Eroninja - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Pakura Part II




Mikoto awoke after being betrayed by Yuffie to find herself strapped to a table. She realized from the oppressive heat that she was in the punishment level, and began to fear that the Animal Curse Mark had been applied to her while she was unconscious. But her mind was put at ease by an unlikely source when Akame upon noticing she was conscious said, “No, we haven’t modified you yet. Before we proceed to that step I thought it prudent we have a little chat first.”

Mikoto gave a chilly and unconcerned smile as she replied, “I thought you would have learned by now Akame that I’m not one for small talk.”

Akame didn’t look amused as he replied while he pressed a button thatraised the table from horizontal to vertical, “Funny, I would have thought…”

Mikoto interrupted him as the table completed its journey and seeing that they were alone commented, “Where’s your little lapdog? I figured she’d be here.”

A look of anger appeared on Akame’s face at his being interrupted. Hiding his annoyance, he said, “I assume you are speaking of Seven. Well you see the thing is. I’m not quite sure I can trust her anymore. Therefore, I am going to have to eliminate her. She’ll provide one last useful service in really testing out my men. I’m sure that once she realizes that she isn’t going to be leaving morning training alive, she’ll put up one spectacular show.”

Mikoto was aware that Akame could be testing her in order to see if Seven had been a participant in the jailbreak plot that the Uchiha had mentioned to Yuffie. Therefore, shrugging as best she could due to the straps said dismissively, “Oh well. Guess she’ll just have to learn that betrayal comes with the life.”

Mikoto’s eyes hardened as Akame replied with an amused chuckle, “I suppose you would know, considering the family you come from. Still, whether you truly do not care for her fate or you are putting on an act, it doesn’t matter. Lord Danzou and I have come too far to let it all fall apart for one kunoichi, even for one as exceptional as she.”

Mikoto kept the concern she felt from her face and voice as she asked, “Then why spare me?”

Akame chuckled again in amusement as he replied, “I’ve asked that question myself many times. However, I finally believe I know the answer as to why Danzou keeps you around. You’re not exceptional, but just had the good fortune to be rare. Think of yourself as an endangered species, but I don’t think even that would be enough to keep you alive if not for the connection you share with Sasuke.”

Mikoto understood exactly what the prison warden was driving at as she said, “The Mangekyō Sharingan, you hope to unseal it in Sasuke by having me and him fight so that when he kills me…”

“Not quite,” Akame interrupted, “we believe he already unlocked it when he killed your other son, ” Akame saw a look of shock, surprise, and pain appear on her face so delighted that he had managed to crack her calm exterior said, “You didn’t know. What am I saying? Of course you didn’t. It is strange though, considering that Itachi plunged a sword into your chest, I would have figured that hearing of his death would generate a more joyful emotion in you.”

Fighting back tears, Mikoto said, “What would you understand of it? Itachi loved the Leaf Village; he deserved more than to be hunted down as a missing-nin.”

“He likely would have gotten it,” Akame countered, “if he had only followed through with his orders. Ironic don’t you think, the one thing he loved more than the village was what killed him.”

Mikoto glared at the man wishing she had the ability to use the black fire of Amaterasu to reduce the man to ash. “Then since Konoha has the Mangekyō Sharingan my usefulness is at an end.”

“Perhaps it would be if we had the Mangekyō Sharingan. Yet sadly poor Sasuke chose to abandon the village in order to pursue his desire of killing Itachi.” Akame chuckled as he said, “If Itachi didn’t have bad luck, then he would have had no luck at all. And that’s where you come in my dear. I believe that we’re going to send you after that little traitor and you’re going to kill him thus unlocking the Mangekyō Sharingan for Lord Danzou’s use. Whether he’ll allow you to keep those eyes or simply rip them out of your head who can say.”

“You are more delusional than I thought if you think I’ll help you.”

Akame shook his head clearly amused by her defiance as he walked around the table. “What makes you think you have a choice? Yuffie has told me that you believed the means of controlling this army of degenerates lied within the Animal Curse Mark. You were partially correct.” Akame stopped in front of her after completing his circuit around the table to continue, “The truth is that due to the beastly instincts the curse mark unleashes it makes them far easier to control.” Akame flipped up his eyepatch and showed that beneath the piece of cloth resided a Sharingan, “Especially with this little beauty. It truly is a remarkable Kekkei Genkai. I can almost see why you Uchiha had such a chip on your shoulder. I’m told that this eye in particular once belonged to your dear husband. It was quite kind of you to chase away Itachi’s accomplice in the massacre, since we’ve always been of the opinion he was the one that stole many of the eyes of your clan.”

Mikoto stopped listening as Aakme described how they only knew of him because of her feverish whisperings. She began to recall how she came to in her home after Itachi had stabbed her through the back to find a masked man standing over her husband. Despite her injuries, she had managed to drive him away likely only because of his surprise at finding a survivor. She collapsed seconds later and he probably would have finished her off if not for the arrival of the Anbu black ops. When they had burst into her bedroom all they had found was her and her husband and unaware of the truth of the massacre they had taken her to the hospital. But, upon her survival reaching Danzou’s ears, she soon found herself within the walls of the Leaf Maximum Security Prison.

“In any case,” Akame continued unaware of her tuning him out, “soon you will be one of our perfect little obedient soldiers. Sadly, now that the man responsible for rediscovering the process of applying the mark has returned to Sea Country, I’m afraid those he taught the process to are just not quite as good and as a result it appears the process is quite painful.” Akame pressed a button causing an IV drip to start which Mikoto could feel was trying to lull her to sleep. The prison warden smiled darkly as he said, “But until I get permission to proceed, stay down here and sleep the sleep of the damned.”

Unable to fight the chemicals putting her under, Mikoto thought of her friend Kushina and wondered how their lives had ended up so dissimilar from what they had dreamed. However, she was comforted by the thought that perhaps soon she would be joining her friends and family in the afterlife even as she apologized to Kushina for not being able to protect her son. Yet she wasn’t surprised that she had failed as Akame had already proven she was incapable of protecting her own family.

******

Tsunade was approaching the main camp flanked by Yuugao and Koharu as the sun rose behind them. With the latter being henged to appear as the old woman she had been before becoming one of Naruto’s lovers. However, they could feel the presence of another member of Naruto’s flock blocking their path. Upon spotting said woman, Tsunade waved the other two women forward who nodded and passed on either side of Ino while the Hokage stopped on the branch opposite of the Yamanaka.

“Ino,” Tsunade said with a curt nod, “What is it? In cases it has escaped your notice I’m rather busy.”

Ino frowned at her fellow blonde before answering, “Both Temari and Asuma have refused to send any help after Naruto. They both tell me you are the one that issued that order.”

“I did…”

“Why,” Ino snapped angrily, “He’s out there facing god knows what and you don’t even care enough to send…”

“That’s enough,” Tsunade barked angrily. “Do you have any idea how much it is tearing me up that I can’t send anybody? Has it not occurred to you that I would much rather take this Training Force and march it off after Naruto?”

“Then why don’t you?” Ino said her voice sounding accusing, at least to Tsunade’s ears.

The Hokage slammed her fist into the trunk of the tree as her head was lowered thus casting a shadow over her eyes while she tried to rein in her anger. When she looked up to meet Ino’s eyes the younger kunoichi could see a smoldering anger there. She was about to apologize when Tsunade said in a cool and collected voice, “You forget yourself. I’ve felt the pain that you are trying to avoid. The reason I don’t march off after him is because he would never forgive me for forgetting my duties as Hokage. You say you want Naruto to stop being reckless and to stop taking what you consider as unnecessary chances.” Tsunade took a deep breath before saying, “You think that makes you the one that cares for him the most out of all of us. But to me Ino, that makes you the most selfish.”

Ino gasped from the Hokage’s words. She was about to respond angrily, but in the face of Tsunade’s calm tone as she continued the Yamanaka found that the fire of her anger was suppressed. “There is nothing I’d rather do then lock Naruto away in a tower where I know he’ll be protected. But that isn’t love. That would just be me selfishly trying to protect my own heart. Naruto never hid his desire to become Hokage and a Hokage’s duty is to protect all those that need it. Not just those that he loves and cares for. You fear that means you might lose him and that is a valid one. But if you could convince him to stop risking himself for strangers, with the same callous disregard for his own safety as he would for friends, then Ino, I think you would find that you’d lose the thing that made you love him in the first place.”

Ino didn’t know how to respond so Tsunade leapt from the branch she stood upon to land next to the Yamanaka and gently placed a hand on her shoulder as she said, “It would destroy me too if Naruto were to die because I couldn’t send help. But I know he would want our forces here protecting the people of Konoha.”

Ino nodded but hugged her shoulders as she felt a chill pass through her when she said, “I don’t know if I can continue on in a relationship with him knowing that he’s going to keep throwing himself headlong into every situation.”

Tsunade inclined her head as she understood that for some people it was difficult to care for the type of people who ran in the direction that other people were running from. She leap away in order to reach the main camp leaving Ino with her thoughts, and was confident that eventually the young kunoichi would come to understand that even should she keep her distance from Naruto. It would in no way lessen the pain she would feel should the worse happen to the young man who had found a place in her heart.

*****

Temari stepped up with Asuma as they approached Tsunade, who was dressed in the standard Konoha flak jacket and uniform of a shinobi prepared for battle, upon her entering the main camp. She was not surprised when the man that she had never seen without his trademark cigarettes said, “Lady Tsunade, the squads have surrounded the prison and the Katsuyu clones have been divvied out among them. Now perhaps you’ll tell us what this is about?”

The Hokage gave a grim smile as she answered, “It would be my pleasure.” She then held up another clone of her summons and began speaking. Aware that her voice was being heard by this various squads made up of both Leaf and Sand shinobi she said, “May I have your attention. Let me first say that those of you who have participated in this grand experiment may not be aware of this, but you are now a part of history. Oh shinobi from various villages have worked together before, but never in times of peace and never would one village have turned to another when a potential weakness has been exposed as we have today.”

Temari could see the various confused looks from the multitude of shinobi unaware of what was happening inside the prison. Although not aware of it at first, she herself had been surprised to learn that Kiyomi had always intended for Suna to have a role in dismantling the threat the prison posed. She had always been of the mind that they would somehow take care of it without the outside world ever learning the truth. But as she heard Tsunade continue and it dawned on some of the Suna-nin still in the main camp that the Leaf was trusting them enough to help deal with a problem they didn’t even know about yet, she couldn’t help that it was the perfect way to erase any of the leftover scars from the Sound-Sand invasion.

Tuning back into Tsunade she heard, “The only thing I regret was that I was not to be up front with you all from the beginning as to what The Training Force’s true mission is from the start. However, Gaara and Temari had only ever assured me that when the time came, the Shinobi of the Sand would be ready to stand with their friends and allies in the Leaf. Now you must be asking yourselves, what is she talking about?” Tsunade took a deep breath and then said, “Several months ago it came to our attention that a threat was growing right under our very noses. As we speak, a rebellion is brewing within the walls of the Leaf Maximum Security Prison. Considering that the facility that houses this threat was supposed to be one that protected it, I was not sure where to turn as I was beginning to see enemies everywhere. Luckily for me, there is one person that I feel I can turn to no matter the crisis and despite sometimes being known as the number one hyperactive knucklehead of the Leaf Village. He has always seemed to be able to find the clearest path through whatever obstacles are thrown in his way.”

Temari felt a smile tug at her lips and she was sure was an action being mirrored on the faces of a few other women. Tsunade’s speech continued as the Hokage said, “Although he didn’t know the threat I proposed was real. Without a second’s hesitation he told me, well I’d just ask my friends in the Sand for help.” Although not exactly true, Temari supposed it got the point across.

“That young man is currently chasing down enemies of not only Suna and Konoha, but of the remaining shinobi villages from the five great Elemental Countries. We have just received word that Kumogakure has also experienced an abduction like the one that happened yesterday. While I know some may believe otherwise that this incident with Pakura is a kidnapping. We have it on good authority that both Kirigakure and Iwagakure also have recently lost shinobi to mysterious attacks. Therefore, I ask that you leave that matter to a shinobi of the Leaf as we ask you for your aid in helping us put our house in order.”

******

Naruto after having dealt with Ichi looked at the Katsuyu clone riding on his shoulder in surprise upon learning that the people that had kidnapped Pakura had also likely struck in other villages. He wasn’t sure how the small slug clone had caught up to him, but was glad Tsunade had sent it to inform him that he was going to have to deal with the threat alone. He understood why naturally, since they would need every available shinobi to make sure the prisoners did not get out of the prison as from what he understood of Kiyomi’s plan it did call for a jailbreak.

His attention was pulled away from what was going on back at the prison by Katsuyu saying, “If I’m not mistaken we are near Mount Shuminsen. That mountain range connects Fire, Earth, and Waterfall country. You should tread carefully; a Leaf shinobi isn’t exactly welcome in Earth or Waterfall.” Naruto nodded feeling that it was a shame that relations with Taki had suffered due to the incident that had resulted in Fu now living in Konoha.

Naruto saw another of the large gates approaching so said to the small slug, “You might want to get somewhere more secure. If I was the enemy, I’d leave someone at the gate to see if either my ally or the enemy survived the battle at the first one.” Katsuyu nodded her eyestalks and Naruto giggled as she slid down his body before settling in his pants pocket.

Reaching the gate he didn’t see anyone and guessed his opponents had vastly underestimated him. Therefore, without stopping he began to run up the front of the closed barrier but was forced to leap away as silently large spear like projectiles shot down at him from the tops of the canyon that the gate blocked. Landing on the ground, he saw to wolf like creatures covered in armor snarling at him from atop the canyon walls as a woman appeared on top of the gate. She dropped down in front of it as the two armored wolves ran down the cliff face to join her.

“Oh my, what a handsome one you are. And is that a kunai in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

“Would you believe it’s a slug?”

The woman looked at him in confusion, before a dark look appeared on her face as she asked, “Are you mocking me?”

Naruto shook his head before saying, “Look I don’t have time to mess with you. Now either get out of the way, or end up like your pal did.”

“Oh my, a tough guy, huh? I really love men like you, especially the way they scream.” Pointing at Naruto she shouted, “Get him.” Her two armored pets charged forward obeying her command.

Naruto waited preparing to meet them in close combat, but the creatures had other ideas as one of them stopped to fire the two spears mounted to its back. Naruto jumped up to avoid the projectiles causing the other one to stop and try to impale him with its own projectiles while he was unable to dodge. Naruto created a clone that pulled him out of the way and tossed him at the closest creature even as it took a spear in the chest. He then created a Rasengan and avenged his clone by smashing it into the creature as he landed as it tried to retract the spear it was tethered too.

Dust flew everywhere, and when it settled the only thing Ni saw was the shattered body of her summons. However she sensed the attack just before it happened as Naruto appeared from the ground beneath her with another Rasengan. She flipped backwards and pulling her whip, cracked it and succeeded in wrapping it around the wrist of the hand Naruto was holding the Rasengan with. “Now,” she shouted to her remaining summons as she pulled her whip taunt upon Naruto’s landing forcing him to end the jutsu.

The armored wolf leapt at Naruto’s back intent on biting into his neck. Instead of panicking at his inability to move, the blond man dug into his pocket and pulled out Katsuyu who fired a stream of acid right into the creatures gaping jaws.

As the creature’s insides were consumed by acid, Ni said, “You really did have a slug in your pocket.” But then upon noticing the fate of her summons shouted, “You’ll pay for that you bastard. I’ll keep you here just long enough for Master Hiruko to absorb that bitch you’re trying to save. Then you can try and stop a go…”

She lost her balance slightly as Naruto, after placing Katsuyu back in his pocket, pulled a tri-pronged kunai and then used it to cut the whip. He then tossed it at the kunoichi, who prepared to dodge it, but to her amazement lost sight of Naruto as he disappeared in a red flash. Only to reappear right in front of her as he slammed a Rasengan into her stomach which sent her off flying. She smashed into and through the gate and before everything went dark heard Naruto say, “If that’s the case, then I’m afraid I really don’t have any more time to stick around here.”

****

Seven knew that despite how everything appeared to be normal, something had changed with Mikoto’s imprisonment. She didn’t believe that the Uchiha had betrayed her, but figured that Akame was just going to ensure there were no loose ends. She believed that whatever he had planned for her would likely go down during the morning training session. She watched as the other prisoners gobbled down their breakfasts as the chunin guards kept a careful watch over them led by Akame’s number two man Bekko.

Having arrived to the mess hall early, Seven had walked the perimeter of the room in order to place the seal that Kiyomi had drawn upon her hand at various points. Her sister had told her that when she activated the seal. That it would in essence, short out the one that had been placed upon each of the prisoners to deny them their chakra. Since both Kiyomi and she had spent so long as prisoners themselves. They both knew that without the means to control them, and regardless of whatever deals they had made with Akame, the prisoners would turn on the guards the moment the restrictions on their chakra were removed.

Seven placed her hand against the wall as she spent a second inspecting the bottom of her sandals as if she stepped on something. While grousing about slobs who couldn’t throw their food away she could feel her hand heat up slightly as Kiyomi’s seal transferred to the wall. Her circuit around the room complete, she then headed towards the serving area. She could feel Bekko’s eyes upon her as she moved and again wondered if the Kirigakure kunoichi that had told her the night before that Mikoto had been captured was working with Akame or was trying to cut her own deal in the ever shifting alliances within the prison.

After receiving her meal, Seven turned to look for a seat. Looking towards the section where the Kunoichi Alliance normally sat she wasn’t surprised to find most of its members missing. Figuring that Akame was giving his newest lieutenant and her allies the grand tour decided to make her move. She figured it would be rather ironic for the women that had betrayed Mikoto to still be tethered to Akame as the rest of the prisoners’ chains were broken. Not that it would do any of them much good, since the Training Force would be there to round up the prisoners as they tried to escape.

Her decision made, she dumped her tray into the nearest trash can as she made her way for the exit. She made eye contact with the Kirigakure kunoichi and deciding to trust her made a small motion with her head to head towards the exit. The brown-haired woman nodded and got up to leave the cafeteria. Bekko having notice Seven’s strange behavior came up behind her and clamping his hand down on her shoulders asked, “Where are you going prisoner? You really should have eaten your breakfast. You’re going to need your strength during today’s exercises.”

Seven looked back over her shoulder and gave a dangerous smile as she replied, “Sorry, I don’t think I’ll be participating today. I don’t think I’d be able to give my best knowing my friend was being held by scum like you.”

Bekko’s eyes shot open in surprise at what Seven was admitting. But, before he could call for his guards to move against her, he grunted in pain as she kicked him in the stomach sending him flying into Mizuki’s table. The members of Mizuki’s faction cursed and shouted as their meals were sent flying. As the head guard scrambled to his feet, Seven activated the seal she had place around the room causing a beam of light to shoot from her hand which upon hitting the first seal bounced to the next. This repeated several times until each seal had been activated, which filled the room with a bright light. Seven didn’t stay to see what would happen next as she darted for the exit. She grabbed the Kirigakure kunoichi’s hand pulling her after her, confident that now that they were free of their chains those behind her would act exactly as expected.

****

“After them,” Bekko shouted ignoring the grumbling of Mizuki and the various men and women who had signed on with him.

He heard a smug tone in Mizuki’s voice as the former chunin said, “Oi, you bastard. You should apologize for the mess you made.”

Bekko didn’t bother to look behind him as he slammed his elbow back into where he believed Mizuki was standing. He grunted in disbelief when it felt like his elbow had struck a brick wall, so looking over his shoulder was about to tell Mizuki where he could stick his apology. But, to his surprise felt a cold splash of fear cut through him as she came face to face with Mizuki in his Animal Curse Mark form. The beast man grabbed him by his head as the man made the hand sign to reactivate the chakra suppression seals of the prisoners. When nothing happened a large smile appeared on the tiger like face of Mizuki who said, “Sorry boss, looks like I won’t be making it to the training session either.”

Mizuki then squeezed Bekko’s head crushing it as the screams of the other guards began to fill the cafeteria once the prisoners realized that at least for the moment they were masters of their own destiny again.

******

Yuffie followed behind Akame as the alarms of the prison began to go off. Despite her still being a prisoner it imposed no problem for her to be running about freely in Akame’s mansion, since due to the early hour none of the civilian prison workers had been let into the facility yet. She, as well as a good portion of her Kunoichi Alliance, had been invited to the warden’s home to celebrate their joining his plot officially. However, unbeknownst to every member of her alliance, even her two teammates, Yuffie had always been working for him. It wasn’t that she was particularly loyal to the prison warden. It was just she was aware of the single truth of the world and that was that what people considered loyalty was nothing but a weaker force latching itself onto a stronger one.

After all, her own home of Taki had been doing such for years. She had little doubt in her mind that should Konoha ever fall, her home would help trample on its ashes as readily as the other villages, even though they were supposedly allies and had been so for close to a century. It was the truth brought about by the founding of the great shinobi villages after all. The shinobi clans that had been unable to match up to either the Senju or the Uchiha before the founding of Konoha had quickly joined forces with them. Those clans that were more ambitious than the ones joining the fledgling village of Konoha quickly answered the other daimyo’s calls to form villages within their own lands and thus led to the founding of the other four great shinobi villages.

Villages such as hers however had been unable to attract the talent necessary to compete and so had quickly approached Konoha for an alliance. Her village had been rewarded for their foresight by being the only minor village to receive a Bijuu as the first Hokage tried to spread a message of peaceful co-alliances. Yet, in the end it was not to be as her village would send an assassin after the first Hokage in the hopes that with his death the clan’s making up Konoha would turn on each other in order to become the next Hokage.

The plot failed naturally and although older than her teammates even Yuffie wasn’t around during the early days of Taki. However, her teacher had been teammates with the assassin and would remain bitter at how his village had treated Kakuzu upon his failure to kill the Hokage. He would instill in her that while loyalty was good, especially to one’s teammates, it was a tool used by those in charge to bind their subordinates to them, while not possessing the same feelings for the men and women they often sent to their deaths.

Yuffie understood this more clearly now due in part to the near decade she and her teammates had spent in the Leaf Maximum Security Prison. But also because she would willingly sacrifice all the women that made up the Kunoichi Alliance, except for her two teammates, in order to secure their freedom. If she had believed that Mikoto could fulfill her promise of freedom then she would not have turned the woman over to Akame. Yet that had been her role from the beginning which was to gather any intelligence on forces within the prison plotting against the warden.

However, she felt a cold vestige of doubt enter her that she had made the right choice when she entered the prison command center located in Akame’s mansion and saw the chaos on the many security monitors. She could tell that Akame was just as surprised as she was as he barked, “What the hell is this? Where’s Bekko?”

“Dead sir,” a chunin guard said obviously not prepared to deal with the situation. “He was killed by Mizuki after the prisoner that calls herself Seven did something to somehow short out the chakra repression seals. W-what should we do sir? The prisoners have already made it to the lower levels and we can’t call for reinforcements from Konoha without raising the question of how so many…”

“Be silent,” Akame snapped and Yuffie could see that he was on the verge of collapsing under the pressure of his scheme falling apart around him.

Yuffie also felt the same pressure since her own plans were on the verge of being undone. Trying to think of some way to turn events in her favor she was about to back out of the control room but stopped when Akame said, “Just where do you think you’re going to bitch?”

The Taki kunoichi narrowed her eyes at the man as she replied, “It doesn’t seem you’ll be able to fulfill your part of the bargain we struck. I see no reason to risk myself for a losing cause.”

Akame glared at her, but then with a grim smile that wasn’t entirely sane said, “Then let me help you see things more clearly.” Yuffie went on guard, but with her chakra still being restrained was helpless as the Sharingan that Akame revealed was beneath his eye patch convinced her that there was still a reason to fight, his revenge. Having a general idea of where Seven was heading he told Yuffie to gather her alliance and to arm themselves in his armory where he would put those that resisted under his command to hunt down and kill his traitorous Lieutenant.

****

Naruto pushed his legs harder as he caught sight of the strange birdlike summons as it descended towards a fortress that lay beyond the last gate with Pakura clutched in its talons. Running along the barren landscape, he diverted his course towards a large rock formation in order to gain some altitude. He ran up it quickly, and upon reaching the top created a clone which after he passed it one of his special kunai, henged itself into a Demon Wind Shuriken which Naruto tossed at the man riding the birdlike summons. The man easily deflected it upwards, but was surprised when the clone dehenged itself and tossed the tri-pronged kunai it had been given.

Naruto then Hiraishined himself above San with a Rasengan at the ready. Instead of targeting the man, who would likely be able to defend himself, Naruto slammed his jutsu into San’s summons. The bird creature screamed in pain as it was propelled back down towards the earth. It released the tied up Pakura, causing Naruto to leap from the crippled summons and snatch her out of the air. He was about to teleport again. But before he could, his ankle was grabbed by San, who having leapt from his doomed summons used his handhold on Naruto’s ankle to pull himself up and kick the young jinchuriki in the face. The young man saw stars, but refused to give up his hold on Pakura and reacted by pulling his leg free of San’s grip before retaliating by kicking the upside down man in the side.

Aware that the ground was quickly approaching, Naruto created several clones which he used as stepping stones in order to try and slow his downward momentum. However, just as he was beginning to feel it work, he was tackled from behind as San hit him like a human bullet. Due to the speed and impact at which the man was traveling Naruto found himself unable to hold onto Pakura. Therefore, he created a clone which kicked both him and San away as it reached for the Suna-nin.

Naruto grabbed San in a death grip as the man tried to pull himself free in order to go after the kunoichi. But a moment later focused on Naruto as the clone disappeared in a red flash with his target.

*****

Pakura felt her breath get knocked out of her as she and the clone impacted the ground upon their appearing near the kunai the first clone had thrown earlier. The clone holding her wrapped itself tightly around her as they rolled on the ground, but her cushion disappeared in a puff of smoke shortly thereafter. Still bound, she could see Naruto and her kidnapper still striking at each other as if they were unaware of how quickly the ground was approaching.

Just before they impacted it, she shouted, “No!” But then she quickly looked away, as she was unwilling to watch her would-be savior meet his end that way. She heard the sickening impact of a body hitting the ground but at the same time also heard the sound of somebody hitting the ground near her although it sounded like it had to a lesser extent.

She cracked open eyes slowly causing her to see a blurry blob of orange nearby, but she was too afraid to look, not wishing to see the young man’s broken body. However, her eyes shot open when the blurry blob sat up and rubbing his back said, “Ow, ow, ow, ow, no more reckless stunts like that for a while.”

“Naruto,” Pakura shouted happily as she tried to stand despite being bound.

The blond gave her a warm smile as he said while pulling out a kunai to cut her free, “Hey, you’re a hard lady to catch up with. I don’t suppose you’d mind to horribly much is we found a nice quiet place to rest after such a long and trying day, ” Pakura wasn’t sure why she felt her cheeks heating up from what he was suggesting, considering how innocuous he had phrased it.

However, before she could answer she caught sight of San preparing to attack Naruto from behind. The jinchuriki sensed the attack and turned to use his kunai to counter his opponents. As the two men pushed against each other’s blade Naruto said, “You’re a lot tougher than your two teammates were. How did you survive the fall?”

San smiled at him as he tried to bear down and overpower the blond while saying, “What makes you think I’m the one that took it?”

Naruto was confused by the man’s words so directed his attention towards the crater and caught sight of what appeared to be two broken forms inside of it. Aware that San had somehow summoned his two teammates and used them to break his fall said angrily, “Bastard!”

San was surprised by the heat contained in Naruto’s voice as well as his eyes momentarily flashing red. Still he recovered quickly saying, “Why so angry? They were already dead weren’t they?”

“You didn’t know that,” Naruto said growing angrier. “You would have sacrificed them regardless.”

“All too true,” the man with the three purple tattoos replied amused. He then surprised Naruto by ending his resistance causing the blond to stagger forward only to be kicked away by the man.

Naruto landed roughly on his back prompting Pakura to call his name. Yet, he quickly recovered and rolled to his feet. He felt Katsuyu slip from his pocket from the movement so remained crouched on the ground. He picked the slug up and put her on his shoulder, but he was surprised that San didn’t try to follow up his attack. He got a sense of the reason why as he heard the large doors of the fortress behind him begin to open.

Naruto stood as he watched what appeared to be a bandaged child step through the fortress entrance. Despite the newcomer’s appearance, he could feel the power radiating from him. However to his surprise the man directed his attention to the slug on Naruto’s shoulder and said, “Katsuyu, my you haven’t changed at all over these many years.”

The jinchuriki could hear the shock in Tsunade’s summons voice as she said, “Hiruko!”

Before Naruto could inquire as to whom it was he was facing, both Hiruko and San attacked forcing him on the defensive as he protected the still bound Pakura.

****

“Hiruko!” the clone of Katsuyu riding on Tsunade’s shoulder said causing the slug princess to direct her gaze towards it in shock.

“Is that who Naruto is facing?” She asked worryingly, which grew in intensity when her summons nodded its eyestalks. She cursed feeling the overpowering sensation to abandon her mission in order to go support her lover. Yet aware of how he would react to finding out she had quickly put a lid on the desire and focused on the coming fight.

Tsunade landed on a tree branch and asked her summons, “Where are they now Katsuyu?”

The slug remained silent as it searched the many copies of itself looking for some sign of Tsunade’s quarry. She waited patiently and allowed her mind to recall what forced her to step onto the battlefield.

Tsunade had been in the main camp processing the various reports from the Training Force units that were engaging the rioting prisoners. Much as expected, the prisoners once free to use chakra had turned against the guards of the prison. Over the past few months of planning on how to best deal with Danzou’s rebellion, one problem kept making itself abundantly clear, which was how to overcome the Leaf Maximum Security Prison itself without it turning into a long drawn out siege. After all, all the qualities that made it effective place to keep people inside, also made it just as effective as keeping them out. Unfortunately, the best solution they had come up with had been to let the prisoners succeed in their escape to a certain extent.

/]

[/Naturally this was only to be the case if the chunin guards of the prison were unable to reestablish control. If they were, then Tsunade would have the Training Force swarm the prison under the pretense of having noticed something amiss. Sadly, when several batlike creatures attacked the tower on the opposite side of the lava crater and managed to get the drawbridge to lower, Tsunade knew they would be forced to use the riskier strategy.

/]

[/Much as expected, with the drawbridge lowered the prisoners began storming across it. To her surprise though, most of them didn’t appear to be gifted with the Animal Curse Mark. Still she had given the order to attack and once the prisoners were far enough away to not easily make it back to the prison the Training Force sprung its trap. The prisoners put up the fierce fight of those seeing their hopes about to be dashed, but it was proving to be for naught against the combined might of the Leaf and Sand. At least that was until the horde of transformed shinobi began to storm across the drawbridge.

/]

[/Tsunade had quickly realized that the first wave of prisoners had likely been those of the lower levels and had been freed by the ones taking part in Danzou’s rebellion to spring any ambushes waiting for them. She had wondered briefly whether or not it was the work of a person possessing a tactical mind guessing they may encounter further resistance outside the prison or if they had sensed the Training Forces presence through the heightened senses of the animals they now resembled.

/]

[/The Training Force had reacted quickly and had managed to prevent the second wave from breaking through either, at least until two large men that had been transformed into elephant-men had joined the fray. Having a small idea of who the juggernauts were Tsunade had decided to confront them herself and had left Koharu in charge of directing the Training Force on how to recapture the prisoners that had broken through the lines.

Tsunade was pulled back to the present by her summons saying, “A squad has encountered the Brothers roughly three hundred meters to the West.”

With a nod, Tsunade took off in the direction her summons had told her and quickly came across the two elephant men just as they were finishing in their demolishing of the squad Katsuyu had mentioned. Landing between the two Legendary Stupid Brothers and the wounded squad she said angrily, “I thought I told you two to stop causing trouble.”

The two men instantly recognized her, but instead of the fear they normally showed in her presence they ignored her with Fujin saying, “Come on Rajin. If we don’t hurry Mizuki said there won’t be anything left for us to eat in Konoha.”

Tsunade’s eyes grew wide upon realizing that the two behemoths were heading straight to Konoha. She also realized it was likely that Mizuki was using them as a diversion since with their combined strength it would likely have taken several squads to deal with them. Digging her heels in she said, “You monsters aren’t setting a foot inside the village.”

“What did you say? You won’t stop Fujin and Rajin from enjoying the feast that big brother Mizuki promised,” Fujin the eldest brother said, his grayish skin turning red revealing that the two brothers still had the tendency to go berserk.

Looking back over her shoulder Tsunade shouted to the recovering shinobi, “Get out of here now that’s an order!” The shinobi hesitated as the two monstrous men charged not willing to leave the woman to fight by herself. However, when she caught a punch from Rajin and shouted back, “I said move it. You’ll only get in my way,” they quickly scattered. Especially since, she spun pulling Rajin off his feet and tossed him into his charging brother.

Fujin simply raised his head and used his tusks to lift his brother up and over him allowing him to continue his charge. He then smashed into Tsunade and picked her up off her feet as he charged through several trees with her. He suddenly came to a stop causing Tsunade to continue in flight, but he caught her with his trunk. He then tossed her towards his brother who raised his massive fists above his head and spiked her into the ground.

Tsunade wobbled slightly as she got back to her feet and felt a grim smile reach her face as she said, “Looks like I’m going to have to remind you two who it is you’re messing with.”

The Brothers didn’t respond as they were still in their berserker state, and unable to understand her words charged. Tsunade braced herself and just before they reached her leapt over the beast men. Landing behind them, she punched the ground causing the earth to split and crack which threw the two men off balance. Charging Rajin, she delivered a blow straight to his stomach and although it caused him to cough up blood as he skidded away from her, to her amazement he appeared otherwise unharmed.

Her shock nearly cost her as Fujin recovered his balance and attempted to maul her with his tusks. Tsunade leapt away at the last moment, but before she landed was sent flying as Rajin raised his trunk and unleashed a gust of wind that carried her away. She hit a tree that she then slid down as the two brothers closed in on her.

Getting back to her feet, she prepared to face the two again but was surprised when two figures dropped down in front of her. Instantly recognizing her apprentices she said, “What the hell do you two think you’re doing here? You’re both supposed to be at the main camp hospital.”

Sakura looked over her shoulder and with an amused smirk countered, “With all due respect Tsunade aren’t you supposed to be there also.”

Shizune nodded in agreement with her fellow apprentice as she added, “Indeed, in times of battle the generals should remain towards the rear.”

“As should the medics,” Tsunade said agitated.

“Well since you were our teacher it is no wonder we never took to that lesson,” Sakura replied as she cracked her knuckles.

“I’ve told you many times Lady Tsunade. You don’t need to take on everything by yourself.” Shizune then with a smile looked over her shoulder towards her teacher as she continued, “I would’ve thought it was something that our new life would have taught you by now.”

Tsunade smirked as she stepped between her two students while saying, “Why did I ever agree to take on two such willful women as my apprentices? Very well, but don’t come crying to me if you’re too tired or bruised to enjoy our stud afterwards.”

Shizune and Sakura took off charging towards the two elephant men with the youngest saying, “Don’t worry about us Lady Tsunade. We’ll handle this if you’re starting to feel your age.”

“Hey,” Tsunade said in annoyance especially since Sakura’s quip was followed by Shizune’s amused giggles. Still as she watched her two apprentices face their opponents she couldn’t help but feel a measure pride. However, not willing to be left behind just yet decided to add her might to the fray.

****

Kiri prisoner KK-one-one-seven-six was rifling through the research notes that she could find in order to take them before she would follow Seven in escape. Finding a file she believed may contain the keys to recreate the animal curse mark she scanned it quickly, but learned that although it did contain the original recipe that Mizuki had used. It didn’t contain anything on how to prevent the side-effects of accelerated aging. Cursing, she placed the file in a scroll and continued her search.

Turning she began to scan the room, but paused a moment to take in the damage that Seven had left as she had rescued Mikoto. She still had a difficult time grasping that the woman seemed even stronger than she had been during the training sessions they had participated in. The way the heavy metal doors of the elevator and converted cells had been ripped open as Seven had displayed an ability to use Magnetic Release as she had searched for Mikoto was awe inspiring.

Seven had first shown it by ripping the doors to the elevator shaft open in order to drop down to the punishment level. Reaching the lower level of the prison, Seven had then easily torn through the guards as she prevented the metal kunai and shuriken the men had thrown when she had appeared from the shaft from reaching them. After making the weapons come to a stop in midair, she had reversed their course killing many of the guards who had thrown them. The few that remained had tried to battle her in close, but learned that her hand to hand skills were as sharp as ever.

/]

[/After dealing with the guards protecting the prisoner on the punishment level they had quickly found Mikoto, but learned the woman likely wouldn’t be leaving under her own power due to being drugged. Seven had managed to rouse Mikoto to a semi-level of consciousness before freeing her of the table she was strapped to, and although the Uchiha kunoichi was barely lucid she was at least able to aid Seven somewhat as they searched for an exit. Upon finding a secret passage which the Kiri-nin suspected was how Akame had smuggled in the supplies necessary for the research into the Animal Curse Mark. Seven had turned to her in order to say, “Let’s get out of this sweat locker.”

/]

[/However, Kiri prisoner one-one-seven-six had refused as she backed up saying, “I can’t, at least not yet. I’m going back for the research notes so that I can barter my way into another village.”

/]

[/“Don’t be an idiot. You can worry about that kind of stuff after we make our escape. The riot upstairs might have the guards too busy to bother us, but that isn’t a reason to delay our departure.”

/]

[/The Kiri-nin had been unable to prevent her gaze from darkening as she said angrily, “That’s easy enough for you to say. You’re probably just going to run back to Iwagakure. But what about me, there’s nothing for me in Kirigakure. My own village sent an assassin disguised as a bodyguard whose job it was to kill me and my squad at the first sign of trouble. I’m not going back there and that means I’m going to need something by which I can barter my way into another village.”

/]

[/The woman, who could barely remember her name since she had discarded everything of her hometown village, thought that Seven had looked like she was about to invite her to tag along with her to wherever she was heading with Mikoto. However, she appeared to think twice about it before saying, “Then this is where we part ways. Don’t dally here; eventually even the other prisoners may realize there’s another route out. A bargaining chip isn’t of much use if you run afoul of the wrong person.”

/]

[/The Kiri-nin nodded before dashing back to the room where they had found Mikoto and begun her search for what she believed she needed to start a new life in a new village.

The former shinobi of Kirigakure was about to return to her search when her senses screamed at her that she had overstayed her welcome. Pulling the blade she had liberated from one of the dead guards she scanned the entrance to the room as she looked out into the darkened corridor while wishing that Seven hadn’t done quite so much damage to the lighting fixtures. She was about to perform the Hidden Mist jutsu so that she could sneak past the people her senses were telling her were just outside the doorway. However before she could start the first hand sign, a large four pointed shuriken flew into the room forcing her to deflect it.

Battering it to the side, and recognizing it as the favored weapon of Yuffie, she attempted to call out to her former ally. Yet before she could another of the women of the Kunoichi Alliance charged into the room. Before she could call out to Tifa and ask why they were attacking her, the Taki kunoichi landed a punch to her solar plexus that knocked the wind from her lungs. Tifa followed the blowup with a kick to the stomach the sent her flying backwards into a medical counsel that sparked as it collapsed under her weight. Before she could get back to her feet two more women of the Kunoichi Alliance charged into the room and pulled her back up as they held her between them.

She noticed immediately that unlike Tifa, who appeared almost robotic in her movements, the women holding her were in complete control of themselves. She was about to ask what was going on when the familiar voice of Akame cut in as he said, “Excellent, I was afraid exerting so much control over the three would dull their fighting edge. I’m glad that appears not to be the case.” Akame stepped into the room followed by Aeris and Yuffie as well as the remaining members of the Kunoichi Alliance. Giving her a sadistic smile he said, “Ah, so this is where you are. I was wondering why you didn’t join us for breakfast. Yuffie told me you weren’t feeling well. What’s the matter come down with a case of betrayal?”

Sounding defiant the Kiri-nin replied, “Perhaps I should put the question to you as well.” Indicating the three Taki-nin with a nod of her head she added, “Something tells me that being turned into a puppet for you wasn’t what Yuffie had in mind when she joined forces with you.”

The smile never left his face even as he backhanded her for her insolence as he replied, “I would imagine that you are correct. It’s such a shame that she was willing to become such a villain in order to secure her teammates’ freedom. Sadly though, her loyalty to me only extended as far as it needed to in order to achieve that goal. Luckily with the exception of those teammates, who were quite displeased at my treatment of their team leader, the rest of you kunoichi are proving to be far more dependable.”

“I think gullible would be a more apt description.”

Akame sighed as he reached for his eyepatch while say, “I guess I’m going to have to put you in the unwilling to be of use column. Fortunately I have ways around that stubborn pride of yours.” Lifting the eyepatch that he wore, she was surprised see a Sharingan which tomoe began to spin as he said, “Now why don’t you be a bit more cooperative and tell me exactly what happened here.”

Unable to stop herself, she told the Warden of the prison all that he wanted to know and as he and the other kunoichi geared up to attack a woman strong in Magnetic Release chakra felt tears begin to appear at the corner of her eyes as she followed along behind them as they took off to kill Seven.

****

Temari rolled backwards as a wolflike creature leapt at her from the tree above her as he tried to decapitate her with his claws. She got back up to her feet and managed to bring her closed fan up in time to block the Wolfman’s attempt to rip her throat out with his teeth. She winced as he bit down on her fan, denting the heavy metal with the pressure he exerted on it. A moment later she was sent flying as he used his teeth’s grip on her weapon to toss her away like a ragdoll.

Landing roughly on the ground, she still managed to roll into a crouch and then dug into her pouch to pull out a pair of kunai as she had been unable to maintain her grip on her fan. The wolfman spit her weapon to the ground before a dark grin broke out on his face. He leapt towards her but before he even began to descend back towards the earth a weighed cord wrapped around his neck. Temari’s gaze drifted along the cord of the Johyo to the woman wielding it as she was crouched on a tree branch.

Just as the cord was about to go taunt, Matsuri dropped down from the tree. She let the cord fall over the branch she had just been standing on using it as a pulley of sorts as gravity pulled her to the ground while holding onto the handle. Much as the Suna chunin planned the chord grew taunt faster and with her downward momentum she was able to pull the wolf creature back and suspend him in the air. He gasped for breath as he hung suspended beneath the tree branch. However a moment later a large metal cable hit the branch snapping it.

“You little bitch,” the wolf shouted reaching for a massive umbrella strapped to his back as they were joined by a man whose animal curse mark gave him the form of a jackal.

“Quite the pathetic display you’re putting on Shura,” the newcomer said snidely.

“Go to hell Monju,” the Shinobazu leader shouted as his umbrella shot a stream of flame towards Matsuri just as she managed to unravel the cord of her weapon and pull it back.

Monju laughed in a similar manner as the creature he now resembled before controlling his cables to deflect the kunai that Temari tossed at him. “Nice try,” the man beast said amused as the kunai fell around his feet. Pulling his arm back he was about to use the cable wrapped around his forearm as a whip, but frowned as she ducked behind one of the nearby trees. Confused as to why she believed the barricade would provide her protection since she had already witnessed his ability to cut through the trees with ease, he receive his answer a moment later as his heightened sense detected a hint of smoke. “Shit,” he cursed as he noticed the exploding tags wrapped around the handles of several of the kunai that she had thrown. He attempted to leap away but was still caught in the blast as they went off.

The explosion also had the added benefit of causing Shura to stumble. He released the trigger on his umbrella causing the flamethrower in his umbrella to switch off. Matsuri used the opening to dash from her cover but Shura recovered and bringing his umbrella in line with her said, “Too slow.”

He pressed the trigger, but she threw off his aim by dropping into a slide and reaching her target kicked Temari’s fan over his head towards the outstretched hand of Temari. Shura, believeing the Suna Jounin was the greater threat and aware that armed with her fan, her wind powered jutsu would render his flame attacks as dangerous to him as to his enemies spun to attack her. It was a costly mistake as Matsuri leapt back to her feet. She then threw the weighted rope of her Joyho so that it wrapped around his umbrella as he tried to bring it to bear on Temari. As Matsuri expected he used his greater strength to yank her off of her feet. Prepared for it as she was, she allowed him to succeed so that she landed on his back where she affixed two exploding tags over his eyes. She leapt away as he tried to pull them free but failed as they exploded removing his head and a good portion of his torso.

While Shura was panicking in his last moments Temari caught her fan and spun towards an enraged Monju. Although a mess the beast man still had plenty of fight as he charged towards her whipping his cables around and clear cutting the forest as he made his way towards her. Only able to open her fan so that the first moon was visible due to the damage it has received, she swung it so that a small but powerful Wind Scythe shot towards the man. Monju erected a barrier of cable in front of him, but it provided little protection as the jutsu cut through it as easily as his cables had the trees around him. He continued forward for several more steps, but then his torso separated from his body as Temari was already turning away.

Matsuri approached her fellow Suna kunoichi who nodded her appreciation for the chunin’s aid in getting her weapon back. As Temari affixed the fan to her back Matsuri asked, “Has there been any word from the rest of the squad?”

Before Temari could answer the sound of a body hitting the floor reached their ears. Turning towards the sound both women saw a large struggling creature that was wrapped like a mummy. Maki appeared next followed by two other chunin and with a smile said, “I guess I was worrying over nothing. It looks like you two have things well in hand.”

Temari smirked for a moment, yet aware that the situation was anything but said, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I will not consider this our victory unless by the end of the day we can account for all of the trash currently running through these woods.” Directing her attention to the two chunin that had followed Maki she ordered, “You two make sure this thing gets locked in a cage back at base camp. Once that task is completed link up with any incomplete teams that are doing likewise before returning to the field.”

The chunin snapped a crisp pair of salutes before picking up the struggling wrapped up mole man that was the only remaining member of the Shinobazu. Once the three women were alone, Matsuri produced their copy of Katsuyu and with a moment of free time asked for an update on how their lover was doing.

******

Pakura watched mesmerized after managing to get to a kneeling position, despite being bound nearly head to toe, as Naruto battled it out against the man that had abducted her and what appeared to be his master. Her gaze drifted to the diminutive man in white. She winced as he managed to dispel another of Naruto’s clones leaving the blond in a two on one match. Although Hiruko’ taijutsu appeared decent, Pakura had the sense that it had improved only recently. The reason she believed this was because of the way the man had appeared to be struggling against the clones he had faced. Granted he had still managed to dispel all the clones that Naruto had created upon the battles commencement. However, he had struggled against the superior numbers and had only managed to prevail due to the limitations of the Shadow Clone jutsu. Which was their inability to take much in the way of punishment.

Her gaze shifted to the true Naruto, who had used his clones to tie up Hiruko while he attempted to deal with San. Yet, despite the jinchuriki’s strength, the final member of the team that had kidnapped her had proved to be difficult to put away due to his own taijutsu being far superior to what she could see of his master’s.

San demonstrated his superior taijutsu skill as he received a kick from Naruto to the chest. However, far from it being a devastating blow, he lessened it by falling backwards and while Naruto charged in as he tried to capitalize. He lashed out with a kick of his own catching the jinchuriki in the chest in turn. San landed on his back after connecting with his attack and then leapt back to his feet to follow it up.

Naruto managed to block the overhand punch that was directed at his jaw. But, it left him open to Hiruko as he struck with a spinning kick which hit the blond in the side near his kidneys. He grunted in pain as he spun away in order to bring his two attackers in front of him.

However, Pakura had the sudden desire to yell at him that he hadn’t created enough distance to adequately do so, but stopped upon realizing he had made sure to keep himself between her kidnappers and her. Recognizing that unless she managed to get free she would, in a sense, be an anchor dragging Naruto down by limiting his movements. She again began to strain against the chakra infused ropes binding her. Cursing the seal that had been placed over the ropes and were denying her access to her chakra, she began to even gnaw at the ropes in a desperate bid to get free and aid her would be rescuer.

Yet despite her struggles, the ropes remained stubbornly tied. She thrashed wildly in frustration and nearly fell onto her back. She was about to try again when a soft cultured voice said, “Please refrain yourself from making such movements for a few more moments. I wouldn’t want you to make the situation worse by needlessly injuring yourself.”

Pakura stopped as she wondered who was talking to her, but then realized that it must have been the summons that had been on Naruto’s shoulder when Hiruko had appeared. She struggle to look at her back and could see the slug chewing on the rope. As the summons did so, small whiffs of smoke would appear making her believe something in the slug’s saliva was acidic.

With a sudden snap the ropes broke away from her and as her chakra flooded through her again, Pakura with a pissed off shout charged towards the battle. Hiruko and San leapt away from Naruto as two of the suns that she had generated using her Kekkei Genkai flew on either side of the jinchuriki.

Both men managed to avoid them till they burnt out and as she flew past Naruto herself she said, “You handle the bastard in white. The pretty boy and I have some unfinished business.”

Naruto nodded his acceptance of the dance partners that Pakura had set, so squared off against his opponent as the sounds of the kunoichi using her fists to vent her frustration at being kidnapped on hers.

*****

Tsunade glared at the hulking brute that stood before her and Sakura. She hated to admit it; however she was forced to admit that if she hadn’t been joined by her two apprentices then she may have lost this battle. Or at the very least, she would have been forced to turn to her trump card of the Creation Rebirth jutsu in order to keep pace with the elephant men. Although Tsunade was beginning to suspect that even if she used it that it wouldn’t come with the same after effects of aging her prematurely as it had in the past. Truth be told, she was operating under the belief that she and Naruto’s other lovers were already operating under similar effects as her jutsu due to some tinkering done to Naruto’s semen by Kiyomi.

If Tsunade was correct, then she believed that much like Naruto himself his lovers healed from injuries far quicker than they used to, as well as recoup chakra insanely fast. Taking a moment to look at her pink haired apprentice she was having a hard time disproving her theory especially since although dirty and breathing hard, Sakura didn’t carry the bruises of someone who had taken blows from a man whose fists could dent steel and shatter rock. Tsunade could tell that she herself was in a similar state despite having also taken similar hits from the behemoths.

Although she believed their accelerated healing was just the tip of the iceberg of what Kiyomi may have done for Naruto’s lovers, Tsunade forced her mind away from the medical aspects to the battle at hand. Before focusing on her opponent though, she spared a moment looking for some sign of Shizune who was facing down the brute Fujin by herself. Tsunade tried to force herself not to worry about her first apprentice as she was quite aware of how capable the woman was, but found it difficult since both she and Sakura were struggling against Fuin’s brother. She knew it was prideful of her to be concerned for such a reason; since it suggested that Tsunade was on the belief that if she was struggling then so must Shizune have been. However as she thought about it further she realized that if anything Shizune should be more worried about Sakura and her since their own techniques were painfully unsuited to battle The Legendary Idiot Brothers.

Both she and Sakura were forced to leap back as Raijin in his berserker state charge them and buried his right where they had been standing. The powerful blow kicked up dust and debris which the two kunoichi exploited as they used it for cover in order to charge the massive animal human hybrid. Sakura reached him first just as he was pulling his massive tree trunk size arm from the whole he had created and leaping into the air delivered a powerful spinning kick that caught him in the side of the head causing him to stagger. He staggered right into Tsunade, who struck him in the side with a powerful punch that although would have leveled most opponents did little more than cause Raijin roar in pain.

The women leapt away as Raijin brought his fists above his head and then smashed them into the ground which caused it to tremble and crack. He followed it up by clamping his hands together which created a massive shockwave of air pressure that it sent the two airborne ladies tumbling out of control. Tsunade managed to right herself so that she landed on her feet and was pleased to see that Sakura managed to as well. She was about to explain why she believed that their enhanced strength was having little effect on the man when she was again surprised and pleased to hear Sakura be her to the punch as she said, “Tsunade, so long as he remains in that rage like state our attacks are going to have little to no impact. It is almost as if he’s opened the Eight Inner Gates and is disrupting our chakra as we release it.”

Tsunade nodded in agreement as she replied, “It would seem that way. If we survive this we will have to test this theory. I’ve never encountered an opponent outside of Konoha that could open their Gates like Guy does.”

“Really,” Sakura said surprised before asking, “How did you beat these two previously?”

“Simple,” Tsunade said with a shrug, “The first time I faced them I pummeled them so fast and hard that they never even knew what hit them. It left a lasting impression so that I barely even needed to raise a finger to keep them in line. Unfortunately, it seems that with the addition of the Animal Cursed Mark, they have forgotten their fear of me.”

“Any idea of how to put the fear back in them?”

“I’m afraid not. If you have any ideas I’m all ears.”

Tsunade wasn’t surprised when Sakura shook her head in the negative since they had already tried using chakra scalpels, but had learned that the man’s pachyderm-like skin was too thick and tough to adequately reach any of his vital organs. Both kunoichi then braced themselves as he lowered his head to charge again. The massive man took off like the animal he resembled, but he only managed to make it halfway towards them when several senbon impacted with the thin skin of his massive ears. Raijin ignored the attack, yet a moment later grew dizzy causing him to trip and fall.

By the time the massive man-beast skidded to a halt at the kunoichi’s feet he was already dead as the poison on the senbon caused the man’s heart to explode due to his excited state. Sakura reached down and was about to pull one of the needles free but was stopped as Shizune said, “Careful, it isn’t an exaggeration to say one drop of that poison would bring down an elephant.”

Tsunade turned to her first apprentice and was rather surprised to see that the jounin looked none the worse for wear unlike Sakura and her. Tsunade’s surprise must have shown as Shizune gave her a small amused grin as she said, “Why such a look of disbelief Lady Tsunade? Don’t tell me you didn’t think I couldn’t handle my opponent because yours was giving you such fits. Wasn’t it you that taught me that combat was like a card game where the value of the cards in your hand can change based on who your opponent is? You of all people should realize that when matched against a person who simply uses his adrenaline as a weapon. The person who can use that adrenaline against him is holding the stronger hand.”

Tsunade shook her head in disbelief as she was forced to remind herself that despite Shizune’s skill as a medic. Her first apprentice’s true talent had always resided in poisons. However, as she watched the dark-haired beauty carefully extract her senbon before making them disappear up the long sleeves of her jounin uniform, Tsunade supposed that it was something that was easy to do as a result of Shizune’s kind and caring personality.

Once Shizune had collected her weapons the Hokage said, “Well now that this situation has been taking care of the proper thing for us to do is to return to base camp.” She could see that much like herself that her two apprentices didn’t want to go back to the relative safety of the main camp. Therefore, she said, “However, should our path back to camp happen to take us through some of the thickest fighting, well I guess it can’t be helped.”

Receiving a pair of pleased nods Tsunade pulled her summons from her pouch in order to find out where the thickest fighting was taking place, and although tempted to ask how Naruto was doing refrained as she wanted to continue to believe in his declaration that he wouldn’t die until he became Hokage. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t still worried, however she just channeled her concern into her fists so that she could and the threat of the prison and have Kiyomi transfer her to Naruto’s location if he needed her help.

****

Yoruichi turned to her redheaded sister and with the concern that she felt said, “I don’t like this. Chomei is late.”

Although she could see that Kiyomi was just as concerned nevertheless her fellow Bijuu tried to put her mind at ease as she said, “Relax Yoruichi, it has only been a handful of minutes since she was supposed to meet up with us. I told you that for whatever reason she feels a kinship to the Uchiha. Likely it has taken her longer to locate her than she expected.”

“Or she has run into more resistance than either of you expected she would.”

A quick look of concern appeared on Kiyomi’s face which she quickly wiped away. However, Yoruichi knew her words had stuck with her sister especially as Kiyomi said, “Although I believe you are worrying over nothing. I suppose that it wouldn’t hurt if one of us went to go see what was keeping her.”

Aware that the redhead was trying to remain dispassionate while at the same time giving Yoruichi a chance to put both of their minds at ease, the dark skinned woman replied, “Well if it will not muck up your plans I’ll go see what is keeping her.” With that said, Yoruichi took to the trees she began heading in the direction of the prison.

Yoruichi made it about halfway to her destination before attempting to call out to her sister using their telepathy. Her reason for doing so was because the shorter the distance the less concentration was required to implement it and she didn’t want to distract her fellow Bijuu if she was in a life or death situation. “Chomei,” she called mentally not exactly expecting an answer.

However she was pleasantly surprised as she received an abrupt, “What is it? I’m a little busy right now.”

“Are you alright?”

“Oh yeah I’m fine,” came the sarcastic reply of her sister. “I mean why wouldn’t I be? I’m only being chased by the prison Warden and at least twenty bloodthirsty bitches all while carrying a doped up woman that can barely form a coherent thought. With all that going on, why wouldn’t I be alright?”

Yoruichi felt a vein pop out on her forehead as she mentally replied angrily, “Hey! I was just asking a question.”

“Yeah well it was a pretty stupid fucking question,” Seven replied quickly.

Yoruichi was about to retort, but then a small smile broke out on her face as she said, “Kami, it’s good to hear your voice.”

“Yeah, it’s good to hear… shit…damn…”

“What’s wrong?” Yoruichi asked her concern ramping up again.

“I-it’s nothing,” Seven replied, “one of those bitches hand some sort of ceramic or glass like shuriken. I wasn’t prepared for it and it scratched me that’s all.” Yoruichi wasn’t so sure since she doubted such weapons were common and suspected it was kept in reserve to deal with people that displayed similar Magnetic Release Kekkei Genkai as Seven had upon gaining access to her full Bijuu chakra. But she kept her concerns to herself. However, a few moments later her sister’s mental voice sounded slightly slurred as she added, “On second thought… it might be something after all…”

“Hold on, I’ll be right there,” Yoruichi shouted mentally.

Yoruichi pushed her legs harder and concentrated in order to try and sense where her sister was. Able to feel a powerful source of chakra surrounded by a bunch of weaker ones she pushed herself to go faster. She burst onto the scene as she exploded through a canopy of leaves to see Seven and an unconscious female surrounded by kunoichi dressed as Leaf Chunin led by a man wearing an eyepatch. She imagined that any of the Sand and Konoha units that may have stumbled onto the scene would imagine they were subduing one of the prisoners. Not hampered by their disguises, she flew towards two of the women that were charging towards her fellow Bijuu and due to the speed she was traveling managed to grab their faces. She allowed her speed and trajectory to do the rest and smashed their heads into the ground.

Akame shocked by the sudden arrival, who was dressed in an orange jacket, shouted, “What the fuck are you doing? We are trying to arrest those escaped prisoners.”

“Funny,” Yoruichi said as she got back to her feet, “It looked to me like a bunch of wolves trying to gain up on a bear. Besides…let’s cut the pretense Warden Akame, after today you’re no longer going to be in a position to dispense Konoha justice. The Leaf knows all about what you had planned.”

“H-how?” Akame said concerned as the woman he had brought began to shift uncomfortably since they had only remained loyal due to his control over the seal denying them their chakra and the belief he still remained their best chance to remain free. Now aware that Akame himself was as much a target to be arrested as them, they looked like they were about to bolt.

Yoruichi aware of this let the scene play out a little longer as she stood between Seven and her attackers before saying, “Well I had a small role in helping them get some of the information they needed. Although truthfully, I didn’t get to enjoy your hospitality long.”

Akame stared at her in confusion but let the matter drop in order to get control over the prisoners by saying, “Listen, I still have the keys to remove your chakra repression seals. Kill these bitches and you get your freedom.”

The dark-skinned woman noticed that seemed to motivate all but four of the women present so turned to look over her shoulder to ask Seven, “What’s with those women?”

“I don’t know…” A heavily sweating human Seven-tailed Bijuu replied before dropping to her knees.

“Hold on,” Yoruichi said moving to support her sister, but was forced to focus on one of the prisoners as she moved to attack. Avoiding the woman’s sword strike, she lashed out with a kick that caught the prisoner in the side of the head. As her opponent rolled away she concentrated on the next challenger, but was surprised when she was hit by a fireball in the chest that caused her to literally burst into dust.

“What a waste,” Kiyomi said having used the seal on Yoruichi to teleport to the location. Looking out of place due to her being dressed in a fine kimono she gasped upon seeing Seven struggling to stand. “What happened?”

“I think she was poisoned,” Yoruichi supplied.

“That shouldn’t be a problem for us,” Kiyomi replied, but a moment later added, “Yet I suppose you haven’t had the same time to get used to your powers that we have.”

“T-thanks… for your understanding…” Seven wheezed weakly, “I promise to study harder in the future…provided…I have one.”

“Oh, quit being so melodramatic,” Kiyomi said moving towards her sister. “I told you poison isn’t a problem for us. Although, due to your letting it get this far it will have you off your feet for a while.”

“Wait a second,” Akame said recognizing Kiyomi. “You’re the woman whose siblings we were working with to get the supplies for our experiments that we needed into the prison. You’re no shinobi. What are you doing here?”

Kiyomi began healing her fellow Bijuu before replying, “That much should be obvious. But thank you for confirming my suspicion about the role this body’s family had in your plot.”

“Umm, aren’t you revealing a bit much?” Yoruichi asked as she spared a look towards her sister. “Aren’t we going to need this asshole to testify against Danzou?”

“It won’t do any good. Danzou isn’t going to be brought down by this. Unfortunately the only person we’ll be able to tie this plot to is a small time Land of Fire noble. All Danzou will need to claim is the noble was hoping to set him up. Plus the few times that Danzou and Akame have met can all be written off since they appeared on Danzou’s schedule as prison status updates.” Having cleared Seven’s system of the poison she stood and said, “With that being said I’m afraid all of you have chosen the wrong person to align yourselves with. And will not be leaving this forest alive.”

“W-wait…” Seven said wearily still feeling the effects to the poison. “The brown-haired woman still dressed as a prisoner…she’s probably being controlled somehow.”

Kiyomi spotted the woman in question and guessing it would explain her blank look inquired about the other three women that wore similar ones. “What about the ones surrounding her?”

“I could care less what you do to them? They’re the ones that betrayed Mikoto.”

“Very well,” Kiyomi replied, “Although it does seem a shame to kill them simply for betraying an Uchiha.”

Akame pulled his eyepatch off revealing the Sharingan and tossed it away as he shouted angrily, “You think you can kill all of us. It’s time someone puts you in your place.”

“Better than you have tried,” Kiyomi replied as she began to get covered in red chakra which took the form of a ten foot tall fox. Addressing Yoruichi she said, “I’ll leave the Warden to you.”

“Really, I figured you’d want to take credit for bringing him down.”

Kiyomi smiled at her before saying, “That would be nice. But, I need to go shopping for some raw materials.”

Yoruichi smirked as Kiyomi then leapt to take on the women that had accompanied Akame. Focusing on her opponent she was surprised that for a moment she seemed to lose focus and the next he was right in front of her. More sensing the attack then seeing it, she managed to avoid the kunai before it opened up her throat. She tried to focus on him again, but once more was nearly taken out as he managed to get past her defense.

Yoruichi flipped away from him but instead of trying to meet his gaze began to focus on his feet’s movements. As she suspected she was better able to read him and didn’t lose track of his presence as he charged her. Blocking his forearm with hers as he attempted to plunge his kunai in her chest he said, “Clever, you’re reading my movements by watching my feet. But can you really keep up with me that way.”

He dropped the kunai he was holding and then spun in order to catch it so that he could swipe at her throat again. Yoruichi bent backwards to avoid the blow and then struck up with a palm strike meant to shatter his nose. Akame avoided the blow as the Sharingan told him it was coming and then struck out with a kick which missed its mark as Yoruichi rolled out of the way.

Instead of retreating though she kept the fight close and began swinging at Akame using a combination of punches and kicks. Akame easily began avoiding them as the Sharingan provided him with the insight of where the attacks were going to land. Commenting as much he said, “It’s futile. With this Dojutsu none of your blows are going to find their mark.”

Yoruichi instead of rising to the bait smirked as she said, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Being able to predict an attack is all well and good. But what good does it do you when your body can’t keep up. This is me moving relatively slowly. Would you like to see me kick it up a notch?”

Doing as she said, suddenly Akame found himself needing to avoid twice the number of blows. Not to mention it left him with no chance to counter attack. He could see Yoruichi begin to channel lightning chakra throughout her body as she quipped effortlessly despite how fast she was moving, “Let’s just go all out shall we.”

To Akame’s amazement, the Sharingan could no longer keep up and that was when pain became his existence. He had no idea how many blows his body took, only that many of the seemed to land simultaneously. However, one stood out mainly due to it being the last one which was when the dark-skinned woman took his Sharingan eye by raking her nails across it in a backhanded swipe. “Y-you bitch…” Akame said shouted as he stumbled away holding his hand to his ruined eye. He glared at her but it wilted as she smiled at him like a cat that was toying with a mouse. “She’s a monster,” he thought as she blew a black fire jutsu which took the form of a cat and hit him with such force and heat that it left no trace of him behind.

*****

Kiyomi speared one of the kunoichi with her tail while she allowed the brown-haired woman that Seven had called out to approach. The prisoner held her katana pointed out as if to run Kiyomi through but was smashed into the ground by the chakra fox’s paw. Moving to stand over her, thus pinning her to the ground the nine-tailed Bijuu began to tear through the rest. Although, not nearly as gruesomely as the ones she had killed in order to get towards the kunoichi she intended to spare. Several of her Avatar’s tails wrapped around the waist of six women, who then screamed in pain as Kiyomi channeled her chakra throughout her captives’ bodies. Much as she had with the assassin, whose body she had supplied for Yoruichi to take possession of, she wiped out everything that had made them individuals but left their bodies still functioning.

Kiyomi tossed the empty shells away before zeroing in several more that she batted away. Most of the women died from the attack due to the various hard objects they struck. She was surprised when one of the women still standing and who she had marked as one of the three also being controlled shouted, “Tifa!!”

“You goddamn monster,” shouted the oldest woman present before pulling her large four pointed shuriken and charging Kiyomi intent on trying to bury it in the Bijuu’s chest. She watched as another of the controlled women ran towards the injured Tifa to begin healing her. The rest of the kunoichi broke and decided to save themselves. Ironically, it was their closeness as a team that prevented the three Taki kunoichi from joining the escaping prisoners in death as several black flame cats slammed into them.

Kiyomi ignored the carnage to focus on Yuffie just as she leapt into the air to try and slam her shuriken through the chakra her no doubt in hope of taking out the person threatening her team. However, several of Kiyomi’s chakra tails caught the airborne woman and after wrapping around her arms and legs suspended her in front of the red-head. Kiyomi studied the gray-haired woman for a moment before commenting, “My, I bet you were quite the looker in your prime.” Yuffie simply spit at Kiyomi in response which sizzled as it hit the chakra separating them. Kiyomi smirked as she said, “Pretty spirited to I imagine.”

The red-head reached from the chakra and clamped her hand around Yuffie’s head. The woman screamed as Kiyomi channeled her chakra into the woman causing the teammate healing Tifa to shout, “Yuffie!!!”

“Aeris… get Tifa out of here,” Yuffie ordered through gritted teeth.

Kiyomi could see the surprise on the other woman’s face as her team leader’s hair grew dark black and her face grew younger until she resembled a woman in her mid to late teens. Once the transformation was complete Kiyomi dropped her to the floor and cut her chakra. She moved off of the Kiri Kunoichi to stand above the woman still healing her teammate. She wasn’t surprised that the woman didn’t look up at her so said, “Are you going to disobey your commander’s order?”

Aeris shock her head no as she replied, “No…I can’t move Tifa yet she’s too injured…”

“I understand,” Kiyomi said placing her hand on top of the woman’s head, “Please take heart in knowing the three of you will continue to serve together.”

Aeris tried to move as several chakra-tails surrounded her in order to pick up her wounded comrade. However she was held firmly in place and suspected that it was due to the chakra the woman was channeling into her. Then to her amazement Tifa’s injuries began to heal and as other more drastic changes also began to happen. For starters, Tifa’s rather flat chest began to swell and Aeris suspected that were she conscious she may have even thanked the woman modifying for the change since she had also felt self-conscious about her small bust. Aeris looked down wondering if she was experience something similar but to her surprise she wasn’t as her modest bust remained so. However she did realize something was happening to her as she felt as if who her personality was slipping away. Guessing that whatever else may be happening to her she wouldn’t be conscious of it she decided not to struggle so closed her eyes as Kiyomi altered her personality as well as her looks.

*****

Yoruichi helped carry Seven as they stepped up to their sister as she finished modifying the two women. Turning towards the third Seven asked, “What did you do to them?”

“I’ve simply made some changes to their features and personalities so that they could be of some use.”

“Are you sure that’s a wise idea?” Yoruichi asked her tone making it clear that she didn’t think it was.

“May I ask why you believe it isn’t?” Kiyomi said turning to face her sisters.

The dark-skinned woman shrugged as best she could while still supporting Seven as she replied, “I doubt Naruto will be happy when he hears about it.”

Kiyomi did appear somewhat worried before replying, “He’ll get over it. He’s handled some of his other lovers in a similar manner when the situation called for it. Besides, my only alternative was killing them and I wanted to see if I could alter a person personality if need be. You could say this was a more humane way of dealing with them.”

Yoruichi still didn’t appear convinced, but dropped the matter yet not before saying, “I’ll let you tell Naruto that.”

Before Kiyomi could retort she was interrupted as Yuffie got back to her feet and in a monotone voice asked, “How may we be of service Mistress?”

“Great, you made drones,” Yoruichi commented hearing the unemotional way the woman talked. “Naruto’s going to love this. I’d start working on your excuses now.”

“Oh shut up,” Kiyomi replied before ordering, “Clean up the bodies of the ones still breathing.” She tossed Yuffie a scroll as she continued, “Seal them into there.”

Yuffie nodded mechanically before waking her two teammates and passing on their orders. As they began sealing them, Seven asked, “What do you need the bodies for?”

Turning to face her sisters, Kiyomi answered, “If we are to free the rest of our family it is only right we do so with a new set of clothes for them to wear. Now speaking of things to wear are you going to continue on with that face.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Seven said irritably.

“Nothing, but depending on how you answer it will dictate how we proceed from hear.”

“I..I’ve never really thought about it…but I suppose I’ve grown rather attached to it,” Seven said after a moment.

“Very well,” Kiyomi said before nodding to Yoruichi. “I suppose you can always change it later it you feel the need.”

Yoruichi then placed a chakra repression seal on Seven, who protested as she felt her strength leave her, “What’s going on? Are you betraying me?”

“Of course not,” Kiyomi replied hurt by the accusation, “However, if you want to continue on wearing that face without being hunted for the next few decades then we need to have a plausible way for you to earn your freedom. Now listen carefully…”

Kiyomi quickly laid out the cover story that she had concocted to explain Seven’s role in what had happened in the prison. Namely that she was a spy working for Tsunade. Kiyomi had already fitted the pieces together and knew that although it would be a tough sell to Ibiki with Tsunade, Yuugao, and Koharu’s backing he would eventually believe it. Once Seven understood her part in the tale. Yoruichi picked her up to take her to the main camp since even the dark-skinned women would be revealing that both Kiyomi and she had a role in dismantling the threat the prison had posed to Konoha.

Watching the three women continue to seal the bodies that the rest of her fellow Bijuu would soon be utilizing she directed one of them to also seal the unconscious Mikoto. A part of her was tempted to modify the Uchiha’s personality, however Seven had made her promise not to and now that Yoruichi had pointed it out she wasn’t quite sure how Naruto would react about other three women. But was quite positive of how he would if he learned she had done something similar to Sasuke’s mother. She sighed before stepping up to the still unconscious Kiri-nin and asked herself, “Now what shall we do with you?”

*****

Pakura hated to admit it but San was a much tougher opponent then she wanted to acknowledge. That Naruto had fought so evenly with him was a testament to his training regime or his teachers. Pakura tried to connect with one of the suns that she generated as a result of her Kekkei Genkai, but San easily slipped past it and her guard before hitting her with a shot to the solar plexus that stole her breath away. She folded around the blow, but San wasn’t done as he spun and kicked her in the same spot causing her to fly back. She hit the ground hard and was aware of Naruto shouting her name as she tried to get back to her feet.

She watched him spin from his opponent as he created a clone to deal with Hiruko. The man in white tried to take advantage but learned that somewhere along the way Naruto had picked up the Anbu Black-OP skill of creating exploding shadow clones. Hiruko was sent flying as the clone exploded and after hitting the side of his fortress said, “San, this form is too weak. I need you to buy me time.”

“As you command,” the man replied before leaping to his dead teammates.

Naruto had just helped her back to her feet as San merged with his college’s remains to create a creature that resembled each of their summons combined into one monstrous form. Pakura had a hard time not smiling as Naruto helped her stand and quipped, “He’s all yours.”

“Thanks,” Pakura said amused before becoming serious. “How are we supposed to take on something like that?”

“Well I imagine it would have a hard time avoiding your jutsu now,” Naruto said after a moment.

“I would need to create one big enough to actually affect it that would take time.”

“I’ll buy you it,” Naruto said placing a hand on her shoulder before taking off to confront the massive creature.

“Wait…” Pakura said not even sure she could create a sun large enough to take out the creature. However she was determined to do so and climbed atop of one of the nearby rock formations that towered over even the Chimera Beast to begin gather the necessary chakra. She watched Naruto create a thousand clones to distract and befuddle the beast, but her focus was pulled back to the fortress as a flare was shot into the sky. She was confused as to why at first, but upon remembering how her captors had mentioned how a key component to whatever Hiruko had planned was tied to the upcoming eclipse believed the light was simulating it.

From her vantage point, she saw Hiruko stand at the center of the room as the light filtered through the stain glass window above. To her shock and horror the shinobi tied to the X like crosses turned into a blue liquid which Hiruko absorbed into his form. She looked back at Naruto and his clones as they battled the chimera beast. One Naruto leapt at it holding a Rasengan, but was hit by the snake like tail. Unlike the others the beast had hit up to now this Naruto didn’t burst into smoke upon slamming into a wall. The beast zeroed in on this Naruto convinced that it was real.

Pakura looked up at the sun she had created before looking at Hiruko who appeared to be finished absorbing the shinobi he had captured up till now. She looked down again as the beast roared in pain as several clones leapt on it before exploding to give Naruto time to recover. Aware that in all likelihood Hiruko had just achieved a massive power boost and that she could limit the threat he posed as well as allow Naruto to retreat if he was overwhelmed by sacrificing herself leapt from the rock formation down towards the beast. She sent the massive sun down first so that it would destroy the beast before consuming her as well.

The sun hit dead center and she felt relieved as the parts that weren’t armored began to sizzle as her jutsu cooked it. She could hear Hiruko shout, “No!” as her intentions became clear.

The beast collapsed leaving just her jutsu at the center of where it died, so closed her eyes as she said softly, “Thank you Naruto for caring for someone like me.”

“You can thank me by living you idiot,” Naruto said causing her eyes to snap open as he used the Hiraishin seal he had placed on her shoulder to teleport to her location, before teleporting them both to a kunai he had thrown prior.

They arrived in front of Hiruko causing her to ask, “What have you done?”

Naruto ignored the question as he focused on Hiruko who said, “I must thank you Uzumaki. Now that I’ve activated my jutsu artificially, her death would have led to my own destruction.”

Hearing that Pakura nearly created another sun to turn on herself but stopped as Naruto said, “Pakura, I didn’t come all this way so you can get all noble and die on me. I have plenty of people back home who are letting me handle this alone because they believe in me all I ask is that you do the same.”

Pakura felt a surge of peace as she stared at the blond’s back, but replied somewhat indifferently, “Do as you please. I don’t have the chakra to do anything at the moment.”

He looked over his shoulder and gave her a smile that caused her cheeks to redden as he said, “Good. Then that means I don’t need to worry about you doing anymore foolish things for the immediate future. Don’t worry, I’ll handle him.”

Naruto formed a Rasengan before charging forward, but Hiruko raised a hand which seemed to pull the chakra into it. A moment later he reversed it which hit Naruto and blew him off his feet. Quickly getting back to them, he looked for his opponent but before he located him suffered a kick from behind that sent him rolling along the ground. Looking behind him, he sensed the attack at his back and this time was ready quickly using the Hiraishin to disappear before Hiruko connected.

Appearing over the kunai he teleported too, Naruto snatched it up and threw it at Hiruko. The missing-nin avoided it so Naruto teleported to the kunai. He then snatched it out of the air and threw it back at Hiruko. He then teleported to it as it reached him The missing-nin turned just in time to raise his hand and absorb the Rasengan that Naruto tried to hit him with. The blond did connect with a kick that staggered Hiruko, but who used his swift release to quickly move behind Naruto. He then formed a Rasengan of his own that he tried to push into Naruto’s back. The jinchuriki Hiraishined away causing Hiruko’s jutsu to miss and slam into the ground causing a large explosion.

Pakura threw up her arm to block the dust and debris. She scanned frantically for any sign of Naruto and looked back in relief as he said behind her, “Whew that was a close one.”

She was about to ask how he had avoid the attack, but Naruto tapped her shoulder causing her to see the seal he had placed there. The dust settled and Hiruko said impressed, “The Hiraishin. I can see why it inspired such fear in the Fourth Hokage’s opponents.”

“Um, thanks,” Naruto said not used to his opponents praising him. “I don’t suppose you want to display some of that fear and run along now.”

“I’m afraid not,” Hiruko said, “After all this is only a semi-completed form. Once I absorb that Suna-nin. I will not only have access to both the Dark and Swift releases. But gain the Storm and Steel as the various Kekkei Genkai that I’ve already absorbed combine. Then once I’ve absorbed Kakashi, I will gain access to a Dojutsu that rivals the Rinnegan.”

“Now why did you have to go and say that? I was thinking about taking Pakura and running, but knowing you’d be coming after my sensei means I’m going to have to kick your ass right here.”

Hiruko seemed amused before replying, “Do you think that you can?”

“Won’t know until I do,” Naruto replied. But thought to himself, “Well you can certainly talk big, but how do you plan to back it up?”

He was drawing a blank until his mother’s voice said, “Naruto use the Rasenshuriken.”

“I can’t. Not without hurting myself in the process and if for some reason I miss or worse he copies it I’m toast.”

Kushina was undeterred as she said, “The Dark Release that Hiruko has used to copy the Rasengan will not be able do so with a jutsu of the Rasenshuriken’s caliber. Remember that for as advanced of a jutsu as the Rasengan is, it is still an incomplete one. The Dark release can absorb and learn the properties of a jutsu, however its wielder must have a working understanding of how the jutsu he wishes to absorb operates. At this time, I would wager even your father wouldn’t have an understanding of how you were able to meld both shape and nature manipulation into one stable jutsu.”

Naruto gave a mental nodded but countered, “But how do I deliver it without being caught up in the blast as well?”

Naruto had the sensation of standing both in the outside world and in the seal as he felt a warm presence wrap around him. Aware that his mother was hugging him from behind in the seal he smiled as she said, “For that all you need to do is ask.”

Naruto felt the Bijuu chakra begin to course through him as he began to form a Rasenshuriken. Once completed, he held the jutsu behind him and then threw it. The jutsu took off flying with the red chakra acting as a tether which allowed Naruto to prevent the jutsu from dying out. Hiruko raised his left hand as he attempted to absorb it but to his shock the diamond on his hand flared to life before sparking out. Before he could react the jutsu hit him dead center sending him flying before the jutsu released its full power.

Pakura stared on in stunned amazement as once the dust cleared a giant crater resided where Hiruko had stood. She managed to get to her feet and follow as Naruto moved to confirm the kill. What they saw shocked both of them as instead of the child like being he had been before was an older man. Surrounding him were the bodies of the men that he had absorbed. From the stillness there was little doubt that they were all dead.

“Stay here,” Naruto said eliciting a stunned nod from her as he slid down into the crater. To her surprise he appeared to exhibit some hope that the shinobi from the other Elemental countries would be unharmed.

When he flipped over the Shinobi from Iwa, Pakura felt as if someone had stood over her grave as Gari’s unseeing eyes stared up at her. The reason for the feeling she supposed was that much like her Gari had been treated as an outcast. When Pakura had disrupted Iwa’s plot to take advantage of the Third Kazekage’s disappearance, it had been Gari that had taken the brunt of the blame. As a result much like her, he had found himself in the unique position of being too valuable to kill, but no one particularly cared if he came back alive. Therefore, during the Third Shinobi War they had constantly found themselves squaring off against each other. Seeing him lying at the bottom of the crater filled her with a feeling of extreme sadness as well as with the understanding that if not for Naruto she would be there as well. That understanding caused her strength to fail her as she collapsed in shock, her last conscious thought being to once more mentally thank her savior as she heard Naruto shouting her name in concern.

****

Pakura stood under the warm spray of a shower as she washed away the dirt and grime covering her body. Exiting the shower, she began to recall coming to and feeling a sensation that was both alien and familiar, that being in the warm embrace of a member of the opposite sex. However, it was not just the physical element but the feeling of warmth the man holding her seemed to give off. Believing that feeling wasn’t one that could simply be replicated she had awoken fully and blurted out, “It was you!”

“Huh, what was me?” Naruto replied confused.

“The pervert that was feeling up the kunoichi of the Training Force.”

To her surprise instead of denying it, Naruto smiled even as he replied, “Yeah, it was me. Although to be honest, can I really be called the pervert when it was the kunoichi that sought me out?”

Pakura blushed as she realized Naruto had discreetly called her a pervert as well. But unable to deny his point and remembering how he had done more than just feel up Maki asked, “B-but why…you have a girlfriend.”

Naruto thought about his response for a moment before finally saying, “The overall reason is rather complicated. But as to why I began the whole perverted ghost story angle well the answer to that is simple…you.”

“Me!?” Pakura responded surprised and shocked. “Why would you have an interest in me?”

“Let’s just say that one of my girlfriends wanted to right the wrong that was done to you in the past and thought I could make your life a little happier.”

Pakura was naturally stunned at Naruto’s admission of having more than one girlfriend, but no more so than when she came to the conclusion that the girlfriend he must have been talking about was, “Temari!”

Naruto appeared surprised at her conclusion but simply nodded. Pakura looked away as she said, “Why would she do that for me? I was such a bitch to her.”

“She understood why though, and besides it has become our goal to create a world where people can come together despite the bitter pasts they may share.”

“Do you truly believe such a thing is possible?”

“I don’t know,” Naruto admitted. “But I will keep trying until I find the answer to make it a reality.”

Pakura stepped out of the shower as she remembered about how she had asked further about Naruto’s ambition. After several questions she had inquired as to why he didn’t just Hiraishin them back to Konoha. She was quite aware that so long as there was a seal placed there, he could have had them back in an instant. His response had been, “Outside of my lovers no one knows that I can do it. Tsunade has made it an S-class secret. Originally it was because she wanted to be sure I could use it effectively in a fight…”

“I’d say you passed,” Pakura said sincerely.

She became even more aware that she was being carried bridal style as he smiled down warmly at her due to the compliment. “Thanks. Now though I think it's best to keep under warp for the sake of my personal life. It allows me to be almost anywhere instantaneously, so therefore I can see my lovers even if their village isn’t particularly friendly to us at the moment. That might end if word gets around that the Hirashin has returned. At the very least people would be on the lookout for strange seals or markings…another thing that could impact my lovers negatively.”

Pakura was about to ask what he meant but then remembering how he had placed a seal on her reasoned that was how he was able to see his lovers. Her mouth then dropped open as she realized he had also inadvertently admitted, “The Hokage is one of your lovers.”

She could tell Naruto hadn’t meant to let that particular name drop. She supposed he hadn’t meant to tell her about Temari either as she thought about it. Wondering why he was being so secretive she asked shyly, “Um…why are you holding back the truth from me. Weren’t you intending to make me one of your lovers? Or when you said bring me happiness did you mean just going as far as you did with the other kunoichi?”

“Oh, I fully intended to make you mine,” Naruto said giving her a hungry stare. “But what with everything that happened today…not to mention how you reacted that night in the summoning circle. I figured it would be best…”

Pakura reached up and pulled his face to hers as she kissed him needfully. When it ended her cheeks were red as she looked away bashfully while admitting, “That’s sweet…really. But considering that if not for you then I would likely have ceased to exist, I think that at the moment I just really want to get laid.”

Therefore once they had stumbled onto a small inn, Naruto and she had henged into a pair of travelers as they checked in. He had asked if she would mind letting him shower first. She had readily agreed as she suspected that he was going do so quickly so he could contact his lovers via Katsuyu to let them know he was alright as well as to make sure they were in turn.

Now dry and despite what she fully expected to happen once she stepped from the bathroom Pakura wrapped the towel around her body and even put on a pair of spare panties that she kept in a scroll within her pouch. Taking a deep breath she stepped out of the bathroom and felt her mouth water slightly as she saw Naruto sitting in a chair wearing a robe. It was opened revealing his muscular chest as well as the necklace that he wore. He turned his gaze towards her and she briefly wondered how she stacked up against the various women he had already been with. Pushing such thoughts aside she said nervously, “I…I’m not quite sure were to begin from here…”

Naruto stood and closed the distance between them before pulling her close as he said, “How about right around here?” He then kissed her lightly, several times before it progressed into a full on kiss as she wrapped her hands around his neck. She moaned into his mouth as he grabbed her ass with both hands. Once it ended he stepped back to pick her up in his arms again and then placed her down on the bed. She fully expected him to follow and climb on top of her. Yet to her surprise he walked to the end of the bed and once more took a seat in the chair he had been in when she had entered the room.

She sat up slightly asking confused, “T-that’s it…”

“That’s for you to decide,” Naruto said sitting back and watching her. “Considering…your past experience…I think it would be best for you to set the pace. I wouldn’t want to inadvertently trigger another painful memory.”

“I…I want you to…”

“Don’t tell me, show me,” Naruto said huskily.

Pakura blushed upon realizing what he was asking her to do. But after a moment began to fondle her breast through the towel she had wrapped around her. Despite being embarrassed she moaned at the contact as she also discovered her nipples were already erect. Pinching it through the fabric, she looked towards Naruto and wondered how she was performing. It must have showed as with a shake of his head he said, “Don’t worry about what I’m thinking. Let it all hang out Pakura…this is about what you want.”

Hearing that freed Pakura in a sense as years of pent up lust and frustration came to bear as she pulled roughly on her nipple. She fell back as she groaned in pleasure, her loose green-hair falling about around her head as her other hand began to rub her pussy through her panties. She pulled her towel open to gain better access to her breast as she squeezed and moved it while her other hand continued to tease her quickly moistening cunt. She sent a quick look Naruto’s way and was pleased to see that her show was having an effect on him as well.

Wanting to feel more she brought her other hand down to her quim as she tried to increase the pleasure coursing through her. However after a few moments of that and not reaching the heights she desired. She lifted her legs and pulled her panties off before lowering and spreading them. She spread her pussy lips and just short of shouted, “Naruto please I want you to make me cum…hurry!”

Naruto shot from the chair like a thrown kunai that hit its target as his mouth clamped onto Pakura's lower lips as he gave it a deep kiss. She arched her back as she came from the contact, but Naruto didn’t stop as he continued to tease and explore her pussy with his tongue.

*****

Kushina had been feeding Naruto chakra ever since his battle with Hiruko, and was quite surprised the seal hadn’t re-exerted its previous safeguards due to her bypassing it to give him the chakra he had needed to sustain the Rasenshuriken. But she was glad as she knew that if she couldn’t give him the chakra boost then he would likely be dead on his feet, from his not only running since early the day before. But, also from his participating in several battles in between all the running. She supposed though that she probably shouldn’t have been too surprised at the seal’s lack of reaction as Minato had designed the seal so that Naruto and Kiyomi could eventually work together as one. She supposed that since it seemed Naruto was more and more willing to call on that power. The seal was allowing it to continue to happen.

Her bedroom was suddenly cast in a green shade and she wasn’t too surprised the lamp which cast the barrier that prevented her from experiencing the sensations of her son’s lovers during sex had turned on. She had already climbed in bed in anticipation of the even. After all, she had been the girl needing rescuing once and if she had been more cognizant of sex at the time likely would have given Minato a night to remember in order to thank him.

Kushina still struggled with her occasional stepping out as it were. However, she had reasoned that since the orgasms she received from those times tended keep her desires at bay the longest it was really for the best. Plus she had learned that so long as she kept her eyes open she wouldn’t “see” that it was her son and therefore it was along the same lines as using a vibrator or any other sexual aid. She knew if anyone could see her as she writhed about with unblinking eyes as she tried to ignore the fact that it was by her son’s efforts that she was feeling so good they would probably be creeped out. But considering most of her existence between the moments of pleasure was a sensory deprived void found it was too tempting to resist.

Reaching over to the nightstand the lamp rested upon, she switched it off and instantly began to feel wonderful while she stared up at the ceiling. She was able to tell that the newest woman to enter the harem was currently being eaten out and found it hard think about the fact that Naruto had become quite the cunnilingus. “Oh gods,” Kushina moaned as Naruto continued to dine on his newest lover’s snatch. She found herself spreading her legs wider as if to give the phantom, as she refused to admit it was her son, more access. She couldn’t shake the feeling that for whatever reason the feelings were so much sharper and more powerful than any of the other times she had turned off the light. Before she could ponder it though, she came powerfully as she bent nearly in half.

She looked down as she was about to give her pussy a little after orgasm rub. However she stopped dead as staring up at her were the blue eyes of her son. Kushina tried to open her eyes believing that she had closed them at some point. However, when he didn’t disappear and she began to realize the details of her room were the same, she also realized that somehow see was seeing what his lover was despite her not concentrating outside of the seal.

She had a hard time looking away as Naruto pulled his mouth from her love tunnel his mouth and chin covered in the love fluids of his lover. Taking a kneeling position between her legs, Kushina hissed as if burnt when he placed his cock atop of her pelvis, as she was able to actually feel how warm it was, and in a lust filled voice said, “Now I going to shove this inside you and fuck you silly.”

Naruto lined his cock up with her entrance but before he could slam it into her. Kushina quickly reached for the lamp turning it back on causing Naruto to disappear. However, it wasn’t long before the temptation to turn it back off was whispering to her in the back of her mind.

*****

“Yes do it,” Pakura moaned as she came down from another orgasm. Naruto pulled back and lined up his cock before slamming it into her. She screamed in pain as he tore through her barrier that had been the proof of how lonely her life had been up till then.

Naruto went stiff as he realized he had torn through her maidenhood. “Pakura you’re a vir…”

Cupping his face she said, “I know pathetic right. I’m a thirty-five year old virgin in a profession where a good portion of us die young.”

Naruto leaned down to kiss the tears that had formed the corners of her eyes as he said, “There’s nothing pathetic about that. I’m honored you’d chose me to give away your precious first time to.”

Despite how sincere he sounded Pakura couldn’t help but say, “Precious, to be honest there were times I would have given it away to the first guy to buy me a drink.”

“You’re really killing the romance,” Naruto said with an amused smile.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be…but if that’s how you feel I guess I have to make this first night truly memorable to live up to all the hype you’re probably heard.”

Naruto began to move slowly at first, but soon had built up a good head of steam as he began to churn about inside her. Pakura not used to such overpowering sensations began to moan, “N-naruto…it...it’s too much.”

Naruto ignored her as he brought his mouth down to her tit to suck her nipple into his mouth. “Ohhh my…so...so good.” She said pulling his head harder against her chest. He nipped at her bud gently causing her to hiss as she let go of him to slam her hands against the mattress of the bed. He took the opportunity to grab the back of her knees and pushed them up against her shoulders. Pakura gasped as he began to hit her even deeper inside as the head of his cock began to kiss the entrance of her womb.

She felt a swelling inside her and panted, “Fuck…you’re growing even bigger…”

“That’s because I’m going to come and coat your womb in my seed. From this day forward you’re going to be my woman.”

“T-that’s right…I’m yours…just…I’m Cumming,” Pakura shouted as Naruto released his white cream directly into her womb. Filled with his liquid heat, Pakura screamed loudly as she rode out perhaps one of the most intense pleasures she had ever know.

As Naruto came down from his own orgasm he began to gently kiss Pakura. She ended the kissing session first to bring her mouth up to his ear and ask, “Naruto, there is another first I would like to try tonight. Have you ever had anal sex?”

Naruto pulled back to look in her eyes as he said, “I may have tried it a time or two.” He pulled out of her and spun her onto her stomach. Pulling her up to her knees, he began to lick the rosebud of her ass. Pakura moaned in slight discomfort but also pleasure as he began to probe her with his tongue. Once he was certain she was ready, he placed the head of his cock against her backdoor and began to slowly slide his dick inside her. Once she was fully impaled on his fuck stick he made a plus-like handsign. A cloud of smoke appeared in front of her as he grabbed her legs and pulled them apart.

When the smoke cleared Pakura’s eyes grew large as a second Naruto knelt in front of her on the bed. The real Naruto whispered in her ear, “I hope you don’t mind but I skipped to the natural progression from here. Trust me; you’re going to love having a dick in both your holes.”

The clone climbed between her legs where it kissed her and then said, “I hope you’re ready for this.”

Pakura didn’t have a chance to respond as the clone buried itself inside her. She threw her head back against Naruto’s shoulder as the two kneeling blond’s began pistoning in and out of her. Her mind went blank from the pleasure feeling that as one dick was on its way out the other was being shoved inside.

Naruto tilted her face towards him and kissed her hungrily as he continued to fuck Pakura’s tight ass. He was able to feel the replica of his dick through the thin skin that separated her two passages. As his tongue danced with hers, his clone’s mouth was busy as it sucked and teased his green-haired lover’s breasts. It would quickly move its mouth between them, never languishing in one spot to long. While it orally pleased her breasts the clone’s hand was also busy rubbing her clit.

Pakura suddenly wrapped her legs around the clone’s waist as she came hard. Her spasming tunnels prompted both blonds to shoot off inside her prompting all three of them to groan in satisfaction. They sagged against each other, as their breathing began to even out Pakura began to place kisses along the clone’s chest. She leaned back against Naruto and staring up into his blue eyes asked, “Are there any other firsts you think I’d enjoy?”

Naruto gave her a grin that promised more delights as he said, “I can think of a few.”

****

Naruto shook his head to try and stay awake. He looked down at the bodies laid out on the ground and were covered by a tarp the true Naruto had found before creating it to stand guard. He had then also created a clone to head to Kumo. The true Naruto had been able to sense that Yugito was moving towards the border and he believed that she was part of a squad searching for the Kumo shinobi that Hiruko had absorbed. That clone would guide them there, where they would turn over the body to the Kumo-nin. Naruto had considered sending one to Iwa to, but considering Konoha and its current level of unease felt it would be best to go through official channels.

The clone yawned as it felt the effects that it was sure Naruto would have been if not for his containing a Bijuu. It closed its eyes for a moment, but then thought it heard something move. Looking up suddenly it didn’t see anything. It tried to fight the drowsiness, but it was long before its eyes were closed again. It heard movement again and opened its eyes just as some serpent bit into its throat causing it to dispel.

Back with Pakura, the real Naruto after another hour of lovemaking slept on and would receive the clone’s memories when he awoke. The clone guiding Yugito to the location of Naruto’s battle with Hiruko would urge the Kumo-nin on only to find the dead bodies having been tampered with as well as Hiruko’s lab having been ransacked.

****

Kiri prisoner, KK-one-one-seven-six sat up groggily and was surprised to find she was lying in a posh bed with what had to be the softest sheets she had ever known. Wondering where she was, as she looked about the darkened room which was the furthest thing from a cell she could imagine, she gasped as a voice said, “My sister says that we owe you our thanks.”

The scarred Kiri kunoichi turned towards the voice to see the red-head she vaguely remembered fighting while under Akame’s control staring at her from an ornate cheer. “I don’t want your thanks. I helped her because I believed she was my best shot at freedom.”

Kiyomi inclined her head as she said, “Good. I like your honesty. However, I still feel that I owe you a debt. Seven tells me that you no longer wish to be a Kiri-nin or retain any aspect of your old life. So the question remains. Who would you like to become…

Next chapter: Target Rin

Author’s note: Well at long last the next chapter of my Saga is finally finished. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to send me their support as well as helping me recapture some of the many reviews that I’ve lost through the trials I’ve experienced website wise.

As I’ve mentioned on my Deviantart account. There is a poll on my FF profile to vote on the character you readers would like to see the Kiri-nin become. It will be closed by the time the next chapter comes out. After that, another massive poll will come out for women you’d like to see appear in the sequel to this story.

Schedule wise, I’ll be working on the Rin chapter next and then the Limelight chapter featuring Naruko. For the Naruko chapter don’t expect a lemon…maybe some lime though. It’s mainly to set the stage for her grand return to the main story.

Well that’s all for now. As always thanks for reading and reviewing and until next time take care. Sincerely, The Lemon Sage