as he noticed that only Hiashi and Chouza seemed to have gotten up from their seats. As soon as the two men left, and seemingly having forgotten about his presence, Tsunade stood from her seat revealing that she was wearing nothing below her waist, along with the man that she had been using as a seat.

She kissed her lover Naruto passionately before pulling back to say, “You bad boy, making your Hokage ride your cock while she’s trying to conduct official business.”

Naruto smirked confidently while stating, “Don’t act like you didn’t love every minute of it, especially considering the mess you left behind.” Grabbing the back of her head, he guided her mouth down towards his lap as he added, “Which you should clean up before we get to what really brought us here today.” Konohamaru watched in surprise as the Hokage wordless dropped to her knees as she performed the task that had been demanded of her. His gaze then focused on Hanabi, who was in the midst of being stripped by the other women present as he asked, “Are you ready to join your sister as my next conquest?”

A naked Hanabi stepped away from the women, and began to approach the desk where the Hokage had been sitting, and was presumably currently on her knees underneath it. The young Hyuuga climbed atop of it like a feline, before spinning around to sit in front of the Uzumaki with her legs spread in a V as she stated, “Yes, please let me feel the same pleasure that you’ve given her.” Then perhaps echoing his own feeling on the matter stated, “I want to know what it’s like.”

Naruto stood from the chair, yet before he could claim the young woman the vision faded as the sounds of several chairs being pushed back alerted him to the fact that the meeting had actually just ended. This time as the Hokage stood, there was no Naruto present, and feeling that the fake Hanabi’s sentiments, at least in wanting to experience the joys of sex had been his own, felt all the more tempted to perhaps spend some alone time with Kaede. Yet, before acting on the desire, he opted to get some advice before committing to any course of action.

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

Ino looked over her shoulder towards her guest as she finished pouring herself an ice tea from a pitcher, “Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?”

Konohamaru shook his head in the negative from where he sat on her couch in her living room, and as she looked away wondered what had caused the young Sarutobi to seek her out after the meeting that they had both just attended. Whatever it was, she could tell he was embarrassed about it, not only because he had asked if they could speak privately. But while they had walked towards her apartment within the Hidden Eddy Inn, there had been several times when he looked as if he would bolt. Figuring she’d know soon enough, she turned to face him and gave him a reassuring smile as she moved to sit in a nearby chair.

She took a sip from her drink giving him a chance to collect his thoughts. But when she put it down, and it appeared that he was no closer to starting, although his cheeks had grown progressively redder, she prompted, “So…” When that failed she just asked, “What is it you wanted to talk about?”

“I…” he began before trailing off, to restart, “Well…”

She found his nervousness rather endearing, but having a later engagement decided to try to get things moving along as she suggested, “Are things okay between you and a certain Noble?”

Konohamaru forgot about his nerves as he looked at her in surprise. A look of melancholy appeared as he said, “I’m not sure to be honest. Lately, her letters have felt different, less…um intimate, I guess. Rather than speaking about us…they seem more of just a rundown her activities.”

Ino nodded, and guessed that maybe his relationship had run into the wall created not only by the distance between them, but their very different stations in life. But, trying to be optimistic she asked. “Are you sure that your own letters don’t come off the same way? I mean it has been a little over two years since the mission where we rescued her, and I can’t imagine it is easy to write letters that feel fresh. I’m sure you are telling her about some of the missions that you’ve been on might feel exciting to you. But, to her they might read similar to how you are taking her describing her duties.”

Konohamaru’s mood seem somewhat uplifted by her statement as it was an angle that he hadn’t really considered. But, he still felt she was leaving something out, which while his doubts had taken the form of her having joined Naruto’s ever expanding harem. Considering his audience, he simply suggested, “I… I’m not sure that is entirely it. To be honest, I’m afraid that she is maybe hiding something… like maybe she’s found someone else.”

Although, she could tell Konohamaru was being serious, she also had a slight suspicion that he might be projecting just a bit as well. “Hmm,” she hummed while eyeing him a little suspiciously, “would she be the only one though?”

Quickly growing defensive he said, “I haven’t cheated on her.”

“No,” Ino said as her inner gossip came to life, “But, that isn’t really a denial that there isn’t someone that you’ve perhaps been tempted to with.”

Konohamaru looked like at first he was going to push back against her claim, but finally with a sigh of acceptance stated, “I can’t really say I haven’t been tempted to. I mean on one hand, I know a guy who is sleeping with half the women in the village including my aunt and former teammate. Hell, give it a few more months, maybe years, and I’m sure every member on the clan council will be banging him.”

Ino giggled as she teasingly said, “Are you trying to hint at a certain desire?”

“What?!” Konohamaru asked confused for a moment, before realization dawned on him which prompted him to quickly say, “Hell no! I just meant that as things stand only three clans are not represented by people sleeping with him, and I’m sure even if Hinata wasn’t chosen as Hiashi’s heir, it would only be a matter of time before her sister joined that list.”

Ino couldn’t exactly refute the young man, particularly as Hinata seemed to want that result herself. “Fair enough,” she replied and guessing at what was perhaps at the heart of his concerns, although in truth she suspected it was another part of his anatomy driving them, “While on the other hand, you find that your experiences with the opposite sex rather…lacking.”

“Try nonexistent,” Konohamaru corrected, “It is kind of hard to rack up experience, when you can’t even be alone without fear of being caught by palace security.”

Ino held back from making a teasing comment that sometimes the thrill of being caught could make for some of the more memorable experiences, but doubted that would help the young Sarutobi so stated dryly, “I suppose that would put a damper on things. Still, you had to suspect this relationship would be an uphill battle. Particularly if you were going to be sneaking around behind the Fire Daimyo’s back.”

Konohamaru nodded, before replying. “I know. But, at first it was because Naho was being punished for the incident at her family’s vacation home. Yet as more time seemed to pass it became harder to come forward, and admit our relationship.” Ino inclined her head in agreement and understanding, particularly since she was in a rather similar set of circumstances, at least in regards to her parents. After all, she could only imagine how her father would react upon learning his little girl was not only in a sexual relationship already, but had been for nearly four years. Not to mention, the whole being in a harem part of it. Which was why at times she entertained thoughts of making a request to take on the title of Naruto’s official girlfriend, but aware that Sakura currently needed it to help along her plans for her mother had yet to come out and state her desire. She frowned though as Konohamaru added, “It has become all the harder as Naho doesn’t think her uncle would permit her to have a relationship with a shinobi. Particularly one as unnoteworthy as me.”

Her frown deepened as she didn’t imagine that Naho would think that of Konohamaru, but admitted that she may have misread the young woman. Or, it may be that she had changed in the two plus years since their paths had crossed. “Come now,” she said trying to raise the young man’s spirits, “You’re hardly unnoteworthy.” Konohamaru looked up to meet her gaze as she paused to give him a reassuring smile, but also to buy herself some time since in truth she couldn’t think of a mission of his that had become the talk of the village. Especially as she had to reject her first instinct which was to mention his being the grandson of the Third Hokage, but finding something she stated, “For starters, you did pass your Chunin Exam on the first time through.”

Konohamaru inclined his head, but still countered, “Yeah, but Ebisu-sensei didn’t let us take it as rookies like you and the other Rookie Nine did.”

Ino tried to wave away the accomplishment by stating, “Trust me, there were times during the exam when I wished Asuma-sensei hadn’t been quite so quick to nominate us.” She could see that it didn’t quite work, so followed up by stating, “Besides, you’ve racked up quite the impressive number of completed missions, many of them with you acting as squad leader.”

Konohamaru allowed himself to look pleased for a moment, but it didn’t last as he said, “Yeah, but nobody talks about them like they are anything special. Meanwhile, Naruto as a genin has saved four Daimyo, a priestess, banished a dem…no two demons, has a bridge named after him and following the Sky Shinobi’s attack on us prevented their leader from resurrecting some giant flying machine that he probably would have pointed right at the village. Moreover, I know some people are pretty down on him for not beating Sasuke when they last faced each other, but considering he single-handedly was able to reenforce the village enough so that we could rally to push Pein out of it, who knows how much stronger that bastard is now.”

Ino smiled at hearing just a few of her lover’s achievements which had indeed made him rather famous both inside and outside the village. Plus, her estimate of Konohamaru raised considerably due to how despite his rivalry with Naruto, he wasn’t jumping on the bandwagon of trying to use his recent loss to Sasuke as a means to cast aspersions against him. She only wished she could say the same about a certain former teammate of hers. Still, she also began to feel a little sorry for Konohamaru as she doubted that when he had been younger he had recognized just how stellar a shinobi he had ended up declaring to be his rival. As such, she could understand why he was finding it difficult to bask in his own achievements, or found them so meager in comparison.

“Don’t forget that you’ve saved a Fire Nation Princess yourself,” Ino stated, upon realizing that it wasn’t among the list of achievements the young man had listed. Almost immediately, it looked like he was going to point out how Naruto had also been a part of that mission, but having anticipated as much quickly stated, “Sure, it was part of a team which Naruto was a part of. But, keep in mind all those missions were accomplished with various shinobi acting as his teammates. Sure, he tends to be the one that many tend to remember, often because he finds himself in the thick of the fighting and tends to be the most passionate. However, Naruto will be the first to tell you that if it wasn’t for those of us supporting him, he wouldn’t be nearly as strong and accomplished as he is.”

“Really,” Konohamaru said sounding a little surprised.

“Yes,” Ino stated, “In fact, you could say that is one of the fundamental reasons that he has sought out so many lovers in the first place.”

“I suppose…,” Konohamaru said, sounding a little dubious as he attributed his own desires to experience the joys of being with a woman towards his rival’s motives as well. Ino couldn’t exactly refute that as a possibility which played a big part, especially in the beginning. Although to be fair, it was her own desire to experience more at his hands which had led her to binding herself to the Uzumaki. She noticed that Konohamaru seemed to be growing nervous again, and understood why as he asked, “Um… why exactly would you agree to sharing him? I mean if you had really considered it a possibility… wouldn’t you and Sakura have been less inclined to fight over Sasuke.”

Ino felt some disgust with herself for her former infatuation with the traitor, but ignored it in favor of stating, “To be honest… it is kind of hard to explain.” A part of her hesitance was that she wasn’t exactly sure about how much Konohamaru knew in regards to the Binding. She smirked as she asked, “Is someone thinking of starting his own harem?”

Konohamaru blushed as he began pointing his fingers together in embarrassment while answering, “I… I don’t know…maybe. I mean besides Naruto…that Kiba Inuzuka guy that hangs around him is seeing a couple of ladies at the same time, and then there is that other Inuzuka…um…”

“Koreshige,” supplied not hiding her distaste for the man.

Konohamaru was a little surprised by the venom that he heard in Ino’s voice, but supposed it was tied to some history which he was unaware of. Deciding of not calling attention to it in favor of continuing his point he said, “I just figured if those guys could do it, then why not me?”

Ino smiled somewhat amused, although tempted to point out how two of his examples were Inuzuka. But she decided to refrain mostly due to her not wanting to dash the young man’s hopes. Besides, she admitted that while outside of her favorite blond Uzumaki, the other two were Inuzuka. However, unlike what was the case with Koreshige, Kiba’s lovers were not a part of his clan. Still, calling on her own experience she cautioned, “Well, to begin with, if you are thinking of starting your own… then you need to be honest with Naho. When Naruto and I first started our relationship, he told me from the very beginning he planned to have multiple lovers. Naho entered into hers with you likely believing she would be your one and only, so if you plan to change the nature of your relationship you owe her a conversation.” Again her estimates of Konohamaru increased as she could see he was taking her words to heart, and so suggested, “Before you proceed, you’re also going to have to consider how she might want to change things as well.”

Konohamaru looked at her confused before asking, “What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s not forget that one of your concerns was that she may have found someone else that she was interested in,” Ino stated before taking a sip of her tea to give her words some time to sink in. She could tell Konohamaru wasn’t quite sure what she was suggesting, and so explained, “What I’m saying is that means she may be willing to allow you to give into the temptation you were feeling to be with someone else, but what if she is going to expect you to allow her the same freedom. Now maybe you’ll get lucky, and it will turn out to be another woman, which maybe you can use as a means to kill two birds with one stone. But, what if it isn’t? Are you comfortable with the idea of sharing her with another man?”

Ino could quickly see that Konohamaru wasn’t, and attributed it to perhaps being due to the fear that as Naho was a niece of the current Land of Fire Daimyo feared the man he might find himself sharing her with could be his rival. But, despite his unease, and not wanting to give up on the idea of starting a harem of his own began to state, “Um… well it would only be fair… I suppose.”

Ino quickly shook her head no as she stated, “You don’t need to be fair. You need to be honest.” Konohamaru looked at her confused so she explained, “Let’s just say that one of Naruto’s lovers when she first was… inducted… wasn’t exactly thrilled to find herself sharing him. Although to be fair, due to the heat of the moment, she didn’t quite understand just how much of a commitment she was making.”

“Although at the very least she was aware that he was already sleeping with his teammate when she first got with him,” a new voice added causing Ino to smile as her later engagement entered her living room earlier then expected.

“Tenten,” Ino said acknowledging her new guest, “You’re early.”

“Yeah,” her fellow Family member replied having arrived at the tail end of Ino’s reply to Konohamaru, “Sorry for just barging in. You’re not usually one to be entertaining guests.”

“That isn’t entirely true,” Ino said amused as she had an idea as to why Tenten would just enter her apartment, “Although, considering who I normally would be, I’m guessing that you heard some voices and thought to get a jump start on tonight’s activities.”

“Maybe,” Tenten said non-committedly as she sat on the opposite end of her couch leaving a cushion between her and Konohamaru. “or, it could be that my ears were burning since you were talking about me.”

Konohamaru’s eyes widened upon realizing the woman Ino had been describing was sitting across the couch from him. Ino seeing his reaction giggled as she stated, “I was trying to be discreet, but now that the cat is out of the bag, would you like to explain why honesty is preferable to fairness?”

“Sure,” Tenten said giving the young man a slight smile, “As Ino was saying, I wasn’t exactly thrilled after my first time with Naruto. Being told that I was now…” Tenten paused as Ino took a quick sip of her tea and began coughing, causing the kunoichi to realize that there were perhaps certain aspects about Naruto’s ability to bind women to him that Konohamaru may not be aware of. After Ino apologized for the interruption, she continued on, “As I was saying, being told that I was now involved with someone who had already worked his way through most of the kunoichi who I’ve gone out on missions with didn’t exactly make me happy camper.”

Although, Konohamaru nodded, the two kunoichi got a small hint that the discretion they were speaking with was warranted as he asked, “So, why stick around then? If you were ticked off there was nothing stopping you from just bolting. Was there?”

Tenten having suspected some sort of inquiry along those lines stated, “Well, there was the fact that we were on a mission, and so found myself bound to him… for the time being.” She noticed a small smirk appear on Ino’s face at her reply, but pressing on said, “So, while I was pissed at both him and Sakura for a while… I still needed to interact with them.”

“Sakura was on the mission!?” Konohamaru said sounding both surprised and a little titillated.

“Yeah,” Tenten said with a nod before adding, “In truth, she was the one who invited me on the mission, which she did with the intention of getting me to… join up with them.” She registered the surprise on Konohamaru’s face upon learning that at times Naruto’s other lovers were selecting and targeting women for him to seduce. But, getting back to the topic at hand she stated, “Anyway, after they explained the truth to me… I was pretty annoyed. So, one of the ways I expressed it was stating that it wasn’t fair that he gets to sleep around, while we are supposed to be satisfied with just him. For a time, Naruto even said that he agreed with me, although even as he said it, you could tell he didn’t like the idea.”

“Sure I could understand his not loving the idea,” Konohamaru said with a nod, “But, I do think it is fair.”

“I suppose that all depends,” Tenten said with a shrug, “Obviously at the time I would have agreed with you. But, now… not so much.” Konohamaru frowned at her response so she explained, “The man I love is extremely selfish.” She felt a smile appear from thinking of her lover, but also from the shock that Konohamaru wore both at her admitting her feelings for the Uzumaki as well as her using a description of him most would think of as negative. Continuing, she said, “I mean most people if they got stabbed in the chest would instantly hate and despise the one who did it. But, it wasn’t until Sasuke began to harm others that Naruto finally gave up on him. He doesn’t give up the bonds he makes easily, which is why he can be extremely possessive in regards to them.” Konohamaru inclined his head, but she could tell he wasn’t exactly sure where she was going so added, “So, now imagine you’re him and you took your bond with me to the next level, but I immediately begin sleeping around telling you that it is only fair because of your circumstances. You might agree with me that it is, because you already have a harem of willing lovers… but you also have this selfish side to yourself that holds the bonds you make as being extremely special. Yet, you don’t listen to that part of you since you are trying to be fair. However, what you’re not being is honest. Which as more time passes might make you begin to resent me, since in order to be fair, you cannot be honest about how you are feeling about my sleeping around.”

Konohamaru thought over what she said for a moment before saying, “So, you’re saying is that Naruto should have said right from the beginning he didn’t want you sleeping with other men.”

“Exactly,” Tenten replied with a quick nod, “Since then, he’s made it clear. But, as I was the first to react in such a manner, for a time he was somewhat torn between being fair, and being honest.”

“And you were just okay with his saying you could only be with him?” Konohamaru asked the question catching her a little off guard.

“Yes,” Tenten said with a nod as a wave of warmth washed over her from the memories she had of him, “In truth, I had only really posed the question to him because I was more annoyed with myself at first. After our mission ended, I quickly came to accept my relationship with him. After all, Tsunade was my idol and I was annoyed since I couldn’t really imagine her submitting to such a relationship. So, you could imagine my shock when I found out that not only was she, but she was more insistent then him that if I was going to be with him, then I needed to be committed to him.”

“Really,” Konohamaru said obviously surprised by the fact that it sounded as if the Hokage had been the one to put her foot down on the manner.

Tenten nodded, allowing a warm smile to appear as she explained, “Out of the three of us, I think Tsunade was simply the most aware that it would lead to resentment should I have begun to sleep around, due to his allowing it out of a sense of fair play.” Turning the focus back to him, she added, “Which is why if you are thinking of following in Naruto’s footsteps, I think you owe it to whoever you were talking about when I first entered, an honest conversation. I imagine that whatever the relationship is currently, it was entered into with the idea the two of you were going to be loyal to one another.”

She was a little surprised by the pushback she received as he asked, “Well what about you and Naruto? It sounds like the issue you had with his sleeping around was because Naruto wasn’t entirely upfront about his other relationships.”

Tenten imagined some of his response was because Konohamaru naturally was intimidated by having such a conversation with his current girlfriend, so didn’t take any offense on her lover’s behalf. But, responded, “True, he didn’t come out and say that he had a harem of willing women waiting back at home for him. But, much as I stated earlier, I already knew he was sleeping with Sakura, and so was already aware of one of his relationships. I just didn’t realize just how much of a commitment he was expecting from me upon his asking me to become his. But, I’m oh so glad I did, as he’s certainly kept the first promise he gave me that day, and I feel well on my way to the second.”

“Which were?” Konohamaru asked noticing a warm flush beginning to color Tenten’s face.

Tenten was somewhat surprised by how warm she felt as she recalled Naruto’s promises to her. It was followed by a contented feeling, and realizing what had happened sent a surprised look towards Ino. The blonde Kunoichi gave her an amused smile, before nodding her head. Tenten felt rather giddy, but remembering that Konohamaru was present, and was probably wondering about her strange behavior answered, “Something I would rather keep private.” She could see Konohamaru was a little disappointed with her answer, so she added with a seductive tinge in her voice, “Let’s just say that the first one involved the activity that Ino mentioned me wanting to get a jump on, and with how well he performs said activity, I’ve never needed to look elsewhere to find contentment.”

Konohamaru’s entire face went beet red, as Tenten finished her sentence with a lick of her lips. Ino fought back a desire to laugh in favor of saying, “I think we get the idea. Anyway, would you please excuse us Konohamaru, we have an appointment that we need to get going for.”

Konohamaru nodded and followed along as Ino led him out of her apartment. Once he stepped outside, she said, “I hope we were able to help some.” He again inclined his head, and was about to turn away but stopped as Ino said, “Let me know how it goes, and maybe next time you can let me know about the other girl as well.

Still a little dazed by the change he saw in the otherwise tomboyish Tenten, he asked, “What other girl?”

Ino gave an amused, as well as understanding smile as she replied, “Why, the young woman that you probably feel is a bit more attainable and is why you are considering changing your relationship with Naho. While, it could just be the amount of time you’ve been seeing her. I imagine what has got you suddenly considering trying to have your cake and eat it too is there is someone a little closer to home who is putting out the right vibes.”

“Yeah, I guess you can say that,” Konohamaru admitted.

Ino gave him a warm smile for his honesty, and said, “I thought so. Just remember, you need to be honest with both of them. If you want to talk more, you know where to find me.”

She then shut her door, and as Konohamaru passed the many doors contained within the Hidden Eddy Inn as he headed out, it was hard not to feel a tinge of jealousy towards Naruto considering how behind all of them was a beautiful woman that if Tenten and Ino were anything to go by were wholly committed towards his rival. Leaving him to wonder if it truly was just the Uzumaki’s personality or if there was some other secret behind his success with the opposite sex. Still, at the very least, he couldn’t deny that the advice that he had received was good. But, on top of that, it appeared as if his rival wasn’t always as sure and confident as he currently was, and so it did give Konohamaru some hope that he too might one day have a love palace of his own someday. After all, when he became Hokage, he was going to need to have a mansion built since the old one had been destroyed and turned into a purely administration building as the current Hokage was likely even now behind one of the doors he was passing.

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

Tenten felt a little nervous as she studied her reflection in the mirror inside her bathroom. The reason behind her nerves was due to the new outfit that she was wearing, which consisted of a high collared white qipao dress, that had red trimmings and a pink flame-like pattern on her left side. A maroon colored obi was wrapped around her stomach, which had special clips in back that would allow her to carry a pair of scrolls into battle. Although naturally, she was not wearing those at the moment. Also missing wear specially cut black scrolls that she had purchased, which she would wear on her arms like bangles. Stepping back to allow her to see more of her new outfit, she wondered if she had gone a bit too far since the hem of her dress reached only to about mid-thigh, and all she was wearing to cover her legs were fishnet stockings. Although, if she was heading out those would be covered up to her knees by the new high-heeled boots that she had also purchased.

She briefly wondered how she had allowed Ino to talk her into trying on the outfit, let alone buying it. But, had to admit that it certainly fulfilled her desire to update her look. Still, she was somewhat surprised that she had gone along the Yamanaka’s suggestion that she should wear something more feminine. Although she had to admit that it hadn’t taken much convincing on Ino, or even the shop owner’s Emi’s part, particularly as after trying on her current dress and finding it to be almost a perfect fit, the Yamanaka, while Emi had gone to the back to get her measuring tools in order to reproduce a few spares, had whispered into her ear, “He’s going to love it.”

Although, Tenten’s nerves were tied to her wondering if that would indeed be the case, thinking of her lover caused them to fade in order to be replaced with a sense of elation as she could now count herself among the ranks of his lovers whose chakra had become orange. After Konohamaru had left, Ino had been able to confirm the feeling that it had by attempting to use the Voice on her. Tenten had been a little surprised that all it had taken to push her from Red into Orange was her reflecting on the promise that Naruto had made her before first claiming her as a lover. Although she guessed that, in conjunction with her recent triumph over her old sensei Gai in Ruin, had at the very least shown that he had kept his word in helping her become the kunoichi that she had always dreamed of, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t quite there yet. She felt her body grow warm, and her pussy dampen as she began to look forward to his once more fulfilling the other part of his vow about satisfying her.

Hearing the knock on her door, she ran her hands down to smooth out her dress before moving to greet her guest. Opening the door with a smile, she greeted her lover with an eager, “Hey there.”

Naruto was about to respond in a similar fashion, however as he was rather surprised by Tenten’s new clothes, simply said, “Wow!”

Pleased with his reaction, she stepped back and gave a twirl as she asked, “Do you like it?”

Naruto stepped into her apartment and closed the door behind him before stating, “I do. I’m also enjoying the new hair style.” Tenten was a little surprised at how pleased she felt from Naruto noticing that she had also updated how she wore her hair, which although still was being worn with the twin buns, she had braided her hair first into two pony tails. She used about half of each resulting pony tail to create the buns, and she connected the two buns using what remained of each which she braided into a pony tail which extended down to about her shoulders. As she finished her spin, Naruto stated, “I’m a little surprised you’d decide on such an outfit for missions.”

“How do you know it isn’t just something I’m wearing for our date tonight?” Tenten asked while not being too surprised to hear the Uzumaki express such an opinion, since she herself had been more than a little hesitant to wear something so revealing while on missions. Although, feeling her lover’s eyes being able to trace over her figure as opposed to her baggier old attire, she was finding that she wished she had made the switch sooner.

Naruto chuckled as he replied, “I noticed during your spin that the obi has a few hooks in it, which I’m guessing are for hooking your scrolls up to it.” Tenten smiled as she nodded to confirm his observation, before taking a moment to appreciate her lover’s choice in attire which consisted of an orange buttoned down shirt and black trousers. Her gaze met his as he asked, “So, have you decided where you want to go tonight.”

Tenten smirked as she backed away while answering, “Yes.” She then sat down in a nearby chair and raised her legs up into the air to show off that beneath her dress she wasn’t wearing any panties. Giving her glistening pussy a rub, she said, “Actually, I was thinking that we should eat in tonight.”

Naruto seeing a wet and succulent meal spread out before him showed that he was in agreement as he quickly moved to kneel before her in order to dive right in. He pulled her hips forward causing her dress to hike up and expose the garter belt she was wearing to hold her stockings up, and based on the shape and cut was also meant to give the impression that she was wearing shorts as opposed to nothing. She moaned as starting from the bottom, he gave her snatch a large lick, which caused her to shiver when his tongue made contact with her clit as he finished. She buried her hands in his hair once his tongue began lapping at her silken petals with increased zeal, causing her to begin moaning loudly since Naruto knew all her weak points. He caused her cries to increase in fervor due to his reaching up to squeeze her tits through her dress, before he then attacked her noticeably erect nipples by squeezing and twisting them. Tenten’s head fell back into her chair, as she began to find it difficult to keep her legs raised, so lowered them to rest on Naruto’s shoulders as he tried to used his tongue to reach deeper inside her. She tried to aid his exploration by using her legs in order to grind and push her hips into his mouth, which further stimulated her as he occasional brushed her clit with his nose. Her body began to grow tense as she felt herself nearing the edge of release, which she hovered near as Naruto sensing it as well began to dial back the intensity in order to prolong his meal. Just as Tenten couldn’t stand it anymore, Naruto focused on her clit which like hitting a relief valve bled all the built up tension as it was converted into pleasure which caused her to cry out in release. Naruto drank down her liquid offering finding it to be both sweet and tangy, and pulled back with a satisfied grin once she sank back into the chair seemingly spent.

Tenten wasn’t idle long though as she quickly sat up in order to kiss her man, and enjoyed the taste of herself which coated his lips. As her tongue began to swirl around his, she busied her hands with unbuttoning his shirt, which once she was done she pushed it free of his body. She then began to stand, which urged Naruto to follow suit in order to maintain contact with her lips. Once both of them were on their feet, they kissed for a few more moments before Tenten stepped back, and gripping Naruto by the front of his pants, began pulling him after her as she led him to her bedroom.

Reaching their destination, Tenten pulled him in front of her where she kissed him hungrily, while she undid the front of his pants. She then pushed him back so that he sat down on the edge of the bed while she knelt before him and quickly pulled his pants free of his legs and feet. She turned away as she slid his pants behind her, and then looked up adoringly once she faced him again. Her gaze soon turned to hunger though as it settled on the pillar of flesh that was sticking up from his groin. Naruto groaned as she wrapped her fingers around it, and began gently stroking his length while she moved in to begin sucking on one of his balls. She soon gave the other the same treatment, before then letting go of his rod so she could run her tongue up along the underside of it until she reached its head. Swallowing his tip, she ran her tongue around it while she resumed her stroking the remainder of his length. Naruto resisted the urge to begin fucking her mouth, and was so rewarded for his restraint as she began sucking on his meatstick while taking more and more of it in. Naruto groaned as her bobbing proceeded further and further down his manhood until her nose pressed into his groin and more than half of his length was buried in her throat. Naruto groaned as he gripped her by the buns of her hair and had to resist cumming directly into her stomach. A feat which grew harder and harder as she began working her mouth up and down his length while staring up at him with watery eyes. He soon relinquished his grip on her though as she began to reverse course, and once he was free of her lips, she rose off of her knees while stroking his saliva covered cock in order to kiss him. Naruto kissed her greedily until she pulled away in order to whisper sultrily into his ear, “I want you in every part of me.”

Naruto grinned wolfishly as she stepped back to bend over at the waist in order swallow his cock once more, while he created several K-clones. Tenten pulled her mouth off of her Uzumaki flavored meatsicle to look back as she felt a pair of hands grabbing her by the hips and cooed appreciatively towards the clone of her lover as it began rubbing the tip of its cock along her drooling snatch. She cried out in pleasure when it pulled her back towards it in order to bury itself inside her, and upon facing forward again she came face to face with Naruto’s kunoichi tamer which he buried down her throat after gripping her by the buns of her hair once more. Skewered between the two, she moaned contently as she was pushed and pulled between the two as they took turns using her to sheath their cocks. But, her hands weren’t kept idle as a pair of clones stepped up along her sides, and grabbing her hands pulled them towards their cocks which she gladly began stroking.

It wasn’t long before Naruto felt the urge to cum, but wishing to prolong his enjoyment gave the clone opposite him a nod. Returning it, the clone pulled out of Tenten’s cunt causing her to moan in loss but it quickly became a muffled groan of pleasure as it buried its pussy slickened cock into her ass. The clone then lifted her up, and off of his dick which had been buried in her throat. The clone carried the gasping kunoichi to the bed which it laid down at the center of, and began grinding her on the rod buried in her backdoor. Tenten fell back and moaned loudly as the clone began ramming its cock into her, while Naruto having recovered some of his composure climbed onto the bed. Squatting over them, he pushed his dick into her dripping went pussy causing Tenten to cry out as she began to climax. Naruto and his clone weathered the storm of her cunt and ass trying to milk them of their essence, while his remaining two clones once more saddled up alongside her.

The clone to her right, knelt by her shoulder which prompted Tenten to turn towards it and begin sucking on its cock as she recovered from her climax. Meanwhile, the clone on her left knelt closer to her chest, and after guiding her hand to its rod once more, undid the clasps at her neck to open up her dress. Due to the obi wrapped around her midsection, it could only peel away the part of the dressing covering her left breast, but Naruto found the sight almost more erotic then if his clone had managed to fully free both of them which prompted him to once more begin stirring up her honeypot. Tenten turned away from the dick she had been sucking to cry out as Naruto began furiously fucking her. But, she quickly resumed her sucking, while she stroked the rod in her left hand at the same pace as the ones current sliding within her.

Tenten wasn’t surprised that she was soon on the verge of climaxing, and desperate to experience it, she locked her feet behind Naruto’s back less he have other plans. She exploded as both he and the clone in her ass, buried themselves as deep as they could within her and began filling her with their warmth. Her climax caused her to see white, which turned almost technicolor as the clone in her mouth began filling it with the cream that she desired. It proved too much for her as she, turned away in order to scream out in absolute ecstasy, alerting many of the women in the other apartments of her release while several strands of spunk began painting her face. The clone in her left hand also contributed to the task although most of its release ended up coating her dress.

A sense of stillness settled over the room as the occupants basked in the afterglow, although it was cut suddenly as the three clones burst into smoke and Tenten fell onto the mattress. She heard Naruto let out a guttural groan as he absorbed the memories and sensations of his copies. She then felt another strand of cum land on her face, and once the smoke cleared saw that it was just one of many as he had added to the mess coating her dress.

Which upon taking in the state of her new clothes caused her still panting lover to raise a hand to the back of his head to state, “Sorry, I think I got a bit carried away there.”

Tenten sat up, and wiping away some of the cum coating her face, stuck the finger into the mouth, and nearly came once more from the taste before responding, “Mmm, don’t be! I’ve got some spares on order, and it definitely fulfilled its intended purpose.” Standing from the bed, she began stripping out of her dress, and smiled that once she was finished, although she had left the garter belt and stockings on, saw his cock standing once more at attention. Giving him a pleased smile, she said, “I’m glad to see it wasn’t just the dress that got you so excited.”

“Why don’t you come over here, and I’ll show you just how excited I am,” Naruto said.

Tenten giggled as Naruto leapt from the bed towards her. She dodged out of the way, and making her way out of the bedroom said, “Hmm, that does sound tempting, but first you’re going to have to catch me.” She smiled as she shut the door behind her just as Naruto was about to make another leap, but turning around and gasped as he appeared in a red flash right in front of her. He easily lifted her up as he pinned her against door, and buried his dick inside of her causing Tenten to moan even as she said, “Cheater.”

Naruto chuckled, before stating, “Be honest, you didn’t really want to get away.”

Tenten didn’t reply with words as she just clung tightly to him and wrapped her legs around her lover once more as he set about to once more fill her with the warmth that she craved.

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

For the last several hours Mebuki had been in an emotionally unbalanced state, which while many who knew her would likely claim that had been the case since losing her husband. Mostly due to her drive to reclaim her shinobi career in order to brutally murder the man that had taken him from her. Yet for Mebuki herself, her desire for revenge was fully and completely natural compared to the conflicting emotions and desires that had plagued her since the night before, and were only being extended due to her current guest. Whom she took a seat next to on her couch after she placed down a plate which contained several leftover desserts from the night before.

Her guest thanked her before picking up a miniature éclair which she bit into before moaning contently as she pulled it away from her lips. A small strand of crème remained connected which stretched as the blond woman wiped at before plunging the finger into her mouth. For a moment, the woman was replaced by her daughter who also had lips which were coated in a noticeably whiter substance. Mebuki closed her eyes, which proved to be a mistake as she was reminded of the fact through her memories that she was sitting on the same couch were just the night before she had witnessed her daughter being intimate with her boyfriend.

She felt her body begin to heat up, which prompted her guest to ask, “Are you feeling alright? Your face is looking a little flush.”

Mebuki opened her eyes, and for a moment she pictured Naruto sitting next to her, but felt this was more understandable considering Naruko’s close similarity in appearance to her daughter’s lover.

“I…I’m fine,” Mebuki said quickly, “I’m still a little shocked that you were the surprise Sakura told me about this morning.”

Naruko smiled as she slouched back into the couch as she crossed her legs before popping the rest of the éclair into her mouth as she replied, “Well, she asked me a while back to pay you a visit. Seeing as you are a fan of my first book, who was I to say no.”

Mebuki gave the young woman an appraising look out of the corner of her eye, and although she found the physical appearance to Naruto to be remarkable, she had to admit the woman almost seemed to be the polar opposite in terms of how she carried herself. Although, she supposed one reason Naruto was so well behaved in her presence, was because he was dating her daughter and so wanted to make a good impression. Still, she didn’t find it too hard to believe that the young woman had also been an apprentice of Jiraiya, especially as she was sitting as if she was in some nightclub. Although, considering the tight orange shorts she was wearing, and red and yellow jacket which left her midriff exposed, Mebuki imagined she would be just at home working in them.

“I’m glad you agreed,” Mebuki stated as she turned to face the blonde, “I really enjoyed your novel, all the more so after…” She trailed off for a moment as she didn’t want to admit how she felt a more meaningful kinship with the Councilwoman after the murder of her own husband, before quickly carrying on by saying, “But, I’m a little sad that you decided to cheapen it with a sequel.”

Naruko looked disappointed by her words, but admitted, “Well, you’re hardly the first to say that. Although, it stings a little more since you’ve actually read it.”

Mebuki looked confused by her words before asking, “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you get the early printing of the sequel already?” Naruko asked tilting her head quizzically, “I sent Sakura some advance copies last week via Courier Shinobi after visiting my printing house in the Land of Demons. I simply assumed she intended to give you one.”

Mebuki frowned, particularly since despite her feelings about the sequel being unnecessary had intended to read it in order to give it a chance. “Sakura didn’t say anything about receiving it.”

Naruko sounding concerned said, “I hope that doesn’t mean word of some advance copies got out, and that fan from Fang is trying to get his hands on them. He’s been writing me almost daily begging for an advanced and signed copy.” Placing her hand on the horned forehead protector she wore, she sighed in annoyance, “They’re probably going to back charge me a hazard fee if that guy hired shinobi to get his hands on it.”

Trying to reassure the young woman, Mebuki said, “Well you did say it was coming from Demon Country, it could just be you somehow got here before it.”

“True,” Naruko said cheering up some, “Considering how often I’m being summoned from one place to another thanks to my sister’s contracts, it does tend to make one forget how vast the world is.”

Mebuki inclined her head, but feeling curious asked, “You said you sent Sakura a copy. I didn’t know she was a fan.”

“I’m not really sure that she is,” Naruko admitted before sitting up and leaning in conspiratorially added, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, so please keep it a secret. But, well she was helping me with my research.”

The young sage ended her sentence with a smile that looked rather lecherous, which prompted Mebuki to ask, “What do you mean?”

“He-he,” the woman giggled before replying, “Well you see, for my first book I based the Councilwoman’s backstory on much of Tsunade’s history. Mostly because of stories my sensei told me about how she had closed off her heart, and so naturally, I based her love interest on the guy who ended up reawakening it.” Mebuki was stunned, since she had heard from Sakura shortly after her being made the Hokage’s apprentice how the female Sannin had credited Naruto as being the one responsible for helping her get over the pain of her lost love ones. Naruko didn’t seem to notice as she carried on, “Admittedly, Sensei made it sound like it was because he reminded her of her brother. But, I thought wouldn’t it be a more interesting story if it was actually her lover who she saw in him. Let me tell you, my editors were huge pain in the asses about the age gap, but in the end I managed to convince them. I think it’s why it played so much better than Sensei’s series with the female audience.”

Although, she already had a good idea, Mebuki couldn’t stop herself from asking, “B…but what kind of research could Sakura help you with.”

There was no doubt about the lecherous grin Naruko favored her with as she said, “Why the sexy kind of course. I am basing the male Protagonist of my series on the man that she’s sleeping with after all.” She grew somewhat reserved as she almost whispered, “Plus, I’ve based the councilwoman’s protégé who is set to appear in my new book on her.”

“What,” Mebuki said shocked as her jaw dropped, “Is she aware that you’re doing so?”

“Yep,” Naruko said with a nod, “As a matter of fact, you can say one of the future plotlines that we’re currently working on was her idea. It isn’t going to appear in the current book, since it needs some time to develop. But, I’m hoping to add it to the next one. After all, the Protégé was mentioned in the previous book as part of the Protagonist’s backstory.”

“She was his crush,” Mebuki stated which as she continued earned a nod from the author, “the one who ended up choosing his rival, and caused him to leave the village despite his dream of being mayor.” She felt a little silly upon finishing her sentence at not seeing the similarities between the Protagonist and Naruto earlier, and despite her initial hang ups about the sequel, she couldn’t deny learning that some of the characters were based on people she knew was piquing her interest. But, also felt some trepidation as she asked with her voice turning to ice, “Does that mean you’ve based this rival character on Sasuke?”

Naruko inclined her head while stating, “Yes, and the Rival will play a role in it. So, I can certainly understand if that bothers you, but keep in mind that I did have that character in mind before the one he was based on fully became a monster. Moreover, it is still fiction after all, your daughter’s with Naruto, whereas in the story the Protege couldn’t get over her shallow infatuation and ended up in a loveless marriage.”

Mebuki nodded, accepting Naruko’s explanation particularly as much like she had stated those details had been revealed in the first book. She felt her body begin to heat up though as she did think of her daughter with her boyfriend, and flashed to a memory of what she had seen just the night before. Pushing past it, she asked, “There isn’t a character based on me, is there?”

Naruko gave her an amused smile, as she asked, “Would you like there to be one?”

“No,” Mebuki replied quickly, although she couldn’t say that was entirely true. “It is just… I’m a little disappointed you decided to continue the story. The love between the Protagonist and Councilwoman seemed so strong, that it just seems a shame to end it. In order to pair him up with someone else.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Naruko said giving an amused smile as Mebuki’s face showed her confusion. “Which is why it isn’t going to end.”

“B…but,” Mebuki began to stammer knowing what the young blonde was proposing, but unsure how to put it into words.

Naruko chuckled, “It’s a bit unorthodox to be sure, but hear me out.” Receiving a nod from the older woman she continued, “Much like you said, I was really pleased with how the pair of the first book came together. Now, in Sensei’s books, the main character was a traveler and so the storylines always kind of followed the same line. He’s come to town, get mixed up in some situation, and seduces some lady.” Pausing for a moment, she studied Mebuki’s face and could see the woman still seemed unsure about how to feel, so she continued, “That setup is fine, if you want to get as close to a reset as possible with each new book. But, I wanted the characters in my story to grow and change. Of course as I was an unpublished author, getting a multibook commitment was out of the questions so I needed to end the romance in the first novel rather than stretch it out. So, when it became a big hit, and they practically begged me to write a sequel. I needed to find a workaround if I wanted to keep the Councilwoman around.”

“But…are you really suggesting that Councilwoman would be okay with sharing him after everything that happened between them?” Mebuki asked, finding the idea hard to swallow. “He became the most important person in her life, how can she just hand him over to someone else? I doubt very many of your readers are going to accept that.”

Naruko shrugged before replying, “That is indeed a possible reaction. But, I think I’ll let the story speak for itself. Besides, my editors were giving me much the same grief about the age difference between them in the first book.”

“I’m sorry,” Mebuki said quickly fearing she ended up insulting the woman, “I’m sure this wasn’t what you anticipated when Sakura asked you to visit.”

Naruko gave a disarming smile, as she replied with a wave, “Don’t worry about it. You are just passionate about the story, and are concerned that I’m taking it in a direction you find will break your emersion.” Standing, the young sage said, “Well I do need to get going as I have another engagement today. But, promise me that you’ll at least give it a read when the novel finally arrives.”

Mebuki nodded as she followed the woman to the door, while stating, “Of course.”

Naruko smiled as she opened the door, but paused as she looked down upon noticing something prompting her to say, “Well, isn’t that just typical.” She bent down and picked up a package that was resting beside the door as she said, “Looks like my package arrived.”

“That’s strange,” Mebuki said as she accepted it from the young woman, “Normally, they would knock and ask for a signature.”

Naruko gave a noncommittal shrug as she stated, “Well, maybe he didn’t want to face you, or more importantly me considering how long it took. I hear they can be quite prideful.” She grew a little flushed as she said, “Um… you might want to let Sakura open that up. There are a few other items in there besides the books which I was hoping she could give me her insights on.” Before, she could respond the blonde quickly switched topics as she said chipperly, “Anyhow, this was fun. We’ll have to do it again, once you’ve had a chance to experience everything the story has to offer yourself.”

“Yes, I’d like that,” Mebuki said with a wave as the young woman began heading towards the sidewalk and joined the other passersby as they headed to their destinations. Closing the door, she took the package into the kitchen and set it on the counter before heading to her Livingroom to tidy up. Once she was finished, she considered listening to Naruko’s advice but found the temptation to know exactly how Naruko intended to expand the relationship from the previous book too tempting to resist. Using a knife to cut the tape, she let out an audible gasp as laying within the box not only were the two copies of the new book, but the majority of the space was taken up by another box containing a giant orange dildo which had a yellow post-it note affixed to it. There was one other item in the package sitting above the two book which were upright with their spines face towards her, but due to how it was sitting, all she could see was the top of its box which had another post it note affixed to it.

Mebuki pulled one of the two books out, while trying to ignore the temptation she felt to inspect the other two items. But, again found it too overpowering, and so pulled the box containing the dildo out, her eyes grew wide as she read the name which called it, “The Hero of the Leaf.” Looking at the picture, she flashed again to the night before where she had seen a similar looking, although flesh colored one after it had just finished satisfying her daughter. Her body began to grow heated, especially as she read the post it note which said, “Sakura, I found this toy in a store, and couldn’t help feeling it was a near match for His tool. Give it a try, and let me know what you think. If it is as close as I seem to think, I’m sure it’ll really help me with my research or whenever I have some writer’s block.”

Mebuki bit her lip, as she felt a temptation to try it out herself. But, put it back in favor of pulling out the other box, and was again shocked as looking at the front, she saw it was a pink rubber butt plug. Reading the note that Naruko had left, she blushed as it said, “I plan to write an anal seem at some point in the next one. So, if you want to be a pal, can you let him fuck that nice little ass of yours? Here’s a little something to help get you on your way. Thanks! Love and kisses, Naruko.”

Mebuki quickly put it back in the box and closed it up, stopping short of retaping it. She picked up her book, and took it back to the Livingroom hoping the story would take a while before it delved into the elements that she feared would ruin it. Yet, if she had hoped its opening chapter would at least calm her down some, she was sadly mistaken as it opened with the Councilwoman and Protagonist having a late night tryst in her office.

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

Lee was walking through the village, and despite having just left the hospital, was quite sure he was sporting a fresh bruise in the middle of his back. Although, considering that the doctor whom he had just visited had been Sakura, he imagined that he had gotten off rather lightly. Especially considering that when she had first entered the room, he had expected her to lay into him about his behavior on the last mission, and perhaps even physically, as due to his slow method of returning to Konoha, not to mention her boyfriend’s ability to Hiraishin, he was under no illusions that she was ignorant of what had transpired between Naruto and him. However, to his great surprise, she had been rather sweet towards him, almost sickeningly so, which had honestly freaked him out more as she had stood behind him, and used chakra to scan for any lingering injuries in order to make sure the healing that he had received a few days prior upon his return had taken. He had feared that she had been simply lulling him into a false sense of ease, so that whatever pain she did decide to inflict would sting all the more. Yet, that didn’t seem to be the case as she stepped back in front of him to announce that it looked like he was fully healed, although Lee had noticed that it appeared the smile she was favoring him with was forced. She had then quickly ushered him out of the exam room stating that she had an errand to run, and had slapped him on the back in a friendly manner while telling him to take it easy. Advice that Lee would love to have followed, if not for the fact that it had felt as if all his organs had been sent flying into his ribcage as he would have hollered out in pain if all the air hadn’t just been knocked out of him. Not that Sakura would have noticed as she had already disappeared down the hall, leaving Lee with the distinct impression that he had gotten a small taste of the anger that she had been suppressing.

Lee suspected that Sakura hadn’t really meant to let her mask slip in such a manner, but had due to the lingering anger that she was contending with, and her errand likely needing to be completed in haste. He suspected the latter contributed due to his having been walking like an old man as a result of the new pain in his back, and so had caught sight of her in the hospital’s lobby despite his having needed to travel a shorter distance. There had been a package tucked under her arm, which it appeared that she was taking to her house, if the direction that she had been traveling as she leapt to the rooftops had been any indication. His new bruise notwithstanding, he suspected the reason Sakura hadn’t provided him with a lengthy hospital stay was because she was trying to put Naruto’s philosophy into action. Which as his back could attest to, was easier said than done.

Still, the pain had faded, which Lee was taking as an inspiration for trying to understand Naruto’s point of view of, not necessarily forgiving those that had wronged him, at the very least not letting it control and dictate his actions. After all, if Sakura’s small slip was any indication, he would likely be a red smear on a wall of the hospital if her anger had been controlling her. Still, while he wouldn’t exactly say that he was completely on board with Naruto’s philosophy, especially in regards to dealing with Sasuke. He felt he was beginning to understand it better, since by allowing his own anger to control him. The actions he had undertaken, not only had ended up angering a woman that he once claimed to have cared for, but had also made the two women that he was currently seeing, furious with him as well. Which while Lee would normally say his three-way relationship was a boon, he was learning it could quickly become quite the opposite, especially when both partners were convinced he was at fault for their anger. Not that he could blame Fuki or Kasumi, since when he had first returned to the village, they had been under the impression that he had sustained his injuries during the mission to Ruin. He had corrected them by informing them that his injuries had actually been sustained after the mission as a result of a match that he had fought against Naruto. However, because of his embarrassment for his behavior, which he had downplayed, he had left them with the impression that Naruto had been the one at fault. His two lovers had been furious at the idea that the Uzumaki had set out to injure him, and as a result had even started planning then and there to stop selling the Hero of Konoha sex toy due to his association with it, which was one of their fastest moving products in the village. Seeing their reaction, Lee had felt a surge of guilt especially as Naruto had stopped him from likely injuring himself far worse by opening the gates. But also from watching them talk about how willing they were to damage their business because of a perceived slight against him. Something which Kasumi had been unwilling to do even for the cult that she had joined, but had recently ended her association with it even after they had offered her the chance to advance within it. However, as it was with the caveat that she needed to sell her interest in the shop that she had built with Fuki and provide the proceeds to them. She had outright refused, so seeing her willing to harm it for his sake, caused him to recall Naruto’s words about strength coming from wanting to protect those precious to you. As a result, he had come clean that it was wholly his own fault, which was when his lovers’ ire had descended upon him.

Still, despite his having taken up residence in the guest bedroom for the time being, he was glad that he had come clean as despite missing their warmth at night. He felt he was putting the alone time to good use as he reflected on his behavior, along with the admissions that Gai had made to Tenten. Which while at first he would admit to feeling rather betrayed by the idea that Gai had been training him in order to reach Neji and shake him of his worldview. He realized that the reason his teacher had used him in his plans was because he had believed in him, and if he had succeeded, it would have gone a long way towards him solidifying his belief in himself. The very definition of killing two birds with one stone and so that feeling of betrayal had changed into a sense of disappointment at himself for failing to live up to Gai’s estimate of him. Granted, Gaara had been an unforeseen obstacle, but Lee now recognized that he had become rather complacent by allowing Naruto’s successes, which at the time he had thought proved the theory that an underdog could achieve great things, to be the same thing as his having done so. But, he recognized now that even though Naruto wasn’t quite the underdog that everyone had started out thinking him to be, his own lack of progress was at the heart of the resentment that he had directed towards the Uzumaki. A lack of progress which Lee had to admit was due to a certain amount of cowardice on his part. He was beginning to believe that his near besting of Gaara, was the equivalent of his nearly grabbing the brass ring he had been struggling to his entire life. After all, as would soon be revealed, Gaara had been leagues stronger than even Neji and although he recognized he hadn’t faced all of his strength, Lee had long accepted that he likely wouldn’t very often face the very best his opponents could dish out. As Gai had long drilled into him that one of the best tools that he had in his arsenal would be his opponent’s disdain as they likely wouldn’t go full out believing it to be a waste of chakra, which in a sense made him extremely dangerous as every fight for him would likely be an uphill battle. This naturally was the strategy that he had meant to implement against Neji, and thus all of the many losses that he had experienced during their spars leading up to the Chunin Exam were only meant to solidify the Hyuuga’s belief that he stood no chance against him. All to give Lee that chance to surprise him, and secure the win for himself.

Thinking about it now, Lee wondered if he would truly have been satisfied with such a victory, or if it would have led him to being even more resentful. Especially as even if he had bested Neji in the Chunin Exams, he imagined that the next time they ended up sparring together, his teammate now being aware of his trump card would be all the more ready to meet the challenge, and likely succeeding. Leaving him with the sinking feeling that he would still be in the same place watching his friends and colleagues piling on success after success, and while he might have a few more to his name, most of those would be upsets where if he ended up facing the same opponent again, he probably wouldn’t succeed a second time. Lee wondered if that was perhaps a question Gai already would have had an answer for, and intended to ask him when his sensei returned from Ruin. He suspected that Gai had already considered the potential problem that his success in the Exams would have created, but as he had failed to meet the objective he had been given, his teacher felt it best not push him further. Or, perhaps grew hesitant due to just how badly he had injured himself opening the Gates against Gaara.

Particularly as from his eavesdropping on his sensei’s conversation with Tenten, he knew now that Gai viewed his continuous opening of the Gates as a crutch. An estimation that Lee had at the time felt was completely unfair considering he had nothing else to fall back on, but he was beginning to think differently on the matter. For a moment he flashbacked to the beginning of his last mission when they had headed to Suna off of Kakashi’s hunch Yuugao was heading there. Remembering his misjudging of Naruto’s character and his being unable to handle his loss to Sasuke so had been making a drunken nuisance of himself, but in actuality, had been training under the strain of increased gravity due to his having damaged his chakra network as a result of his having prevented a kunoichi from blowing herself up. The brief recollection caused Lee to understand the cowardice that his near success against Gaara had instilled in him, which was that he was unwilling to go back to basics. He felt that he now understood that the reason Naruto hadn’t been hampered more by his damaged chakra as he had instead saw it as an opportunity to just start over from the beginning, and build a stronger foundation. Whereas Lee after having recovered from his injuries had picked up at the same spot he had left off. Thus, while Naruto also likely saw the next time he’d face Sasuke as being similar to his approaching the cliff edge of a monstrous ravine with the bronze ring of victory being just out of his reach on the other side, he was planning to get a running start. Whereas Lee was still at the same edge where he had first stumbled, and was leaning forward trying to will the extra few inches into his arm in order to grab it. As such, he supposed that he really shouldn’t be surprised when Naruto inevitably ended up leaping past him while easily grabbing the ring before racing off towards the next challenge that he would face.

Realizing that he needed to adapt a similar philosophy, he smiled as it appeared his feet had reached a similar conclusion far earlier as he found himself standing near the road which lead to the village’s numerous training grounds. He turned away though as a friendly voice called out, “Yo Lee, getting a little training in?”

He gave the approaching Kiba, who was flanked by the two women that he was seeing, a wry grin as he answered, “I cannot say that was my intention, as I was wandering lost in thought. But, it was the conclusion that I just arrived at. Although to be honest,I am not quite sure where to begin though.”

“Would you like to join us?” Kiba asked, “To be honest, we could use the muscle.”

Lee arched an eyebrow for a moment as he considered his reply. While he did so, he took a moment to study the Inuzuka who had deviated from what he normal wore as he was missing his jacket and the fishnet shirt he wore underneath in favor of wearing a sleeveless black shirt which hugged his torso. As a result Lee noticed that his arms appeared more muscular then last time they had met which he attributed to the large sword currently strapped to his back, although he noted it currently didn’t have a cutting edge. Seeing someone else who seemed to be in the process of bettering himself, Lee gave him a nod saying, “I will endeavor to be of some aid then.”

Kiba game a wide smile as he slapped him on the back, as he said, “Awesome!” Lee winced as it caused the bruise on his back to flare once more, but not nearly as badly as when he had received it. Joining Kiba’s party, the Inuzuka first officially introduced him to Aeris and Yuffie, before they began walking towards the training field they had reserved. As he walked beside the Inuzuka, he was about to ask about the nature of the training they were about to participate in. But he was beaten to the punch when Kiba suddenly asked, “Are you sure you’re up for this? I heard your last mission got pretty hairy. You shouldn’t rush it if you need more time to rest.”

Lee frowned wondering why Kiba was suddenly questioning his readiness, but realized that he had likely noticed his reaction to his hitting his bruise. Giving a nod, “Yes, in truth before arriving here I had just left the hospital having had my follow-up examination. I received a clean bill of health.”

Kiba looked a little dubious at that, which Lee attributed to how it wouldn’t take very much effort to heal such an minor injury if he had received it before the hospital visit. But, rather then pressing the issue he gave a brief nod, before changing the subject as he asked, “So, how bad was the mission? My mom couldn’t really give an account, but she said from the feeling of his chakra Hayate turned into something pretty nasty.”

Lee gave a short nod, before answering somewhat dejectedly, “Unfortunately, my own account would probably be no more detailed then your mother’s. I only fought him for a few moments before he utterly crushed me. I spent the remainder of the battle in a temple dedicated to one of Ruin’s goddesses called the Earth Mother.”

Kiba placed an understanding hand on his shoulder, and gave it a soft shake before saying, “Don’t be so down on yourself. From my understanding, a pair of Anbu fared no better, and even Naruto only succeeded in holding him in place long enough for some massive jutsu to completely eradicate him.”

Kiba’s words caused some of the lingering resentment he felt towards Naruto to spike for a moment prompting him to ask, “Does it not bother you?” Seeing Kiba was somewhat confused as to what he was alluding to, he clarified, “Speaking in such a manner about Naruto, as if he is incapable of something then it cannot be done.”

Considering how it appeared that the friendship between Kiba and Naruto had grown closer, he expected the Inuzuka would defend him, so was rather surprised by his passionate response of, “Hell yeah it does!” But, he softened the statement by chuckling as he continued, “Why the hell do you think I’ve been training so hard? There are things that I need to protect using my own power. So while I may have to face reality that at the moment Naruto’s probably the strongest shinobi in the village. I’m not going to let him hold that spot forever or at the very least make sure that he feels some competition for it.”

Lee felt a similar drive ignite within him, the moment didn’t last as Aeris wrapped her arms around Kiba from behind as she asked, “Don’t you mean there are people you need to protect?”

Kiba chuckled as he said, “Well if I broke it down by an individualized list, that would be number one starting with you and Yuffie. But, for the sake of time went with the catch all things.”

“Just checking,” Aeris said playfully before kissing him on the cheek as she stepped back.

Yuffie rolled her eyes stating, “Jeez, get a room.”

Aeris smiled as she replied, “Not a bad idea, but then you’ll just stop acting all aloof and try to hog him all to yourself.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Yuffie quickly fired back.

But Aeris ignored the denial as she said wistfully, “Sometimes I wish you could just be honest with your feelings, so you weren’t always so pent-up and trying to express them when we’re all alone together.” Yuffie’s face began growing red with either embarrassment or anger at the teasing, while Kiba tried to keep focused ahead so as to not get pulled into the discussion.

Lee was amused by the unique dynamic between the three, finding it rather different then his own. But, found his own focus changed as they approached one of the final Training Grounds on the path. He felt a surge of excitement as waiting for them was a woman with orange hair, and although she appeared somewhat diminutive, the black cloak with red clouds covering a orange sun identified her as a member of the Akatsuki. “Is she the one that you are meeting,” Lee asked surprised that Kiba would have pull enough to arrange such an encounter, especially considering how each of the women that currently were members were all supposed to be S-Class shinobi.

“No,” Kiba said shaking his head in confusion as he took note that Sage was holding a grey box of some sort by the handle, “But she is her sister. Maybe, she couldn’t make it and asked her to fill in.”

Just then, Sage lifted the grey box up so that she could press a button on top, and then holding it up over her head showed it to be a boombox. A strange but familiar music began playing from it, which Lee had difficulty recalling. It had just dawned on him that it was the type of music played during a boss battles in a popular rpg from several years back when Kiba said, “Oh shit! Incoming!”

Lee looked towards where the Inuzuka’s gaze was focused, and saw a descending black dot in the distance which was rapidly growing bigger the closer it got, and was absolutely massive by the time the giant yellow toad, with a blonde woman who from the brief glimpse that he got, looked a lot like Naruto, while she stood on its head, landed behind the kunoichi holding up the boombox. He quickly lost sight of all three due to the resulting dust cloud that enveloped the area, he assumed it was the blonde woman speaking as the voice seemed to call down to them from above, “Long will you remember this day, for you have the honor of facing the holder of the dual titles of being the last apprentice of the Gallant Jiraiya as well as Sage of Mount Myoboku, Nar…”

“Honestly child,” a new voice interrupted, “Why do you insist on these over the top introductions?”

With much of the dust clearing, Lee could see the woman standing on top of the Toads head whirl to face a miniature Green toad as she said with a note of complaint, “Master Fukasaku, as the last apprentice of Jiraiya-sensei it is my duty to make sure his teachings carry on, and that includes knowing how to make an entrance.” Looking down at the woman still holding the boombox over her head, she called down, “Sage you can turn the music off. The moment’s been ruined.”

She dropped down from the giant toad’s head, and Lee saw what he guessed was a clone still sitting on top of it in a meditative stance. The kunoichi approached them with her arms crossed across her chest, as Yuffie stepped up from between him and Kiba while angrily saying, “Do you have a screw loose in that blonde head of yours? Who shows up to a practice session on a giant toad and nearly flattens the other participants?”

“Someone who can summon giant toads,” Naruko answered with a dismissive shrug causing Yuffie to grow flustered. Yet before she could give voice to more of her complaints, the blonde woman added, “Besides, where is your sense of adventure? Here I am trying to give the match a little atmosphere and all I’m hearing are complaints.”

“I appreciated it,” Kiba said earning him an annoyed glare from Yuffie, which prompted him to add, “But, maybe next time you could clue us in first.”

“It wouldn’t have been as epic an entrance then,” Naruko replied quickly.

“Speaking of being clued in,” Lee interjected, “I am still unsure what the goals of this training are.”

Naruko smiled as she raised her hand up to about ear level and then snapped her fingers. Lee heard a puffing sound which attracted his attention and assumed that the clone that had been on top of the toad’s head dispersed itself due to the cloud of smoke that was dispersing where it had been. Directing his attention back to the blonde woman, he noticed that her blue eyes had turned yellow with toad like pupils at which point Naruko gave him a sinister smile as she said, “To survive.” She then charged towards him and attempted to deliver a punch to his face, but Lee managed to dodge back enough to avoid it. But, immediately felt something was off as the hairs covering his body stood on end similar to the small flickers of chakra he felt when opponents were preparing a jutsu, he leapt back just before what felt like a massive invisible wall was about to slam into him. Which although it still hit him, as he was already moving backwards, all it ended up doing was propelling him away that much faster.

He landed on his feet back by Kiba and the others who had reacted as soon as she had attacked prompting Lee to ask, “What the hell was that?”

Kiba holding his sword in front of him gave a feral grin as he answered, “That was your first taste of Frog Kata, congratulations by the way. The first time we sparred with her, she knocked me completely out with that little trick.”

“Indeed,” the small elder toad on top of the giant one’s head said while stroking his chin, “Even Sage’s Rinnegan is unable to see the aura that is currently coating Naruko, and yet you seemed to have sensed her follow up attack in enough time to avoid the worst of it. Quite impressive… and interesting.”

Lee felt a small boost of pride from the Toad’s compliment, but keeping his focus on the blonde woman who after her sneak attack seemed content to give them a moment, addressed Kiba by saying, “So, the goal seems to be to survive her onslaught. Can I infer that means this technique has a time limit?”

Kiba inclined his head while holding his sword in a defensive manner as he replied, “But, what that is, I have no idea. We haven’t lasted that long, and the goal of her own training is to extend whatever that limit is.” Shifting his sword as he prepared to charge her, he added, “The way it is supposed to work is we try to fend her off, and if we succeed, she’ll lose the eyes as she returns to normal. That will probably be our best window to attack, as she’ll need to create a new clone to store the energy she needs. From there, our goal is to knock her out, or get her to yield before she can reenter her Sage mode.”

“I understand,” Lee said as he prepared to charge forward with Kiba, “So, am I to take it that you and I are to face her head on.”

“Yeah,” Kiba said while inching forward, “Yuffie hangs back to attack from a distance to keep her off balance, and if she tries to create a clone will be responsible for hunting it down. Aeris will act as support and heal us if we get caught flatfooted.” The Inuzuka then charged forward as he carried his sword on his shoulder until he entered leaping distance which was when he jumped forward and lifted the sword over his head. Then as he descended, he brought it down in a massive strike where Naruko stood. However, she easily side stepped the attack, and turned it into a spinning kick. Kiba’s eyes widened as her geta covered foot looked all but certain to connect, but the blow stopped suddenly as Lee seemed to just appear between Naruko and him as he blocked her kick before it fully developed with both of his forearms. He then struck out with a small kick of his own as he targeted the ankle of the leg she was standing on, but Naruko easily leapt over it as she gracefully spun away.

However, as soon as she landed she needed to retreat once more as Kiba leapt forward pulling his blade from the ground as he pulled it after him, and into a massive diagonal slash. Once the blade passed harmlessly in front of her, she was about to press forward to develop some offense of her own. Yet, was immediately put back on the defensive as Lee came from behind the Inuzuka, and leapt past him as Kiba allowed his missed attack to pull him out of the way. Naruko was forced to block as Lee flew at her with a kick which caused her to stumble back from the blow. She half expected the jumpsuit wearing Chunin to follow up his attack, but found that instead Kiba was rotating in front of Lee as he used the momentum of his missed attack to complete his spin in order to strike her with a blow that was twice as strong as before.

Naruko was forced to leap back in order to avoid the attack, which was when she caught a glint of steel out of the corner of her eye, She mentally cursed as she recognized that Yuffie having kept off to the side had waited for such a moment and had tossed the large shuriken that she was wielding. Flashing through handsigns, the pony-tails of her hair seemed to come to life as they grew larger and wrapped around her, causing her to disappear from sight as she became the center of a ball of golden locks. Locks that easily deflected the shuriken upon striking it, as it continued to roll away. Once the danger was passed, the hair began to shift as it retracted allowing Naruko to land on her feet as she came to a stop.

Lee tried to keep the pressure on as he charged to attack her once more, but she rushed forward as well as she slipped past the punch that he had aimed for her face, and struck him in the chest with her palm. Lee’s eyes bulged in pain and surprise as he found himself suddenly flying backwards as if he had taken a punch from Tsunade, and discovered he had been turned into a projectile which smashed into Yuffie as she had moved to recover her shuriken. Both of them tumbled for a few feet, before collapsing in a heap of tangled limbs as Lee was quite sure he had a new handprint on his chest to go along with the one on his back.

He tried to get back up, but couldn’t find the strength as a part of him wanted to just close his eyes and catch up on his sleep. A feeling that he imagined Yuffie shared, as she seemed just as inclined to lay there. However, the darkness of his vision took on a green glow as he felt both the weariness and pain that he had been feeling fade away. Opening his eyes, although he wasn’t surprised to find that Aeris appeared to be the one healing him, he was to find that she was doing so from several feet away. However, he noticed that as she finished casting the jutsu, she appeared to be far more drained then if a medic-nin had performed the technique as she used the staff she carried to hold herself upright, leaving him to suspect that the price for doing so from a distance was the amount of chakra required. Although as he disentangled himself form Yuffie, he realized that the little gift Sakura had left him was also healed so imagined another reason Aeris appeared to be near chakra exhaustion was because the healing jutsu wasn’t targeted to specific injuries either so used far more chakra that way as well.

However, he put such observations on hold as he noticed that Kiba had dropped his sword and was in the midst of attacking Naruko having activated his beast mimicry jutsu having needed to abandon the weapon due to his needing to rely on speed. The Inuzuka swiped at her several times with his elongated nails, which Naruko expertly avoided while she surrendered ground to him. Kiba overextended himself trying for a swipe at Naruko’s midsection, leaving him open to retaliation which she pulled back a fist in order to deliver.

However, Lee knocked Kiba out of the way, having picked up the Inuzuka’s blade, he held it so that the tip was facing towards the ground, and rotated so that the flat of the blade was between the kunoichi and him in order to use it as a shield. Naruko’s blow landed heavily against the blade, which nearly caused him to stumble, before a secondary hit smashed into it which succeeded in pushing him back several feet. Naruko moved to follow up her attack, but after she took a step forward she was knocked off balance as a staff hit her in the side of the face.

Lee looked towards Aeris, who was still holding her arm out having tossed her staff like a javelin. But, a moment later sank to her knees due to her still being near chakra exhaustion.

Naruko shook her head to clear it of the ringing, while Kiba instead of charging forward leapt away from her as he shouted, “Yuffie! Now!”

Yuffie charged towards the Inuzuka who having turned his back to Naruko, linked his hands in front of him down by his stomach, which she used as a foot rest as she leapt towards him. Kiba then propelled her straight up into the air, as she produced a scroll which she opened before tossing it above her causing a large volume of water to become unsealed. Then flashing through several hand signs she shouted, “Water Summoning Jutsu: Leviathan.”

The water took on the shape of a giant winged serpent, that let out a phantom roar before flying right at Naruko who having recovered looked slightly concerned as it descended towards her. Naruko quickly regained her composure as she flashed through a few signs of her own and pulled her head back while her cheeks suddenly bulged, before leaning forward as she spat out a water bullet. The projectile smashed into the jutsu’s head, which exploded the entire thing and left those opposing the Uzumaki dumbfounded. Yuffie so much so that she missed timed her landing causing her to land on her butt as the remains of her jutsu rained down on them.

However, Kiba recovered his senses first and noticed that Naruko’s eyes were now blue, so shouted, “Get it together, Yuffie! This is it!”

“Right,” Yuffie said pushing herself up to her feet as she pulled her shuriken from her back and began running to get an angle on the clone when it attempted to escape like it would in an attempt to gather more natural energy.

Lee noticed that the orange haired woman had pulled out a stopwatch while Naruko created a clone, but acted as a shield for it as she shouted, “Now Gamatatsu!” A sudden blur of motion happened that was too quick for even Lee to follow, but the results were wholly evident as Naruko stood by herself.

He was confused as to what happened, at least until Yuffie pointed towards the giant toad Naruko had arrived on and shouted, “That’s cheating! You can’t have that toad eat it!”

Naruko smiled as she charged forward while replying, “Says who? My goal was only to get the clone to safety. How I went about it was never discussed?”

Yuffie looked like she wanted to protest some more, but Kiba preparing to receive the blonde woman’s charge yelled, “Let it go! We have about five minutes, let’s not squander it.”

Lee took the advise to heart as he charged Naruko, while Yuffie grumbled under her breath but did as well. He reached her just as Naruko managed to slip in past Kiba’s guard, and jammed her knee up into his midsection. As he leaned forward while wrapping his hands over his stomach out of reflex, she spun around to position Kiba between Yuffie and him before kicking his legs out beneath him. Kiba fell forward and ate dirt as Lee leaped over him forcing Naruko to block, and she was knocked back several steps as a result of the blow. Lee rushed forward to keep up the pressure, and managed to lock her up for a moment as Yuffie appeared behind her, and tried to slash her back with her shuriken. But, she missed when Naruko kicked one of Lee’s shins out beneath him driving him to one knee, which she used as a step to launch herself up and over the black haired woman’s attack. She landed behind Yuffie, who reacted swiftly as she landed as well and spun around trying to tag her with the dull shuriken. However Naruko slipped into the arc of her swing and caught her arm, and added to her momentum as she turned her around to toss her at Lee.

Lee sidestepped the airborne kunoichi as he charged Naruko and heard a pair of grunts behind him as Yuffie smashed into Kiba, who had just been in the midst of getting back to his feet. Reaching Naruko as she was straightening up from her throw, he threw a hook with his right hand which she raised her forearm to block. She then almost immediately had to lean her head back as he followed up with an uppercut with his left. Naruko managed to avoid it, as she stepped back out of the swing. Lee winced internally as he missed, since he imagined she would capitalize on it. Yet, he noticed a sudden hesitance as she seemed torn between delivering two attacks simultaneously as at first she looked like she was going to throw a punch, but then committed to a kick to his exposed side. As Naruko seemed to have to fight against her instincts, it allowed Lee enough time to recover, and he managed to lean away from the kick enough to soften the blow, and wrap his arm around her leg trapping it against the side of his body.

He was forced to let go though as almost immediately, he was kicked in the back of the head as Naruko used his own grip to allow her to bring her other leg up to clock him. Lee stumbled for a moment as he was dizzied, and sensing Naruko had leapt right back up to her feet threw a wild punch which she blocked and then locked his arm up, leaving his chest exposed. For a moment, he had a strong sense of Déjà vu, as he was locked up similarly to how Naruto had in Ruin before the male Uzumaki had ended up doing a number on his chest. But, again he got the feeling that Naruko’s reaction was delayed as she had to override her desire to attack in the same manner. Which saved him from a repeat of having his chest beaten like a drum as she suddenly spun and pushed him into a roll as she needed to avoid the large shuriken that passed through the space she was just occupying.

Lee rolled back up to his feet, as he turned to face her just as Yuffie caught her returning shuriken while Kiba began angling himself so that the three of them surrounded her. However, before the fight resumed a voice called out, “Five minutes have elapsed.”
*******************************************************

Naruko sighed in annoyance before falling onto her back as she said, “This sucks! I’m still no closer to feeling Natural Energy when I’m fighting then when I began.”

“I told you it would be a waste of time,” the small toad said as it approached after having leapt from Gamatatsu’s head.

Yet before Naruko could reply, Gamatatsu said, “Can I go back now? I’m getting bored.”

Naruko sat up and gave the toad a nod, which opened its mouth allowing her clone to leap down which ended the toad’s summons causing him to burst into smoke, before it did so as well. Focusing on Fukasaku, the blonde sage said, “You can’t know that.”

But, the toad sage quickly countered, “Nearly seven-hundred years of actual sage experience says otherwise.”

Naruko pouted, before crossing her arms defiantly as she fired back, “Well, I’m going to be the one to prove you wrong. It doesn’t make any sense that you can’t continue to summon natural energy during a battle. It’s not like it just disappears.”

Fukasaku looked sympathetic, but was about to reiterate it was pointless however Sage interjected, “Sister’s theory has merit. It is believed the body that Sasuke took over to recover from the injuries Naruto inflicted upon him has the means to absorb Natural Energy passively.”

Lee was shocked that Sasuke appeared to have access to the same techniques that Naruko had just displayed, but he was also lost in terms of the majority of the details that were being discussed at least until Kiba approached while helping Aeris along as he explained, “They’re referring to a theory that a fellow clansmen of theirs has put forward that Sasuke used Orochimaru’s body transfer technique on a person that she had traveled with when they had been recruited to help him hunt down his brother.”

Kiba helped Aeris sit, before joining her on the ground where she rested back against him as Lee asked, “Then does that mean Sasuke also has access to these sage techniques?”

“No,” the small toad replied as he moved to the center of circle that was forming of the resting shinobi and kunoichi, “Currently there are only two true schools that one can learn to master senjutsu from, we toads and the snakes of Ryuchi Cave. Although, many of the other animal territories have a basic understanding of Natural Energy, they have been unable to master its usage.”

Sounding annoyed, Naruko said, “Well how much have you really mastered it if you can’t maintain it during a fight? Especially, when some hack without any training can just absorb all the natural energy he wants.”

A sudden crack pierced the air, as Naruko fell back clutching her skull after having been whacked by an airborne Fukasaku’s walking stick, who upon landing said, “Do not disrespect the teachings you have received. Many brave individuals paid a steep price to earn that knowledge.”

Naruko sat up, and although annoyed said, “I’m sorry Master. I meant no disrespect.”

Fukasaku gave an understanding nod, before saying, “I understand your frustrations child. But, keep in mind what else Karin has said about this former associate of hers. He was prone to madness and fits of rage. He may have been able to passively absorb natural energy, but his mind was twisted as a result.”

“Why would that be the case?” Aeris asked with a concerned frown.

Turning towards the woman the elder toad said, “Because, nature is as cruel, as it is beautiful. All around you the great struggle of Life and Death is taking place, and when one takes in Natural Energy, they are connected to it in ways that are hard to describe. This Jugo fellow would have experienced that struggle from the womb, and with no means of understanding of what was happening, it is only natural that he would have been warped by it as a result.”

Naruko nodded, but said, “Yet, his existence is proof that Natural Energy just doesn’t up and disappear once you are moving. There has to be a way to remain in touch with it outside of becoming still.”

“Perhaps,” Fukasaku admitted, “There was a sage that appeared among the turtles who believed as much.”

Lee was excited by the idea, seeing it as a way that he could perhaps catch up with the likes of Naruto. Particularly as Gai had signed the contract with them. Yet, commenting on the contradiction from the toad’s earlier statement said, “I thought you said only the toads and the snakes had mastered the means of creating sages.”

Fukasaku turned to face him, before replying, “That is indeed the case. But, that does not mean it is impossible to become a sage unless one has received instruction from us. We have just come up with a way of passing the knowledge on in a manner that is repeatable, and relatively safe. But, even then only a handful of students have ever truly mastered it.”

Much like Lee, Naruko seemed excited by the prospect as she sat up asking, “Can you put me in touch with this sage master? If he has some insights, I would love to hear them.”

Fukasaku sighed as he shook his head in the negative, before answering, “It has been over two centuries since there has been even a rumor of Master Oogway having appeared somewhere. He disappeared after both the White Snake Sage and Great Elder Toad rejected his petition to create a school of his own.”

Looking dejected, Naruko asked, “Why would they do that?”

“Probably didn’t want any competition muscling in on what they viewed as their turf,” Kiba suggested.

He grew somewhat pale as the small toad whirled towards him, and pointed his walking stick at him while saying with a hint of menace, “You may not be my student, but do not think that will save your noggin from a thrashing boy. I will not tolerate anyone besmirching the Great Elder in my presence.”

Sage having remained standing suggested, “Kiba’s statement may not have been without merit though.”

Fukasaku turned towards the young woman, before asking, “What do you mean?”

“As I have traveled to the various summon territories while returning those that were desecrated by Pein, I have noticed that more then a few hold both the Snakes and Toads in low esteem,” Sage answered as she crossed her arms across her chest. “Although they are hesitant to air their grievances, I believe it is because they feel you are suppressing them. Although, I have not met him myself, I have heard the Monkey King Enma considers both the Snake and Toads as enemies.”

Fukasaku waved off her statement as he said, “That disagreeable old monkey probably considers his own mother as an enemy. The monkeys only respect strength.”

“That may be true,” Sage stated, “However, as I asked those that I have contracts with for information that may help my sister, it sounded as if the monkeys may have a form of Senjutsu of their own.”

“Please don’t compare our refined art to what those barbarians have achieved,” Fukasaku replied sounding offended, “They use Natural Energy as a means of sending chakra into an accelerated state. Like throwing gas onto a fire. But, the effect while powerful lasts but a fraction of the time. Hardly, the solution your sister is looking for, particularly as you are just as likely to explode should you attempt it as not.”

“You may be correct in saying that it may not be the solution that she is searching for,” Sage conceded. “Yet, it would be safe to assume that it would not only be the monkeys who are experimenting with the use of Natural Energy. I believe the other Animal Territories would be just as likely to be trying to develop their own methods but are being quieter about it.”

“Why keep it secret though?” Naruko asked frowning at her sister.

Sage gave a slight shrug before stating, “I suppose that would depend.” She focused her gaze on Fukasaku as she asked, “What would have happened if Oogway had decided to ignore the rejection of his petition?”

The old toad grew angry as he asked heatedly, “Are you suggesting that we would have eliminated him?”

His anger dulled some as Sage tilted her head quizzically at him before responding, “I made no such allegation. My inquiry was merely in order to attain the information I sought.” Explaining further she stated, “It stands to reason that if Oogway sought permission, then there must exist some sort of hierarchy and thus some form of punishment must also exist should its will be ignored.”

The old toad frowned as he admitted that the woman’s point was valid, and was forced to admit, “What you say does have merit. However, I was but a young toad when Master Oogway made his petition, and no such event has occurred since.” His features took on an edge of concern as he said, “You have given me much to think on my dear. I will ask the Great Elder for more information on why he and the Snake Sage of the period rejected Master Oogway’s request. Unfortunately, he likely will not be of much help since he seems to have few periods of lucidness.” Directing his focus onto his student, he said, “If you will excuse me now. It is just about time for Shima to have prepared dinner.”

Naruko grew rather green as she pictured the meal that Fukasaku’s wife would have prepared, but stood as she bowed respectfully, “Please give her my best master.”

“I will,” the toad said pleased with his student’s maturity. Still he grew stern as he added, “Now continue to remember your promise that you will not continue this training without my supervision.”

“I promise, I promise,” Naruko said with a tone that made it clear she didn’t feel that she needed to be reminded as she retook her seat.

Fukasaku gave her an amused shake of the head before bursting into smoke. Naruko watched the smoke dissipate as she considered whether or not to ask the question that she had on her mind. But, although she knew Lee had no knowledge of the Family, not to mention had some recent issues with Naruto, decided that she was among friends so asked with some evident concern, “Sister, do you truly feel the Toads are suppressing the other Animal Territories?”

Sage gave a small shrug of uncertainty as she responded, “It is hard to say. Although, I have been permitted to sign multiple contracts, they have not taken me into their confidence. I can only report on my own suspicions.”

“Still, it is hard to imagine that they would impose their will on others like that,” Naruko replied.

“That may be true, as things stand currently,” her sister stated. Before then explaining what she meant upon seeing her sister’s confusion, “You must keep in mind that Toad Society is very old, and that appears to be a truth that can be applied to the others as well. They have likely changed in a multitude of ways over the many millennium over which they have existed. There may have simply been a period where the various Animal Territories warred with each other similar to the Shinobi Villages. As they tend to remain isolated, these resentments that I sense may just be lingering wounds from those periods. Moreover, many of them have lifespans that are many times those of normal animals and even humans as you have mentioned it yourself that Fukasaku is over eight hundred years old, and they say that the Great Elder Toad Sage may have been around during the time of the Sage of the Six Paths.”

Naruko nodded, before saying, “I’m guessing this resentment that you’ve been sensing is why you often don’t insist that I accompany you into their actual territories.”

“No,” Sage replied quickly surprising her sister with her blunt rejection of the premise that she had suggested, “I do not insist that you come, because you quickly grow bored when away from places you can conduct your quote-unquote research and whine about how you would rather be spending time in some kitty club or burlesque show.”

Naruko grew red as she whined, “I do not.”

Her sister though ignored her protest of innocence as she continued, “Thus, it is usually best to leave you in the nearest town so you can entertain yourself while I am trying to negotiate with a Territory’s Leader about allowing me to sign their contracts.”

The others present laughed causing Sage to look at them with confusion as she was merely describing the truth as she saw it. Although, she could understand her sister’s embarrassment over her childish behavior. Kiba chuckled some more as he got back to his feet stating, “Well anyway we better get going.” He helped Aeris up to hers, who took a tentative step away to determine if enough of her strength had returned to move under her own power.

Naruko nodded, before saying, “Thanks again for your help.” She focused her gaze on Lee as she said, “If you’re interested, you’re more than willing to join us the next time as well. Kiba can give you the details about the next time we plan to spar.”

“Thank you!” Lee said excitedly feeling much of the youth that his sensei often spoke of returning, “The match was quite exhilarating so I would gladly participate again.”

Naruko nodded as she remained seated while Kiba and the others took their leave, after they were out of ear shot Sage approached her stating, “I am surprised that you would invite him again. I was under the impression the only reason you allowed him to remain, and attacked him first was because you wanted to knock him out for his attitude towards Naruto. Tsume had you quite riled up a few nights ago.”

“In more ways than one,” Naruko said smiling while recalling the memory of her lying on the large round bed of the Master Bedroom with the Inuzuka’s face buried between her spread thighs eating her pussy while Naruto knelt behind her giving the older woman a solid dicking after the three of them had spent a night of drinking in Club N. As the memory faded, she admitted, “Guilty as charged. But, it seems he’s lost the stick up his ass, and if I’m going to achieve my goals I need to be pushed.”

“You still needed to hold back considerably though,” Sage stated.

“True,” Naruko agreed, “But, they are getting a lot better.” She stood, and looking down the path the others went said, “Besides, Lee sensed the real sucker punch that I tried to hit him with, and managed to avoid it. Even Fukasaku-sensei was impressed. So it got me thinking, maybe the reason I’m having so much trouble retaining my connection to Natural Energy is one of the very reasons I can use Senjutsu in the first place.”

“You have an overabundance of chakra,” Sage said quickly arriving at the conclusion she figured Naruko did by contrasting the differences between her and Lee. Naruko smiled as she wasn’t surprised at how quickly her sister arrived at the conclusion. But, perhaps lacking the same imagination as her, she ended up stating, “I do not see how that understanding gets you closer to your goal though.”

Naruko smirked as she replied, “Well the thought occurred to me, that while it is possible that this Oogway is dead. Maybe the reason that he has dropped off the face of the Earth was because he couldn’t find someone who could sense Natural Energy like he could. He may have been petitioning the Snake and Toads to help him form a school as if he came across his sageness naturally, he’d likely need help with the techniques to help others even begin to be able to sense it.”

“I understand,” Sage said sounding impressed, “You mean items like the toad oil. So, by withholding knowledge of these items, the Toads could effectively prevent a new school from forming without taking drastic action.”

“Precisely,” Naruko stated, “Which means, if this Oogway is still around, just how grateful do you think he would be to share his knowledge if we could provide him with a potential student that might not need them in order to begin sensing Natural Energy?”

I imagine he would be quite grateful,” her sister answered. Adding a note of caution, she said, “Still, it could be exceedingly dangerous. Chances are high that he would likely die.”

Naruko nodded gravely, before stating, “Well, ultimately that will be Lee’s decision to make. All we’ll be doing is making the introductions. Which, really only leaves two questions that need to be answered right now.”

“Oh,” Sage said sounding confused, “What are those?”

Naruko allowed a lecherous smile to appear as she faced her sister to ask, “How ready are you to spend the night fucking? And then afterwards, how would you like to see if you can form a contract with the Turtles?”

Sage found herself smiling along with her sister, although she doubted it was quite as lecherous, but couldn’t deny other parts of her might be reacting similarly as she imagined the thrills that awaited her and the other Family members who would be attending the night’s gathering.

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

Mebuki let out a muffled moan as she sat on her couch with one leg raised up in the air, while she worked the large toy that had been left for her daughter in and out of her sopping wet pussy. Even as she did so, some voice in the back of her mind was berating her for her weakness. Yet, in the end, she had found the temptation to experience some of what her daughter had was too great to ignore, particularly if the note Naruko had left for Sakura was to be believed.

After Naruko had left, she had begun reading the new book which had started out with the Protagonist and Councilwoman making out in her office and reaffirming their feelings from the first book. Which eventually had resulted with the two of them coupling on top of the Councilwoman’s desk. When she had first imagined the scene, she had found that her mental pictures of them which admittedly had been relatively close to the people that they had been modeled on before due to Naruko’s descriptions, had morphed so that they eventually became them.

Mebuki had tried to refrain from this, particularly as the scene intensified, and she had found that the hand not holding her book had moved to fondle one of her breasts and fearing where that would lead, did not want to picture her daughter’s lover ravishing her mentor. But, neither did she want to put the book down, and so as the scene grew more heated, she eventually found that she could no longer deny the knowledge that she now possessed. Particularly as her free hand had moved south and had begun teasing her pussy through the thin material of her pants once the Councilwoman had been stripped of her clothes and placed on her desk. All too soon her pussy had begun to require direct stimulation and so she had slid her hand down the front of her pants. She had tried to keep her focus on the book, especially as the Councilwoman turned the tables on her lover so that she was now on top, but she couldn’t maintain the focus.

Setting the book down, and closing her eyes, she tried to fantasize as to how the scene would continue. But, instead found herself washing dishes, and was immediately assaulted by a sense of familiarity. Realizing that she was reliving the night before where she had cleaned up after the dinner that she had enjoyed with Sakura and Naruto, she tried to direct the chain events along a different path. But, found her mind seemed dead set on replaying the events as they had played out. Which to that end, she recalled just how much she had missed what had become an almost weekly occurrence up until the Battle of Ame. Although most of the actual meal had been enjoyable, there had been a moment of tension just before she had served dinner, when what she imagined Naruto had likely thought of as being just a small filler comment about how glad he was to be able to use chakra again had set her off. She hadn’t outright yelled at him, but her voice had been filled with a quiet anger as she made it quite clear that she found his decision to put himself at risk in order to save a kunoichi that had been attempting to detonate herself and an entire village to be both reckless and selfish. She had informed him that she felt he should have just teleported her to the desert and left her to her fate.

Yet, to her surprise while Naruto’s eyes had shown with understanding, he had replied, “I’m afraid that is a sentiment that I cannot agree with.”

“What?!” she quickly fired back in disbelief, “She tried to murder an entire village.”

“And failed,” Naruto countered calmly, “So, technically outside of the attempt, she still hasn’t really done anything wrong.” Likely seeing that she was the verge of potentially losing her temper, he explained, “I’m not minimizing what she tried to do, but she is just an angry woman lashing out because she lost someone important to her. In her eyes, not only was Konan responsible for her master’s death, but most of Ame bore the blame for supporting Pein and her. Add to that volatile mix the fact that she was forced to bear a jutsu that could level a village, and yes you have a highly dangerous situation. Yet, at its core it is still just a woman hurting, and because she feels an injustice has occurred, she is looking to put it right in the worst way possible.”

Mebuki frowned as it was a story that she felt paralleled hers a bit too close for comfort, since she couldn’t deny that if she ever were to gain access to a similar jutsu, the Village of Darkness would soon be nothing but a memory. But, seeing a hint of sadness and regret contained within his eyes, she suspected that he was thinking of the bastard who ran the village she would gladly sacrifice her own life to see wiped from existence, provided he went with it. She felt a spike of anger towards Naruto, since she was aware of the debate that was raging in regards to how Sasuke should be dealt with. A debate which Mebuki was firmly on the side of hunting him down, and killing him with extreme prejudice and haste. She was aware that many who felt as she did in how best to deal with the Uchiha, believed that it was Naruto’s fault that Sasuke was still around to become the threat that he currently was. An opinion that Mebuki couldn’t exactly claim to hold herself, since her daughter had also advocated for Sasuke to avoid being marked as a missing-nin after his defection to Orochimaru’s side. Moreover, she could understand why at the time they would have wanted to believe their teammate could have been saved from the path he had chosen.

Yet, she couldn’t deny that seeing Naruto apparently willing to repeat what she viewed as the same mistake angered her. As such, she asked bitterly, “So what happens should she take this second chance that you’ve given her, and decides to simply carry on as she has. What do you say to the people who are hurt or killed as a result of her desire for vengeance when they ask you why you didn’t just leave her to the fate that she brought upon herself?”

Naruto looked hesitant for a moment, which she suspected was because he was uncertain if she was still referring to the kunoichi that he had saved, but rather was speaking of how many thought that it was his desire to save Sasuke which had led to so much being lost, including her husband. Mebuki could see that Sakura was giving her a concerned look, as if she was just realized that it was possible that her mother viewed the man that she loved as bearing some responsibility for her father’s death because of his softheartedness.

After a moment of collecting his thoughts, he replied, “I don’t know.” Mebuki was about to state how that meant he should probably have left her to die, but before she could he added confidently, “But, to be honest I’m not sure I would owe them any such explanation. As honestly, time doesn’t work like that. At the moment in question, the decision before me was simple. Save Hotaru or leave her to die. As I had the means to save her, I chose to. Because I have to believe that people can overcome the darkness within them, and my actions in that moment defined me as a person. This is because I could either commit to the good of saving a person that I had the means to, or let the fear of what she may become consume me and allow her to die. But her future actions have no relevance as to what I believe was the right choice in that moment.” He paused perhaps to give her a chance to rebuke him, but when it didn’t come he continued, “If Hotaru chooses to continue down a dark path, I will certainly understand people looking back at my saving her as a mistake. But, as things are now, the case can just as easily be made that if I had left her to die, I could have ended up denying the world the good that she may yet commit. Which for all I know creates just as much misery because she wasn’t around to prevent it.”

A ding sounding from the kitchen had alerted her to the fact that dinner was ready to be served, but Naruto had a different feeling about it as he said, “Whew, saved by the bell.”

Sakura giggled as the tension seemed to fade, although not completely as Mebuki tried to apologize, “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be,” Naruto said quickly cutting her off with a disarming smile, “While I want to believe that time will show that my decision worked out for the best. I can understand why many would feel that I’m playing with fire and feel it is foolish to do so again considering how it has burned not just myself but others.”

Mebuki nodded just before stepping into the kitchen to begin platting the meal, and although far from convinced that Naruto hadn’t acted recklessly. She had to admit that she admired his strength to maintain his faith that others would strive to be better than they had been, particularly in the face of the blatant betrayals that he had experienced. Still, while she could certainly see why her daughter, and even Naruko would see him as a light of hope, since she could almost imagine his reply to her as having been said by the Protagonist of the latter’s novel, she found that she still craved the darkness since she feared that light would be extinguished by the same evil that had taken hers.

Still, Mebuki couldn’t exactly deny that the smile Naruto had favored her with had her feeling the temptation to return to the light as it filled her with a gentle warmth, which reminded her that she was experiencing a dream within a dream as she returned to her having just finished cleaning up after dinner. She finished drying the last dish, and the part of her that knew what laid in store for her felt a thrill run up her spin as she put it down in the rack. Turning towards one of the three doorways that led out of the kitchen, she chose the one which led to the main hall of the two story house as opposed to reentering the dining room.

Entering the darkened hallway, she noticed the light was still on in the living room, which at the time had surprised her considering the lateness of the hour. Particularly as she had expected Sakura to bid her boyfriend goodnight while she had cleaned up, having already said her own goodbyes, as she imagined that he would need to get up early since the Exams would be starting in a few days, and he had mentioned his intention to begin the trek to Suna in the morning. A bit confused, she found herself stealthily moving up towards the entrance to the living room as her parental instincts took over. Although, aware that it was likely her daughter was sexually active. Mebuki told herself the reason for her quiet approach was just to confirm it for herself, at which point she would return to the end of the hallway to make a more noticeable approach to give them a chance to straight themselves up. But, she also considered just sneaking up the stairs, since she knew it would probably be a while before they saw each other again. Not to mention, could very well be the last considering how dangerous the exams of the past had been, with many saying the upcoming one would likely be the all time worst due to the number of years it had been since one had been held.

Reaching the entrance, she peeked inside and felt a bit silly for her behavior as she noticed Naruto’s head peeking out from above the couch facing the television that was against the wall opposite from her. He was sitting on the end of the couch, and although all she could see was the top of his head, from how it was angled back, she imagined that he might have been so full from dinner that he may have simply ended up falling asleep on the couch. She turned away from the wall quietly to enter the room and see if Sakura had gotten a blanket for him, but stopped dead in her tracks when he let out a low groan before he began to shiver as he said, “Oh shit Sakura, drink it all.”

Mebuki ducked back out of the room, as her daughter’s head popped up suddenly with her cheeks puffed out and some white sauce like substance dribbling from the corner of her mouth, which she immediately knew what it was, but was trying not to admit it to herself. However, Sakura made a show of swallowing the substance before opening her mouth to show that she had swallowed it before leaving no room for her mother to deny it any longer as she said, “Gods, I love the taste of your cum!” Using her finger to gather what had leaked past her lips, she slipped it into her mouth and moaned contently before adding, “I can never get enough.”

Naruto sitting upright on the couch said, “Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to let that be enough for today. We’re probably pushing our luck already.”

Mebuki had ducked back behind the wall, as Naruto turned his gaze towards the living room entrance. But, sensing he had returned his focus towards Sakura, she peeked back around just as her daughter’s head began to be blocked by the couch that she appeared to be in the process of laying back on. She saw Naruto’s eyes grow wide, fill with lust, which Mebuki began to understand why as realizing the television was off, she focused on their reflections upon it and could vaguely make out what was happening on the couch. Where she saw her daughter was sitting back on the opposite end with her legs spread lewdly apart, and was pushing her underwear to the side, as she let out a sultry plea of, “Please Naruto, I’m so wet and hungry for your cock that I’m simply not going to be able to sleep at all tonight unless you take responsibility and leave me with a womb full of your cum.”

Mebuki prepared to hid back behind the entrance way, as she could tell Naruto was torn between looking towards it or continue staring at his lover’s exposed snatch. In the end, he appeared unable to deny himself the sight of her daughter’s honeypot as he let out a frustrated sigh, which prompted Sakura to add a needy sounding, “Please, mom is probably already upstairs. It’s been a while since there’s been any sound from the kitchen, and she’s already said goodnight to us. She probably just slipped by us while I was sucking you off.”

She knew that if she was going to put a stop to it, now was her chance as she could slip back towards the end of the hall before making it apparent that she was approaching. However, Mebuki found herself rooted firmly to the spot, as her heart was beating loudly in her chest. She wasn’t sure why she was reacting in such a manner, or why she was waiting with such anticipation for her daughter to be taken by her lover, but admitted that one aspect was the thrill that she was experiencing. As she had to admit that it had been quite a few years since she had last felt anything like it. That wasn’t to say that she had been dissatisfied with her husband’s lovemaking, far from it. However, she was forced to admit that some of the spark had faded, which she bore an equal responsibility for as they both had eventually come to approach their lovemaking in the same manner one might look to having a particular meal on the same day. One might still really enjoy it as they partook, but there just wasn’t the same excitement for the meal leading up to it. Which Mebuki had to admit made her feel a little jealous of Sakura as it was clear her daughter was still experiencing that thrill if the need she was hearing in her voice was any indication.

After what felt like forever, Naruto’s lust overcame his reason as he said with a voice that had grown gravelly with a hunger of his own, “Fine, but you need to keep it down.”

“I’ll try,” Sakura said playfully, “Now hurry!”

Mebuki heard shifting, and peeked around the corner, but quickly ducked back as she saw Sakura was now facing towards her as she laid over the back of the couch. “What are you doing?” Naruto asked likely confused as to why why she wouldn’t use the couch as cover for their coupling.

“Keeping watch,” Sakura replied in a soft whisper, “You just concentrate on fucking me, I’ll keep watch for her feet if she decides to come down the stairs for something.”

Naruto seemed content with her explanation as soon her daughter let out a low groan that grew deeper as Mebuki imagined more of his cock was pushed inside her. It was soon followed by the rhythmic slapping of him smashing his hips into Sakura’s backside, which prompted her daughter’s moans to grow louder and louder. The sounds began to falter some as Naruto growing concerned said, “You need to keep it down, or else your mom might hear.”

“I don’t care,” Sakura said in return, although she kept her voice to a low whisper likely fearing he might stop fucking her. Which she informed him was not an option as she added, “I don’t care if she comes screaming down the stairs, don’t you dare stop fucking me until I’ve cum all over your big fucking cock.”

“Shit, when did you become such a naughty girl,” Naruto asked admitting to himself that he liked seeing his childhood crush, and lover acting in such a manner.

“When you showed me what real pleasure was,” Sakura said straightening up and pulling Naruto into a kiss over her right shoulder as Mebuki couldn’t stand it any longer and peeked from the entrance again. She watched as their tongues danced together, while his hands moved up from where she imagined he had been holding her hips to slip up under her shirt which he pushed up, along with her bra as he unknowingly exposed her tits to her mother’s view. After he had bunched it over them, Sakura moaned into his mouth as he firmly gripped her petite breasts, while Mebuki could see her rock hard nipples as they poked through his fingers.

As Mebuki watched, she felt a desire awaken within her as a need to be touched in a similar manner began to take root within her. She began to take matters into her own hands as it began inching closer to her pussy, but when it made contact with her groin, she found the will to stop herself, feeling that rubbing herself to the sight of her daughter getting fucked was perhaps a bridge to far. She began to feel ashamed of herself, but before it could take root, a sense of pure panic overwhelmed her as for a moment she felt someone was watching her in turn. Focusing on the action in front of her, she quickly ducked back behind the wall as it looked like Sakura was watching her out of the corner of her eye, even as she continued to make out with her lover.

“Did she see me,” Mebuki asked herself as her heart once more began beating like a war drum in her chest. She tried to tell herself it was impossible as she was sure her daughter would be freaked out at her mother spying on her, despite her statements to the contrary. As the sounds of pounding both in her chest and on the couch continued, Mebuki tried to resist looking again, but couldn’t as she wanted to confirm what she had thought she had seen. However, when she looked back around, she found Sakura’s face was buried in the back of the couch as Naruto fiercely slammed into her, his powerful thrusts making it necessary for her daughter to use the pillowed back to muffle her increasingly louder cries.

Eventually, she let out a large shriek that came off as a barely audible roar as the couch absorbed most of the noise she made as she climaxed. Naruto for his part slammed himself fully into her, as he groaned along with her while pumping her full of his cum.

Mebuki nearly gasped as when after several heartbeats he stepped back, and she saw the large rod of flesh he had used to pleasure Sakura which currently glistened with her daughter’s release as he began to catch his breath. Her view of it was soon obstructed by her daughter’s pink hair as she began sucking on it once more, causing Naruto to close his eyes and groan as she ran her tongue over his oversensitive prick. Seeing this as her chance, she crossed across the entrance of the living room, and silently dashed up the stairs but stopped near the top as she strained to hear what was happening below.

She could just make out Naruto saying, “That’s enough, if you keep that up you’re going to make me cum again.”

She heard a soft giggle, before her daughter replied, “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

She pictured a smiling Naruto looking down at her daughter who likely still had a grip on his magnificent rod as he replied, “No, but I imagine that if I did, you’d be telling me that you need me to fuck you again, which would just start the cycle anew until your mom found us completely spent in the morning.”

“Now that you mention it,” Sakura said, causing Naruto to laugh as Mebuki imagined her daughter taking him into her mouth again. However, it appeared her imagination was getting ahead of itself as she heard footsteps approaching so moved up off of the stairs into the second floor hallway, which grew even darker as the light from the living room was turned off. From the darkness, she watched as Sakura and Naruto walked out of it to stop at the entryway of the house. She lost sight of Naruto after he slipped on his sandals, and stopped just in front of the door as Sakura followed beside him before moving in front. Although her daughter had dropped her shirt back down, her skirt was hiked up over her hips and Mebuki could see the bare cheeks of her ass due to the red thong panties that she was wearing. Sakura stood on her toes, as she leaned up to kiss her boyfriend, who wrapped his arms tightly around her.

Sakura giggled as she stepped back, prompting him to ask, “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I was just thinking it’s a good thing I left my panties on as otherwise I’d be leaking all over the place and what a waste that would be.”

She imagined Naruto gave a small shake of his head, but as he opened the door he said, “I’ll be sure to top you off tomorrow. I’ll see you later then. I love you!”

It sounded like he then gave her a quick peck on the cheek before heading out the door. She could just make out her daughter’s feet as she rested her back against it, before needing to retreat as they began walking towards her. Mebuki headed down the hall, where she just managed slip into her bedroom as her daughter climbed up the steps, before heading to her own where she imagined Sakura would be sleeping quite contently.

Sleep had been less forthcoming for her as she had refused to indulge in the need for release that had built up due to her act of voyeurism. Which as Mebuki’s consciousness returned to the present where she was busy working the large rubber dick in and out of her cunt, she briefly wondered if she would still be indulging herself now if she had taken care of herself then. As she stiffened due to a small tremor of a mini-orgasm, she admitted to herself that she likely would be as every time she closed her eyes, she pictured that it was Naruto currently ploughing her. Which she had little doubt would have been the case the night before, and much like then, if the rubber phallus she was using was a close approximation of the one her daughter had enjoyed the night before then she was finding herself to be all the more jealous of her daughter.

She tried to direct her imagination to focus on the scene of her book which had started her down her current need for release, and found with her trip down memory lane completed, that it was being somewhat complaint. But, as she tried to picture how she used to view the Protagonist, instead all she found was the man that he had apparently been based on. Mebuki was too far gone to care any longer, as she pulled the rubber cock from her pussy and stood from the couch. Trying to recreate where she left off in the book, she placed the base of the toy down on the coffee table before climbing onto it herself where she squatted down, before slowly impaling herself on the toy. Mebuki moaned out loudly once as she bottomed out on it, while finding that thanks to the firmness of the table it was allowing her pussy to swallow another delicious inch or so of it.

Her table was replaced in her imagination by a desk, as she pictured Naruto the Protagonist beneath her with his hands folded behind his head as she slowly raised and lowered her hips on his shaft. She shook her head in pleasure as soon it became too much to remain in her squatted position, so slipped onto her knees as her hands moved to fondle her tits through the material of her dress and bra. She was tempted to strip herself completely, but feared that her daughter would catch her in such a state. Although, some part of her realized that should her daughter enter the house, there was very little chance that she wouldn’t realize what she was doing. But, Mebuki decided that it didn’t matter as she was so close to release, and truthfully didn’t wish to delay it any longer.

Which is when naturally her daughter decided to arrive, while announcing, “Mom, I’m home.”

Mebuki panicked as her fantasy lover evaporated, while she sat back fully impaling herself on the orange cock buried inside her. Her hands shot up to her mouth as she cried into them as her orgasm racked her body, while luckily it seemed Sakura was in a hurry as she heard her daughter banging he way up the stairs.

Mebuki collapsed forward onto the coffee-table and tried to find the strength to pull herself off of the toy. But her overstimulated pussy refused to cooperate as every time she tried to raise her hips, a tingle of pleasure would sap her strength again.

Sakura sounding a little breathless herself called down the steps as Mebuki feared that she may have heard her release, as there was a touch of concern which colored her voice as she asked, “Mom, are you down there? I thought I heard a muffled scream.”

“I…it’s nothing Sakura,” Mebuki managed to say, as she heard her daughter descend a few steps. “I…s-stubbed my toe on the table.”

“Oh, are you okay?” she asked pausing on the steps.

“Yes,” Mebuki said as her fear of being caught filled her with the energy she need to roll off the table, although she nearly moaned again due to her having yet to remove the rubber cock.

“Alright,” Sakura said turning back around, while adding, “Oh, just so you know, I’m spending the night out celebrating with Fam…friends. I’ll probably just crash at Ino’s, so don’t worry if I don’t come home.”

Mebuki sighed as she pulled the dildo from her pussy, before replying, “Thank you for the notice.” Looking at the glistening rubber cock, she added to herself, “And for the alone time with my new favorite toy.” She felt a dirty thrill as she listened to her daughter climb back up the steps, and her bedroom door close behind her, as she began cleaning the rubber cock with her tongue while picturing herself doing so to her daughter’s boyfriend. Getting ahold of herself, she realized that now wasn’t the time to indulge as she flushed in embarrassment upon noticing the puddle she had left on the table. Realizing her daughter might at some point head into the kitchen, and notice the box Naruko had sent her. She hurriedly put her pants back on, and set about cleaning up the mess she had made. Hiding the box, she called up to Sakura that she was heading out, as she needed to find a replacement for the orange rubber cock as the idea of just putting it back for her daughter to use after it had just been inside her was a bit too scandalous. Although, if her imagination was anything to go by, there was a flesh colored one that her daughter was enjoying, that she was developing a hunger for herself.

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

“Okay mom,” Sakura called down from the other side of her bedroom door as her mother informed her that she was heading out to complete some errands. She waited for the front door to close, before moaning as she furiously rubbed her pussy after having returned the favor of spying on her mother as she rode the cock she had packaged for her, and left on the porch that morning. Confident, her mother was even now busy finding a replacement for the dildo that was modeled on her lover’s splendid cock, Sakura smiled as she intended to put on quite a few more shows for her so she would end up putting it to use. Which between her peep shows, and Naruko spilling the dirt that the hero of the story which was one of her mother’s few remaining enjoyments was based on Naruto, she figured it would be only a matter of time before she was pleading with her to let her experience the real thing. Sakura came then and there as she pictured her mother riding Naruto’s cock as she watched on in happy content secure in the knowledge that it would give her something more than revenge to live for.

Bringing her fingers up to her mouth, she sucked her juices from them and felt some disappointment that it might prove to be the only action that she enjoyed that night. But, she figured it was a small sacrifice to make as it might in time cause a woman who was already technically bound to him a chance to see just how special he truly was and if so, may provide some insights into another faction that meant Naruto harm. As with the Chunin Exams being just days away, she knew if there was one thing her favorite Uzumaki could use, it was one less person after his head. Unless it was the one that hung between his legs that was.

With that thought in mind, she pushed off from the door as she stripped out of her remaining clothes in order to get cleaned up and ready. As, she would still need to put in an appearance as the women of the Family gathered in order to get in one last night of debauchery as they would probably be in short supply once the exams actually began.

Next Chapter: The Chunin Exams: The Sequel: A Build up to the Event! Part III

Author’s Note: Hello everyone, let me begin by thanking everyone that has taken the time to read and review the story and its spinoffs. I hope this new chapter proves to have been worth the wait. This one as you can tell is more about building up a few of the plotlines that will appear going forward. I imagine and hope there will be only one more before we are into the exams themselves.

As I mentioned during the end of the Gai, LBB chapter I intend to post a poll on my Deviantart account to fill the vacancy created by Mabui stepping down as the Raikage’s assistant. Based on some of the reviews, and comments I received, I wanted to clarify something. When the poll goes up, whether or not the character ends up with Naruto isn’t a sure thing, not is it completely out of the question. Truthfully, it will probably depend on the type of character that is selected. I’m also still open to suggestions, as currently the candidates would be as follows:

1. Jackie Tristan (Bleach)
2. Yor Briar (Spy X Family)
3. Hououmaru Rei (Kill La Kill)
4. Kochou (Sekirei)

Well, again I hope you enjoyed this latest installment, and until next time, take care! Sincerely, The Lemon Sage