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

Hardening the Steel: Part II

The Past, a few months before the events of Eroninja Chapter 68: Night Terrors.

Yurika was standing near a bar located on the second floor of a large two-story night club in Konoha’s Entertainment district called The Crave. The night was swiftly becoming the morning, and she was trying to decide whether or not to find a different kind of partner to end it on, namely one that she could get naked and sweaty with. She frowned though as she found the pickings of the club rather lacking. Not that she was too surprised by this since it would be closing within the hour so figured that the more desirable men whom she had previously danced with or bought her a drink would have already partnered up.

Yet, her search for a partner stalled for a moment when she noticed a woman ascending the stairs up towards the mostly deserted upper level. She had noticed her several times throughout the night as she had prowled through the club, not that she had been the only one to take note of her considering the remarkably close resemblance that she bore to Tsunade. Which had peeked Yurika’s interest as while she didn’t tend to play on both sides of the tracks outside of the occasional threesome or orgy, if there was one woman that she imagined even a straight woman would go for it was the Fifth Hokage.

Yurika had thought that she had missed her chance to at the very least consort with the lookalike as she had seen her leaving with a young man earlier in the evening. Yet, while she was rather interested in the woman’s return yet as four in the morning was fast approaching, she decided to resume the process of selecting a partner of her own to leave with. As while she found the idea of an encounter with the Hokage lookalike rather tempting, she felt that she needed a partner with a certain quality between his legs. Deciding on a man, who although somewhat lacking in the looks department felt that he would be worth her time based on what she had felt between his legs as he had ground it into her butt while they danced after he had bought her a drink.

But, just in case he lacked the stamina, she pulled out a cylinder of dust and took a quick bump to act as an accelerant. However, just as she closed her eyes to enjoy the tingle spreading throughout her, a voice from behind her said, “Surely, a woman as stunning as yourself doesn’t need chemical enhancement in order to work up the courage to find a dance partner.”

Yurika spun pressing her back against the bar as she came face to face with the woman, who outside of the green tint to her hair looked as if she could be Tsunade’s twin. She gave the woman an amused smile as she glanced around the upper level of club stating, “No, but considering the lateness of the hour finding one I want to get more than a little sweaty with is proving difficult.”

The woman smiled amused, before stating “I know what you mean.”

“Really,” Yurika said with a note of disbelief, “What happened to that young man that you took off with earlier? I’d probably be interested in a little dirty dancing with him if not for his leaving with you earlier.”

The woman took a final sip of the dirty martini that she was drinking and leaned towards her as she placed it on the bar, before saying in a seductive manner, “What a shame, and here I was hoping that your interest was in me.”

Yurika felt her training kick in as the woman’s words put her on guard, since she imagined for her to have noticed her watching them it indicated that she may have also been a kunoichi. But as she was unaware of any within the village who so closely resembled the Hokage, she figured that must have made her an outside agent. Granted, Konoha was a large village, and there was no guarantee that she would know every active kunoichi, but due to the woman’s apparent age and her own working within the Cryptanalysis Department, she figured their paths would have crossed at some point. Not to mention her position would make her a valuable target for an infiltrator to turn into a double agent.

Yet, even as her warning bells were ringing, she was breathing in the woman’s floral sent which caused her to relax and kept her from raising the walls that she overwise would have put in place between them. Yurika also began to feel her body heat rise from the stunning woman’s proximity as she admitted, “It was.”

Receiving a stunning smile in reply, “Then how about you and I get a little sweaty together. As despite draining my earlier partner dry, it has just left me wanting.”

Yurika gasped as the woman punctuated her words by reaching between her legs and groped her pussy. She then quickly slid her panties over to the side, and pushed her middle finger inside her dripping snatch. Yurika struggled to keep from moaning, although one of the two women standing next to them heard her muffled attempt at refraining.

The woman who sported short pink-hair, and who along with her blonde friend belonged to a local gang named the Mad Crows, looked over towards them. Who upon realizing that the Hokage lookalike was fingering her at first, she reflected shock at what was happening right beside her. Yet, she didn’t seem able to look away as her tanned face began to grow flushed. The woman that she had been talking to, and from whom Yurika had purchased some dust from just that night, stopped scanning the area for another customer for the remaining dust that she carried due to her partner letting the conversation that they had been having drop off. Looking to where her friend’s gaze was drawn to, her pale features also at first reflected her surprise before letting an excited smile appear.

Yurika was rather surprised by her own reaction to the situation as well, since she couldn’t say that she was truly overly excited at the idea of being watched by the two women. So much as she just accepted that it was a thing that was happening, making her feel as if the woman who was currently working her finger inside her could lift her up and place her on the bar to lap up her juices all for the amusement of the crowd and she wouldn’t feel anything other than the pleasure the physical act would generate.

Still, the woman whose name that she realized that she didn’t even know yet, didn’t appear to want such a large audience as she said, “Come with me.”

“Wait,” Yurika said trying to fight against the trance like spell that she seemed to have fallen under, “I..I’m not…” The feature’s that bore such a striking resemblance to Tsunade’s twisted into a look of annoyance and contempt, but Yurika didn’t pay it much mind as her focus was directed lower as she suddenly let out a quick, “No,” due to the woman removing the finger that had been bringing her close to release.

“Too bad,” she said as she turned to leave, but stopped when Yurika grabbed her arm.

She looked down at where Yurika was holding her by the wrist, before directing her gaze back up with a face that made it clear what she wanted. Which prompted her to say, “Don’t go.”

The woman gave her a pleased smile, which contained a hint of malice as she commanded, “Then come with me.” She then took off, obviously expecting her to follow.

Yurika hesitated for a moment, as she focused on the two women who had witnessed their encounter, and she could see in their faces that they were tempted to follow her command as well. Not wanting to have her spot on the woman’s dance card filled, she quickly took off after her as she followed her into a restroom.

No sooner had the door closed behind her then she found herself pressed up against the wall while the woman kissed her hungrily. Their tongues danced as the woman’s hands moved down to hike up the hem of her satin black dress. With her dress bunched up over her hips, it was clear the woman next intended to remove her panties and while Yurika was tempted to just let the woman take the lead, she was rather surprised by the meekness that she had shown thus far. As such, she decided to become more aggressive, and so pushing herself from the wall began to walk them deeper into the room while their tongues swirled around one another.

Soon it was the woman whose back was pinned against the opposite wall, and she appeared amused once their lips separated. Yurika trying to maintain her momentum, pushed the straps of the woman’s dress from her shoulders, so that the material covering her breasts was pulled away exposing them to her sight. She quickly latched onto one sucking on it like a newborn as she tried to use the suction to pull her heavy breast as far back as she could, before letting it free. However, to her shock, a fluid began filling her mouth.

Yurika let the breast drop as she tried to process what had happened, but then she began to taste the fluid which caused her to let out a deep moan as she found that even the hit of Dust which she had taken earlier seemed to pale in comparison to the euphoria that she began to feel. As such, any questions she felt regarding how the woman was lactating, not to mention what since it had a citrusy taste, quickly fled from her mind as she quickly latched back onto her breast as she began to suck greedily.

“Oh yes, drink as much as you want you slut,” the woman moaned while Yurika did just that. The woman soon grew bored though, which she demonstrated when she forcefully grabbed her by the hair to yank her head back. Yet despite how roughly she suddenly found herself being treated, Yurika didn’t really register it as she was too drunk on pleasure. The woman smiled wickedly which seemed out of place due to her resemblance to the Hokage, something that also didn’t fit the mocking tone she now possessed as she asked, “Do you want more?”

“Yes,” Yurika moaned as she weakly tried to pull free of the woman’s grip to once more drink from her breasts.

“Good,” the woman replied before forcing Yurika down to her knees before her, and then pulled up the hem of her skirt to reveal that she wasn’t wearing any panties.

Yurika assuming that she knew what the woman wanted, an so began to lean forward while looking forward to discovering what she’d tasted like. However, even in her pleasure drunken state, she paused as she noticed the woman’s clit seemed rather large and was growing even larger. Until it suddenly surged forth as it took the shape of a massive cock. Her eyes grew wide at the sight. Yet, rather than pulling away, she felt as if her prayers had been answered as the glorious tool before her would certainly fill the growing need inside her. But, as it appeared to already be glistening with flavor, she eagerly lunged forward to have a taste, and was glad that she did as soon the ecstasy which exploded in her mouth, proceeded to melt her brain with pleasure before spreading down her spine to make her pussy quiver. A feeling which intensified as Yurika brought both her hands between her legs to try and satisfy the ever increasing need to feel a cock within her.

“Fuck,” the woman moaned as Yurika’s tongue swirled around her cock, and nearly came immediately once she began applying suction. Burying her hands in Yurika’s hair, not only due to how good she was feeling, but to stop Yurika from swallowing her completely, she groaned before stating, “That old fucking bat Koharu might have a point about kunoichi needing to keep their lusts in check. Look at you, with just a little taste of real pleasure, you oh so eagerly become just a cheap whore trying to get off. But, then again, you’re hardly the first.”

She began fucking Yurika’s mouth as she basked in the feeling of power that she was receiving from the act. Not to mention the boost in confidence her easily seducing the woman had given her as while she was quickly finding that with Tsunade’s looks men would practically trip all over themselves to have a chance with her. Which ended up just being another log on the fire of hate that she kept burning for the woman whose face she now wore. Especially due to it seeming as if even women were not immune to the looks the Hokage had been born with. As when it came to subjecting her previous female victims, she had usually attacked them from the shadows. A tactic, despite her current success, she would probably stick with. Particularly for the women that she especially wanted to target due to their proximity to the man whom she intended to steal from Tsunade. Since she suspected that the Senju didn’t necessarily see him as the replacement of her lost little brother as much of the village suspected. After all, they had both desired the same man once before, and she fully intended to be the one who ended up with the prize this time around.

Not that Yurika had known any of this at the time, as she continued sucking on the best tasting cock that she had ever had the pleasure to wrap her lips around. She felt it begin to swell and couldn’t imagine feeling any better than she did just then but was proven wrong when it exploded into her mouth.

Yurika’s mind seemed to shut down of everything except for the desire to feel her womb filled to capacity with the cock that she had just been sucking. A need she displayed as she without a shred of hesitation spun away from the woman, and while still kneeling, laid her face down on the bathroom floor so she could reach behind her using both hands to grab her underwear and rip them apart to expose her dripping pussy. The woman appeared amused by her actions, but made no move to give her what she desired. Prompting Yurika to beg, “Fuck me! Please… I need more!”

“Of course you do,” the woman replied amused although she was hesitant to comply. Mainly as after having successfully drained another male victim that evening, she found that she usually could produce enough ejaculate to infect around three to four women with the microbes contained in the semen that her cock produced. It didn’t truly matter where she came to do so, although it usually took longer should she come in a woman’s mouth due to the stomach acid it would need to contend with before being absorbed. As such, she didn’t really need to take any further action as soon she’d be able to compel the woman to forget her until such a time as she was activated. Still, she found herself stroking her still hard cock due to the woman’s display, and so decided to indulge herself as she squatted down behind her.

Yurika cried out as the woman buried herself fully into her with a single thrust. Even as some part of her began compelling her to be quiet. However, it was a desire that she found herself unable to fulfil as the cock wormed itself back and forth within her. She felt a wave of frustration wash over her, quickly followed by a fear of discovery. Although for the most part all that existed for Yurika was where she was connected to the woman, she was aware enough to notice as something began wrapping around her legs and torso before she was lifted completely off the ground. A particularly amazing feat she realized a moment later when the woman’s hands came around to use her breasts as handholds while she roughly bounced her up and down her rod. Looking over towards the mirror, Yurika was shocked as she noticed what appeared to be three vine-like tentacles which had appeared from between the woman’s legs, and were what were currently holding her aloft. The woman seeing where she was looking turned them to face the mirror so that Yurika could watch as a fourth tentacle appeared from just below the cock that she was impaled on, and after slithering up her body, held itself above her for a moment before plugging her open mouth.

Yurika gagged as it roughly pushed itself into her throat, as it succeeded in muffling her cries. Despite the rough treatment, she quickly came to enjoy the feeling of being spit-roasted between one of the woman’s tentacles and cock. Particularly as the tentacle began depositing more of the sweet nectar that she had tasted from the woman’s breast. Yurika reached up to grab the tentacle fucking her throat, yet rather than trying to remove it, she began stroking it in order to coax more of the pleasure inducing liquid out. Her efforts were soon rewarded as she felt the woman shiver behind her, and the cock within her grow even larger.

“What a good little slut you are,” the woman groaned just before she squeezed her breasts to the point where she left bruises behind as she pulled Yurika firmly down onto her cock as both it and the tentacle began spewing their fluids into her. Yurika exploded into another climax but found herself unceremoniously tossed away once the woman’s own climax had subsided. Not that she minded at the moment as she lay on the floor with some of the excess fluid the tentacle had spewed leaking from her mouth while she rested against the wall she had been tossed against.

For a moment the woman stared down at her in satisfaction, but then her attention quickly shifted to the door of the bathroom. Yurika although mentally out of it, watched on with a pleasure-soaked stare as several more tentacles appeared from the woman’s snatch while one shot out toward the door. It wrapped around the handle of the door, and quickly pulled it open to reveal the two women who had witnessed the woman’s seduction of her. From the redness of their faces, it was clear that they had been caught listening in on them. At first the two women had looked embarrassed at being caught, but their faces quickly turned to shock and then horror as they began to process the scene before them and noticed the tentacles hanging about the woman. Not to mention her sporting a rather massive cock. Yet, before either could call out or make a fuss, two of the tentacles shot forward. The first buried itself into the pale blonde woman’s mouth as she opened it to scream, before the tentacle coiled itself around her head like a snake would and pulled her into the bathroom. The pink-haired woman the second tentacle had targeted had immediately turned to run, so it simply wrapped itself around her neck and then yanked her back hard enough to pull her out of one of her shoes.

Yurika began to focus on the assault taking place before her as Chandi, the pink-haired woman who had lost her shoe, fought to keep her mouth shut as the head of the tentacle wrapped around her neck tried to push past her lips. Coating her face with a nearly clear fluid as it did so. Two more wrapped around her legs, and she began to struggle to keep them closed but the tentacles easily forced them open, although the tight black pants that she wore offered a modicum of protection.

However rather than using another tentacle on the struggling tan girl, the green-tinted woman’s focus shifted to her blonde friend as despite her head being covered, it was clear she was reacting rather differently to the situation as muffled moans could be heard. As another pair of tentacles wrapped around her legs, she almost eagerly spread them revealing that although the denim cutoffs that she wore hadn’t soaked through yet. Her pussy was working overtime as the overflow of her juices coated her inner thighs and was running down the thigh high boots that she wore.

The tentacle wrapped around the blonde’s head began to uncoil revealing that far from being disgusted, she was now actively participating in her violation as she sucked eagerly on it. The heads of the two tentacles wrapped around her legs wormed their way up them, before slipping into her cutoff jeans. The woman’s muffled moans increased in volume as the tentacles buried themselves inside her and began exploring both of her openings. With all her orifices being assaulted, it didn’t take long for the blonde to climax while her pink-haired friend watched on in horror while fighting to keep the one pressing against her mouth from gaining entry.

Soon though the tentacle buried in the blonde’s mouth began to retract, while a fourth one wrapped around her stomach and after the other exited her mouth, it dangled itself over her lips causing the woman to reach out for green-tinted appendage with her tongue. The Tsunade lookalike chucked as she began stroking her cock while asking, “Do you want more slut?”

“Yes,” the blonde moaned from the tentacles in her ass and pussy beginning to pump themselves within her once more.

“Good,” the Hokage’s evil twin stated in satisfaction before adding, “Then why don’t you help show your friend why she should stop fighting.” The tentacles wrapped around her set her on the ground, with the one around her stomach retracting as the ones wrapped around her legs also let go but remained buried inside her. She walked on unsteady legs to her friend, and seeing her face coated in the clear fluid ran her tongue along her cheek.

Chandi tried to pull herself away, but her friend simply smiled before straightening up to grip her face and forced her mouth open. Chandi tried to shout, “Elissa stop…ack…” But was cutoff as the tentacle buried itself down her throat.

“Mmm,” the green-tinted woman moaned as she shivered in pleasure from the sensations that she felt from her tentacle’s violation of the pink-haired thug’s mouth. Moving to stand behind Elissa, who watched on as Chandi’s muffled cries of disgust soon gave way to ones of ecstasy, the Tsunade clone retracted the tentacles pumping themselves into the blonde’s two holes and undid the snaps of her cutoffs. She pulled them down to her knees, before pushing Elissa forwards so that her face rested on her friend’s chest which was still covered by her yellow cutoff hoodie that left her midriff exposed, allowing another tentacle to slide underneath it after wrapping itself around the woman’s stomach and coil itself around one of her tits to squeeze it.

The Tsunade lookalike buried its cock into Elissa, before leaning forward to run her hands up the blonde’s toned stomach, and up under her red half-shirt tank top. She roughly squeezed the woman’s pert breasts as she began pumping her hips into her causing the woman to cry out in pleasure. She quickly silenced her though as the tentacle that had been squeezing Chandi’s breast rose up pushing the hoodie up to expose her tits before shooting forward to bury itself in Elissa’s mouth.

While she fucked the blonde thug, the woman directed her gaze towards Yurika, and although no words were said, she immediately knew what was being commanded of her. Using the wall to aid her in standing, she pushed herself off it once she felt steady enough to do so. She then proceeded to move towards the three women, where reaching the suspended Chandi, she positioned herself between the woman’s forcibly spread legs and began to undo the snaps of her jeans. She then pulled them down until she was stopped by the tentacles that had been holding her legs, which then let go to allow her to completely remove them. Yurika found her mouth beginning to water as now free of her jeans the scent of Chandi’s arousal wafted over her, and she realized the tentacles had not needed to exert much force in keeping the woman’s legs spread as she pushed them back up to spread the woman as she buried her face in her snatch.

The tone of Chandi’s moans changed, although they remained muffled due to the tentacle buried in her throat. However, Yurika didn’t get to enjoy the woman’s flavor for long as her mistress had another task for her, as one of the tentacles that had been holding the pink-haired thug’s legs apart wrapped around her torso and lifted her up over Chandi. The woman that resembled Tsunade used the tentacle to suspend her so that her cum filled snatch was directly over where the Mad Crow’s mouth was filled with her tentacle, which then began to withdraw.

It appeared from between the tanned woman’s lips with a pop, showing just how powerfully she had been sucking on it as the fluids it released caused her to lose herself to the ecstasy. As her tongue reached out to the tentacle which hovered above her just tantalizingly out of reach, the one wrapped around Yurika’s stomach began to coil tighter. She groaned a little in discomfort, but the pressure exerted on her stomach pushed some of the semen and tentacle fluids that had been deposited inside her to leak out into Chandi’s open mouth. The pink-haired thug nearly climax as soon as the mixed fluids hit her tongue, and finding the tentacle wrapped around her neck was no longer restrain her quickly grabbed Yurika by the hips to pull her mouth up towards the brown-haired woman’s snatch for more. Yurika moaned happily, but was quickly gagged as another tentacle slipped into her mouth which she began to eagerly suck on, while another buried itself into her ass to help push more of the cum inside her into Chandi’s hungrily exploring tongue.

The Tsunade lookalike groaned then as she began pumping her seed into Elissa who moaned around the tentacle buried in her own mouth. She waited until she had deposited every last drop into the Blonde thugs spasming snatch, as she didn’t want to waste a drop as she was nearly drained. Believing she had just enough left to deposit in the pink-haired slut’s snatch, she pushed the blonde to the side already tired of her. She then commanded her tentacles to rotate the two other women so that the tanned one’s pussy was hovering right before her cock. She then grabbed her by the hips and plunged herself in full causing the delirious woman sucking her seed from her first victim to climax immediately. Yurika had one herself as it caused Chandi to tilt her head back enough that her chin rubbed against her clit sending her off to a world of darkness although she still felt waves of pleasure crash over her from the tentacles buried inside her throat and mouth.

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Outside the bathroom nearly thirty minutes after the two women had been pulled inside the lights within the club turned up to full as the DJ announced that it was closing time. The door to the bathroom once more opened as Chandi and Elissa exited while being joined by Yurika. The three-woman moved fluidly to the stairs leading to the lower level and then right for the exit, although with a robotic like purpose as Chandi didn’t even bother to stop and put her shoe back on. Soon all three would find themselves back home, where they would awake with a deep sense of confusion regarding what had transpired the night before as their memories of the assault that they had endured faded away. At least until after they had been activated by Furofuki to aid her in destroying the Leaf Village.

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Events transpire shortly before Eroninja Chapter 103

Yurika stepped from her bedroom in just an oversized T-shirt as she heard a soft knocking at her door. She sighed in annoyance at being disturbed, primarily as she had been interrupted from pleasuring herself to the memories of her encounter with Furofuki. But also, because thus far many of these surprise visits hadn’t been particularly welcome. Especially the one that she had received from the Torture and Interrogation Department, which ultimately had resulted in her being stripped of her duties in the Cryptanalyst department due to her Dust habit coming to light. Many of the subsequent visits had been from concerned friends and family trying to get her to admit that she had a problem. But the only problem that she truly had was with them, as she was tired of people trying to tell her how to live her life.

After all, those telling her that she had changed for the worse following her being attacked and enslaved by Furofuki had no idea as to what they were talking about. She knew better than them that she had changed, but what they didn’t understand was the horrendous loss of purpose that had accompanied her supposed liberation. It was hard to put into words, after all, she had been tasked with attacking her home while under Furofuki’s control. Yet, even while a part of her had been horrified by the actions that she had performed, the complete loss of control along with the accompanying sense of bliss that she received while obeying was more potent than any high that she had ever achieved. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a soft whimper as she recalled Tsunade’s horrified face from when she had enjoyed a front row seat to Furofuki fucking her while she had vented her frustration at her inability to capture Naruto after he had suddenly appeared to rescue Shiho from her. Although, she imagined the woman had intended it as a punishment, the sweet surrender Yurika had enjoyed was a pleasure that she wanted to taste again and again.

In fact, she imagined most of her so-called friends would be surprised to learn that her usage of Dust had preceded her run in with Furofuki. Although admittedly, she had only really dabbled on occasion when on the prowl for a partner to end the night with as she found fucking on the drug just heightened the experience overall. Yet, even the most potent drug fueled and sexually induced bliss failed to measure up to what Furofuki’s massive cock and tentacles had shown her was possible. Although, her recent fuck sessions with Chouji were showing her that there might be a partner out there for her who could give her a taste of what she found lacking from others. Even if the encounters with the Akimichi may have lacked the pure levels of chemically induced ecstasy that Furofuki had been able create within her. She attributed this being due to there was a hint of danger whenever she was with him, as she knew the anger that he harbored for her due to his feeling that while she was not directly responsible for Iruka’s death, her perceived weaknesses had allowed someone to lure the academy instructor to it. Thus whenever she was with him, she could easily imagine that at some point that he snap. As there had been a few times when she had been gagging on his cock, where she felt her vision beginning to darken as he refused to let her breathe, and she’d nearly climax just from the thought that it would be her last. She felt it might be an excitement akin to something some lion tamer might feel whenever they put their head in the lion’s mouth. As while they were almost ninety-nine percent certain they would be fine, there was certainly almost always the concern that that time might be the one day it wouldn’t be.

The knocking at her door repeated, causing Yurika to end her self-reflection as she reached for the knob and upon opening the door found Shiho waiting on the other side. Due to who her uninvited guest was, she found it a bit easier to force the smile to her lips, as while she was not really in the mood for a visit from the mousy blonde. She was at least forced to acknowledge that due to her attempts to help her by covering for her blowing off many of the decrypting assignments that she had been given, it had allowed her to indulge in her desires for sex and drugs without discovery for far longer than she otherwise would have been able to.

Although tempted to tell her to get lost so she could get back to pleasuring herself, she nevertheless opened the door and stepping to the side said, “Hello Shiho, what brings you by?”

Shiho blushed at seeing her state of dress as while the white T-shirt that she was wearing was big enough that it reached to just above her knees, it was thin enough that Yurika didn’t doubt that she could tell that she was not wearing any undergarments. Particularly a bra. as her nipples were clearly pointing up from behind the shirt. Seeing the blonde’s reaction, she felt a familiar sense of amusement at what she perceived to be the younger woman’s innocence. Particularly since she imagined that the closest that she had come to enjoying the pleasures of the flesh was when she rubbed herself too vigorously against a pillow while reading one of her romance novels.

Still Yurika had noticed that while over the course of the last several years while Shiho could still often be found with her nose buried in some book during her lunch break. Those books were not the same romance novels that she had previously favored. Rather, more often than not, they would be books tied to ancient civilizations and in particularly their languages. She had first noticed the change in reading materail after Shiho had gone on several practice dates with Naruto, which she had imagined was to try to prepare her so she could act on her obvious crush for the Nara that she had fancied. But, Yurika had been surprised by the sudden shift in her focus leaving her to believe that she had come to believe it to be a lost cause. Yurika had invited her out, in order to get her laid and show her there was no reason to set her sights on just one fish when there was an entire ocean of them. Yet, Shiho had told her that while she had appreciated the offer, she was quite content with her current relationship status before resuming her interest in a book detailing what little was known of the history of a kingdom called Zu. Yurika had just shrugged her shoulders as she easily pictured Shiho ending up as some old lady with just cats for friends and the events of books to fill-in for lovers.

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Shiho after having accepted the unstated invitation to enter the apartment stopped herself from frowning at the current state of it. As whad had prompted her visit was that She had heard from several of her fellow Cryptanalysts that a company named the Oboro Forbearance Company had come under scrutiny recently because they had hired Yurika to head up their own Coding and Decoding Department. So she had hoped that it meant that Yurika was in the process of cleaning up her act. As such, Shiho had been rather pleased by the news of her being hired by the company, even if it was a competitor of the Great Tree Shipping Company. Especially as their previous encounters after her dismissal from the department had been rather contentious. Mostly as she had tried to convince the slightly older woman to seek help, but Yurika had stubbornly denied needing any as she had claimed that she had everything under control.

However, seeing the apartment was in an even worst state of neglect then when she had last visited, she found her hopes that her friend had been working through her issues thoroughly dashed. Particularly as sitting among the clutter of discarded fast-food wrappers or empty ramen cups on her modest kitchen table was a mirror covered in a powdery residue, and surrounding it, were several empty plastic tubes that dealers sold Dust in.

Hiding the frown that she felt at the drug paraphernalia on open display, she turned towards Yurika before answering the brown-haired woman’s question by stating, “I heard that you had recently taken a job with a transport company, and wanted to congratulate you.”

She let the frown that she had been holding back appear as Yurika rather than just accepting the sentiment, decided to allude to some of their previous conversations regarding her need for help by stating, “Yeah thanks, you’re looking at the Department Head for the Oboro Forbearance CO. Not too shabby for someone you said needed to get their shit together.”

Not sure why Yurika was trying to bait her into another argument, nevertheless she responded worriedly, “Yurika, you need help. You can’t keep losing yourself in drugs…”

“Why the fuck can’t I?” Yurika retorted heatedly, “Lady Oboro is well aware that I’m using. But she recognizes my talents aren’t being affected by it, unlike that bitch Hokage and her lapdog Ibiki.”

“Yes, they are,” Shiho exasperatedly countered, “If I had not been taking up your slack then your using would have come to light all the sooner.”

“Or maybe, I just saw no reason to come in because I knew you would do the work for me,” Yurika said snidely. “Why ruin a good thing?”

“Y…you knew?” Shiho asked for confirmation, sounding surprised that Yurika had been aware of her doing her assignments for her.

Yurika, unaware that Shiho had spoken to and confessed to Ibiki about her having been translating her assignments prior to her late arrival to the department on the day that the T and I had brought her in for questioning, responded, “Of course I did. Most of the losers in that department can barely handle their own assignments, let alone take on additional ones. How naïve are you to think that I wouldn’t notice assignments disappearing from my inbox?”

“I was trying to help you. I’m still trying to help you. You need to talk to someone about…” Shiho said with a hint of anger coloring her tone due to it appearing that Yurika had been taking advantage of her kindness.

“Did I ask you to or for your opinion on what I need?” Yurika snapped as her own anger came to a quick boil. “I have everything under control, and I certainly don’t need help from some pathetic wallflower whose only companionship comes from the books that she reads. You think we are friends? Ha! Here’s a newsflash for you, nobody in the department likes you, and I only tried to be friendly with you out of a sense of pity.” For a moment, Yurika nearly relented as she saw that her words had terribly wounded Shiho, who despite the large thick lenses of her glasses, it was apparent that she was on the verge of tears. However, as to do so would be even a partial admittance that she might be wrong, she instead opened her door once more, and then told her, “Now get the hell out of my sight.”

Shiho hesitated for a moment, before just lowering her head and charging out of the apartment. Yurika slammed the door shut behind her, before cursing angrily as she headed straight for her kitchen table. Searching through the trash that littered it, she found a still partially filled dust canister. Pouring a line on the mirror, she lowered her face down to it before snorting it and straightened up as the drug worked its magic on her. She shivered for a moment in a drug induced pleasure before pulling her shirt off as she moved back to her bedroom to give herself the orgasm that she had previously been denied due to the unwanted disturbance.

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Events transpire shortly before Eroninja Chapter 104

A naked Oboro waved lazily from the couch of her penthouse as the elevator doors closed and blocked a smirking Chouji from her view. She sighed in satisfaction as she lowered her hand to her pussy and shivered as she gave it a rub, massaging some of his leaking cum into her skin. Pulling her hand away, she sighed again although this time it was with resignation as rather than carrying herself off to bed to sleep as her body was craving, she instead found that she had worked to do.

Standing, she decided first to shower so that she could collect her thoughts as to how best proceed since it appeared that there was now an opportunity to advance her plans regarding the Akimichi. Stepping into the penthouse’s large walk-in shower, she stepped under the spray of the several nozzles as she began the process by recalling the events of the evening, which was a sort of going away celebration for Chouji since he would be leaving for Suna in the morning. Although, her true motivation had been to discreetly probe him for information, as over the course of the previous few weeks, she had begun to suspect that the Torture and Interrogation Department had been preparing some sort of operation. Concerned that she had overplayed her hand by hiring Yurika, she had used the excuse of his leaving for Suna, and possibility of his having a busy schedule for the duration of the exams as a reason to butter him up with strong drink and fine food.

Her concerns that she may be the target had lessoned considerably earlier in the day when Chouji had accepted the invitation, since they had initially been centered on how cagey he had become towards some of her lightly probing questions. However, feeling that if she was the target of some impending operation then he would have instead used the excuse of his early morning departure as a reason to avoid seeing her, she began to relax. Especially since he had been all the more primed to refuse considering how he had put in such a long day because of some incident that had taken place and involved one of her business rival’s employees and a gang leader that hailed from Rice Paddies. However, Chouji had been more than willing to accept her invitation, leaving her feeling a great deal of relief that for the moment it appeared as if a noose was not tightening around her neck.

However, that had left her with the question as to what exactly had Chouji so on edge regarding even the most innocuous of inquires related to his duties within the department. She had received a major hint during the dinner that they had enjoyed at one of the most prestigious restaurants within the village, which also happened to be run by Chouji’s mother. It had come about when she had suggested arranging her schedule so that she could meet up with him in Suna after the conclusion of the test that he would be a proctor for. Although, he had appeared outwardly pleased by the proposal, he had quickly tried to talk her out of it, making several excuses as to why he didn’t believe he would be able to meet up with her. With the most prominent being that as it was his first time acting in a proctor role, he was unsure of what his schedule would be.

She didn’t pry any further, simply accepting his reasoning, although she did keep the pressure up by suggesting some date after the conclusion with the assumption that he would be returning to Konoha. She could tell that despite his best efforts to give the opposite impression, that he was growing extremely flustered by her continued seemingly innocent requests to setup a future tryst. After several failures, and seeing the frustration she was projecting at his vague excuses as to why he wouldn’t formally commit to anything, he admitted that after the first round he was already committed to a mission for the T&I Department, so would need to delay promising to anything until his return.

Oboro had relented, knowing that with his knowledge of her background, her continued prying might lead him to suspect her motives. But, playing the role of the concerned lover, she did ask if he expected the mission to be a dangerous one. Chouji hadn’t bothered trying to assure her that it would be bereft of danger, but had tried to calm her nerves somewhat by stating the mission was just to follow up on details that had come to light and were pertinent to an ongoing investigation. He had gloated slightly by stating that mission had only come about due to details that he had noticed, but had tried to tap down on the importance of it by claiming that the only reason for it was primarily due to their already being in the area due to a good portion of the department heading to Suna for the exams.

The Kunoichi had seemingly accepted the explanation at face value, although she had observed that Chouji had almost immediately relaxed as she allowed him to change the topic of conversation. This had led her to the belief that Chouji’s mission was anything but just some follow-up investigation being launched while his team was in the area.

She had received further confirmation of this after the meal as they had made the journey back to the Konoha Grand Hotel and had achieved it by mentioning that her company had considerable influence in the Land of Wind and several surrounding countries. Influence which she wouldn’t mind using to help his investigation. Chouji had been caught a little off-guard by her returning to the subject, but had assured her that it wasn’t necessary as they had already made the necessary preparations. This had tipped her off to the fact that the mission definitely was not as simple as the Akimichi was claiming. Since she felt that if it was just a investigation, then he would not necessarily know if the resources that she had offered would be useful in opening some doors for him should he encounter any barriers or resistance. His quick dismissal of her aid, led her to believe that there was already a known target, and thus knowable goals of what the mission was to obtain. With the T&I Department being not only directly involved, but if she had to guess leading the operation, that goal was undoubtedly related to procuring information of some sort.

Oboro had felt that she had completely assembled the puzzle by the time they were riding the elevator up to her penthouse, and so she had thrown herself into their fuck session upon spilling out of the elevator. She imagined Chouji had misconstrued her passion as being due to his leaving, with an usure date of return. But in actuality it was primarily due to her joy at finding the means with which she would finally be able mold him into her perfect spy.

She smiled as in the present she finished showering, and had to hand it to Ibiki’s ingenuity as his timing the operation to the exams would allow him to mobilize a sizeable portion of his department without it causing any major ripples. Which meant that if she was correct about who he was going after, a group which usually seemed to have an almost supernatural sense of detecting such things, he stood a very good chance of catching them unawares.

However, knowing how they tended to react in such situations, she felt a genuine concern that the months of work that she had put into turning Chouji into an agent, would all be for nought. While it wouldn’t be the first time such an occurrence had happened to her, and while in truth she had considered simply refunding the client that had hired her to develop an asset within the Leaf. She found that some part of her would be disappointed by such a turn of events, and it wouldn’t just be due to the hit to her pride. As while she wouldn’t say that she had developed any deep-seated feelings for the Akimichi, she did have a sense that he could become more than just a source of information if she played her cards correctly.

But, none of that would matter if Chouji arrived in the Land of Secrets, and upon assaulting the facility there it just exploded. Although, admittedly she did doubt that the owners of the facility would use such an overt method of dealing with those planning to investigate it, she had little doubt regarding how fatal it would be for those who entered/ So, with that in mind, she headed to her bedroom where after stepping on a disguised floorboard that was in fact a switch hidden under an ornate dresser, a previously seamless section of wall suddenly popped open to reveal a saferoom. Entering in the combination to the room, she stepped inside and moved to a shelf which had a large case resting on it. Popping the latches, she opened it to reveal several crystal balls each of which along with its twin was worth a small fortune. However, despite the considerable investment in capital that they represented, it had been a worthwhile one as it had allowed her to run her less the legal operations within what many considered the strongest shinobi village without fear of her of it catching wind of her activities. But not finding the crystal ball that she needed, she pulled on a handle at the center of the velvet coated molding they rested in to reveal several more layers resided within. Reaching for the correct one, she stepped out of the room and placed the crystal on the stand before channeling chakra into it in order to activate it and cause its pair to begin signaling that she wished to speak with the occasional client that she had given it to.

She moved to a chair, expecting it to be a while before she would receive a response. She was pleasantly surprised, when only about an hour had passed before the crystal began to glow in order to project something directly above it. She had to fight back her revulsion when the large fuzzy image cleared to reveal a hooded man’s visage, as the left half of his face was bereft of skin leaving his eye and teeth exposed. Forcing a smile onto her face as she stood, she said, “I thank you for responding to my summons Dae.”

“Let’s dispense with the pleasantries, Oboro,” the black hooded man said dismissively, “What do you want?”

Oboro struggled to maintain her smile as she felt the urge to hunt the man down and slowly peel off the rest of his skin. But, aware that even under the most advantageous of circumstances it would likely end with her death, said, “It has just come to my attention that despite your best efforts, the Leaf may have picked up the trail of your escapee. Their T&I Department seems to be gearing up for some major operation that is set to take place upon the conclusion of the first round of the exams being held in Suna. I believe they have already backtracked the trail created from the incidents that took place several months back.”

Dae didn’t outwardly react, although she did notice the tightening of the exposed muscle around his mouth which indicated his displeasure. But, after a moment stated, “No matter, the base related to it has already been mothballed. There is nothing of any true value left in the facility and should the base be overrun, we’ll simply activate the erasure protocol which should take out any remaining evidence, not to mention any uninvited guests.”

“Well, that is actual the reason for my contacting you,” Oboro stated. Adding some flowery praise to her tone she explained, “I didn’t doubt that your countermeasures would be sufficient to deal with the inconvenience. However, an asset that I have been trying to develop, and is how I came about this information is likely going to be assigned to any force which breaches your facility. I’d hate to see all my hard work go up in smoke, so would appreciate your discretion.”

Dae studied her for a moment, before responding, “I think not. While I am appreciative of the assistance that you lent my associates who dealt with the stowaway by providing them any documents they required, along with the wagon. That does not extend to allowing the Leaf to have free reign of our facility.”

“I’m not suggesting that you let the Leaf do as it pleases,” Oboro countered diplomatically, “Only that you give my asset a chance to withdrawal.” Hoping to entice the man into agreeing, she said, “As the Leaf has just demonstrated, it is perhaps tangentially aware of your activities. Moreover, the extreme secrecy that they have displayed for this operation would indicated that they believe it is related to some major player. It is possibly, that despite your best efforts, they have perhaps learned of your Organization’s existence. At the very least, it is clear that they do not think those incidents were the work of just some minor rogue element. Let my asset escape, and I’ll provide you with any information that the Leaf may have regarding your existence now and going forward.”

She could see the man was curious, but he pushed back by stating, “Tempting, but I’m aware of how you operate. Seeing as how you’ve allowed them to stumble into danger in the first place, it is clear that you have yet to bring them fully under your control. More to the point, this agent you are developing is already intended for another master, are they not? I doubt your current client would appreciate your asset serving two masters.”

“No,” Oboro admitted, “But, as this client has demonstrated a painful lack of…foresight. I worry that such a useful tool would be wasted in his hands, so do not intend to turn over full ownership as I have with others that I have forged. More to the point, with your assistance in this matter it will allow me bring just the right amount of stress to bear in order to forge him into a knife pressed against the Leaf’s throat should they move against you again. Even better, one they’ll never see as such considering his near death in the very operation whose details he allowed to leak out.”

Dae allowed himself to smile at her words, but cautioned, “I cannot promise that he will survive though. If I am to play along, I might as well see how the guard dogs that we left behind fare against actual shinobi. However, I’ll hold off on simply eradicating the facility outright if possible. But, I will require more than just the promise of information as compensation.”

Oboro knowing the deal was the best that she would be able to secure, inclined her head respectfully before responding, “Perhaps any talks about compensation are a tad bit premature. We can discuss the details, after we see just what each party has gained or lost once it is all said and done.”

“Agreed,” Dae replied with a nod of his own, “I plan to attend the Bazaar that is to be held in a few weeks. Provided the matter concludes in both of our favor, we can meet there so that you can uphold your end of the bargain and we can properly discuss payment.”

“I look forward to it,” Oboro lied smoothly and was pleased when she no longer had to stare at his deformed visage. Standing to return the crystal to its place, she knew now that it was just a matter of seeing if the gamble that she had just taken would pay off.


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Events happen concurrently with Eroninja Chapter 109

With the darkness of night covering the land, Chouji along with the proctors and Chunin Exam dropouts that Ibiki had gathered for his operation were resting in a rundown hut that could often be found littering the roads which covered the land for when the weather turned sour. Usually, such places would be stocked with supplies such as dried meat, fruits and firewood for weary travelers with an understanding that they would take no more than needed and would pay the kindness forward. However, there were no such provisions remaining in the one Ibiki had selected for them to rest at, which wasn’t too surprising considering it’s had been built near a road that appeared to no longer be traveled all that frequently. Not too rare of an occurrence really, as most roads tended to just be paths that were well traveled by peasants until something resembling one formed. As such, when the reason for the peasants to travel to a neighboring village faded, so too did the roads that had formed which nature quickly reclaimed.

As for the shinobi currently gathered there, they would be hard pressed to be called such at the moment as they were all dressed in various dark colored garb favored by down on their luck civilians giving off the impression to any who had spotted them that they were likely bandits. Especially considering the multitude of various weapons that accentuated their outfits. Their standard uniforms, and headbands had all been left behind in Suna, and would be returned to Konoha along with any other unused equipment and props the proctors had brought to be used for the second round of the exam.

As for Chouji, he was sitting alone in the corner of the darkened hut, as Ibiki hadn’t wanted to start a fire in its central firepit so as to not alert any locals of it being in use. He had permitted the lighting of a few candles so that those not on watch duty could quietly converse among themselves. His gaze drifted over to Inaho who was conversing with Gennai and Komugi, her former teammates, who she had personally recruited, not only for the mission, but in their ruse to fracture the teams that had taken the first round of the exams that they had overseen. She seemed to sense his gaze, causing her to look up and give him a smile before turning her attention to Komugi as he continued describing some of the hardships the woman that they had partnered with to for the exams had put them through. Before she had though, she seemed to consider waving him over, but perhaps sensing he’d rather be alone thought better of it.

Chouji was glad for it, since his mood was still depressed from what he perceived as their failure in the exams. A mood Inaho had shared with him for a short time when they had learned that outside of Toka, who had been selected as an example to be offered up in order to scare the other exam participants into fracturing their teams, they had been the only group of proctors to not breakup a single one. He wasn’t too surprised that she had recovered from the personal defeat, especially as Ibiki had been far from disappointed, and had even expected such would be the case considering Naruto had been in their group. Having heard the admiration in his commander’s voice when talking of the Uzumaki had rubbed him the wrong way, since it was a reminder of the attitude that he felt he was fighting against. Which was little more than baseless drivel that was built upon empty platitudes, which would easily shatter when confronted with the harshness of the world in which they lived. Although the annoyance of what he considered to be a personal defeat in his war of ideology with the Uzumaki remained. He did wonder if perhaps he was not being too harsh in his judgement of the stance Naruto had taken. After all, he did recall his own time through the exams, when Naruto’s declaration that he wouldn’t back down even if he would fail and remain a genin until he became the Hokage had helped steel his nerves about taking the Tenth Question.

But the years and reality had soured his views on the Uzumaki’s declaration. Now he saw them as just the naïve ramblings of a man, who while he may get by on guts, and determination, would lead a lot of good people to their deaths. With this being the case even as far back as his first exam, as there may have been those who had rightly been shaken by the stakes that Ibiki had laid out back when he had been the proctor during his exam. With the concern that had weld up likely being due to the understanding that they perhaps lacked the talent or merit to continue forward, and would have been better served by dropping out. However, buoyed temporarily by Naruto’s proclamation, they had pushed on only to end up corpses within the Forest of Death, as the idealism that the Uzumaki’s words had inspired gave way to the harshness of reality again.

Chouji wasn’t so blind that he didn’t see that such individuals had their uses as well, after all such a well-timed speech could inspire men to great feats of bravery. But that was usually just before you sent them running off to their deaths. Or, try to get people to accept the deaths that resulted in failures in policy. Moreover, Chouji was finding that he was coming to believe that the Uzumaki would never truly have to reap the consequences of his naïve idealism.

After all, Chouji was of the opinion that the first round of the exams this time around had been practically tailored for the Uzumaki to put his principles on display. Admittedly, he felt believing as much was perhaps a reach, since from what he had heard the test had actually been Shikamaru’s brainchild. However, rumors had swelled that Kumo in particular had been against it, feeling that the proper response to the last question should have been to sacrifice those they believed would drag the team down. An idea that Chouji shared, since he felt truthfully the world would far more often demand such sacrifices for the good of a mission rather than nobly sticking together only for it to fail and the team getting wiped out completely.

Especially as Chouji was coming around to seeing what Lee had been alluding to when had had also voiced his own disagreements with Naruto following Sasuke’s attack on the Leaf Maximum Security Prison which had led to Iruka’s death, and subsequent murder of Sakura’s father. Namely, that while Naruto had built his reputation on being the scrappy underdog, in truth he had been given all the tools that he had needed to succeed from birth.

He did recognize that Naruto’s record as a shinobi was impressive. However, considering that he housed one of the shinobi world’s most fearsome weapons, placed within him by his Hokage father, it would have been more surprising if he didn’t. Furthermore, it also exposed the lie behind many of his words. To his thinking and using the exam that Ibiki had proctored when they had both first taken the test as an example. If Ibiki’s declaration that any who had taken the Tenth question and gotten it wrong had been true, then any genin that had failed, would have almost assuredly been relegated to a career of stagnation. As there had been a few Eternal Genin that had come and gone within Konoha’s ranks. Outside of a few shining examples, such as Maito Gai’s father who had fought the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri and exchanged his life for several of theirs, most would have careers which never amounted to anything. This would never be the case for Naruto considering the creature contained within him, so would have undoubtedly had the rules bent for him, allowing him to stack up the laurels needed to perhaps become Hokage.

Chouji imagined this was also true of all Naruto’s idealism and why he could afford to be so foolish since he would likely be the last to feel the consequences of his naivete. Such as when Sasuke would finally end him once and for all, but only after the Uchiha had burned all of the Leaf down around him.

Ironically enough, it was Lee’s own recent about face when it came to the Uzumaki which convinced him all the more of this fact, as the green clad Genin had significantly changed his tune after he had returned from the mission to the Land of Ruins. However, although to hear Lee tell the story it had been Naruto’s words which had convinced him of the error of his ways, judging by the injuries that he had been sporting weeks after the fact, and the details that he had read from the mission report, it was clear the Uzumaki hadn’t been shy about using his fists either. To Chouji, it was clear that Naruto hadn’t truly been able to reach Lee with words, and so had decided to rub his face in the overwhelming power that he possessed and been practically gifted to him at birth.

This act showed Chouji that while Naruto talked a good game, when push came to shove, and the world demanded action the Uzumaki would be just as willing to throwdown as anyone else. He would just try to claim that it was his opponents’ actions which justified his own, somehow giving them more validity. While Chouji felt it was hypocrisy at its finest. Since if all the flowery speeches ended up being as worthless as the breath expended to speak them into existence, then why waste the time in the first place. As even the Third Hokage demonstrated this was the ultimate truth of the land as all his talk of Konoha being one family amounted to nothing in the end. When the Uchiha wanted to rebel, and his words amounted to nothing, he stood by and allowed them to be massacred. However, even though Chouji may have wished that accursed bloodline had completely been wiped from existence. He couldn’t even truly respect the Third Hokage’s actions however, since all he had done was cover it up, and left it to the likes of Danzou to act in his place. All so he could keep his own hands clean of the blood that needed to be spilled.

As such, Chouji essentially saw the question of how to deal with Sasuke’s aggression as being nearly identical to the one that had been asked when the Uchiha Clan had first begun planning their rebellion. Thus, with further violence breaking out being just a matter of time, there was no point in holding back. Worse still, unlike what had been the case with the Uchiha Clan itself, thanks to Danzou’s willingness to act, violence had already been committed against the village and its people, and as such any reprisal from it was warranted. However, as the village currently lacked any leadership with the spine or clarity to see that, he feared that soon it would be burning because its Hokage was too busy trying to appease a fool who would rather keep his heads in the clouds instead of dealing with the realities that his own previous leniency had allowed to become an even bigger threat. Much as had been the case when the Third Hokage had allowed his own personal investment in Orochimaru to cloud his judgement and let him escape. Only to come back and spit in the face of the man who had shown him it by trying to destroy that which he had built.

Chouji feared that while ultimately Danzou had appeared to lose his way, as files that had been uncovered after the fall of Root would seem to indicate that the disgraced elder had dealings with Orochimaru even after his defection. With this contact being primarily related to experiments that would integrate Hashirama Senju’s cells into his own body, which in accordance with the Sharingan that he had already implanted would allow him to control the Nine Tailed Fox. But, regardless of the deceased elder’s shady dealings, Chouji believed that he had fulfilled a vital role within the village, namely preventing the peace at any cost crowd from getting too great a say in how the village conducted itself. Since his passing however, the Clan Council had sadly become preoccupied with the idea. Perhaps not too surprising a development considering the tales that surrounded Tsunade’s return to the village, and her only taking the job of Hokage because of Naruto’s influence. Her complete failure to act as a proper Hokage in regard to Sasuke and his defection by marking him as a missing-nin until recently was all the proof he needed to confirm those rumors validity. Sadly, the Uzumaki’s influence hadn’t just taken root with her, as it was clear that Ino had become rather devoted to him as well. He felt a spike of anger as he thought of his former blonde teammate, as he felt betrayed by her actions. Especially as he recalled her near slapping of him for the high crime of insulting the Uzumaki. The fact that she had yet to speak a single word to him since then only heightened his anger considering they had been friends, even before they had become teammates due to how close their Families were aligned. The fact that she would turn her back on that and him, while aligning herself with villains like Konan of The Akatsuki, who regardless of her defection, he still felt she held culpability for Asuma’s death due to her helping create the organization in the first place, which just highlighted for him how lost to the Uzumaki’s influence his former teammate truly was.

Sadly, this could be said to be case for most of the Clan Heads of the village at present considering the current composition of the Council. As there was little doubt that Konohamaru would go along with whatever Naruto wanted considering the young Sarutobi’s hero worship of the Uzumaki. Which he suspected was also the case for Yakumo Kurama considering the role Naruto played in dealing with her rampaging ID. Chouji admitted he didn’t know much about Tsume Inuzuka, but felt she would also fall into the same camp, considering she was the one that first suggested the bill which had ended the embargo with Kumo. Which while the bill may have been sponsored primarily for financial reasons. He didn’t doubt the Uzumaki likely had secured her loyalty due to the role he played in quelling some of the rebellious elements within her clan after a rival for her position had nearly beaten her son to death. He didn’t know if this meant she was necessarily a believer in his vision, but imagined that considering the Uzumaki’s track record with bringing people around to his way of seeing things, it was more than likely the case. Chouji also suspected that Yoshino Nara might also be more than likely to side with the Naruto, although he attributed this to the loss of her husband and so felt that she might be siding with the more peaceful elements of the council in order to avoid conflicts which could cost her more loved ones. Finally, he imagined his father was also firmly entrenched in this camp as well, as he had tended to just go along with whatever political winds the Nara or the Yamanaka had tended to follow.

Much to his mother’s irritation. Which was perhaps why his mother had begun exerting some pressure on his father to step down, and let him take over as leader of the Akimichi. Especially when considering the current troubles between Ino and him, meant at the very least he wouldn’t just be going along with the Nara or Yamanaka’s whims. As at the very least, breaking up the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi voting block would allow their clan to finally flex some political muscle of its own. Although it did annoy him to see his father being so resistant to the idea, particularly as he believed that if Ino was capable of representing her clan, then he was as well. However, in truth it was just due to the lack of confidence that his father was showing in him by resisting it. As in reality, Chouj just imagined that taking the position would result in more headaches than it was worth at present. As even if he joined the Clan Council, at best he could count on the support of the Aburame or Hyuuga Clan for any propositions he proposed that would go against the current vision of the village.

Which to Chouji were not exactly a welcome pair of allies in which to build an alliance with. The Aburame tended to be rather mercurial regarding their political views, often switching seeming on a whim between supporting diplomatic or warlike policies. Having had very limited interaction with the clan on such a stage, he couldn’t say why this was the case himself. But, having heard his father speak on the matter, he was of the opinion that it was because the Aburame had come to view Konoha as a hive, and tended to act more in the present to how best serve or defend it. A belief that Chouji was prone to believe himself, as for the moment at least the Aburame tended to be one of the few clans that resisted some of the Council’s current measures on a regular basis. Even Naruto’s lending of himself and his clones to the task of rebuilding their district following Furofuki’s attack on the village and controlling of them had done little to change this, and so if he could build a strong enough case as to why the Darkness village needed to be crushed, he imagined he could potentially count on the Aburame’s clan support.

This left the Hyuuga as the only other clan that he could turn to in order to build some sort of coalition to take the fight to Sasuke. But, depending on how their succession matter resolved itself, he wasn’t sure this would remain the case. Especially if Hinata ended up becoming the Clan head as her infatuation with the blonde left little doubt in Chouji’s mind she would gladly support any policy that she believed would please him. Still, even in the present, he felt they would not exactly be great political allies to have, as they tended to support policies almost entirely on how they imagined they could best benefit. In point of fact, most of their resistance to the current peace incentives that Tsunade had implement were entirely due to the Clan having profited so handsomely from the embargos that had been in place as many companies they worked with tended to be exempt from them.

This did leave Chouji with the impression that if he wanted to fix the current lack of vision that Konoha’s leaders were displaying, then perhaps the Clan Council would not be the best way to go about it. But rather, he should perhaps direct his efforts to gaining allies in its Civilian Council, as for starters due to it being the larger political body in size, if not stature, it meant it would be harder for any one person to create a super majority within it. Furthermore, while the Clan Council was where most of the policies regarding the running of the village came from, it was the civilian Council where those policies were given the means to be implemented. Meaning that if Chouji could garner enough support there by playing on the civilians fears that a world with Sasuke in it was one in which they would never be safe, then the Clan Council could propose all the peacebuilding initiatives that they wanted, yet without the support of the Civilian Council those plans would never receive the material support that they needed to get off the ground.

However, such concerns were quite a bit off into the future, since he would need to inherit his father’s position in order to gain the resources that he would need to even begin greasing the wheels, or perhaps more aptly stated in this case to begin grinding them to a stop. However, at present, there were more pressing concerns that required his focus which as he noticed several of the more astute shinobi among them perking up as someone approached the shack, told him that their peaceful evening was likely coming to an end.

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“Enter,” said Ibiki from his sitting position besides the door of the rundown traveler’s hut. He didn’t bother looking back as the door slid open, since he was busy watching the gathered shinobi noting which of them hadn’t sensed the man’s arrival and had been startled by the new arrival. To his dismay roughly half of those gathered hadn’t reacted, but he knew that he shouldn’t have been too surprised by this being the case, considering he had pulled many of them from among the dropouts who had only realized they had mostly screwed their chances to advance much further in the exams due to their kicking one of their members out in order to advance. Making a few adjustments to the teams that he had been intending to group together for the next phase of the operation, he stood while speaking to the new arrival who was dressed in similar civilian garb while carrying a duffel bag over his shoulder, “Dango, glad you could make it.”

“Glad to be here sir,” the Chunin said as he stepped into the hut and closed the door behind him. “This assignment gave me plenty of chances to indulge in some moon gazing.”

“As long as it didn’t distract you from the actual reason that I sent you out here,” Ibiki said in a friendly enough manner, although there was still a hint that he was being completely serious.

“No sir,” Dango Mitsuki replied pulling a black bandana from his head which was also bereft of the Konoha plate. His tone grew a bit worried as he added, “Although, if you were hoping to catch these guys unaware, I think you’re going to be disappointed.”

Chouji frowned at the dark-haired man’s statement, hating the idea that the lead he had been so proud of uncovering was just some dead end so somewhat accusatorily asked, “Are you saying that you’ve tipped them off?”

A concern which although he didn’t outwardly show it, was one that Ibiki nevertheless also felt which was why he didn’t reel the Akimichi back some as he wanted to observe how the dark eyed Chunin reacted. Who did so by turning his gaze to Chouji and understandably replied a little heatedly, “I’m not saying anything of the sort.”

Ibiki continued to watch the man’s reaction in silence, but accepting that among the reasons that he had selected him for the mission of ferreting out any hidden bases in the area was because of his keen observation skills, upon not seeing any signs that Dango feared that he had alerted their quarry of their presence asked, “Then what are you saying?”

Refocusing on the Jounin, Dango dropped his duffel bag to the ground in order to rifle through it. Finding what he sought, he pulled out a folded map which he opened before laying it out on the wooden floor of the hut. Ibiki knelt as well, while waving at Inaho, who brought over a candle as the other gathered shinobi took up positions around them. As Inaho placed the candle down between the two men, it showed a highly detailed map, which Chouji suspected had been drawn by hand by the Chunin, who began by pointing to the traveler’s hut that they were currently standing in as he said, “We are here.” Moving his finger to the south, he stopped on a small fishing village that was at the southernmost point of the land of secrets, the layout of which had been provided in intricate detail as he said, “South of here is a village called Salt Wind. He moved his fingers westward towards a forested area a few miles to the west and stopping on it explained, “To the west is what appears to be an abandoned saw mill. I believe that if there is some sort of hidden base in the area. This is where it would be located. But, while I’ve kept my distance, there appears to be almost no activity there at present. Plus, there are no trails, hidden or otherwise to suggest that it has been visited at all in the last few months.”

Ibiki frowned since he had been playing a hunch when putting the mission together, as he had sent agents out to other countries along the southern coastline using the information that Inaho’s team had gathered. However, while those agents had uncovered plenty of bandit and smuggler hideouts, most of them had belonged to groups with known track records. Moreover, none of them operated on the scale or scope that he believed the Organization or Shadow Cabal operated at. He had considered the possibility that one or more may indeed be connected to either group, and that it was just a cover to operate semi out in the open. Yet, ultimately had rejected the theory since he imagined that such cover stories tended to become closer to the truth over time as the wealth and power that such operatives gathered while maintaining the rouse tended to eventually have them following their own agendas. With this usually ending with their turning traitor or outright exposing the operation they had been trying to hide.

Still, despite Dango having found no such groups operating in the area, that alone was enough to make Ibiki curious especially as it seemed to be the most likely place that the creature whose trail they had backtracked from where it had possibly met its end, would have had come to shore. Furthermore, Dango’s report had included a sighting of the so-called elves that had apparently been in pursuit of it. With the incident taking place near the Land of Secrets Northern Border. Where surprisingly enough the man, a hunter, who had stumbled across their camp at night looking to warm himself by their fire had also described at least one of the two women he had encountered as being elf like as he had caught a brief appearance of her with her hood down before they had sensed his presence. Although it had been from behind, his description was that the woman had possessed ears similar to those of the beings heard of primarily in fairy tales. Although, he had claimed that her demeanor had been abrasive, her companion, who’s hood had been up when he had approached, had been polite if somewhat cold and distant. He hadn’t made any mention of their carrying weapons, but the hunter had mentioned the fact that they had apparently been traveling via a wagon.

The encounter had not lasted long as the hunter had quickly taken his leave though as he had noticed his presence had put both women on edge and so he had begun to fear for his life. As while they had relented to his request to let him warm himself by their fire for a moment. He was suddenly struck by a feeling of death approaching after making a passing mention of how their silver-eyes seemed to be reflecting the light of the fire almost like a cats would. Although, he couldn’t say if the feeling had originated from the women, he nevertheless had quickly taken his leave. As he had the distinct impression that one of them would have relished the opportunity to end him.

Ibiki feared that his hunch wasn’t going to pan out, which was apparently also a concern of one of the Chunin Exam dropouts that they had recruited, who asked, “Wait a second, what if there is nothing there? Do we still get promoted to Chunin?”

Ibiki kept the annoyance he felt at the question from his face, reminding himself that he had not disclosed all the pertinent details to a majority of those they had gathered yet. Not that it would have guaranteed the young man, who had sandy brown hair held up by a headband with its Konoha plate removed and sideburns running down the sides of his face, would have kept his concerns to himself. As Ibiki needed to remind himself that truthfully, most of the genin present had dropped out of an exam which truthfully hadn’t had a fail state. The young man who had just spoken, was one such genin named Shibire, who along with his teammate Minoji had kicked out the third member of their team believing it to be the right course of action. An action that he imagined the two had found rather easy since they had only partnered with the kunoichi in question for the exams, as both had once been teammates with Tanzo. Ibiki imagined that it was the memory of his former subordinate, who had been murdered by Furofuki, which held him back from dressing down the man, as he instead said, “If there is nothing to find at the location, then your participation in this mission will weigh heavily in your favor for promotion consideration. But, it will no longer be a given.”

“That’s not fair,” his teammate Minojo said his frustration being clearly heard in his tone, “We agreed to participate, it isn’t our fault if things don’t work out on your end.”

Regardless of their once being teammates with Tanzo, Ibiki was about to tear the pair down a peg or three, when the kunoichi they had excised from their team snapped at the pair instead, “Then you should have had the guts to follow through on your decision to kick me out of the team.” The brown haired kunoichi who had her hair tied up in a round bun on her head, continued, “But, when you realized that your having done so put you at a disadvantage for the next few rounds of the exam, you chickened out. This mission is just a lucky break for what would have been an otherwise pathetic showing. Be grateful that they’ll give us any additional consideration.”

Ibiki focused his gaze on the kunoichi whose name was Midori, and although she had only been a kunoichi for less than a year had opted to take the exams when her team having been nominated by their sensei to participate had refused to. Having felt confident in her abilities, she had asked her sensei to let her take them regardless. He had given his blessing, provided she find a group willing to take it with her, which had led her to partnering up with Shibire and Minojo. A choice that he imagined she was now regretting not only because they had kicked her from the team when they had thought it necessary for their own advancement. But because she was perhaps regretting the welcome she would receive from the team that she had decided to leave behind.

Making a mental note that he would give his personal recommendation for her advancement, he nodded in approval to her words before stating, “Well said. Now as for the rest of you, I can understand your feelings of frustration at it appearing this might not be the easy ticket to promotion that you were hoping for. Well, if you were expecting it to be one, then you are only highlighting the ignorance that proves you are underserving of promotion.” Locking eyes with all the gathered genin in turn and giving them his best steely gaze, he continued, “Did you think we would make such a promise for something that would be easy? If so, then you are in for a rude awakening.” Deciding to give those gathered the remaining details so they understood what was at stake, he said, “Now, listen up. The reason that I’ve gathered you all here is because through the efforts of the Torture and Interrogation Department, we believe that we may have found a hidden facility linked to a group that calls itself simply The Organization.”

He noticed quite a few confused looks, even among his veteran Chunin Proctors so explained, “Very few individuals have even heard of this group, and many who have doubt that it even exists. I do not count myself among them, and believe their purpose is to create weapons that can go toe to toe with those who stand at the top of the current warrior hierarchy. Namely us shinobi.”

Frowning, one of the Chunin proctors that he had recruited said, “For what purpose thought? Are you saying they plan to take over providing military service to the Daimyo?”

Ibiki shook his head, before replying, “I can’t really speculate at this time. All I can tell you is that I believe this group created a creature that left a trail of bodies, and then was dispatched by other warriors, whose unique description does not lead me to believe that they were hired from a shinobi village to clean it up. If I’m correct, then the location Dango has found is very likely where the creature escaped from.”

Dango nodded, before adding, “Or at the very least where it made landfall.” A bit surprised by it appearing the chunin had begun to form his own theory, as Ibiki hadn’t included any such details in his instructions, turned his focus to the man, who seeing his superior’s questioning gaze stated, “It wasn’t in my original report as I hadn’t uncovered these rumors yet. But, in the town there was talk of black ships which sailed the coast on nights of the new moon. I dismissed them as ghost stories at first. As I’ve been down here long enough to see several new moons, with no sign of these ships. But maybe there is some hidden harbor nearby. If this Organization is developing weapons to take down shinobi, then I imagine they have serious financial backing.”

“Oh yeah,” Kotetsu Hagane said clearly feeling as if the mission was a waste of time after hearing the full details as to who Ibiki was after, “Where would they get that? The Big Bank of Scumbags?”

Dango shrugged his shoulders, not really bothered by his dismissive attitude finding it to be understandable with all things considered, nevertheless he replied, “Probably something to that effect. I mean where does someone like Orochimaru get the financial backing to build not only a shinobi village, but the dozens upon dozens of hideouts that he was said to have commissioned to be built throughout the continent? Rumors say that we’ve only found a small fraction of them, even with the help of former members.”

Kotetsu grew introspective as he had to admit that even with the minor Daimyo of Rice’s backing it would have been a monumental task to build a single Shinobi Village, let alone one that was said to consist of a network of hidden hideouts, as even one of the more established minor villages, such as the Hidden Star Village was little more than a small town in size and scope.

While Ibiki was glad to see quite a few more people minds opening to the possibility of such an organization existing, he focused everyone on the matter at hand, “Hopefully this raid will get us some of those answers. Now listen up, I’m going to break you up into squads and then give out the roles that I want each squad to perform.”

****************************************************
Chouji despite his earlier misgivings about how the evening would turn out was rather disappointed at just how peaceful the night was proving to be. Although to be fair it had started off rather tense especially when they had first approached the lumber mill that Dango had suggested as a possible location for the base they were searching for. But, upon first seeing it, he admitted that he found his hopes that they had hit paydirt quickly diminished as everything about it screamed there was nothing to be found there. As even the grass surrounding it was all overgrown, suggesting that even animals kept their distance from the place.

Still, when Ibiki had given the single to move in, he and the other squads that were to act as the frontline fighters if they encountered resistance had approached it at a full speed run from all directions. Chouji had shoulder charged through a rotten door smashing it to splinters, only to be faced with disappointment as he found himself staring at exactly what the outside had suggested. An abandoned mill, with archaic equipment that looked as if it hadn’t been used in over a century. After reporting his findings into the radio mic that he was wearing. He then listened in as the other teams made their reports, and learned that seemed to be the case for all of them. Ibiki had then moved in with the secondary teams which if they had encountered resistance, would have been tasked with gathering up any documents or other evidence that they could find and carry it off while the frontline fighters kept the defenders busy.

Not to be deterred, Ibiki had ordered all the teams to begin searching the premises for any signs of a hidden entrance. Having been assigned to searching the former office area, Chouji found his hopes further diminishing as what few papers they had found still intact enough to read, simply suggested that everything was exactly as it appeared. That this lone mill in the middle of the woods had been abandoned when it had gone out of business.

However, things had picked up for a few moments when in the office area’s basement the makings of a hidden entrance had been found by one of the squads. He and the other breaching teams had assembled to go in first when the exploding tags that had placed against the disguised doorway, which was made up of the same stone as the walls of the basement, detonated. The blast blew a hole large enough for him to easily pass through, and after being the first one through found his hopes dashed once more as it revealed what appeared to be a smuggler’s hold. Which judging by the dust which coated everything, hadn’t been visited in quite some time.

Feeling deflated, Chouji stepped out of the room which while it could be considered spacious if not for all the shelves upon which dusty bottles and crates sat, at least those that hadn’t been caught in the blast. It definitely didn’t appear to contain some sort of hidden lab. Ibiki then stepped in, and after a quick look around pressed a button which caused what remained of the ruined door to swing open smoothly. After studying it for a moment, Ibiki ordered several shinobi assigned to the evidence gathering teams, “Pull everything out of there now.”

Chouji considered suggesting that they cut their losses, a sentiment which he suspected Inaho also shared as her tone contained an unasked question as she said, “Sir?”

Perhaps aware that those present thought that he was grasping at straws, he motioned for the other shinobi to do as he had ordered while to Inaho, he said, “Come here.” When she did as he instructed, he pointed to the latches of the ruined door, before asking, “What do you see?”

Inaho studied the door for a moment shrugging as she admitted, “I’m not sure sir?”

Ibiki didn’t give any indication if he was disappointed by her response before then stating in the form of a question, “We are what, maybe about a half mile or so from the sea?” Receiving a brisk, unsure nod in reply, he continued, “Yet, even with our method of entry, the hinges of the door swung open nearly soundlessly. If it had been years since it was last opened, surely the hinges would have begun to rust by now. However, they appear to be rather well greased. Now look to the floor.”

Inaho did as instructed, and although the area around the door was clearly a mess, she began to notice that it wasn’t nearly as bad towards the sides of the room. Especially, when compared to how thick the dust appeared to be on the shelves themselves. Her eyes grew wide in realization as she stated, “You suspect there is another hidden entrance inside the room.”

“Yes,” Ibiki said but seeing the others listening in didn’t understand why said, “Considering the thick layers of dust coating the shelves, you’d think the floors would be equally filthy. But all things considered they are relatively clean. Which if someone was maintaining these hinges, they probably don’t want to leave footprints in the dust leading right to it.”

“But, what’s the point?” Komugi asked, stepping out of the hidden room while carrying a section of a ruined shelf that had been closest to the blast which he unceremonious tossed into a corner. “There’s nothing indicating that this place has been visited in years. Even if it was some secret lair, it is still going to need supplies and shit to operate. We should have picked up some signs of people visiting the place.”

“Not if they arrive by the sea,” Ibiki stated matter of factly. “The Black Ships that Dango mentioned. They might not just be coming on the night of a new moon to take advantage of how dark it gets. But, also because on those nights the tide tends to be higher and lower than normal at its peaks. This mill may be some distance from the sea. However, if there is some hidden entrance here it might just be some emergency exit they would use should something go wrong. They would need to make a quick exit and might not be able to wait until the tidal conditions are just right.” Letting out an amused chuckle, he added with a hint of admonishment to those present, “Besides, the door opened under its own power after I pressed the button. Where is the electricity coming from?”

Chouji imagined that his eyes weren’t the only ones to widen in realization that somehow the decrepit old mill was connected to an electrical grid. Something which probably wouldn’t have even existed when it was originally constructed. With that realization now shared among all those present, the shinobi tasked with clearing the room suddenly began redoubling in their efforts to clear it. It didn’t take long for something to stand out, when Gennai called out, “Sir, I think we’ve found it. Two of these shelves have been bolted to the wall, and some of the things lining them appeared glued in place.”

Curious, Chouji and Inaho followed Ibiki into the now mostly empty room to see that against the back wall the two center shelves remained. Along with several crates and boxes on the lowest shelf on the right side. Stepping to the center where the frame of the two shelves were touching, Ibiki ran his fingers along the seam between the two shelves before looking down, and seeing a bottle on the lower shelf nudged it with his foot. The bottle tipped back revealing it was connected to some metal piece which caused a loud clicking noise to reverberate through the room as something was unlocked. There was a puff of air as the shelves, and the wall that they were mounted to suddenly pulled back, and then separated like a pair of double doors opening. The doors of the hidden entrance settled into alcoves cut into the walls, exposing stairs that led down into the unknown.

Turning towards the shinobi that he had gathered, he said, “Okay, we’re going with the Barbed Spear Formation intially. Chouji your squat is on the point. Depending on the facility’s layout, we may need to switch the formation up. We’ll need to make those decisions on the fly. ”

Chouji nodded, as he along with Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane moved to the top of the stairs, with a few of the other teams that had been assigned to the frontline teams filing in right behind them. After them the only team of the Chunin Exam dropouts whic had been assigned to the information gathering team of his squad got in line.

All told, Ibiki had invested a considerable number of resources to the operation, as in total there were Five Squads that were composed of Intel and Battle teams. Each Squad consisted of four teams, with each team having four members. As the first Squad, which was made up of three battle teams, with only one team being tasked towards prioritizing Intel Collection. This was due to it being expected that they would encounter the most resistance, and so his own team consisted entirely of Chunin Proctors, while the other three teams were some of the most skilled genin. Squad Two, which would be following his, was weighted in the opposite manor consisting of one battle focused team while the others were to focus on gathering any intel or evidence pointing towards what the facility’s purpose was.

Inaho’s squad was to be the third to enter the facility, and much like his was heavily tilted towards combat. With the reason that they would be entering the facility third being so they could provide support to Squads Two and Four which were both light on front line fighters. Moreover, as they had no idea of the facility’s layout, they couldn’t be sure enemy forces would be so accommodating as to line up right in front of them, so by placing another heavy squad in the middle they could support shift to wherever they were needed most. Chouji suspected Ibiki would have also liked to stack Squad Five in a similar manner as it was bringing up the rear, but probably hadn’t had enough volunteers to make up another three combat teams, but it was evenly stacked with two teams of each. As the Fifth Squad would enter last, it did serve to indicate that Ibiki was fairly certain that the enemy probably wouldn’t be able to loop around behind them. Much as his selection of the Barbed Spear Formation seemed to indicate that Ibiki was giving some credence to the rumors surrounding the black ships despite the entrance they were access to enter the facilities distance from the ocean. Likely believing that the facility would extend down towards the ocean in some manner. Which in turn, likely also meant that the facility would be comprised of any number of levels as opposed to being one monstrous facility.

Provided they stuck with this formation for the duration, Chouji’s squad was to rush in while reporting on each floor’s layout, until they encountered any resistance. At which point, Ibiki would probably adjust the formation as needed.

Chouji looked back and locked eyes with Inaho, who own team was a reunion of sorts as it also include her former teammates, who had partnered with Toka Senju before she had recruited them to the mission. Inaho gave him a quick reassuring nod, along with a soft smile which he returned before turning back to the darkness at which point Ibiki ordered, “Go!”

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

“Sir,” a young woman dressed in a stylish black uniform complete with half-cape and beret said as she entered a darkened study, “It appears that our guests have arrived.”

Dae looked up as he had been in the midst of reading the latest reports from the Island whose inhabitants simply called it the World, since as far as they were concerned there was nothing beyond it. Setting the report down, he stood and without reply simply made his way out as the blonde woman stepped to the side in order to allow him to pass before falling into step behind him. Although, not prone to idle conversation he could sense the woman’s displeasure with his decision involving the raid currently taking place so said, “It would appear that you still refuse to see the wisdom in our current course of action Ms. Takano.”

Although, normally she would have denied having such reservations as the man that she walked slightly before her was a legend in his field, the woman whose complete name was Miyo Takano replied, “Yes, Lord Dae.”

Dae chuckled rather amused by the woman’s response, and although he would typically be annoyed by such a bold response from any other subordinate, he tolerated Miyo’s as her own work involving the parasites which were used in the creation of the beings that they called Yoma, could in turn lead to benefitting his own. Deciding to once more explain his reasoning, he began by asking, “And what pray tell is preventing you from coming around to my way of thinking on this matter?”

Miyo’s brown eyes reflected her surprise at his appearing to be concerned with her opinion, as typically his only interests tended to be in how best to advance his pet project. But she quickly recovered as she stated, “I just do not see why you feel it worth exposing our operation. It would be better to just wait for the majority of them to enter the facility before decommissioning it.”

While normally Dae would agree, he replied, “Perhaps under normal circumstances. However, thanks to that woman, we know that they were able to trace the trail left by the specimen that escaped from The World. Better to leave the Leaf with an origin point on the continent, then to suggest the true scope of the operation.”

Miyo frowned as while she didn’t disagree necessarily, she nevertheless doubted things would wrap up as neatly as Dae suggested. Causing her to counter, “But, sir… if the Leaf has indeed backtracked the Yoma’s trail, then it is likely that they are also aware of the efforts that we undertook to deal with it. Even if they buy the idea that it was just some experiment that escaped from an abandoned lab, they will undoubtedly still have questions as to who hunted it down, and why.”

Dae paused, before turning his face enough to look at her out of the corner of his exposed eye. Miyo although unnerved by the robed man’s grotesque visage, also found herself curious about how he had sustained such injuries. As such, used the rare opportunity and busied herself studying his face in order to determine the method by which half the its skin had been removed so symmetrically, but had also left his eye relatively undamaged. She noticed a small upturn in Dae’s mouth, perhaps indicating his amusement at her curiosity overriding her unease before he replied, “Indeed, but there are as many independent mercenaries as there are stars in the night sky. While Konoha may perhaps suspect some greater force at work was behind the Yoma’s destruction. Suspecting and proving are two entirely different matters.” Miyo was about to refute his point by stating their current circumstances proved that the Leaf shouldn’t be underestimated, but Dae showed he wasn’t just dismissing such concerns as unwarranted as he added, “Which is also why I’m deciding to indulge Oboro’s request.”

Miyo frowned as although the woman was useful to them as she often provided security and transportation for the caravans containing the slaves that the Organization purchased from the Bazaar and were sent to one of their primary processing facilities. Where, many of the male slaves would have previously been sent to the lab that resided in the Land of Secrets, and then would have been converted into Yoma, before next being transported to The World.

A system which had proceeded smoothly for nearly eighty-years as the freshly created Yoma while retaining knowledge of their host’s previous lives had usually paid them no mind as they were provided a new rich hunting ground. However, that apparently had not been the case for one of them, or it had somehow awakened during the transition from the mainland to its new home. Regardless, it had managed to infiltrate the Organization’s Primary base of operation in The World, and snuck aboard one of the Black Ships which were used to move supplies between its various facilities by devouring one of its sailors. The Yoma had managed to maintain its ruse for the entirety of the trip, but it had ended up revealing itself as it had tried to leave the hidden dock of the Land of Secret’s facility. Unfortunately, the security staff had been unequal to the task of stopping it, and it had cut quite the swath through the base before escaping. Which had resulted in two of the Organization’s Claymores being dispatched to track it down and eliminate it. Of course, as even the Claymore had been unaware of the outside world’s existence this had resulted in their being retired upon the completion of the assignment. Which although in most cases this meant the Claymore had been put down, she doubted that had been the case this time around as she knew Dae tended to keep some of the Claymores from previous generations around, and had a means to revive even those that had previously been killed.

“That is why I find myself disagreeing with this current course of action,” Miyo stated not bothering to hide her distaste for the woman in question. “She should be eliminated. The fact that she realized this Leaf’s operation is connected to us proves that she is far more cunning than we have previously considered. She should not even be aware of the Land of Secret’s storehouse. We made sure our operatives that met up with hers when collecting the travel papers and wagon did so in the southern part of the Land of Wind just to keep its existence hidden from her.”

“And yet here we are,” Dae said sounding amused as he resumed walking, “You are still young, so take it from one who has been around since the beginning. Do not be so quick to discard a useful tool. We do not know when Oboro learned of this base’s existence, but regardless she held the information in confidence. More to the point, she knew revealing as much to us might very well paint a target on her back, but still decided to divulge it to us.”

“Only because she knows how we would have typically dealt with such matters in the past,” Miyo countered quickly. “She’s just trying to protect the asset that she’s been developing for some other client.”

“Indeed that is the case,” Dae replied as they entered a room whose back wall was lined with monitors, which currently showed the shinobi that were making their way through the various levels of their apparently abandoned Facility within the Land of Secrets. Moving to a chair built into the center of the room which sat above a pit which was filled with technicians and scientists he sat down before stating, “But, as Konoha was able to launch this operation without alerting us through the usual channels, it is prudent for us to develop some new avenues of information ourselves. Oboro has agreed to share any relevant information her agent uncovers with us, so there is no harm in indulging her in this matter.”

“If he even survives what is to come that is,” Miyo replied in a tone which made it evident how little faith she had that would be the case. Worriedly she then added, “Which would then leave us with a very angry and dangerous woman that knows more than she should.”

Dae shook his head before replying, “Disappointed perhaps, but not angry. She is aware that she is taking a gamble here. But, should it pan out, then she will all but ensure that her agent would appear to be beyond reproach. Especially, as Konoha begins to wonder if news of their little raid leaked somehow.” Settling back in the chair as he watched the shinobi scurrying through the abandoned facility like rats in a maze he added, “Besides, I think you are vastly overrating the lethality of our little surprise for them. If the Yoma were enough to deal with Shinobi, our mission would have long ago been completed. No, I suspect that while they will hold the advantage initially, it will not be long before the balance shifts back into the Leaf’s favor. We’ll just have to try and escort Oboro’s little mouse to the exit of our gauntlet before we permanently decommission the facility.”

Addressing those gathered in the pit before him, Dae ordered, “I want you all to observe what takes place carefully. This is a rare opportunity to test the fruits of our labor up against the Shinobi. We’ll use this encounter to extrapolate just how well the Claymore or even an Abysmal Ones may perform when matched against them. Rejoice ladies and gentlemen, for today we have been blessed with the unique opportunity to see just how far we have come, as well as just how much further we must go.”

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

Chouji, Kotetsu, and Izumo had come to a stop after making their way through the initially portion that the fifth floor of the facility had opened on to discover that it then turned into a large spacious area which resembled a large and spacious warehouse only minus any wares.. After having found and taken the staircase from the previous floor they had found themselves in an office area, which had just given way to the large darkened and empty space they were looking at. Chouji came to a stop, as the team assigned to information gathering had already broken off to search the office area behind them, meaning they were to secure the area until Squad Five which had stopped on the first floor his squad had cleared, finish up and came to relieve them so they could proceed to what he assumed would probably be the sixth and last floor. But, as he unable to see the opposite side of the space due to most of the lights being turned off, he couldn’t even be sure there would be. But, as he couldn’t smell the ocean just yet, although as expected the facility seemed to be descending towards it. He assumed they had to be pretty close, since if the current floor was some sort of storage facility, he assumed they would want to keep it somewhat close to where they would load the ships they believed were visiting it.

“This is Squad One Leader,” Chouji said into the mic piece hanging near his face, “We’ve made it down to the fifth floor. At first, we appeared in some sort of office area which ran roughly twenty feet deep from the stairs, after emerging from it the rest of the floor appears to be some sort of massive storage space. It is currently empty though. We cannot see the opposite wall from our current location, and the ceiling is about thirty feet tall, so we are holding position near the office area until relieved. We’ve still yet to encounter any hostiles.”

Izumo perhaps sensing the next question they would receive, procured several glowsticks which he cracked and tossed as far as he could. However, he whistled as they landed and didn’t illuminate the back wall, and barely cast any light on the side ones near it.

“Damn,” Kotetsu said impressed by the apparent size, “This looks like it could be as big as that warehouse at the end of that one movie. You know the one about the archaeologist and his search for that one holy relic.”

Chouji rolled his eyes as Izumo replied recognizing the scene his friend was referencing, “Oh yeah. After the Daimyo’s representatives go back on letting him display it in a museum and decide it is too dangerous so just box it up and store it.”

While the two continued on about their enjoyment of the movie in question, Chouji ignored them in favor of listening in as Ibiki ordered, “Stay near…bzzzz.” Chouji winced as Ibiki’s transmission was cutoff suddenly by static, even as he and the others went on guard due to something heavy slamming down back behind them. Feeling a sense of dread swelling up inside him, he said, “Sir, we’ve heard a loud noise down here. Please respond.” He received only static in response, but it was then cut in by one of the teams that had followed them down to the level, “This is Team Four. We’re near the entrance that brought us down here. A massive metal door has dropped down in place.”

“Shit,” Izumo said while pulling the two large blades that had been strapped to his back, before tossing one to Kotetsu, “Looks like there may be someone home after all.”

Catching the weapon, Kotetsu began scanning the darkness for any signs of danger, before stating, “Or someone touched something they shouldn’t have.”

“Let’s hope it’s the latter and not the former,” Chouji said although he didn’t think that would be the case as he heard what sounded like bare feet slapping against the stone floor and were rapidly closing with them. However, just as he was able to see what appeared to be golden cat like eyes off in the distance once they began to reflect the light of the glowsticks, his radio crackled to life as one of the other teams assigned to his squad called into his, “Help… something carried off… argh!!!”

Another scream of pain took over for the one on that was cutoff on the radio, before something crashed through the wall beside them. It rolled several feet, before coming to a stop to reveal it to be final member of his team who had to begin searching the office area with the other teams. The shinobi began to get up, but before he could one of the creatures that had been rushing towards their position leapt up into the air and landed on his back. It bit down into his neck, causing the young Chunin to cry out in pain even as the cry shook Chouji out of his stupor.

“Get off of him you bastard,” he shouted charging forward, and expanded his arm as the grey skinned creature rose up to take another bite of the genin. He caught it right in the face, sending it flying backwards, even as he shouted, “Kotetsu, Izumo go back and help the others. I’ll deal with the ones coming from this direction.”

Both shinobi nodded, with Izumo doubling back the way they came, while Kotetsu leapt over the broken wall into the room that the still dazed Chunin had appeared from. Chouji focused on the next creature as it seemed to ignore him in favor of leaping towards the Chunin trying to keep his blood from leaking out of his ruined neck. Chouji raised his arm back over his head, and brought it forward as he used his partial expansion jutsu to enlarge it along with his fist which he brought down on the still airborne creature. He pulled it back revealing the smashed creature which limbs still twitched in the same manner as some insects did when bringing a shoe down upon them.

The next one that appeared from the darkness focused on him and revealed them to be more than just mindless creatures, as it said, “Mmm, I can smell your guts from here fatboy. I’m going to enjoy slurping them out of you.”

Despite growing enraged at his old trigger, rather than charging forward he opened his arms out wide as if challenging the creature to bring it, and when it took the bait used his expansion jutsu as he clapped his hands together. The creature tried to leap over the enclosing walls of flesh, but only partially succeeded as its lower body was crushed between his hands. Chouji took a moment of satisfaction as the creature fell to the ground, and cried out in pain as its smashed bones failed to support it. But, was forced to focus his attention elsewhere as another creature closed with him skittering along the ground on all fours. Chouji dug into his shinobi pouch which was located on his back hip, and pulled out several kunai. He tossed the first one at the approaching creature only for it to quickly leap to the side, before continuing to close with him. Tossing another, it simply rolled away from the spot before increasing its speed in order to reach him. Chouji held the last one until it was nearly before him, even as a fourth appeared from the darkness behind it. The closer creature that he had been trying to hit, leapt over his last kunai only to impale itself as Chouji turned away and elongated his hair which became as sharp as spikes. It cried out in pain as it tried to pulled itself free, while Chouji then turned towards the newest threat. Enlarging his body, he tucked himself into a ball, which began spinning and smushed the one that had been caught in his hair into a purple mess on the ground before he rolled towards the newest one which quickly became a second purple splotch as he ran over it.

Coming out of his spin, he looked around for the wounded one and could see a purple trail leading off into the darkness. Deciding to leave it be for the moment, he rushed towards the wounded Chunin, but didn’t even need to roll him over to see that he was dead. Kneeling down, Chouji did so anyways, and closed his eyes before setting him down to stand. But, no sooner did he get his feet underneath him then he was sent flying as something bodily slammed into him.

Chouji flew through the same wall as the Chunin had first appeared from, and left a hole of his own in the wake of his flight before landing on a heavy wooden desk which broke under his weight. He groaned as the creature whose lower body he had crushed kicked down the portion of the wall still standing as it approached while saying, “That’s what you get for dropping your guard fatty. You though you fucked me up, but as you can see, I’m good as new.” It raised one of its previously smashed legs showing the damage had healed, a hint Chouji didn’t need considering its standing on them in the first place. Slowly approaching it continued its taunting, “You should have finished me off, because now I’m going to tenderize your innards before enjoying them.”

Still dazed Chouji tried to sit up, but need not have bothered as it grabbed him around the throat. The Akimichi wrapped his left hand around its wrist, while his right sought something that he could use as a weapon. It easily lifted him up out of the remains of the broken desk and into the air, before glaring at him with its catlike eyes. It then delivered a vicious shot to his gut, quickly followed by several more. Chouji vomited from the blows, causing the creature to sneer in disgust before saying, “Looks like you’re nice and tender now.” It pulled its hand back and held it flat as its nails elongated while saying, “I hope you taste better then you fight, because I’ve worked up quite the appetite.”

It brought its hand forward intending to jam it into Chouji’s stomach and pull out his innards while he was still alive. But, Chouji brought his right arm before him and intercepted the blow using the thick wooden desk leg which he had palmed as it lifted him up. The sharpened nails buried themselves in the wood, the creature pulled its hand back to look at it confused for a moment. It then screamed in pain as Chouji kicked forward into its knees, enlarging his legs and feet as he did so, shattering the bones as the blows bent its legs backwards. The creature cried out again as it collapsed to the ground, allowing Chouji to land on his feet as he picked up another leg of the desk that had saved his life.

The creature tried to bargain for its, as it began to say, “Hold on…”

Which was as far as it got, before Chouji used the leg like a club smashing it directly in the mouth that had dared to call him fat. The blow dislocated it, so what it tried to say next was a gargled mess as it spit out blood and teeth. Then his second blow came down on its skull. Chouji watched with satisfaction as the creature rolled its head about drunkenly for a moment even as it still tried to form the necessary thoughts to beg for leniency. But even if it would have succeeded in forming them, it would have found none as he began to smash it in the head again and again until much of its skull was caved in and it fell over. Chouji watched it lay there for a moment, making sure that it was dead, and then gave its skull one more smash just to be sure.

He then stepped out through the hole, to make sure the first one he had crushed was truly dead and seeing it still in its hole reasoned that so long at their heads were crushed it appeared as if they were not able to regenerate. Filing the information away, he heard footsteps coming from behind so spun while hefting up his make shift club only to see Izumo and Kotetsu approaching with the chunin leader of the sole intel team that had accompanied them and only four of the remaining genin that had accompanied them. All of whom looked as battered as he felt.

Stepping forward, Izumo said, “I don’t think we’re going back that way. The door that slammed down over the entrance looks to be several inches thick, and absorbs any jutsu you throw at it.”

Chouji felt like cursing, but instead asked, “How’d these things get behind us?”

Okei, the Chunin that was to oversee the Intel Gathering, answered while pushing his cracked glasses back up his nose, “There were hidden rooms built into the fucking walls. These things were kept in these tubes that I can only assume kept them in an inert state.”

Chouji frowned at the man’s words, since they would seem to indicate that the Organization may have been expecting them on some level. As opposed to it being some sort of trap that they had triggered through their searching, especially as it appeared as if they had waited until they had spread themselves out before triggering it. He looked around for some sign of cameras which would indicate that they were being observed, but quickly gave up on the task since he hadn’t seen any earlier, and so they were either extremely well disguised, or they had some other means of observing them.

Everyone tensed as the sound of something else heavy sliding into place echoed throughout the warehouse. But, not finding themselves under attack at the moment Chouji said, “Let’s go,” before heading deeper into the warehouse.”

One of the surviving genin said, “Are you fucking crazy? You want to head towards that noise?”

“No,” Chouji admitted before adding, “But, it doesn’t appear that we are going to be able to go back the way that we came. At least not easily since it sounds like those doors are meant to absorb any chakra used against them, and I’m guessing that all the other floors came under attack from the same monsters as us, if not even greater threats. So, no matter which direction we go, we’re likely going to have to fight our way out. So, assuming there is some hidden dock in this base, I’d imagine that it must be pretty close considering the size of this floor. I mean you aren’t going to build a huge storehouse, in the middle of your facility. You’re going to build it near where the transports come in to make it easier to load and unload them. So, do we go forward hoping there is only one or two more floors with doors and monsters blocking our path, or do we head backwards where there may be another nine that we have to beat down? Which says nothing of our possibly still needing to fight off more of those creatures if the others fared even worse than we have.”

Chouji could tell most of those present were torn over the two choices that he had laid out for them. If asked, he would also admit that despite how calmly he had presented the facts as he saw them, that he was also torn about how best to proceed. As he accepted that much like them, the other teams may have managed to fight off the creatures, only to find themselves trapped without any means of dealing with the doors that had slammed into place which Izumo and Kotetsu had described. But, to his thinking that just made it all the more imperative for them to find an alternative means out of the facility as quickly as possible. Since if they were being observed, then he imagined that if all the creatures were wiped out, those who had sprung the trap might very well just finish the job by activating some sort of self-destruct mechanism. Barring that, he also had to assume that the doors slamming into place was also what had cutoff their communications with Ibiki and Dango, who had remained outside to compile the various reports those rushing in provided so they could map its layout.

Chouji having provided a good number of them as he led the charge, recognized that the facility had each floor staggered below the one that had proceeded it. So, while the first floor may have been directly under the mill, the second had been deeper underground but further ahead of it in the direction of the ocean, which had repeated which each subsequent floor, leaving him to believe that it was very likely that the next floor or following one could be at sea level, and thus would be where the ships visiting the facility docked. A conclusion he believed the other chunin present also shared. But much like him, they were torn at the idea of leaving their comrades behind when they could potentially help turn the tides of any ongoing battles in their favor. However, they also realized that while that was perhaps the sentimental route to take, even if they could get through the door blocking their return to the previous level with the handful of exploding tags that they had among them or found some other means of bypassing it, each subsequent attempt would only further task their supplies and stamina. With the worst-case scenario being that all the other teams were wiped leaving them an unknown number of enemies to face on each level, all the while under the ever-present threat that those who sprung the trap grew bored and just decided to remotely arm some sort of self-destruct mechanism.

As such, although his heart was telling him to head back to potentially aid any other survivors Chouji believed that it would be best for the mission to proceed forward. Not only to hopefully escape in order to communicate to Ibiki what had transpired within the facility. But he felt it was best to save the survivors that he was certain of should his suspicions of the base’s longevity prove correct. He also suspected that his own thinking would match that of the people who had been trapped on the first floor, as while unlike would be the scenario for those on first floor where he was guessing at how close they were to an exit, they would only have to figure a way past one. Something he figured into the thinking of the others present, as Izumo finally said while also bringing up a point that he hadn’t considered, “I agree with Chouji. It’s probably closer to an exit heading forward then going back. We should also probably get a move on. We may very well be under observation as we speak, and there is nothing to say that however the trap was sprung, that they can’t just open the doors on any level where the creatures weren’t wiped out to hunt down survivors. The fact that they haven’t done that yet, would not only seem to suggest that there may still be people fighting behind us, but that the road ahead of us is clear. If there is a sea entrance as Ibiki was suggesting, the sooner we reach it, the sooner we can report to him, and try to mount a counter attack to rescue other survivors.”

Chouji nodded in agreement, so tightening his grip on the makeshift club that he was carrying proceeded to take off at a run to reach the opposite end of the floor in the hopes that it would lead to the sea, and hopefully salvation.

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

Dae sighed somewhat disappointedly as Miyo who was standing beside him while they watched the remaining shinobi fighting for their very survival, “Looks like the Yoma outperformed expectations.”

Reminding himself that despite being in her mid-thirties that she was still young, he said, “Do you truly think so? To be honest, they have performed about as well if not slightly below what I would have expected.” Seeing the blonde woman’s frown, he explained, “Although they appear to have had some initial success, it was clearly among the teams which were on the Worker Quarters as well as the Request and Procurement floor. As these teams only seemed to have a single team that took up a guard position near the staircase leading to the lower level while the remaining three spread out to search the floor, I suspect most of them were made up of their least skilled warriors. No doubt to gather any evidence that they hoped we would have foolishly left behind. Meanwhile, the teams that stayed on the Administrative Living Quarters which all the shinobi initially arrived on, appear to have more competent warriors, as they rallied in the central hallway so thus far have suffered minimal casualties. This also appears to be the case for the teams on the Managerial Floor, as they defeated the Yoma that they faced in short order. Admittedly, I would attribute this to the openness of the floor’s layout as it allowed the shinobi to immediately and more accurately assess the potential threat they were facing. However, while the shinobi which paused on the Warehouse level which our little mouse appears to be leading look to have suffered roughly fifty percent casualties, despite also probably being another of their combat oriented groups. I would attribute our success to being due to it being the inverse of what happened on the Managerial floor, due to our opening the panels located primarily in the office portion, it allowed the Yoma a chance to overwhelm the isolated teams that had begun to search it with superior numbers. Yet, even then they only managed to sustain their advantage for a few moments.

Dae pressed a button built into his chair causing the main monitor to display the battle taking place on the Administrative Living Quarters. Presenting his own theory as to what was taking place, he said, “I believe most of these teams were probably comprised of little more than genin. Perhaps even mostly of the failures from the exams taking place in Suna, pressed into action to help provide cover for this operation. It would also help explain why our usual sources didn’t suspect the Leaf was preparing to raid us. We’ll be able to analyze the matter further later. But assuming that is the case, you have to keep in mind it is likely the bulk of those the Yoma encountered are shinobi that dropped out of the first round of the exams. I can only imagine how much worse the conflict would have gone for the Yoma if actual jounin or an entire contingent of Chunin had taken the field. Even our little mouse managed to take out four of them by himself after all.”

Miyo nodded, as she replayed the events in her mind, and using the new details that Dae had provided, had to admit that she was perhaps overzealous in her opinion on how well their creations had performed. Yet, before she could state as much, Dae called out to a technician within the pit, “Speaking of, has he following the path that we have opened for him.”

The man that he had addressed, nodded as he said, “Yes sir. According to the infrared beams lining the passage to the Dock level, they are about roughly halfway away from it. As they made their way to entrance, we’ve also staggered the release of another nine Yoma so as to prevent the survivors from being overwhelmed.”

“Good, we don’t want it to appear as if they had too easy a time of it.” Dae said, “Seal off the passage to the dock, and release all the remaining Yoma in statis within the alcoves hidden on the Warehouse level. Then open the barricades blocking the passage from it to the R and P floor. Once the shinobi there are eliminated, repeat the process to eliminate those on each subsequent floor.” Sitting back in his chair, and folding his hands in his lap he said, “Let’s see how the remaining Shinobi fare when they are confronted with fresh opponents.”

Miyo watched the monitors which showed the Warehouse level as the technicians followed their orders, one of which was focused on the passage that the Leaf-nin had taken down to the Sea Dock. This passage didn’t close with a loud bang as had been the case with the hidden alcoves which had contained the Yoma, but with a silent whisper as the concrete floor rose up to close off the passage. Which as the rest of the level’s walls looked as if they had been constructed from large concrete blocks made the hidden entrance nearly undisguisable from the rest. She smiled as the door had probably closed so silently that she doubted the shinobi inside the passage had even realized that they had been even further cut off from the rest of their allies. Although considering what was to follow, if they had, they would no doubt consider it to be a blessing. As the room they had vacated was then filled with another dozen loud bangs as the other hidden panels opened to reveal alcoves filled with statis tubes in which more Yoma were beginning to stir. She imagined the Leaf shinobi that had survived the first wave they had encountered within the Warehouse would be shocked to know that another ninety-six of the creatures had yet to be released outside of the twenty-five that they had already faced. Of course, that was only because of the deal Dae had struck with Oboro, and with her asset safely out of the way, the signal was given to activate the remaining Yoma as the metal doors blocking the passage to the upper level began raising up.

The Yoma all began rushing towards the opened doorway, driven by the smell of blood and death that had taken place nearby. Only a few remained to begin devouring the entrails of the shinobi that had fallen near the entrance to the Warehouse level, while the rest surged up the next level to finish off the few remaining three shinobi that had still been trying to fend off the Yoma that had originally been released. Although, she believed that they had likely been Chunin, meant to defend the other three teams while they had been spread out searching the floor, they failed to put up much of a fight as the newly arrived Yoma quickly overwhelmed them before tearing them to shreds. At which point, the path leading up to the Managerial Floor was opened allowing the Bulk of the Yoma to proceed upwards in search of new prey.

However, as the Shinobi had already dealt with the Yoma that had been released on their level, they weren’t caught flatfooted as the doorway opened to allow the Yoma access to them. In fact, while most of the survivors began to grow disheartened as they heard the horde approaching, two of the shinobi as if expecting such a development had sprung into action. They directed the remaining survivors to take refuge in one of the alcoves one of them had seemed to check out, as if to prepare a defense similar to the one the shinobi had on the Administrative Living Quarters Level. Only this time using the one of the alcoves as a means to bottleneck the Yoma to better mount a defense. However, the two shinobi who had apparently come up with the plan, showed that this wasn’t their intention at one of technical panels within their control room lit up indicating the door had suddenly lost the hydraulic pressure holding it upright, which caused it to come crashing down trapping the other shinobi inside.

She watched as the one of the two blades he was carrying to the other shinobi as they moved towards the doorway the Yoma would so be appearing from, with one standing in front of the entrance while the other took a position beside it. The reason why became clear as the Yoma focused on the meal standing before them, allowing the man hidden beside the entrance to cleanly chop off the first Yoma’s head as the one that had acted as bait fired a fireball into the group that began to stumble over the headless corpse as it got tanged among their feet. The explosion took out a few more, as the warrior who had ambushed the Yoma took up a position beside his comrade, and then as a pair began a fighting retreat towards the corner beside the alcove that they had hidden their fellow shinobi in. The two Leaf-nin seemed to act as one, as they left numerous corpses in their wake as any Yoma which tried to take advantage of a perceived opening they saw in one of the shinobi as they attacked, quickly joined the corpses beginning to pile up on the floor as the other warrior’s blade would fly through it to separate its head from its shoulder. As the two shinobi reached the corner, their defense almost seemed to be unbreakable as they worked together to cover each other. However, where as the two Leaf-nin put on a display of comradery and teamwork in an effort to beat back the horde. The Yoma put on a display of their own, as one of them seeing an opportunity to display something quite the opposite pushed one of its fellow creatures into the spinning blades of death. This forced one of the shinobi to react and cut down the creature which had stumbled towards him seemingly heedless of its own wellbeing, and while he easily cut it down. The creatures corpse barreled into him knocking him out of position, and allowed the Yoma which had pushed its fellow, to capitalize by charging the other shinobi while he had been in the midst cutting down another, and deliver a devastating swipe to the man’s exposed back, which allowed another of the Yoma to split open his chest as the horde swarmed him to force him the ground. The remaining shinobi let out a cry as he pushed free of the corpse that had knocked him back, as he tried to charge forward cutting a path towards his friend. But, it only took a few moments before he was again forced back towards the corner, and finally cutdown himself as he collapsed back into it. While some of the Yoma stopped to feed on the few corpses on the level, the rest began trying to claw their way into the blocked off alcove as they could smell the fresh entrails contained in the bags of flesh no doubt cowering inside.

But, while Yoma began trying to claw their way through the stone where the two brave shinobi had stashed their colleagues, another of the technicians in the pit called out, “Lord Dae… I’m getting a strange reading from the sensors leading from the hidden passage that leads into the Admin’s living quarters.”

Dae frowned, since the passage that the tech was describing was the one that the Leaf had accessed to first gain entry to the facility, but rather than an entrance its true purpose was to serve as an emergency escape for any high-ranked administrators that had lived on the level. With the dock having served as the primary means of entrance, the idea was that should some Yoma escape, then it likely would attempt to leave via the same way it had arrived, or in the case one of the stasis tubes failed meaning the Yoma had no idea of which was to go, it would allow for the correct personnel to escape while the rest were being butchered. Of course, there was also the scenario where the base was considered compromised, through outright treachery, which would have resulted in the Yoma being released in a similar manner that the shinobi were currently experiencing. In which the metal security doors, could be activated so the Yoma hidden on each level could be released to deal with the traitor in question, as well as the incompetent personnel that had allowed them to infiltrate their ranks. Yet, once those doors were lowered, in truth, nothing short of a massive quantity of explosives should have been able to remove them considering their ability to absorb chakra. Something he doubted the Leaf would have had on them.

Directing his focus on the technician he stated, “Put your readings on the main screen and elaborate.”

“It’s difficult to describe,” the tech said clearly nervous, which grew more pronounced as Dae’s ire became clear to see. Trying his best, the man said, “The infrared sensors leading down to the level are registering a large amount of movement. However, it isn’t just one or two beams going off at a time, but almost like a wave descending the steps.”

“Perhaps they had a shinobi on par with the second Hokage,” Miyo suggested, “He was said to be powerful enough to generate water from the air itself. They may be trying to erode the walls around the door. The metal particles mixed into the concrete blocks would prevent them from using Earth or Fire jutsu on the walls, just as readily as the doors. But, with an individual strong in the use of Water jutsu, they could possibly try water-jetting through them. The sensors may be suggesting that they are close to succeeding.”

Studying the sensor readings, Dae did a quick calculation in his head before stating, “No, the outer door has already failed. My guess is that what we are seeing reinforcements entering the stairwell.”

Miyo was about to suggest that it wasn’t possible, since over two-thirds of the sensors had lit up at that point meaning whatever had was cover nearly the entire stairwell. She couldn’t understand why if the Leaf had access to those kinds of reserves, they wouldn’t have already committed them, especially considering the team that had penetrated the facility the furthest had seemed to be waiting for another group to relieve them before proceeding further. But she had to admit that she was probably about to be proven wrong when the sensors that were reading something on them remained activated, before suddenly the dot closet to the door leading into the level began rushing forward. Which indicated that the wave, whatever it was had stopped, with only a single individual moving forward. Directing her focus to the metal door that led into the level, she watched as it suddenly began to buckle inwards as if some massive gravity well was folding the metal barrier towards it. Before, it and a good portion of the surrounding walls suddenly collapsed in upon themselvesf into a tightly compacted ball. At which point the wave on the stairs then rushed forward so that a moment later hundreds of the same individual began pouring out onto the level, with many of them spreading out deal with the remaining Yoma arrayed before them. While others bypassed the Yoma completely, as they charged the walls of the rooms the hallway contained the entrances for. These clones tried to make entrances of their own, but were foiled as the balls of charkra the wielded quickly fizzled out as the came in contact with the metal particles mixed into the concrete. The clones still entering the floor, immediately stopped spreading out from the entrance like a flock of birds all took to the ceiling to run above the shinobi still gathered within the hallway as they made their way to the opposite side of the floor. Even as this massive surge of shinobi was taking place, Miyo noticed that a few of the first clones to engage the Yoma had dispelled, as they struck blows that to most individual would have been debilitating to a normal human. But, the Yoma were able to shrug them off, and respond as their limited regeneration kept them upright. However, much as with how the clones had adjusted to the realization that they wouldn’t be able to just create more entrances for them to bypass the hallway which would serve as a bottleneck for their surge, the subsequent clones engaging the Yoma adjusted their attacks to ensure the Yoma they encountered were more efficiently eliminated.

Miyo looked over to see how Dae was responding to the evolving situation, and noticed that he seemed mesmerized by how the clones quickly began adjusting to stimulus they were encountering as he said, “Fascinating, it appears the clones that are destroyed are capable of transmitting their experiences to the rest allowing them to make on the fly adjustments to their overall strategies.

A handful of moments later as the flow of clones appeared to be coming to an end, two more shinobi entered the level with one no doubt being the source of them, as despite the yellow chakra cloak covering his body it was easy enough to see his face was the same, while by his side was a kunoichi with sharp features and had her dark-hair up in an intricate topknot, while wearing armor that looked rather out of place for a modern day shinobi.

Miyo felt something was off about the pair, as unlike the shinobi which had infiltrated earlier, these two hadn’t bothered to try disguising which village they were associated with. Noticing it as well, Dae said, “I see. The nine-tailed jinchuriki, and unless I’m mistaken, the woman with him would be Toka Senju.”

Mito’s eyes widened at the mention of the jinchuriki, since they were considered special war powers of the shinobi villages. Which their project was supposed to provide a means to counter. She began to understand what Dae had meant at just how far they still had to go in that regard, as within mere moments of the door’s destruction of the door, all the Yoma remaining on the floor had been obliterated.

Dae himself wasn’t surprised, as he watched the clones progress through the facility and having already reached the administrative level that resided just above the warehouse level began to clash with the reinforcements they had unleashed. Which although the Yoma managed to disburse a handful of clones, it was clear that it would only be a matter of time before they were completely wiped out. “Where are the shinobi that we let escape to the dock level?”

“They still have about a quarter of the stairwell to go,” one of the technicians from the pit called back.

“There’s nothing for it,” Dae said sounding mildly disappointed, “Activate the collapse.”

“Sir,” Miyo said sounding a little surprised, “Why would we have bothered with any of this at all, just to stop short now?”

Dae shrugged his shoulders before responding, “Because a bigger fish has stepped onto the board. Sure, Oboro’s spy would be a boon. But, having the opportunity to potentially kill the jinchuriki yields even greater rewards. It removes one of the shinobi’s special war powers, and even though the fox would reform in time, it could give us the opportunity to get our own hands on it. But, even barring that, it could very well disrupt the shinobi’s current trend towards peaceful relations, as no doubt all the villages would make a play for it. Which if they turn against each other should relieve some of the pressures being brought to bear on us by the powers that be. They’ll calm considerably upon seeing the shinobi once more at each other’s throats.”

Giving a nod towards one of the technicians to reiterate the order, the woman turned towards her counsel, and having already armed the device in preparations for the finale, simply pressed the button that sent the signal on its way. The signal being carried and amplified by a transmitter network that covered nearly the whole of the continent quickly reached its destination. However, rather than some grand explosion, it instead deactivated the electric generator which supplied the base with its power. This generator also supplied the power to the powerful electric magnet, which generated the magnetic field that in conjunction with the chakra infused metal mixed into the concrete blocks held the base together. With that field now removed, the concrete blocks began to slide as the weight of the earth bearing down on it began causing the entire thing to slide towards the ocean.

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

Chouji and the others paused as they felt a rumble within the base, as nearly everything around them began to groan. Within the darkened tunnel which not only was wider than any of the others, no doubt to allow for the transportation of cargo, but it had seemed to go on forever leading him to suspect that it was taking them to the dock they suspected was ahead. He looked up towards the ceiling though as he began to feel small debris begin to drop on him in a similar manner as a light drizzle did before it fully began to rain. Looking about in confusion, he could just make out Okei reaching out towards one of the walls, and almost immediately he shouted, “Shit, we have to go. Now!”

Having been at the front of their column, with Kotetsu having taken up the rear, Chouji didn’t bother to ask why trusting in the urgency that he had heard in his fellow Chunin’s voice. However, as they took off running down the stairs, one of the genin asked, “What’s going on? Are more of those things coming?”

“Just run,” Okei ordered, but then began explaining so everyone understood the nature of the danger that they were in, “This base is about to come crashing down on our heads.”

One of the surviving genin, a young dark haired kunoichi named Zakuro asked, “What do you mean? Why not just rig the base to blow?”

“Because,” Okei replied quickly sending a quick look towards the blocks which made up the walls and noticed the gaps between them were increasing, “A big explosion would attract all sorts of negative attention. There must have been some sort of load stone, or other means of keeping everything together. Well, whatever it was, they’ve removed it and so the weight of the dirt surrounding us is causing the base to slide into the ocean. Whatever remains will either be underwater, or buried under tons of rock.”

Chouji could see the end of the tunnel, but he nearly despaired as they found themselves in a wide-open space, but no clear means of opening the massive doors which allowed ships to enter. The whole base seemed to be groaning as the ceiling began to crack and waterfalls of earth began pouring in from them. Seeing a pair of large chain which ran along the ceiling towards the doors, Chouji rushed for the edge of the dock and leapt into the air. Yet, before he hit the water, he had already grown to a massive size as he nearly filled the whole of the chamber. Grabbing the two chains, he pulled down using his massive bulk, and was pleased as they immediately began to slacken while pulling the gate up. Turning, towards the docks he shouted, “Go now!!!”

Although most of the surviving genin didn’t hesitate, the kunoichi and the chunin seemed reluctant to abandon him, with Izumo shouting, “What about you? We’ll try to jam the door open.”

“No time,” Chouji shouted back, although he placed his foot against the dock, and wrapping the chains around his arms began trying to move back towards the gate. With every step he managed to take, he would remove the slack as he began trying to walk backwards out of the dock while keeping the doors open. The others seeing what he was attempting, quickly took off along the water’s surface, and just barely managed to clear it as the entire base seemed to surge forward as it devolved into a massive landslide.

Chouji deactivated his jutsu causing his body to grow smaller, which allowed him to escape the chains that he had wrapped around his arms as he leapt backwards out of the dock’s entrance even as the doors tried to slam closed. However, they failed to do so fully as the rails they had run along bent out of alignment as the base became little more than a mound of rubble sliding forward towards the ocean. Which as thousands of tons of material suddenly surged forward into the water behind him, made it impossible for him to land on the surface of it due to how massively it was disturbed. Being pulled under in the aftermath of the base’s demise, he was afraid that was how he would meet his end, but realized that now that he was under the water, all that he really needed to do was continue to channel chakra into his feet to repel against the water beneath him. It didn’t immediately begin to work, although he began to fight against the undertow trying to pull him under, and slowly began to rise before escaping its pull altogether as the water around him began to settle. Just as he was beginning to feel his lungs start to burn from a lack of oxygen, he broke through the surface of the water much like he imagined a buoyant object would in the aftermath of a shipwreck.

Pulling himself atop of the water, he heard a voice shout, “There he is!”

Laying atop of the still somewhat turbulent water as he took deep gulping breaths, he found his vision obscured first by Zakuro, whose face now clear of most of the blood and grim due to her having also been hit by a wall of water as the base sunk beneath the waves revealed a deep gash just below her right eye. She was soon joined by the others with Kotetsu saying, “Shit man, we thought you were done for.”

Sitting up, and accepting a hand up from Okei he said, “Yeah, I thought I was a toast too.”

He looked back towards the base that they had just escaped from, and felt his eyes go wide in shock as nothing remained except what appeared to be a natural collapse. With an air of disbelief, not only at their own survival, but that the Organization would value their secrets so greatly that they had designed a base to almost flawlessly disappear upon destruction, he asked, “Do you think anyone else managed to get out?” A quick scan of the others’ faces reflected their doubts on the matter, although no one responded not wanting to put such juju out into the world.

“Let’s get back to the hut, that’s where we were supposed to meet up if things turned sour,” Chouji said while vowing to find those responsible for the tragedy, and make them pay in the same manner that he intended for Sasuke to.

**********************************************
Ibiki stood almost ramrod straight with his hands in his pockets outside the traveler’s hut that they had started out from. He was giving the survivors time to rest and recoup, but intended for them to be on the road again in another half-hour just in case The Organization had any other surprises in store for them. He tensed as feared one such surprise was about to reveal itself as he noticed several shadows trying to remain inconspicuous often in the distance. Although he didn’t visibly react, he adjusted his grip on the kunai he was holding in his pocket in preparation for needing it.

Despite his lack of reaction, he suspected that the shadows were aware that he had noticed him, which was proven correct about the same time as he concluded that they had purposefully approached so he would, when one of the shadows called out, “Steel.”

Although he recognized the voice as Chouji’s, he called back, “Rain.”

He could tell that the entire party had relaxed at his responding with the correct counter sign, but as they began to approach, he ordered, “That’s far enough.”

“Sir,” Chouji said obviously surprised by the less then warm welcome that he and the others were receiving.

Although, not wanting to be so standoffish he said, “If you are who you appear to be, then you should understand better than most why your just knowing the correct countersign doesn’t necessarily clear you of suspicion.”

“What the fuck is he talking about?” Zakuro asked in an agitated manner, as she reached into her pouch to palm a hand-grenade made of clay and was filled with flash powder.

Chouji was similarly confused for a few moments as well, but then recognized that in the story which had first led them to the possibility of the Organization having some sort of base in the area, the creature that had been hunted down had been able to pass itself off as the father of the young girl that had witnessed its demise. Guessing for that to be the case, it must have had some means of accessing the memories of those it was passing itself off as, he quickly tried to rack his brain for some means of proving he was who he appeared to be. But, being rather tied, and rattled from his near-death experience almost sounded disinterested as he replied, “I can’t honestly think of any way to prove that we aren’t one of those things.”

Ibiki despite the tension, let out a rather amused chuckle feeling a creature wouldn’t be able to fake the weariness and vexation those before him were projecting as he said, “That’s probably the only thing that you could say in the moment to prove you are who you appear to be.”

Nodding his head back towards the door behind him, he said, “Get inside and rest up. But, be ready to move within the hour.”

Chouji nodded as he and the others moved pass the Jounin, after he opened the sliding door for them. They filed into the traveler’s hut which was noticeably less crowded then when they had set out that evening, which was telling as at least then it had been because they had quite a few sentries stationed at points around it to keep watch. A role that currently only Ibiki was fulfilling. Seeing the spot that he had been occupying before the mission was empty, he made his way towards it, while those that had survived with him broke off to find their own places to occupy.

Upon sitting, he noticed that Zakuro had decided to remain close to him. Taking a moment to inspect the kunoichi, he suspected that she was perhaps relatively green, likely having only graduated the academy a year or so earlier. Particularly, as not too many sensei had been willing to nominate their rookie teams due to it having been several years since the last one had been held, making this year’s participants far more experienced and dangerous. With that being the case, and the Academy generally graduating Genin around their twelfth or thirteenth year, and having seen her skill with the explosive powder, as well as the grenades that she used, he suspected that she would have probably been one of the students that graduated relatively early on so was probably still around thirteen. Her raven hair was cut in a bob, with the edges of her front bangs being layered in such a way as the hair behind it was longer almost giving the effect that she was wearing a helmet. The short pony tail that she wore in back, further highlighted the effect at it was made of hair that just hadn’t been cut down as the hair before and after it. She had sharp features, with almost golden eyes which had seemed to flash with a sadistic glee as her explosives had caught a trio of the creatures that had tried to close with them as they had made for the end of the warehouse level. Chouji was sure that under normal circumstances, her beauty would be quite striking, although currently it was marred somewhat by the wound her right cheek had sustained previously from one of the creature’s claws. Another similar slash had apparently been delivered to her left breast, although that one was harder to see due to the nature of her dark clothes.

As his thoughts turned to the darkness that surrounded them, he felt that despite there being far more candles lit then earlier, the room didn’t seem to reflect the increased illumination. Which he felt was perhaps a byproduct of how unlike before, the room was nearly completely silent, outside of the occasional cough or slight groan of discomfort as a someone shift only to discover a new bruise or some wound that they hadn’t noticed previously due to the adrenaline that had been coursing through their veins. He understood the feeling as in its own way, it felt similar to when he had lost to the Sound-nin in the Prelims of his first exam. Although, as he looked over the defeated faces of those that had survived, he supposed he was one of the lucky ones. A feeling that was strengthened as his gaze landed on Inaho, whose face looked almost ghostly white as she sat in the same corner that she had occupied previously. Her gaze saw nothing, as it was apparent that no one was home currently. Which, as the two spots that had been previously occupied on either side of her were empty told him all that he needed to about her former teammates’ fates.

He heard a soft rapt against the door Ibiki was standing on the other side of, and Dango, who had remained beside it began to stand which led him to believe it was signal for the two of them to switch places. A theory that provided correct as Ibiki entered the hut after the Chunin stepped out. He looked around, making Chouji wonder what the Jounin was thinking in the aftermath of his failed operation. It was difficult to tell as most of his face remained impassive, but there was a softening of his eyes every now and then, particularly when his gave lingered on Inaho. But, he steeled himself before first moving to where Izumo and Kotetsu were sitting back to back, allowing each man to be alone with his thoughts, but also supporting each other at the same time.

The two upon noticing his approach, looked as if they were going to stand up to come to attention. But, a quick gesture from Ibiki let them know that it wasn’t necessary. They did adjust themselves so that they both could kneel before him, as he knelt on the ground before seemingly asking them several questions which they took turns answering. When it looked like Ibiki had asked his fill, they returned to their previous position after receiving a nod of recognition, before the jounin stood to move towards where Okei was sitting.

Despite Okei receiving a similar gesture that he could remain seated, the Chunin instead opted to stand, and was far more animated in his replies. Although, he kept his voice soft and controlled, despite it being clear that he felt some measure of guilt at how many genin that had been lost due to his overseeing the team that had been tasked with the information gathering side of the operation. Ibiki placed a comforting hand on the man’s shoulder, who reached under his glasses to wipe at the tears that were threatening to spill before nodding at what his superior told him before taking his seat once more.

Knowing that it was his turn next, Chouji spent a moment wondering if he should even make an effort to stand or move. Which he marveled at as he felt it was a ridiculous thing to worry about, but attributed the concern being due to the numbness that he felt. When Ibiki stopped in front of him, he gave his superior a nod as the man’s eyes seemed to be studying him intensely. But, he couldn’t see any real conclusions being arrived at behind them, although he suspected that would be the case normally. After a moment, Ibiki dropped to his knees as he said, his voice being both gruff and somehow soothing, “I’m glad to see you managed to pull yourself out of there. You should be proud of that. If not for Naruto, most of those here wouldn’t be.” Despite hearing the name of one of his least favorite people at the moment, it didn’t do much to stoke his anger outside of a feeling that he was glad that at least he didn’t owe his survival to the Uzumaki.

Willing to just let the comment pass with a nod, Zakuro was less so as she asked, “How did he do that? I mean those doors were easily a foot thick, and made completely from chakra absorbing materials. Even if we still had all the exploding tags that we were carrying when we started out, we’d barely put a dent into one of them. Not to mention, how and when did he even get here? I thought he was continuing the exams.”

Ibiki regarded the genin for a moment, taking note of her injuries, although there was painfully little that could be done for them at present. He seemed to consider whether or not to answer her questions, but after a moment replied, “I considered the possibility that we could encounter some form of defense that we would not be able to breakthrough or defeat. The story that provided us with the details we used to backtrack the escaped creature’s trail made it clear there were already counters in place to deal with them. So, when I informed the Hokage of my plans, I asked her to provide me with one of his Hiraishin Kunai. I used it to summon him here once the trap was sprung, resulting in him and Toka Senju arriving to aid us.”

Chouji could feel Ibiki’s gaze scrutinizing his face, no doubt aware of his less than stellar opinion toward the Uzumaki, resulting from his believing Naruto’s philosophy on how to deal with Sasuke and his ilk was to bend over and take it every time the Uchiha decided to try and fuck them. But, at present he just nodded in understanding as he said, ‘That was the reason why you requested the change in the rules regarding teleportation jutsu.”

“Yes,” Ibiki stated, “However, even knowing he would be eliminated, he was willing to teleport the wounded back to Konoha. But…” He paused as a rare slip of the stern mask that his face usually was appeared, allowing a look of pain to show through for just a moment as he let the rest of his sentence remain unsaid. The meaning of which was perfectly clear to Chouji which was that no one that survived had required emergency medical care.

Ibiki’s face returned to its usual intensity before he answered the next part of Zakuro’s question stating, “Naruto possess a clone jutsu unique to him that creates an intense pull of gravity. He essentially pulled the metal doors from their tracks. He, and his clones then spread out through the facility to deal with the surviving creatures.” Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, as he feared it might come off as somewhat accusatory mainly because of who the information that he was about to provide had come from, Ibiki said, “On the fourth and third level, he found an exceedingly larger number of these creatures. Which to be honest, caused me to fear the teams assigned to your level had also been completely wiped out. He managed to cut a path down to where you were supposed to be, and while he was able to identify how half of those that had entered it with you had been killed. He lost the trail of you and the others. Admittedly, the bases collapse had begun before he made it down there, so he may have overlooked it somehow. But, as the others made it sound like the entrance you took to the dock was both larger, and in the same general vicinity as the other entrances. I must ask. Do you have any ideas as to why they left the way to the dock open to you, but then would choose to close the entrance after you began heading down to the next level? As unless Naruto somehow completely missed It, from the sound of things it looks like it may have been disguised.”

Chouji frowned at the question, wondering what Ibiki was driving at, but figuring his superior was just trying to get answers while the memories were fresh, he answered, “No sir. As to be perfectly honest, I’m rather surprised to hear that it may have been closed after us. Because unlike when the metal doors slammed into place, or the hidden alcoves holding those things were opened, we didn’t hear anything to indicate that was the case while we were in the tunnel. At least until it was clear that the base was about to collapse.”

“The others stated as much as well,” Ibiki stated with a contented nod. “Kotetsu, has even suggested that it is because they underestimated you. Especially, as you were able to brute force open the sea doors at the dock. So, he believes that they must have been monitoring what was happening and that upon seeing Naruto’s arrival, and subsequent rescuing of the survivors, that they perhaps were hoping to deny his rescuing a few more. As such, they opened a path for you to proceed ahead, trusting you wouldn’t find a means to escape the base before it collapsed into the ocean. It may have also been a means to tie Naruto up in a fruitless search so that the collapse took him along with it.”

Despite the reminder that it appeared to be a Narutocentric world and that he was just a small part of it, especially as far as his own village’s leadership was concerned. Chouji was rather surprised by the praise, and even the small hint of pride that was contained in the Jounin’s tone. Which he helped to explain, as he suggested, “Both Izumo and Okei were also quite complimentary in their assessments of you as well. They say that you showed courage under pressure, and immediately took charge. I would also say that it appears that you made the correct call with the details you were given in assuming it would be easier to go forward then back. If not for Naruto’s assistance, then it appears that it may have been very likely that you and those you took charge of would have been the only ones to survive.”

Not quite trusting that the praise that he was receiving was also in some way being tied to Naruto, he asked “Even if they only opened the pathway because of Naruto’s arrival.”

Ibiki was a little taken aback by Chouji’s reply. Yet, as he was aware of the strain that existed between the two and it could be due to a measure of self-doubt in his own abilities responded, “We can’t say for certain that is the reason that it was left open in the first place. At present, it is only a theory. One that appears to fit with many of the facts at hand. However, those may change as the investigation into what went wrong begins. But what isn’t in question is that you did an excellent job down there. Take solace in that in the days to come.” Directing his gaze towards Zakuro he added, “That goes for you as well.”

“I will, sir” Chouji genuinely pleased his actions were being recognized said, “Thank you!”

Ibiki nodded, before standing as he made his way over to one of the other genin that had survived the Fifth level with him. However, Zakuro was a little less enamored as she leaned against his side tired as she said softly, “What a bastard.”

Chouji looked over at her in surprise, not only at what she said, but by her close proximity. Elaborating on the former at least, she said, “For a moment, it sounded as if he was skeptical of our getting out of there. As if the bastards just left the door open for us because we might have been in league with them. It wasn’t us sitting on our assess on the surface while the majority of those who signed up for this clusterfuck were murdered.”

Having attributed some of Ibiki’s hesitant tone to being due to who was being discussed, and not really questioning of him and the others that had made it out with the Leaf’s precise jinchuriki, he said, “I wouldn’t read too much into it. He’s skeptical by nature, and to be honest, he’s the one that’s going to bear the brunt of this failure back home. So, it only makes sense that he is trying to get all the details that he can while they are fresh.”

Zakuro shrugged dismissively as she said, “Well, he should have just used the Uzumaki from the start then. But, gods forbid our village’s little pacifist get his own hands dirty. I don’t know why Ibiki even cares about hunting these fucks down, it isn’t like we’ll do anything with the information.”

Chouji found himself warming up considerably to the kunoichi, but decided to take advantage of the little time remaining before they would be on the march again did not respond as he instead closed his eyes to let the darkness swallow him to free him from his concerns for a time.

*********************************************
Events take place shortly after the conclusion of chapter Eroninja 110

Oboro allowed a slightly uneasy smile to grace her lips as she made her way through the Torture and Interrogation Department to Ibiki’s office. Although normally she would have suppressed the gesture, she didn’t feel the need to at present since she felt it added a genuine veneer as to her reason for being there. Although she recognized that her decision to do so was a huge gamble, she believed that it paid off, the rewards would be considerable. As while she doubted the jounin would end up liking her any better than he had previously, she felt that by playing up being the concerned girlfriend, who had experienced enough as a kunoichi to know when a mission had gone horribly wrong. She believed that at the very least, she would manage to convince him of the sincerity of her feelings for his subordinate. Especially as due to Ibiki’s previous suspicions of her, she had felt that it would look more dubious if she acted like she hadn’t noticed any change in Chouji’s demeanor since he had returned to Konoha a few days prior.

Thus, she felt that by reaching out to Ibiki, she would be able to get a read him to see if he had any clue as to where the leak that had led to the failure of his operation had come from. As well as to gauge how soon she would be able to put the finishing touches on the blade that she was fashioning Chouji into. A step that she felt was necessary considering that normally when trying to create a spy, she would simply reveal to them how she had played them into betraying their village. Trusting that a combination of their pride and fear of discovery would keep them bound into her service. However, with Chouji, she felt the desire to more tightly bind him to her. Partly, it was due to the man who had tasked her with creating a spy within the Leaf, not understanding just what a difficult assignment it had been. His constant need to remind her of the time it was taking often served as source of irritation, for what in truthfully had been a relatively pleasant assignment.

However, she felt Ibiki’s just failed operation was all the proof that she needed as to why Goenitz should have respected her methods regardless of the timetable. As while admittedly, the Leaf’s mission would probably always have been doomed to failure, since the Organization had undoubtedly cleared out its base long before she had contacted them. Meaning that whatever hardships they had encountered had probably already been in place. The fact that they had been caught unaware by the operation about to take place, was probably why they had been willing to grant her request. Ironically, she felt that was perhaps why there had been any survivors to begin with. But if Goenitz was too blind to see that a hastily installed and easily turned spy could have just as easily provided a path back to him as the inciting event, that had been his former colleagues’ attack on Kiyomi’s mansion, which had created his need for one in the first place. Then to be honest, she felt he was perhaps not the best hand to wield the weapon that she had crafted. Granted, she’d have to farm out his services for a time, if only to keep the original client happy. But, depending on how well her upcoming meeting went, she imagined that would be quite the small ask indeed.

She paused for a moment, as some movement in the office that she was passing by attracted her attention. Sitting within surrounded by a stack of files was a woman with long brown hair, who almost appeared to be franticly scanning the documents that appeared haphazardly tossed about on the table. From the bags under her eyes, and her somewhat unkempt appearance it was clear that the woman had probably found sleep to be in short supply recently. However, aware that she was nearly late for the meeting that she had requested, proceeded on to her destination which was only another door over.

Knocking on the one that she had been directed to from the front desk, she received a brisk, “Enter.” Feeling a fresh wave of nerves wash over her, she didn’t try to quell it as despite how cooly she had played it last time she had visited this building, this time around she was openly exposing herself as being vulnerable. Exactly as a good girlfriend would.

Stepping into his office, she wasn’t too surprised that his face was nearly an inscrutable mask, giving nothing away as to what he felt at seeing her again. However, while he was successful in masking his thoughts at least concerning her. She had little trouble telling that he too had been heavily affected by his failed operation, as unlike the previous time that she had been in his presence there was a slight slouch in his demeanor. There was also a slightly haunted look still in his gaze, one that while far easier to detect in Chouji was nevertheless present. Something she hoped to take advantage of in Chouji, since she felt that she needed to strike now why the rawness of his emotions were still at their peak.

Ibiki stood from his desk, and indicating the seat opposite from him, considering how their last conversation ended managed to say in a relatively polite manner, “Please have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Oboro replied in a similarly courteous manner.

He waited until she had seated herself, before taking his as well before stating, “I admit to being somewhat surprised by your desire to meet with me. Particularly as you seemed unwilling to provide a reason for it.”

Oboro nodded, but keeping her demeanor serious, “Well, to be honest. I wasn’t exactly sure if I should broach the subject that I wished to discuss, so decided to leave myself an out. Or, perhaps if I chickened out, it would at least put you in a position to quell your curiosity without me ending up in an interrogation room again.” While she had spoken the later part in a joking manner, Ibiki allowed a frown to appear as his eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. Not needing to fake the nervousness that she was displaying as she was quite cognizant of what a dangerous game she was playing, she continued, “As you were quite keen in pointing out the last time I was here. I am quite the experienced Kunoichi, and have been around long enough to know when some op has gone poorly. Since his return from Suna, Chouji has clearly been affected by something.”

Ibiki face remained nearly unreadable, but his eyes for the briefest of moments reflected a sense of guilt. No doubt from receiving confirmation that one of his subordinates was being deeply affected by the mission they had undertaken. Perhaps aware of this, he broke contact with her gaze, as he looked towards the wall of his office for a moment. Oboro nearly smiled at finding the small chink in the man’s amor, as she felt the direction his gaze was now looking at, if not for the wall separating them, would have landed on the disheveled woman that she had noticed as she made her way to his office.

Taking this as a good sign, she nevertheless buried the feeling down as Ibiki turned his gaze back to her and looking as if he was about to respond she instead cut him off. “Look, I know the company line that you are going to give. I’m not looking for confirmation that something took place. I believe that I have already seen all the evidence that I need to reach that opinion. The reason for my visit is to hopeful do something about its aftermath.”

Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a folded sheet of paper which she presented to Ibiki. Upon opening it, he found a bunch of dates and locations written upon it so in confusion asked, “What’s this?”

“That is an itinerary for the next few weeks,” Oboro said plainly, “I have business that will be taking me out of the village, and with your permission, I would like Chouji to accompany me.” Allowing herself to ramble slightly as she tried to make it apparent the gesture was not exactly something that she was accompanied to performing she continued, “Not all of those locations are tied to my business concerns mind you. But, I would like to help him forget his…concerns for a time as he’s become quite the valuable companion to me…if necessary, I could make a mission request to the village… but…”

Ibiki listened with half an ear as he tried to get a read on the woman. If he was being honestly, he was still extremely skeptical of the woman sitting across from him, even as at the moment she appeared to be genuinely nervous and perhaps even feeling a little vulnerable at the side of herself that she was showing. Still, while some part of him was saying not to trust her, he had to admit that part of him tended to have that opinion most of the time. Besides, considering the rap sheet possessed by a couple of the women that a certain Uzumaki had charmed, he couldn’t say that he hadn’t witness how a woman could change from the love of a good man. Even if he personally wasn’t quite so willing to put total faith in the notion.

However, he also couldn’t deny that he wanted his subordinates to be able to forget the events he knew were still haunting them. If only for a time. Thinking of Inaho, who even now was scouring every cold case and unsolved incident they had, hoping to find some tie to the Organization in order to get another crack at it, he stood saying, “I don’t think we’ll need to go quite so far as to make you pay to take him on some business holiday. Although, I think you might find it a little difficult to convince him to go along with it. He was already offered a few weeks off due to the work that he has put in for the Chunin Exams. He was rather hesitant to take it.”

Oboro didn’t bother hiding the pleased smile that she felt, as she stood stating in a sultry manner “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. I think he will be more amendable to the idea with me being the one doing the suggesting. It is just a matter of how and when you spring it on him.”

Ibiki couldn’t deny that based on the inflections of her voice, not to mention the knowledge of how she and Chouji tended to spend their time together, that even he would have been tempted by what pleasures her tone seemed to promise. However, aware that it was because of such pleasures that women were considered to be one of the three vices of shinobi, nevertheless cautioned, “Just make sure you limit your powers of persuasion to convincing him to take some time off. As this gesture has bought you a small degree of credibility with me that you may indeed have some genuine feelings for him.”

“I understand,” Oboro said, aware that Ibiki might just be giving her enough rope in which to hang herself. But, knowing that there were still more gambles to be made, said, “I assure you that my only goal for this trip is that Chouji will be able to put whatever is weighing him down, behind him. So that when he returns it is with a reinvigorated spirit.”

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

Ibiki stood as Oboro rose to her feet to take her leave, and after the door closed behind her, he couldn’t help but feel that despite his not detecting any deception in anything that she had said, couldn’t shake the feeling that even when she was apparently speaking and behaving honestly the woman was a puzzle that he had yet to crack. Looking at the list that she had given him, he decided to have someone look into some of her connections at the locations that she had provided in the hopes that it might begin to shine a light on the impenetrable shadow that was Oboro Koukawa.

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

Chouji stood at the foot of Oboro’s bed, as she knelt on top of it before him on her hands and knees while he rapidly plunged his cock into her. Although greatly enjoying the moment, his mind wasn’t entirely focused on the task of pleasing Kunoichi turned business woman. A business that she was promising him a firsthand look at as she intended to take him on a trip while she met with various clients and toured some of her assets. A fact that she had surprised him with the day before when she had informed him that she had already cleared the trip with Ibiki. A detail that he had confirmed that morning, after he and the other survivors had been asked to report to the same department briefing room where Ibiki had first informed him and the other influx of new recruits that they had been selected to join the department.

There they had found Tsunade waiting, who had informed them that the survivors would all be receiving commendations of valor added to their records. Furthermore, she had stated that the deal the genin had struck with Ibiki would be honored and that they would be promoted to chunin upon the completion of the exams. An honor which would also be granted to those who had perished. Naturally, despite the praise and rewards being heaped upon them, there hadn’t been much celebration of this. Not that he could blame them, as many of the genin still looked rather haunted by the experience, a look, and a feeling that he also imagined he wore, as Oboro had apparently been able to tell despite his attempting to put up a brave front. However, he supposed the reason he wasn’t quite able to hide his true feelings away was because in the aftermath of the mission, as they had made their way back to Konoha and once the anger he had felt to even the score had faded, he had begun to ask himself what was even the point of it all. After all, of the eighty shinobi that had participated in the mission by entering the facility, nearly half of them had not survived, with most of the losses being among the genin who had volunteered. Yet, what they had gained for those lives hadn’t amounted to much more the a slightly greater understanding that the Organization, if it was even truly at fault, was operating on a far grander scale then had first been imagined. Having mass produced the creatures to such a point that they could leave hundreds behind to deal with any visitors to an abandoned facility that they were also more than happy to collapse into the ocean at a moment’s notice.

The failed mission, and the questions left behind in its wake, had Chouji second guessing some of his previously held stances regarding how to best deal with Sasuke. After all, if Ibiki’s theory on how the Organization worked as an arms development and testing branch of the Shadow Cabal was accurate; with the Shadow Cabal in turn being responsible for the supporting and raising up of individuals who threatened the Shinobi Villages, such as Orochimaru and Sasuke, then Chouji was concerned that the creatures would be yet another weapon that Sasuke could unleash on any army marching to deal with him. Granted, as the Chunin who had faced the creatures had proven by the fact that most of them had survived that they were not much of a threat individually. The fact that the Organization had apparently been willing to sacrifice hundreds of them to deal with roughly eighty Shinobi, when it could have just collapsed its base, was something to be concerned about as it either hinted at their having a considerable supply, and/or were considered expendable as they had more impressive weapons in store for the shinobi.

Still, Chouji hated that aspect of himself, that just a single setback, even such a relatively major one had shaken his resolve. Particularly when he had already expressed the opinion that dealing with Sasuke was something that should be accomplished regardless of the cost.

However, he supposed it was to be expected that such doubts would worm themselves into his mind after such a catastrophic mission. Which considering the level of failure, actually had left him relatively surprised that the Hokage wasn’t going to classify it. He reasoned that despite the potential political fallout resulting from it being learned that she had allowed a major operation to take place in a minor country without its permission, there had been enough evidence remaining that she could prove something foul had been brewing within the facility. Furthermore, he imagined that it would be difficult to cover up nearly forty deaths, even though most of them could have been claimed to have happened during the second round of the exams. But he suspected that Tsunade wanting to appear to be different from her predecessor, who had covered up the truth of the Uchiha massacre, didn’t want to lay the seeds for a similar scandal to mare her own regime. Even as her political enemies currently tried to turn the mission’s failure into one that they could use to undermine her.

A cynical part of Chouji also suspected that she didn’t want to hide away any of Naruto’s achievements, as even while the Leaf was treating Chouji and the other survivors as brave soldiers who had survived a devastating loss. The Uzumaki was spoken of with awe as the one who had pulled their butts from the fire, which while technically true for the vast majority of the survivors, it wasn’t the case for him and those who had accompanied him to the fifth floor. They had survived by their own merits, and as far as Chouji was concerned, would have even been left behind as dead by the Uzumaki if not for their own efforts to escape.

Feeling his anger heating up at the idea, that the only reason his and the others were being allowed any portion of the credit for their suffering was to prevent the star of the Leaf’s jinchuriki to even be slightly diminished, caused him to take out his frustrations on Oboro’s ass as he spanked it hard. She her head raised up and moaned in appreciation, causing him to reach forward and to roughly pull her hair back as he slammed himself into her powerfully.

“Yes, fuck me harder,” she moaned as the pain and pleasure mixed delightfully within her. All too eager to comply Chouji began using her hair as a means to pull her back towards him every time his thrust pushed her forward. His anger having reignited his passion for the act that he was currently performing, he also allowed his thoughts to turn to another who had a similar anger simmering within her, although as opposed to the target his own was focused on, she was directing hers toward finding and completely eradicating the Organization.

Not that Chouji could blame her, considering how her former teammates were counted among the dead. Something which he imagined ate away at her all the more fiercely as she had specifically recruited them, both in her ruse during the first round, and for Ibiki’s mission. In the immediate aftermath of the mission as they had made their way back to Konoha. Somehow arriving several days after Naruto, who admittedly had an hour head start, yet still he couldn’t fathom their falling that far behind him, Inaho had been mostly unresponsive seemingly just remaining in formation with them on instinct. She still followed orders, but it was clear that she was only dedicating as much of her focus to competently handle whatever task she was assigned needed. The rest she turned inward, with what Chouji at the time had believed would be reproachment. Mainly for getting her teammates involved, and as a result of said involvement killed. But whether that was the case or not, by the time they had reached Konoha, it was clear the numbness and grief had turned to rage. A rage that refused to be satiated until she found some target to direct it towards.

Chouji had tried to speak with Inaho shortly after Tsunade’s assembly since he hadn’t had an opportunity to do so prior, as upon immediately returning to the village they had been too busy being debriefed. Surprisingly by Anko, who had apparently returned to the village with her charge the Daimyo Haruna. Apparently, the return was coincidental, and not related to the mission’s failure, as Haruna had arranged a meeting of minor Daimyo to further discuss plans at attempting to unite the Minor Countries. A move that Chouji suspected was timed to coincide with the Third Round of the exams, so those angling for an alliance could strategize at wooing other members towards the idea, before the Final Round began which was set to take place in Kumogakure within thirty days of the conclusion of the third.

Village business aside, his conversation with Inaho had been relatively brief, as after the assembly she had made straight for their squad room. A squad of two now as they had been the only survivors, due in part to the rest having been assigned to the assault team which had secured the stairwell leading down to the fifth level. A level of which there had been no survivors, as at least according to what Naruto had reported had seemed to have double to triple the amount of creatures as all the other floors had. There among the ghosts of their murdered colleagues he had tried to comfort Inaho, by telling her that her friends’ deaths were not her fault to which she had responded bitterly, “Yes it is.”

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Her tone grew increasingly heated as she said, “I recruited them. And do you want to know why? Because I didn’t think they would have what it takes to earn the promotion on their own.” Tears began to gather at the corner of her eyes as she continued while growing increasingly angrier which was clearly being directed towards herself, “But, you know what is really fucking sick, they probably would have if not for me. That Toka woman clearly whipped them into shape.” Her self-hatred let up a little as she recalled the brief time that she had spent with them as they traveled to the Land of Secrets prompting her to add, “Even if they complained about her methods.” Her voice soon returned to her dour tone as she explained, “So yes, it is absolutely my fault. But chances are someone tipped the Organization off to our plans, and I’m going to find that leak, and when I do… that person is going to wish it had been them being ripped apart by those things.”

“Inaho…” Chouji had begun to say as he reached out for her as she turned away to move towards a table with documents stacked high upon it.

However, as soon as his hand contacted her shoulder, she yanked it free saying, “Leave me be. We’ve all been given a month’s leave; you should go and make the most of it.”

Chouji frowned as he wasn’t sure why her words sent a shiver up his spine outside of the fact that he was glad that he wouldn’t be the target of her fury. But he was tempted to point out that she had also received the same leave. However, as she sat at the desk filled with documents, which he suspected were all related to the organizing of the mission that they had undertaken, and she hoped could perhaps determine from where a leak could have come, it was clear that she had no intention of taking the suggested time off. He had been tempted to join her, particularly as he felt that it was far more likely that the Organization was just extremely paranoid so had left precautions in place just in case their base was breeched, due to its previous failure in matters of security.

But he refrained as while he reasoned that with her current mindset, she would be more willing to join him in supporting endeavors which would encourage the village to strike out at Konoha’s enemies proactively. Especially, if the Organization was just a branch of the Shadow Cabal, and it had in fact helped Sasuke establish his own village, then that made it all the more valid of a target for his own fury to be directed towards it as well.

Yet, ultimately, he had decided against it since Oboro’s desire to include him on her trip, while definitely was a means of helping him to take his mind off the failure of their mission. He also took it as a sign that she was seeking to deepen their relationship. Which while at times he could understand the desire of wanting to seclude himself in a room to plot and plan against those he wished to see destroyed. There was certainly something to be said about simply burying oneself in one’s desires outside of revenge, as evident by the monster that Sasuke had become from solely focusing on it.

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Especially when they had a hot and wonton woman kneeling before them who they could be buried inside of instead. A woman who apparently sensing his lack of focus on the task of pleasuring her, began throwing herself back at him while shouting, “Hey, where was that passion you were showing just a moment ago. If I just wanted a dick to fuck myself against, I could just have stuck one of my dildos against the shower wall.”

Chouji growled as he slapped her ass again, and climbed up onto the bed to squat behind her before he began fucking her with renewed vigor.

“Yes, like that!” she cried as he wrapped his arms around her torso to hug himself to her as he moved his hips to pound her drenched snatch.

Although, Oboro was enjoying the moment, she knew that she needed to get on with the main show as it was time to temper the weapon that she had spent so much time carefully crafting. A truly make or break moment as if she applied too much heat, all she would succeed in doing would be creating a lump of metal which would shatter in its wielder’s hand. Having prepared her body for the heat of the fury that she was about to unleash, she moaned, “Turn me around.”

Chouji eagerly did as she requested, and spun her so that she was laying on her back almost without missing a beat as he resumed smashing her pussy while squeezing her tits. Oboro gripped his hands and placing them around her neck said, “Choke me.”

Although he again did as she asked, it was clear that his heart wasn’t truly in the act as she had no problem saying, “Stop being a pussy. Don’t you know whose neck you have between your hands? It’s the neck of the woman that betrayed your mission to the Organization. All because…urk…”

Chouji at first had nearly stopped fucking her, believing she was just playing some sort of game with him, one of extraordinarily bad taste. But, as he stared into her face as she began to berate him, the wide-eyed and gleeful smile that she wore, like a person reveling a surprise they had been struggling to hold back told him all that he needed to about the truthfulness of her statement. At which point almost without his conscious intention to do so, the half-ass grip that he had around her neck suddenly became a vice as he did everything in his power to choke the very life out of her.

“You fucking whore,” he shouted angrily as her eyes began to roll up into the back of her head, while the color of her face began to shift from reddish tinge it had taken as he first began to truly choke her to blue as a result of the oxygen deprivation. Uncaring to her life steadily slipping away he continued screaming, “Do you have any idea how many people died because of your actions? Why? Why would you betray me?!”

Naturally, as the clamp that he had around her neck wasn’t loosened, she was in no position to answer. Although to his shock, she began to climax coating his cock in her release, and even as the life began to leave her body, her pussy continued to spasm causing him to climax as well. Which caused him to groan in surprised as he began filling her womb with his seed. An act which also caused him to loosen the grip that he had around her throat. Feeling weak, he stared down at Oboro’s whose eyes stared back at him blankly, although even then he felt that there was a hint of glee hidden within them.

Realizing what he had done, Chouji pushed himself away from the corpse as the full weight of her revelation began to crush down on him. Spinning away, he attempted to flee from the room, but standing on shaky legs he fell back onto the edge of the bed. Where he covered his mouth with his hand, as he had a sudden urge to vomit realizing that although Oboro claimed to have been the one that had leaked their intention to raid the Organization’s Base. It had been because of something that he had said, which made her aware of the possibility. Although, a part of him hoped this hadn’t been the case, he knew that he had to face reality as the fact that she had revealed that she had contacted the Organization, when even after the mission, they weren’t even sure that was who the facility had belonged to, all but confirmed that Oboro must have been truthful in her claim.

Although, he knew that it could be any number of details that she had retained from their conversations, which could have put her onto the trail of discovering the details of their mission to the Land of Secrets. He believed that it had only been during the dinner tht they had together just before he had left for Suna when she would have been able to confirm it was going to happen. Which he realized must have meant that she had to possess some means of contacting them directly, and may very well be an agent for them, herself.

Unable to look back at her, he began to panic as deep down he knew what had to be done. Which was to go to Ibiki and admit that he had been right about her all along. However, picturing what that would mean for him, as it was easy to imagine that even if Ibiki didn’t try to punish him in some manner, it could very well be an irreversible stain on his career as he doubted anyone would ever truly trust him again. Not to mention those that would undoubtedly desire to see him brought low in a similar manner as he had demanded Sasuke be, a thought he had as he pictured the furious visage of Inaho which he knew would be directed towards him once she learned the truth.

A thought began to worm its way into his mind that as he had already punished the guilty party, perhaps he didn’t need to go to Ibiki. All he would need to do was make her disappear. But, in truth he wasn’t sure how he would even begin to go about it, seeing as she was coated in his DNA both inside and out. Not to mention, while the Hotel that she stayed within was known for being willing to keep secret what transpired within its walls. He wasn’t quite sure that extended so far as to disposing of corpses, and even if they did, imagined that would just open him up to a lifetime of being under the owner’s thumb. Feeling stuck, he buried his face in his hands, and wished he could undue all the mistakes that he had made.

Unbeknownst to Chouji, one of the mistakes that he had been guided into making was in the process of being undone as after having passed from this mortal coil, a seal which served to keep Oboro’s brain supplied with oxygen worked its magic, while another began stimulating her heart with weak shocks into it began beating once more. Oboro struggled to keep from gasping, as she began to regain control of her body while Chouji seemed lost in the pit of despair that she had cast him into. Moving with a cat’s grace, she drapped herself over his naked back as she moaned, “Gods, you literal fucked me to death. I knew you had it in you.”

Chouji turned in shock and more than a little horror as the woman that he was sure he had murdered blew into his ear. Tossing himself away, he smashed into the nearby wall while asking, “What… How?”

Oboro felt some contempt for the man at his pitiful state, but aware that she was so close to getting what she wanted said soothingly, “Don’t fret about your murdering me. I expected as much once I revealed my role in your little misadventure so took precautions.”

She was pleased as Chouji seemed to recover his spine some as he glared hatefully at her asked, “Why are you doing this to me?”

Oboro smiled wickedly at him, as she replied, “Because I was paid to.” Anticipating the question that he was about to ask, she stated, “No, not by the Organization. Let’s just say there was another party that was interested in getting eyes on your boss, just in case his comrades attack on this village were traced back to him.” She could see that her response hadn’t really narrowed down who her employer was, not that she imagined that he would know even if she were to name him. But, not bothering to satiate his curiosity about who had hired her to ruin him for the time bein, she climbed from the bed and as his cum began leaking from her, leaving a trail along the floor as she approached, she said soothing, “Relax Chouji. All you need do is put yourself under my care, and I promise that you’ll have all the answers you want and more.” Dropping into a crouch before him she continued, “After all, I’m the only reason that you’re still here. Or, did you truly think it was entirely because of your own skill that you escaped from that death trap.”

Chouji’s face reflected his shock from Oboro suggesting that she had revealed the mission in part to keep him alive. Which while he wanted to dismiss her words as lies, couldn’t as he knew it would explain why the Organization had allowed him and the others to escape the floor where it appeared that most of the creatures had been stored. Especially, as while Ibiki had originally believed that they had allowed them access to the lower floor had been after Naruto had entered the facility. However, Yoshino who had taken charge of looking into what had happened upon their return had surmised that they had in fact left the floor before Naruto had entered the building. Chouji hadn’t really known what to make of that detail, as she hadn’t shared her thoughts with him as to why. But, with what Oboro had revealed, he realized it was probably due to whatever deal that she had made with them.

“Work with me, and I promise that you’ll begin to see how this world truly functions in ways Ibiki could only dream of,” Oboro stated before leaning in to kiss Chouji. Who although he didn’t respond in kind, also didn’t push her away as he figured that if even a fraction of what she was promising turned out to be true, perhaps he could bury his recent failures beneath a mountain of successes that would leave even his most ardent critics with little to complain about.

Next Chapter: Sharpening the Edge!

Author’s note: Hello everyone and Happy 2026. I hope your year is starting off on the right foot, at least as opposed to how things appear to be going for Chouji. I would like to begin by thanking those of you who took the time to leave a review and rate the last few chapters on Ficwad. I admit that I was a little disappointed by the lack of reviews, but those of you who do take the time, truly are what inspire me to continue. So, thank you once more!!!

I’m really happy with these last few chapters, and hope that they proved worth the wait, especially considering how at reason the releases took so long before December was because I wanted to ensure they were read in a short order from one another to kind of different roles Antithesis and Eroninja will occupy in telling the overall story. I know a common complaint is that even with 109 chapters of the main story released, it seems as if the Family isn’t really dealing with the Antagonists of the story. Well, as I have stated in the past, it is mainly because I do not see that world working like that. Very rarely do Antagonists just line up so that you can knock them down one after the other. After all, they are as invested in their own survival in much the same way as Naruto and his Family are. Take the Empire from Star Wars for example, before Disney fucked it up at least. Even after Return of the Jedi, in the expanded universe it took decades to finally force the Imperial into a small corner of the galaxy.

I don’t want this story, to be like say the Naruto manga, were you first deal with Orochimaru, and then Akatsuki steps up, only to be replaced by Kaguya, and then despite Naruto becoming some BS child of Prophecy who was supposed to usher in an era unlike any other, new threats and even more secret organizations pop up after a little over a decade.

I guess what I’m saying, is that even though we’ve had well over 109 chapters if we include everything that has been written. This first part of Eroninja, in truth is just me building up and filling in the world, which Kishimoto left blank so he could continuously create even more powerful and double secret groups that are I’m guessing were tied to Kaguya’s lame alien ass. I’m not sure, just from what little I have gleamed through osmosis. So, please be patient. I promise at some point, the edges of the map will be filled in, and you’ll begin to see some real movement towards the family completing its goal. Again, I thank you for sticking with this story, and hope you continue to enjoy.

So until next time, take care. Sincerely, The Lemon Sage!