Eroninja - Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Expanding Territories: Yugakure




Tsume sat in the outdoor baths of Konoha as she attended the meeting of the Allied Mom Force, or more accurately the after meeting of it. She had accepted Kushina’s invite to attend, although in truth only because of it being related to learning more about her lover’s jutsu. She had been rather terse with the red-headed Uzumaki simply stating that she would attend after Kushina had explained how they wished to see how Ibara would react should more of Naruto’s lovers surround her. The female Uzumaki had tried to make some small talk, but Tsume had simply cut her off stating that she had got what she wanted so could leave. Kushina had obviously not been pleased by her being so coldly dismissed, but not wishing to push her into changing her mind had simply left.

It had been a choice that suited Tsume just fine as she truly hadn’t wished to hash out their differences at the time. Those differences had centered around one person, namely Mikoto Uchiha. Yet, despite how upset she was at Naruto’s mother for her friendship with the Uchiha, she was surprised that she hadn’t been all that upset at her lover making the Uchiha a member of his harem. Although, she did admit that she had experienced a little trouble at the idea of including her in the new description that Naruto’s used for describing the harem, The Family. Still, Mikoto starting a relationship with Naruto had not bothered her strangely enough. She suspected that at least in part it was due to the notion that it had likely only been a matter of time. She after all knew just how potent and strong a draw her lover gave off due to his pheromones. Yet, while Kiyomi had indeed modified them, that modification had simply been to give them a greater effectiveness at a distance, the Bijuu hadn’t actually altered the chemical make-up of them any further than that.

As a result, Tsume, a woman who lived and died by her senses, could fully understand the draw Naruto had on any woman that he spent time with. After all, from her senses most people were an open book to her, an ability she deliberately tapped down when around others. When she deeply looked at Naruto though using her senses, it was her sense of smell that told her just how virile and powerful he truly was. It was her sense of sight which told her that despite all the power that he wielded, just how gentle and caring he was due to the way his eyes lit up when around those he cared for, or reflected how deeply he wished to help those around him through how he carried himself. It was also through her sense of touch that his gentle nature in regards to his lovers and her came through as his hands, which could and had shattered bones, only caressed her in the gentlest of ways. Well outside of training or when she wanted to be fucked roughly. With hearing, Tsume could only hear his genuine love and affection for each woman that now found themselves to be a member of his family. As for taste, that Tsume admitted didn’t play to his gentle nature but like smell conveyed the power lying just beneath the surface. However unlike his scent, her sense of taste did not convey his strength like a gentle promise of a strong mate as whenever Tsume tasted his skin, lips, or drank a load of his seed it was like a spike hammered into her brain that she had made a wise decision by accepting him as a lover.

So, she could understand why Mikoto Uchiha and she now shared a connection with the same man. She had put a collar around her neck for him after all. Still, in the grand scheme of things she would admit that didn’t exactly mean she had expected a lot of interactions along the more sexual side of things with the Uchiha. In fact, Tsume had fully expected that they would have treated one another like members of a family that avoided each other at gatherings.

Yet, it had been those same senses that in the past had led Tsume not to trust Mikoto or really any Uchiha for that matter. And knowing what she did now, she suspected the reason was because most Uchiha always gave her the impression that their loyalty lied elsewhere and not with the people they were to call comrades, unless those comrades were other Uchiha. Not to mention they had tended to view the Inuzuka as a vastly inferior clan. Naturally there were outliers here or there that her senses told her were different. But, Mikoto had not been one of them. Or more accurately, she had straddled the line far too closely for her liking. A truth highlighted by the fact that even though Mikoto had alerted the Third of the Uchiha’s impending rebellion, she had ultimately sided with her clan.

A fact that rubbed Tsume the wrong way, especially as Kushina had chosen the Uchiha’s friendship over hers. After Kushina had befriended Mikoto, Tsume had tried to continue being friends with the red-head, but the conflicting information her senses sent back about her ability to trust the raven-haired woman had made it all but impossible. A fact she had brought to Kushina’s attention, but the red-head had simply replied that she couldn’t just stop being friends with Mikoto. Tsume hadn’t made it an ultimatum, but she began spending less and less time with the Uzumaki expecting her to get the hint. So when that time became almost nil and instead it appeared Mikoto and her grew closer it had left the Inuzuka feeling betrayed. After all, she had been the first one to befriend the fiery red-head upon her moving to the village.

When the village had been attacked by Kiyomi and she had learned of Kushina’s death, she had mourned her. She had also regretted her harsh stance particularly upon seeing how hard Mikoto had taken it. However, as was often the case, when she learned the red-head had survived after a fashion her stubbornness had kicked back in. Particularly as she had also learned that she had been right about the Uchiha all along.

Yet, as had often been the case since joining Naruto’s Family, she was being forced to reevaluate her views on certain matters, particularly in regards to Mikoto. The Uchiha revealing the monument her family had kept secret for untold generations for Tsume caused the label of being untrustworthy to disappear from the many terms her senses foisted people with. In truth, it hadn’t been there in the few times their paths had crossed generally when in the Den or the Family’s personal hot springs on Kiyomi’s property. But, although her senses and thus her animal side might have told her Mikoto’s loyalties were no longer divided. The human portion of her was a little more hesitant to accept it, particularly since she viewed the Uchiha as being the fulcrum that had driven a wedge between Kushina and her.

Still, Tsume was forced to admit if not for Kushina’s friendship it would have been likely that Mikoto wouldn’t have felt any loyalty to Konoha when her family rebelled. It didn’t mean the outcome would have been any different, but the woman that emerged from the Leaf’s Maximum Security Prison might have been another enemy rather than someone who had gone along with Danzou’s plot to protect one of the likely targets of it, Kushina’s son and her lover.

Despite that though, Tsume was bidding her time on how to interact with the red-headed Uzumaki going forward. But she was distracted from her thoughts as Mebuki said, “So Kushina, you must be quite proud of that son of yours. From what I’ve heard he’s put an end to those bandit troubles up north.”

Kushina smiled as she nodded while sounding every inch the proud mother, “Very much so, although there wasn’t any doubt my Honey could handle some second rate bandits.”

Tsume felt a similar sentiment naturally. She also had to give Kushina credit for not letting any of the concern she felt from knowing that the bandits were in fact missing-nin., or that their thievery was in actuality a scheme to steal supplies for a group head-up by unknown person or persons that might be tied to either Tobi or Sasuke. Yet while that detail wasn’t known outside the Family, Kiku Yamanaka proved she was as much in tune to the ways of gossip as her daughter Ino when she stated, “I’m sure that bandit activity must be tied to something else though. Why else would someone murder the Rice Paddies Daimyo in the aftermath?”

Umeko, the wife of the clan head of the Akimichi looked concerned as she asked, “Do you really think so?”

The brown haired Yamanaka shrugged as she replied, “It’s just some rumors that I’ve heard swirling about.” She turned towards Karin, who was observing Ibara, as she stated, “It might also be why Miss Karin would assign four of her best guards to help a competitor.”

Karin looked away from the owner of the bar Seventh Heaven whose face was flushed, but it had nothing to do with the heat of the spring’s water in order to respond, “I don’t know about that. In truth I considered it an investment for the future. If those bandits had been allowed to continue then they might have become a threat to our shipments to and from Kumogakure. But, it is a worrisome sign that someone would assassinate the Daimyo, and in such a brutal fashion. I heard it looked like he was torn apart by some beast.”

Tsume frowned as did Kushina, who had been filled in about the history of the person that The Family suspected was behind the Rice Daimyo’s murder. Knowing that Mizuki was working with the bandits had been bad enough for most of Naruto’s lovers, but the added knowledge that there was also a Uchiha tied up in the mix almost made if feel like people with a grudge towards Naruto were building up to something big. It was an action not missed by Mebuki, who asked, “What’s wrong Tsume? Kushina? Did you hear something else?”

Tsume thinking quickly stated, “No, it’s just that since we know this bandit the Lizard had a curse mark, and considering how the Daimyo was killed, it makes me wonder how many more are out there.”

Mebuki nodded as some of the concern she felt that her daughter Sakura could come face to face with such an opponent was easy to see. Much as it was on all the women’s faces, since many of them had retired upon having children to raise them. Something that to Tsume had always felt like such a waste of potential, especially considering some of the careers they could have had if they continued. Tsume knew it was hard work to have a career and a child, but such things were expected in the Inuzuka. That was one thing she felt separated Naruto from a lot of the men in the Leaf Village in that he saw the strength his lovers possessed. In fact he was counting on it to make his ambition a reality, and although he stated that he didn’t want children. She suspected that even if he did, he wouldn’t put the type of pressure she had heard some of the other women’s husbands had.

She suspected that was one reason so many of the women tended to volunteer as reservists. It was their chance to relive their glory days that in many instances Tsume felt had been cut short. Ibara, Tsume knew for example had been pressured by her husband to retire after it had been discovered she was pregnant. The same could be said for quite a few others as well. Tsume knew that some would justify it as being due to the dangerous nature of the shinobi world, but the Inuzuka felt it was also driven by some of the men’s egos. After all, some of the women were as talented or even more so then their partners. Mikoto, who had been pressured by her husband to retire being a perfect example, if her husband had not been the clan head then she doubted he would have had nearly as a spectacular career as his wife. Who not only had reached the rank of jounin first, but had been nearly invited to join the Anbu.

For Tsume if a person was going to use the argument of how dangerous it was to be a shinobi to justify retiring, then she felt the best example of it had been Mebuki and her husband. When they had discovered they were going to be parents, both of them had decided to call it quits.

Tsume supposed that was the better alternative as Yoshino Nara proved when considering how devastated she had been by her husband’s death. She couldn’t exactly fault the Nara for falling apart since of all the kunoichi’s who put their careers to the side for their families; she perhaps had the greatest potential. That potential hadn’t been something one would see on the battlefield, but in preparing for it beforehand or preventing one completely. Where her husband had been a tactical genius beyond measure, able to play a battle like it was a game of Shogi, Yoshino was someone that could be given a set of data that didn’t seem connected and would be able to see things others missed. It was a skill that had earned her the nickname of the Oracle. Her abilities had predicted that Suna’s rash actions before the outbreak of the Third Shinobi war was due to the disappearance of their Kazekage before the news had even leaked from the Wind Village. She also predicted the outbreak of the war that would follow them, but her warnings had been ignored by Sarutobi on the advice of his counselors. Considering it had been Homura and Danzou, Tsume suspected they had downplayed how Yoshino had claimed that several reports of crops damaged by storms and were destined for Iwa didn’t fit with other weather reports she had seen. Yoshino had believed that the misinformation was due to Iwa stationing a large force near the Grass Country border to launch a surprise attack on Fire Country. An attack that would happen once Iwa used Suna’s increasingly frantic actions to locate their Kazekage to their advantage. Considering Homura and Danzou’s revealed desires and as leaders of Root, Tsume figured they had likely known as much as well, but had wanted a war to start which was why they had instead influenced Sarutobi to station troops further south where it was much more likely trouble would occur.

Later events would prove Yoshino correct, but by then the Third Great Shinobi War was already well underway. Shikaku though had not been so quick to dismiss his wife’s claims and as such kept several elite squads near Grass’s border and devised several countermeasures for an invasion from the Country. This had included Team Minato’s mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge which he had known would be the only supply route large enough to sustain Iwagakure’s army. Still even Yoshino hadn’t been able to predict Kirigakure’s surprise entrance in the war. Mainly due to how little information ever escaped from the Land of Water, but also due to just how little their strategy made sense. The Kiri-nin attacked all sides equal seemingly with no clear cut objective while arriving and departing like the Mist they controlled. In fact to many it had felt as if Kirigakure had just wanted to keep the war going for as long as possible as they often attacked whichever force had gained an advantage.

Tsume was called back to the present as Mebuki asked, “Well with the Rice Daimyo death who will be ruling the country.”

“They should just let the head of the Fuma take over,” Kushina said quickly, both due to it being a very beneficial gain for her Family’s ambition. But, also because from what Naruto had told her when he had returned to ask Karin to loan Yoruichi, Rangiku, and Tier to a competitor, Sasame had been the one holding the country together.

“That’s extremely unlikely,” Kiku said due to her following the gossip tied to the various families that ruled over the lands that made up the Elemental Countries. “The Daimyo often get rather… tense when Shinobi rise to such positions of power. Let us not forget that they would have placed an embargo on Snow Country after Doto’s rebellion if not for the fact that so many countries would have ignored it as they depended on the revenue they received from it. An embargo would have likely brought Doto to his knees, at least before they activated those heat generators.”

Mebuki teasing her friend said, “Well who could forget about an embargo that never happened. Honestly Kiku, you don’t need to justify that you like following the Daimyo’s families for the drama of who is seeing who or the latest pictures of the next royal baby.”

“I do admit to following them for such reasons,” Kiku said enjoying many of the gossip magazines that featured such articles. “Yet, my point is that it often makes the various Daimyo nervous to see Shinobi entering their realm. There is good cause for it, as is the case when the current village leader of Yugakure assumed control of the Land of Hot Springs. To this day many rumors persist that the previous Daimyo was pressured by Village Leader Bora into stepping down. Furthermore, this caused several of the surrounding countries including ours to threaten war with Yukagakure.”

Tsume frowned having remembered the incident as it had happened several years after the Kyuubi attack. Due to insights provided from their research into the scroll, The Family new that one element of the current Daimyo Bora’s rise to power was the development of the Enticement Touch. It was a less refined version of the Temptation’s Touch but without the elements of the Binding which was what gave Naruto the power to control his lovers’ bodies if he had desired to, or in Kanji’s case to completely enslave his victims to him. Bora had developed it from notes that Kanji had left behind or been confiscated by the Yukagakure Anbu Taki when she had pursued him after his defection. With the Enticement Touch, Bora had been able to charm various high ranking guests to his village’s famed hot springs and bleed them of valuable information. Information, which he then used to black mail them for money, power, or favors to grow his political strength.

Koyuki had experienced it shortly after joining the harem as The Family had wanted to investigate more about the technique’s origins along with those of the man that had given it to Naruto. The Spring Country princess had described it as a subtle pressure to want to please the person using it. Yet, they couldn’t exactly trust the Princess’s impression of the jutsu as she had been bound to Naruto already. From Tayuya’s experience with Kanji, when he had tried to use the Temptation’s Touch on her, it was possible that being Naruto’s lover had insulated Koyuki from feeling the full effects of the jutsu.

Tsume would tend to think that was the case as Daimyo Bora had been able to amass enough power within Yugakure to seize control by secretly murdering the previous village leader, a fact he had revealed to a colleague while unaware that Konan was spying on him before her own conversion to becoming Naruto’s lover. After disposing of the previous leader, he had announced that Yugakure was no longer a shinobi village, but a resort town. He had then opened their famed Hot-Springs to the public, as in the past they only allowed a few visitors to experience them making it an indulgence that only the super-rich or nobility had been able to enjoy. They had done this to insure their secrecy as members of those two classes being spies was all but impossible. Naturally this change in status caused people to flock to the village.

While at the time Tsume had found it pathetic for an entire village to abandon their shinobi heritage. In hindsight, Tsume realized if anything Bora was embracing it to a far greater degree. After all, in truth they were simply embracing one of the least recognized and glamorous skills of shinobi in the modern era, the ability to gather information secretly. With the Enticement Touch at their disposal the shinobi of Yugakure used their positions as attendants, masseurs, entertainers, and courtesans to ferret out information from their guests. She suspected that a great many of the visitors never even realized they had given up anything of value while feeling good from the hands of a pool-boy rubbing lotion on them, or a waitress chatting up a patron enjoying a drink. After all, they didn’t need to have a job with top secret access to know secrets that might be useful to the intelligence gathering operation that Bora had put into place. The woman having lotion rubbed on her shoulders, for example, might work in a castle where a noble might be seen getting a little too friendly with another member of the staff. There were confidentiality agreements in place to prevent such rumors from spreading, not to mention the persistent whispers of just how violently the nobles could react to prevent such things from getting out. Yet, under the sway of the Enticement Touch, a person might let it slip due to some careful prodding from the Yugakure shinobi using it. The target might quickly get ahold of him or herself asking the person they assumed was just a pool-boy not to go gossiping about what was revealed, which the shinobi would naturally promise to keep it a secret between them. But, Tsume could easily imagine that the information would make its way to Bora, who would assign someone to verify it and gather proof before using the information to his advantage.

Tsume was sure that as soon as a reservation request was accepted by Yugakure, an intelligence gathering process that likely rivaled that of a much larger village’s, such as Konoha’s, began going to work on finding out all they could about their future guest. From there if the person was deemed to potentially have information Yugakure might value, a personalized package would be put together for him or her. Likely they might arrive to find their vacation package was suddenly upgraded to include an attendant that matched their preferences. Or, they might meet a fellow vacationer who was a dream come true. All in an effort to separate them from whatever information that Yugakure was angling for.

Tsume listened with half an ear as Kiku finished explaining how the nobility had taken offense at Bora taking over the country. With her own insights it was easy to understand that Bora had blackmailed the previous Daimyo into stepping down. He had also likely done so again to force his neighbors into backing off and accepting the change in power. The idea made Tsume a little nervous as Kiku mentioned how one of the loudest protestors over the previous Daimyo’s removal, The Land of Fire, had suddenly reversed course. She wondered what it could possibly be that Bora had learned which would cause the Fire Daimyo to back off. She knew that it could just be something embarrassing which the Daimyo wouldn’t want revealed, but something just didn’t feel right about it being something minor.

The Inuzuka’s attention returned to the conversation completely as Ino’s mom finished, “…I still wonder what leverage Hot Water Country had to make everyone back down.”

Mebuki smirked as she said, “They might have pictures of the various Daimyo with women half their ages that they don’t want getting out. Everyone knows that more than one operation has been blown by a loose word from some shinobi getting a happy ending from a Yugakure masseur.” The other women laughed as it was a relatively poorly kept secret that the former kunoichi and shinobi were spying on their guests. At least among the other shinobi villages as many a leaked secret could often be traced to some recent visitor the Hot Spring village. Yet, despite how the Kage and other village leaders had issued travel advisories about visiting there. Many people ignored them in favor of the good times that were said to be had there.

*****

Kushina’s gaze drifted to Ibara as she noticed that the woman didn’t join in with the laughter. The former kunoichi and bar owner’s face was flushed, but from her heavy breathing the red-head had no trouble spotting that the woman was struggling to keep her arousal in check. She wasn’t the only one that noticed Ibara’s plight as Tsubaki also seemed to have picked up on her friend not joining in the conversation.

“Are you feeling alright Ibara?” Tsubaki asked taking in the woman’s flushed appearance.

“F… I’m fine,” Ibara replied quickly, “I think I just have been in the water a little too long. I should get going anyway. I need to tend to the bar tonight.”

The other women quickly said their good-byes to Ibara, who hurriedly returned them as she rushed off to the bathhouse. Kushina suspected that before she left it though, that Ibara would likely take a few moments to take care of the burning arousal that she felt. Quite aware of how one could get lost in taking care of their needs, she decided she would head off before the others in order to give Ibara some advance warning so as to not be caught in the midst of pleasuring herself.

However, as it appeared none of the other women seemed in a rush to leave she reached for the floating tray containing her cup of sake and sipped its contents before placing it back. Savoring the warmth that heated her insides as the spring was doing outside her, she let her violet gaze drift to Tsubaki. The woman had long brown hair much like her friend Ibara, although it was of a lighter shade, with long bangs that hung over her forehead. Much like the other women on the Allied Mom Force, she had once been a kunoichi, but had retired upon starting a family.

Kushina felt a little resentment towards the woman as she had learned that Tsubaki had also been rather vocal in her dislike towards Naruto due to his containing Kiyomi. In truth, she had felt the same about Ibara as well, although it had disappeared for the bar owner since she was aware how the woman now regretted her actions. However, the red-head didn’t know if Tsubaki had a similar change of heart, or just kept quiet about her resentment due to public opinion changing in Naruto’s favor. She had watched for some sign of Tsubaki’s feelings towards Naruto one way or the other, and if she had to guess, she would believe that the brown-haired woman still held a lingering bitterness against her son.

Kushina wondered why the women would still hold negative feelings for him after everything he had done for the village. But, she didn’t feel it would be smart to pursue the matter with the woman at the moment as Tsubaki had in the time since retiring as a kunoichi become a rather powerful figure on the Civilian Council. The woman was on the short list to becoming the Speaker of the Civilian Council. It was a position of considerable power given that it almost functioned as the civilian equivalent of the Hokage. Granted, the position didn’t possess the means to override the Hokage in any way, but she could make Naruto’s ambition difficult to implement from the mercantile side of things.

At present that didn’t seem to be a concern since just about everyone saw the benefits of the increased trade going on between Konoha, Kumo, and Suna. But, Kushina knew that people with grudges could ignore such a thing in order to pursue it so couldn’t underestimate the lengths that Tsubaki would go if Naruto’s involvement in bringing the shinobi village’s together was ever discovered.

The Uzumaki wondered briefly if Ibara had confided in Tsubaki about how her feelings towards Naruto had changed. She suspected that the bar owner hadn’t mainly as she hadn’t noticed any strain in the two women’s relationship. It was likely due to Naruto not being a common discussion point for them as they went about their lives. She wondered what would happen should Ibara enter the Family, but figured such pondering could wait for another time.

She instead concentrated on what a waste of potential the Allied Mom Force was. As although it in truth was composed of more than just women, the fact that the Reserve Units carried such a moniker was all the proof that one needed that the strongest fighters in it were the women that had put their shinobi lives on hold for their children and husbands. Kushina couldn’t bemoan the women for making such a choice, as she knew a part of the reason to do so was to prevent a child from losing both parents to the dangerous profession. She just didn’t understand why it was always the woman that ended up making the sacrifice.

Kushina had made no plans to retire after Naruto’s birth although she had planned to take a few years off to be there for him as a baby. But, she had wanted her son to respect her strength as a shinobi as much as she was sure he would have respected his father’s. In fact, Kushina had only backed down in her bid to become the first female Hokage only because she had recognized that Minato would have made a better one than her. Yet, she had never acknowledged him as being particularly stronger than her.

That was one of the reasons why she intended to turn down the offer to join the Reserve Units. She knew she had much more to offer to her son’s ambition then to be someone the village would call on only during extreme emergencies. In fact, she was considering taking part in the upcoming ANBU Exams, as although she had yet to technically to be reinstated as a kunoichi, in order to participate in the exams all one needed to do was to have reached the rank of Jounin at some point in their career. Naturally an exam taker also needed to pass a background check, but she knew that would be easy for her.

The only thing stopping her was her son, who when she had shared her desire to take the exams with him had supported her choice, but stated there was some other position he would want her to take. Kushina had been nervous that he might ask her to become the head of the Uzumaki Clan, which with her return there were some calls to establish the clan officially in Konoha. Naruto had ensured her that it wasn’t, since he didn’t want such a thing either. Yet, any further attempts on her part to get the information out of him had proven ineffective. She cursed her libido as some of the times she had tried to use sex as a means to get what he was thinking out of him, she was often the one that ended up giving in as he turned the teasing around on her.

Still, although she would likely wait to see how Naruto would want her to use her talents to further the ambition shared by his Family. She might just take the ANBU exams just to prove that she would ace them. After all, provided there was no written test she had little doubt that she was more than match for them.

But looking around the hot-springs, she couldn’t again help but feel there was so much wasted potential before her. Tsubaki for example was the daughter of the famous Taijutsu master, Chen. Through her husband Iyashi, a prominent medical shinobi and doctor, she had three children, all daughters named Hibari, En, and Azami. From listening to the mother brag about her children, she knew that both Hibari and En were fraternal twins, both of whom appeared to have been in the Academy at the same time as Konohamaru. A fact that had been revealed as Tsubaki lamented that her daughters were still genin despite achieving better grades then the current Sarutobi Clan Head. The third daughter, Azami, was a year younger and according to Tsubaki was almost a reincarnation of her father due to her grey eyes and incredible proficiency in Taijutsu. There were some stating that Azami would have already been made Jounin if not for the fact that she hadn’t been able to attend a Chunin exam.

The subject of the Chunin Exam had been one of the few times where Tsubaki had worn her dislike for Naruto out in the open as she had accused Tsunade of delaying the exams so long to fit Naruto’s schedule. It had taken a lot of restraint for Kushina to pretend she hadn’t heard the comment as a lot of the women had quickly shot a concerned look towards her. They had likely feared that Kushina would march right over to Tsubaki and begin pounding on her as she would have done when she was younger.

The sad fact though was that in the past it likely wouldn’t have been a one fight sided as Tsubaki had also been considered a prodigy in Taijutsu much like her father. Seeing that potential going to waste made her wonder why young girls even bothered joining the academy if their goal was to just find a man and then pop out babies. That was something that wholly attracted her to Naruto in that he recognized her strength and rather being intimidate by it, instead wanted her to continue to grow her abilities. She suspected that was something a lot of his lovers had in common as if the Allied Mom Force was anything to go by; too many men seemed more than willing to let their wives’ potential go to waste.

Kushina stopped thinking about the topic feeling slightly depressed on behalf of the women before her, although she was sure most were content with their choices, to instead inquire about a woman that she had yet to encounter upon her return to the village, at least in a flesh and blood capacity. Not too surprised, since she had married a shinobi of another village years earlier, one of the few that had been allowed to do so during the peace treaty that existed between Suna and Konoha. Focusing on Umeko the person most likely to have the answer that she was looking for she asked, “By the way, how is Kirio doing? She must be pleased that relations between Suna and Konoha are so relaxed. She battled tooth and nail to marry that guy from the Hikifune family.”

As soon as the words had left her mouth Kushina knew she had touched on an exposed nerve for some of the women present, particularly for Umeko. She quickly tried to retract her question as she said, “I’m sorry, forget I asked.”

“You didn’t know,” Mebuki said kindly, “but just let’s just let it drop…”

“My sister is a traitor,” Umeko said curtly cutting Sakura’s mother off.

Ino’s mother tried to lessen the tension Kirio’s name had caused to appear by stating calmly, “Mebuki is right, let’s not talk about it…”

“It’s fine,” the Akimichi said waving off the other women’s concern. “I’m sure you’ll just end up telling her anyway.” The full-bodied woman continued with a voice tinged with anger and betrayal, “You’re right that my sister did fight to marry that bastard from Suna. I suppose we should have considered that a sign that her love for her home wasn’t what it should be.”

“Why,” Kushina asked surprised remembering how close Umeko and Kirio had been as children. Recalling the plump purple-haired girl with swirls on her cheeks she added, “Kirio was passionate sure, but she loved Konoha.”

Tsume seeing that the Akimichi was about to lash out at her sister’s memory quickly interjected, “The problem arises from Suna’s betrayal during the Sound Invasion. In the immediate aftermath of it, Konoha issued a return decree to people that had married people outside the village and settled in Suna and Wind Country. Most did, but a few didn’t and were branded as missing-nin. Kirio was one of the ones that refused.”

“What’s worse,” Umeko said bitterly, “That bitch’s lover even participated in the attack. She had to have had some sort of advance warning, but instead choose to keep silent.”

“But I don’t understand,” Kushina said looking around the spring and saw that quite a few people felt the same way as Umeko did, “Wouldn’t her missing-nin status have been rescinded due to the reestablishment of the alliance between Suna and Konoha?”

“For most people it was,” Mebuki answered, “However, Kirio falls into a unique category as her husband was killed during the Sound Invasion. He was a member of the Daimyo’s Royal Guard which had been lent to Suna for the invasion. In the aftermath of it, things were pretty tense and we were standing at the precipice of another war with Suna. The reason Kirio is still technically a missing-nin is because during that time when tensions were at their worse, she was offered and accepted her husband’s spot on the Royal Guard. To accept that was a clear sign that she no longer viewed Konoha as her home, and even might have come to see us as her enemy.”

“I see,” Kushina said sadly, “Since the Royal Guard is a unit normally outside of Suna’s control she is still considered to be a member of an enemy group.”

“That’s right,” Umeko said angrily, “She’s a stain on the entire Akimichi clan’s honor.”

Kushina didn’t respond as she didn’t want to appear to agree with the sentiment even as she could understand it. After all, if put in a similar position where she was forced to choose between her son and lover, or the village then she would easily choose Naruto. A trait she was almost all of Naruto’s lovers shared, although she could tell Tsume was a bit more conflicted about it then her. Loyalty after all was not something an Inuzuka took lightly and coming to the decision to betray the village was not something that she imagined that Tsume could decide lightly even in a hypothetical situation. Kushina assumed that the Inuzuka wouldn’t know the answer until such a day arrived and she could weigh which of the two entities that she had given her loyalty to was in the right and which was in the wrong.

Kiku changed the subject as her curious nature got the best of her in order to ask, “By the way Tsume. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that tattoo you have. I couldn’t help but notice that it is the same one that my daughter wears.”

“Now that you mention it,” Mebuki said having seen the mark on her daughter when they had visited a hot-spring together, “Sakura has the same one tattooed on her hip. She was rather evasive about it so I thought maybe she was just at that age.”

Kushina noticed that Tsume was caught unaware by the question since she could imagine that the Inuzuka had grown so accustomed to it, and had likely not bathed outside of the Family’s hotspring in years. Luckily, it seemed that Karin had recognized that with so many foxmark wearing women being in close proximity to the uninitiated it might come up quickly said, “That mark is used to show membership in the Women’s Bathing Association. It helps keep people who are not members from being let onto the grounds.”

Kiku leaned forward in interest as she asked, “Really, and how does one go about becoming a member. I’ve seen and heard of people from outside the village being allowed onto the Kiyomi property. Are you saying they are members as well?”

“Yes,” Karin said adjusting her glasses, “It was for just such a reason that its name was changed from the Konoha Women’s Bathing Association. As to how one becomes a member, well there are certain criteria that need to be met first.”

“Such as,” Mebuki asked crossing her arms, “It’s kind of strange that certain women just seem to be able to join while others are excluded.”

Karin shrugged as she said, “I’m afraid it can’t be helped. For instance one of the most important criteria is that a woman who wishes to join cannot be married or at the very least should be in a marriage that is failing.”

“What! That’s a pretty crazy criterion for becoming a member,” Mebuki said shocked.

Karin repeated her shrugging motion as she replied, “Well, Miss Kiyomi the founder of it is quite insistent on it. You see, she wanted to create a place where the members can be free to be themselves, and speak freely about matters related to their home villages. As such, each member is sworn to secrecy and we don’t want to take the chance that a member might think that vow doesn’t apply to her husband because they share everything together. Take Miss Kiku for example, your husband has a rather high position in the Intelligence gathering division.”

“So?”

“So,” Karin said responding to the Yamanaka’s question, “As you pointed out we have members from outside of Konoha. So maybe he might ask you to keep your ears open for any information related to another village such as Kumo. Well you might overhear one of our Kumo members mentioning how they are having a hard time feeding their troops due to a locust plague and not really see the harm in passing such information along. If word got out where you heard it was learned, well the environment of trust and understanding that we are trying to create would be destroyed.”

“Okay, I guess that’s understandable,” Mebuki said sounding slightly dubious. “But Lady Tsunade is a member not to mention Tsume and my daughter. Are you honestly saying that if they learned something important they wouldn’t act on it?”

“Oh, they would I’m sure,” Karin said with a smile since the entire family would work towards making sure it only benefited each village. “But, don’t you think such information would be shared with the Hokage directly. Otherwise you would think a person would keep it to themselves. They might be giving the information to Tsunade directly so she could do something about it. That is a world of difference from it being passed to her because someone is eavesdropping on other members. Plus, there are other benefits to becoming a member…one I’m sure a married woman’s husband would not appreciate.”

“What do you mean?” Tsubaki asked with a tone of interest. Kushina found the woman’s tone a little surprising making her wonder if her marriage was experiencing some trouble.

Kushina smirked as Karin appeared a little nervous as her tone had easily implied that it might be sexual in nature. She couldn’t exactly blame her fellow Uzumaki since she herself had quickly relived the pleasure that her son had given her since becoming a member of his Harem. Rescuing the bespectacled kunoichi from the dangerous territory that she had entered, she said, “She means there is more there than just a variety of hot-springs to enjoy. It’s a place where kunoichi can really just be themselves despite which village they come from. Karin was just alluding to the fact that since a lot of us members spend so much time there your husbands might become a little jealous and demand to know how you are spending your time. That would put you in a position of either lying, or telling them nothing which would damage your relationships in the long run.”

“You’re a member as well?” Mebuki asked surprised, “Why aren’t you wearing that fox mark?”

“Oh, but I am,” Kushina said pulling herself out of the water. She smirked as a few of the women gasped as she brazenly raised her right leg out of the water and spread her thigh so that her right heel rested on the ledge. Showing off the fox mark on her inner thigh, she also experienced a little thrill in displaying her pussy to the other women as its wetness wasn’t entirely due to being submerged. She felt her own arousal growing to the point where she might begin playing with herself in front of the others due to a look of hunger appearing on Tsume’s face as the scent of her arousal reached her, as well as it was due to the feelings of her son returning to the village with Sasame so he could show her around. Having a fairly good idea of how his tour would likely end, if it even began, and wanting to be a part of it she added, “Well this has been fun, but Naruto is due home from his mission soon, and I want to be able to give him a proper greeting so if you’ll excuse me.”

Kushina stood heading back to get dress. She heard Tsume and Karin also explain that it was time for them to go which set off a chorus of the other women deciding to call it a night. Reaching the bathhouse, she heard muffled moaning and knew that Ibara was still inside. Letting the woman know she was coming she called back, “Tsume, since we’re both leaving can I walk back with you. There’s still something I want to discuss.”

She heard Ibara gasp inside and the sound of a person scrambling before the door slammed open on the opposite end as Tsume responded to her request in the affirmative. Opening the bathhouse door, she stepped inside and smirked as although there was no visible sign of the woman that had just been inside, there was a musk that hung about for a few moments before the fresh air of the open door carried it away. Stepping in to begin getting dressed, although she was sure she would be naked again soon enough, Kushina decided that once Karin concluded her experiment that she would encourage her son to induct a new member into the Women’s Bathing Association. After all, she believed it was only right that she paid the favor that Ino did for her forward, although she did look forward to paying the Yamanaka back with interest as well.

*****

Yuugao pushed the blinds of the motel room to the side. She held back her annoyance as she looked over her shoulder to say, “Was it really necessary for us to come here in person?”

Fuka, who had been walking around the motel room where they had recently discovered six mummified corpses, sighed as she replied, “You were the one that came to me looking for my assistance.”

Yuugao not liking a criminal and murderer putting on airs, as she still felt that Fuka was getting off too easily said heatedly, “I asked if your Execution by Kiss jutsu would leave bodies in such a state. You’re the one that said that you could help if you saw the room. Yet, we’ve been here for twenty minutes and you’ve only walked around it several times.”

Fuka refrained from letting her tone match the Anbu captain’s as she moved to sit on the bed. “That is because I wanted to see your killer’s dumping ground to get an idea of what you were dealing with.”

“Yet here we are and…”

“And, it was quite productive,” Fuka replied cutting the Anbu off. “For one, I’m fairly sure that your killer is a woman.”

“I already guessed as much,” Yuugao replied quickly, “The fact that all the victims were male would seem to imply that, not to mention she likely lured them here with promises of sex.”

“Not promises,” Fuka said standing, “She definitely delivered.”

“Speaking from firsthand experience?” the Anbu Captain asked snidely.

“Yes,” Fuka answered, although a hint of shame did appear in her tone. However, Yuugao suspected it wasn’t so much from the act, but the lives she had taken. “Men are simple… well most men are.” Yuugao let a corner of her lip turn up as she recognized that the woman was referring to Naruto and his resistance to her earlier attempts to seduce him. Fuka sighed from the sense of rejection she felt, but continued, “Anyway, I would also be of the opinion the first six bodies you found were among her first victims. Not just since arriving here, but ever. At least in a manner where she relied on her own feminine wiles.”

Yuugao was surprised by that so asked, “How do you know that?”

“The order of her victims,” Fuka replied, “The motel owner was obviously first and was the oldest, but I believe you are mistaken about the order from there. You have an eighteen year old as the second, but I believe it was the forty-three year old victim that was next.”

Yuugao frowned going over the file in her mind before stating, “The victim you are referencing was reported missing a full two weeks after our eighteen year old victim.”

“True,” Fuka said with a shrug, “But, he was also a loner and unemployed. He was first reported as missing by his landlady when she came around looking for her rent. It just so happens to coincide with when he was supposed to collect his unemployment check. I doubt he had too many visitors before then, but how many people are going to be honest about not noticing a person was gone for a two whole weeks.”

“Okay, then assuming you are right, why do you think the older victim was next?” the purple haired woman asked crossing her arms as she leaned against a wall.

“Simple,” Fuka said standing before crawling seductively across the bed. Yuugao did feel a desire for the woman stir inside her as the formerly undead Uzumaki gave her a lustful gaze. “If the first victim wasn’t the motel owner it was likely the first time she used her womanly charms on a victim. His age and general unattractiveness tells me your killer was unsure of herself. She choose him probably not just to keep from being described later, but also because she knew he would be easy to seduce.” Fuka laid down on the bed and rolled onto her back, she then slid her hands down her body seductively while arching her back causing Yuugao’s throat to feel a little dry. “Still, seducing an overweight cigar chomping sleezebag is hardly a challenge, so she set her gaze on another easy target. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if your loner thought it was his lucky day when she approached him. It was just a stroke of luck that no one reported him missing for so long.”

“Then I’m guessing you figure the eighteen year old was just another easy mark, and was just missed sooner,” Yuugao said after clearing her throat. Growing annoyed by her arousal from the woman’s seductive movements, especially as it appeared she was going to push the material of the sleeveless shirt that she wore to the valley of her breasts to expose them so she said, “Can you stop that?”

“Sorry,” Fuka said with a smile as she crawled off the bed, “I just wanted to see if I still had the touch. My charms have no sway over Naruto it seems.”

Yuugao scowled remembering a time when the female body hadn’t held any sway over her. While she still didn’t participate in pleasing women to the same extent some of the other women did and only when Naruto was present, she had begun to entertain a fantasy or two which starred her helping her lover in seducing Kurenai. Returning her thoughts to the matter at hand, she said, “If I’m following your logic right, then I’m guessing you feel the eighteen year old victim wasn’t much more of a challenge than the other two.”

“Do you know very many eighteen year olds who would turn down sex with a beautiful woman?”

“No, I suppose not. But what makes you believe she is attractive? So far your profile of our killer would have suggested someone not confident in her looks.”

Replying to the Anbu’s question Fuka answered, “Your next two victims actually. They were both rather close in age being around thirty years. The only true difference was that the fourth was single while the fifth was supposedly happily married. They were also both pretty successful in both social and business circles. The first three victims were about giving the killer confidence in herself. I would imagine that before she started this killing spree, she likely didn’t have much experience with the opposite sex. Likely a wallflower, someone who viewed herself as rather plain or ugly. Whether that was the case or not is hard to judge, but I doubt she looks similar to how she used too.”

Yuugao filed the information away deciding to have her squad look into people that had any kind of facial work done. She frowned as she realized that list might include Kiyomi due to the story that they had first created in order to explain her resemblance to Mito. Figuring that she could just have herself or Komachi look into the Bijuu should she pop up through the records search she questioned the formerly undead woman, “Alright, so then you’re saying she felt confident enough after killing the fourth victim to try and lure the married man away, our fifth victim. Not to sound down on love, but what if he wasn’t as happy as his wife was making it sound.”

Fuka shrugged before stating, “It doesn’t really matter. The risks for him would still be the same. I’ve been the cause of making both men and women cheat on their lovers. Does love play a difference? To a degree it does, but what I think you will find is that more often than not, what does stop most people is whether or not they believe the risk is worth it. If your fifth victim was happily married then he likely felt he had received an offer he just couldn’t refuse. Perhaps he felt that she was a woman who was way out of his league or it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even if he wasn’t happy though, it would just mean that the risk of displeasing his wife didn’t play as big a role in his decision. In either case, I’d be willing to bet it was his first time cheating since your investigation didn’t turn up any previous affairs. It’s also probably why your killer likely begun moving onto shinobi.”

“You make it sound like there might be more than one,” Yuugao said surprised. “To date there was only the sixth victim.”

“That you know of,” Fuka countered. “Plus, I believe these victims aren’t necessarily her first kills, but the first inside the village. They were also as I stated the first where she didn’t use the crutch of a jutsu or some other means to lure in her victims. These six were about gaining confidence in herself and not just as a killer. I also do believe that killing is something that she needs to do, but not to survive per se as was the case with me.”

Yuugao was hating the fact that she had to admit Fuka was proving to be worth her weight in gold in regards to her insights, especially if they panned out. “What do you base that on?”

“Well if it was similar to my execution by kiss jutsu then they wouldn’t be in such a mummified state,” Fuka explained moving to one of the back walls. Yuugao watched the maroon haired woman knock on it as she continued, “Her method of killing takes all bodily fluids along with the chakra. As you well know, there wouldn’t be much of a point to create a jutsu to drain a person of their fluids if there wasn’t a reason for it.”

Yuugao nodded before asking, “What do you imagine she would need it for?”

“It is impossible to say really,” Fuka responded turning away from the wall she had been inspecting, “I would imagine you will find out soon enough though. I would also suspect that she was or is a member of the Leaf with a score to settle.”

Yuugao gave the woman a disbelieving look as she asked, “Did the wall tell you that?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Fuka said letting a smirk appear on her face. Indicating the wall she knocked on it again before explaining, “I believe your report states this motel had a habit of harboring spies. I can certainly see why, these walls are thick enough and have been soundproofed to prevent the neighboring apartments from overhearing what is going on. There is also a stairway that leads down to the back alley which would allow people to come and go without being seen. Your killer knew all this, but she wouldn’t be an enemy shinobi as why would she risk burning such a valuable place from which to spy on the village.”

“She could be a missing-nin looking to settle a score and no longer care about making things inconvenient for her home village,” Yuugao pointed out.

“True, but just how many good hiding places like this exist for enemy shinobi to use?” Fuka asked. “I would think there is not an overabundance of them. For her to be willing to burn this one so quickly upon arriving means one of two things, one she is not going to be here long, or she is building up to something. I would think it is more the latter. Have there been any further disappearances?”

“None that we would link to being possible victims of our killer,” When the Uzumaki frowned at her answer Yuugao asked, “Why?”

“It has been what… about a week and a half since you discovered the bodies?” When the Anbu Captain nodded Fuka said concerned, “You found them a few days after the sixth victim disappeared, and in about a span of a month she killed all six victims. Yet, she has not killed anyone in a week and a half.”

“As far as we can determine,” Yuugao answered. “Are you suggesting that she might be ready to unleash some sort of plot on the village?”

“I’m not sure,” Fuka replied, “It’s possible the she is moving onto a new phase that requires her to feed less often. If she even needed to in the first place that is, she may have just been gathering the material that she needed for a part of whatever plan she has in the works.”

“But you are certain there is some plot?”

“Yes,” Fuka said with certainty, “I imagine you might find a few more bodies along the way, but she is not going to just move on. She definitely is here for a reason and no longer feels that she needs to lay low like she had been when staying here.”

A little surprised at how cooperative the woman was being, but grateful she said, “We’ll operate under the assumption that our killer might be more than your typical psychotic. I’ll also station more guards around secure facilities. Thank you for your insights.”

“My pleasure,” Fuka said seemingly genuinely happy for the acknowledgement.

Yuugao suspecting an ulterior motive being behind her desire to help asked, “I take it you want me to tell Naruto just how helpful you’ve been.”

The woman surprised her by answering, “Actually, I would prefer you not mention it to him.”

Yuugao didn’t reply as she moved to the door to make sure the cost was clear before motioning for Fuka to leave. The woman ducked down the back staircase that led down to the alley before easily blending into the late afternoon crowd as people began leaving work to return to their families or go out in pursuit of a good time. The Anbu Captain felt a sizeable shift in her attitude towards the woman as she figured that Fuka realized that helping only to make people think that she had changed wasn’t the same as actually helping because it was the right thing to do. Feeling slightly more comfortable about the possibility of sharing the same lover one day, Yuugao headed the opposite way to return the room key and to finish preparing for the upcoming Anbu testing which would add to her available roster as she suspected that if Fuka was right she would need every shinobi she could get.

*****

Kushina felt a little nervous as they left the hot springs where the women of the Allied Mom Force had gathered after the official meeting. Kushina smiled though as Karin seemed oblivious to the slight tension between her and Tsume while she mumbled to herself and made notes in a small book she had brought. The elder Uzumaki suspected that her clanswoman was drawing all sorts of conclusions in regards to Ibara’s reaction to the women of the Family’s presence. She heard the glasses wearing woman mumble “Hmm, so it seems the maximum distance one can be from the target would be about fifteen square feet. Anything outside that the Dibble stick jutsu will not activate. This was shown as we were outside that area during the official meeting, but moved into during gathering afterwards.”

Kushina was eager to get back home as she felt her son’s presence having just returned from the Land of Rice Paddies. She was looking forward to welcoming him back, and so was her body as she felt the wetness beginning to dampen her panties in anticipation. Karin surprised both women as she said, “I should go check to see what the cool down rate is?”

“What does it matter?” Tsume said as Karin began heading towards the entertainment district of the village.

“Well if you figure that the Temptation Touches effects lasted for about one week or one hundred and sixty-eight hours, then the length of time the Dibble Stick might be similar. It just might seem longer due to it not happening all at once. I’ve calculated how long Tifa has worked there and I believe I can determine about when it would…”

“We get it,” Tsume said having quickly lost interest, “you found a squirrel that you want to chase down. Don’t let us stop you.”

Karin smiled at the analogy before leaving to visit the Seventh Heaven bar that Ibara owned. The two kunoichi that remained stayed silent as they traveled in the same direction. Reaching the end of her patience Kushina said, “Are you just going to ignore me all day?”

“You’ve been as silent as me,” Tsume pointed out. “Considering that you asked me out to help with Karin’s little experiment I’d say the emphasis is on you to fill the silence.”

Kushina made a face which showed her annoyance which grew as a smirk appeared on Tsume face. “Look,” the red head said coming to a stop due to the street being relatively deserted providing an opportunity to hash out their differences, “I know you feel slighted because you felt I choose Mikoto’s friendship over yours.”

“That’s because you did,” Tsume replied quickly rounding on the woman as a little of the anger that she felt at having been pushed aside in favor of the Uchiha began to appear.

Kushina responded to that anger as she said heatedly, “Only because you made me. I could have…”

“I made you,” Tsume said her voice rising as well, “I told you I didn’t trust her, and low and behold I was right. Her entire clan resented the village, just like she did.”

Tsume found the calm that came over Kushina after her statement rather surprising; especially due to how she knew the Uzumaki had a temper as fierce as hers could be. “Did you ever think that maybe if more of us reached out to her or her clan that they wouldn’t have wanted to rebel?”

Tsume scoffed before countering, “That’s a two way street. They didn’t put much effort in bridging the gap either. It was instead easier for them to plan a rebellion.”

Kushina sighed, while acknowledging the Inuzuka’s point with a nod. However, she did counter by stating, “Well someone had to be first. I know there were a few on both sides that tried, but because of my friendship with Miko, she tried to stop the rebellion while balancing her actions with loyalty to her clan. She also allowed herself to get roped into Danzou’s plot in order to protect Naruto from the inside. The only mistake I made was in not trying harder to explain why I felt it was important to be her friend to you and not fighting harder to keep being yours. But you aren’t exactly without any blame either.”

Tsume held Kushina’s gaze before stating, “Fair enough,” before walking away.

“What,” Kushina said shocked at how quickly the Inuzuka seemed willing to surrender to her point. Remembering how back in the day the two could argue to the point of nearly coming to blows, she raced to catch up with Tsume asking, “Since when do you just give up?”

“I’m not giving up,” Tsume replied as some combativeness entered her voice at the suggestion that she was, “I merely recognize that you do have a point. I was the one that gave you the ultimatum and you chose. It might have felt like a betrayal for you to choose her, especially considering how you dismissed my concerns. Which were right by the way. But, in the fullness of time it turns out you were the righter of the two of us. If you hadn’t have reached out to her then who knows how things would have turned out. We probably would have still learned about the rebellion through Itachi, but he might not have spared her.”

Kushina looked surprised at what the Inuzuka was suggesting. “What makes you think he spared her?”

“He stabbed a non-combative woman in the back,” Tsume replied confidently, “and missed her heart. I doubt that was just him being sloppy.” The Inuzuka smirked as she added, “Whenever I looked at Itachi, all I could see was his love for this village. He was the only Uchiha that I worked with that never made me feel like I needed to watch my back around him.”

Kushina couldn’t deny that Tsume’s estimate of Itachi was accurate, and she supposed that she could see why he had stabbed her. In part because she had sided with the clan over the village, and likely figured that Danzou would want to keep an Uchiha around, especially one with a connection to Sasuke he could exploit.

Sounding a little nervous Kushina returned the subject back to them as she asked, “Where does that leave us then?”

Tsume shrugged before answering, “We’ll find out, won’t we? Truthfully, I’m no longer angry. I just wasn’t going to let the matter go before we talked about our history. Considering I was his lover first, as the new bitch, it was your responsibility to insure your entering our Family didn’t cause any issues.”

“Well to be fair entering wasn’t exactly something I planned on,” Kushina said letting a slight smile grace her lips.

Tsume gave a feral grin as she stated, “Lucky for you, Ino made sure to gauge what your joining would do to the Family. Including running it by me as she knew there was some potential bad blood between us.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that you had as much right as the rest of us,” Tsume replied before letting her feral smile grow wider as she added, “I also might have mentioned how it was apparent that it probably didn’t matter what we felt about you joining because it was obvious your son made you a bitch in heat.”

Kushina giggled as she jokingly said, “Well it takes one to know one.”

“It certainly does,” Tsume said as the scent Kushina was giving off due to her anticipating welcoming her son home was making the Inuzuka’s pussy begin to moisten.

“Then what say you to us going and having my Honey give us the proper fucking we both desire?”

“I think we’ll have to get in line,” Tsume replied sensing the newest member to the family along with Ino and Mikoto’s in close proximity to their shared mate.

“Oh, I don’t mind waiting,” Kushina said with a smirk, “I need to properly thank a naughty girl first anyway.”

*****

Naruto, after returning to Konoha and then Harishining to grab Sasame, was sitting in the apartment that he shared with his mother while lost in the pleasure of being the center of three beautiful women’s attention. He had intended to show Sasame the Den, Kiyomi’s mansion, and his Family’s private hot-springs after teaching her how to use the teleportation seal that he had left in her apartment. However, he had gotten as far as touring his apartment before Sasame had decided to postpone it in favor of more pleasurable activities. He imagined the good vibrations that he had been sending through the network of his lovers via their foxmarks was what had attracted Ino, Sakura, and Mikoto.

The three younger women were currently kneeling on pillows before the couch that he was sitting on while running their tongues up and down his manhood. All three women still wore their tops although they had divested themselves of their bottoms. He looked away from the mesmerizing sight of the three women staring up at him with eyes filled with lust as they bathed his cock in their saliva when he noticed the door to the apartment open silently.

Mikoto looked over as well from the chair that she was sitting in while rubbing her pussy as she took in the show and was about to welcome Kushina and Tsume, but didn’t as Naruto’s mother held a finger to her lips. Mikoto smirked as Kushina slowly crept up on the three women and knelt to the right of Ino. The Yamanaka gasped as the red-head reached behind the blonde and began to run the fingers of her left hand over Ino’s slit. The Yamanaka looked back to see which of the new arrivals was teasing her cunt only to be pulled into a kiss with Naruto’s mother.

When the kiss came to an end a thin trail of saliva connected the two women before breaking as Kushina said, “Welcome home Naughty girl.”

Ino smiled before letting loose a sexy moan as Kushina pushed her middle finger inside the blonde kunoichi. The red-head again kissed the woman that had helped push her over her reservations about becoming her son’s lover. As their tongues swirled around each other’s for the viewing pleasure of the man they both now shared, Kushina maneuvered Ino onto her back before lying atop her. They continued to make out while the female Uzumaki began to unbutton Ino’s top to expose her bra encased tits. Kushina smirked against Ino’s lips as she could tell it was the kind that latched in front so with a quick twist cased it to pop open and expose the blonde’s luscious breasts.

Tsume watched Kushina begin to kiss down Ino’s neck in order to begin rolling her tongue around one of the Yamanaka’s hardened nipples. The Inuzuka smiled as she imagined the surprise that would appear on the blonde’s face when she saw what lay beneath Kushina’s dress as they had stopped in the Den’s Master bedroom before heading up to the apartment. Her gaze moved from the two kunoichi kissing heatedly to the couch to watch Sasame and Sakura taking turns to swallow Naruto’s manhood. The Inuzuka’s smile morphed into a smirk due to how Sasame’s face took on a look of amazement as the pink-haired medic could deepthroat the male Uzumaki all the way down to the base.

She considered joining the two, but her gaze moved to the one woman sitting off to the side. Mikoto didn’t notice her stare as she focused on Kushina and Ino while the red-head took up a position between the Yamanaka’s thighs. Tsume turned away as Kushina’s tongue began swiping against the blonde’s slick folds causing her to moan out as her hands buried themselves in the Uzumaki’s crimson locks.

The brown haired woman began stripping as she moved towards the Uchiha while she diddled her snatch while resting her knees on the arms of the chair. She could feel Naruto’s gaze watching her so she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t sure if he knew she was watching him discreetly but she could see the approval in his eyes as he likely sensed her intentions. She focused on Mikoto, who hadn’t noticed her approach as she was engrossed in the show happening before her. Therefore, the raven-haired beauty gasped in surprise as Tsume dragged her nails lightly across the exposed skin of Mikoto’s calf. The woman’s dark eyes locked with hers as Tsume leaned in to give the woman a tender kiss on the lips.

She pulled back and felt an urge to laugh at the startled expression Mikoto wore. Explaining herself the Inuzuka stated, “It’s no secret I never much liked you. Something always warned me about trusting you completely. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case any longer. So let me fully welcome you as a member of this Family.”

She leaned in to kiss Mikoto again, and this time she poured all the passion that she felt not just for Naruto, but the other woman that she was bound to through him into it. The Uchiha responded in kind as she met the Inuzuka’s tongue with hers. They clashed fiercely until Tsume broke the kiss upon grabbing the hand that Mikoto had been using to pleasure herself with. The Inuzuka held it before her and sniffing the intoxicating sent that coated the drenched digits felt her juices begin to leak down her thighs. She then began licking the Uchiha’s cream from her fingers until she could no longer find any trace of it. Desiring more, she dropped to her knees before the chair and buried her face between Mikoto’s outstretched thighs.

Naruto watched on pleased as Mikoto began moaning from Tsume’s tongue exploring inside her. He groaned as he buried his hand in Sakura’s pink hair as she eagerly sucked his cock. He began pumping his hips as he feed Sakura his dick while Sasame climbed up onto the couch to kneel next to him as she pulled him into a kiss.

Even as Naruto made out with the orange haired Fuma-nin, he kept one eye on his mother and Ino. He watched his mother climb to her feet to stand before the blonde kunoichi, who rose up to her knees. His mom raised the hem of her skirt and Ino’s eyes grew wide as she caught site of the orange dildo that the red-head was wearing attached to a harness. She undid the snap of the cloth that had held the fake phallus down against her thigh causing it to jut out from beneath her dress. Kushina smirked as she cupped the Yamanaka’s cheek to guide her mouth to the toy as she said, “You might want to get this toy you made of my son’s cock nice and wet as I plan to fuck you with until you can’t see straight.”

Ino gave a smile which showed lots of teeth as she said, “I see they’ve decided to add it to their product line, because I’m pretty sure the original is still in your night stand.”

Naruto chuckled causing Sasame to pull away in order to ask, “What are they talking about?”

The blond man looked at his newest lover as he explained sounding a little embarrassed, “Ino brought a mold of my junk to a sex shop and had a custom sex toy of it.”

Ino having begun to bob on the plastic toy let it slip from her lips as she said, “How could you call your beautiful cock junk? This beauty might be generating a nice little side profit for us to run some off the book operations or purchase things we need for the Den.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto said sounding surprised.

Ino giggled as she said, “Well, when owners of the shop saw the mold, they might have inquired about adding it to their product line. I told them that for a small percentage of the profit I could see letting them do so. They even told me they had the perfect name for it.”

“They’re calling it The Hero,” Kushina said while sending an amused look her son’s way, “It seems Kiyomi bought one of the first production batches as there were quite a few boxes down in the Den. That’s where I got this little beauty.” The red-head punctuated her sentence by beginning to pump her hips. She moaned from the base of the toy rubbing into her mound due to the resistance of the blonde woman’s lips wrapped around it. She pulled the green dress off over her head leaving her white undershirt on before she began to fondle her tits through it.

Sasame noticed that Naruto seemed a little uneasy at the idea that a copy of his dick was now being sold as a marital aid. She turned his gaze away from his mother who was moaning as she pumped the orange toy into Ino’s mouth, towards her to say, “I’m going have to pick me up one of those before heading home.”

Before Naruto could respond Sakura let his cock pop free of her lips in order to say, “While settle for an imitation when you have the real thing here?”

Sasame giggled as she responded teasingly, “Maybe because I didn’t think you were going to let me have a turn.” Sakura smiled in response and waved the Fuma-nin towards the tower of flesh. The orange haired kunoichi maneuvered herself so that she was facing away from Naruto as she sank down on his cock and moaned from being split in half until it was all inside her. She began to slowly grind her mound into her lover as she laid her back against his chest and let his head rest on her shoulder so he could watch as his mother pulled Ino to her feet and faced the Yamanaka away from her. The blonde Yamanaka moaned as Kushina inserted the doppelganger of her son’s dick all the way to the hilt. Holding Ino’s arms behind her, she then began vigorous pumping her hips causing the moaning kunoichi’s tits to sway with every forward thrust.

Sasame found the sight rather hypnotic, so was caught by surprise as she suddenly let out a large moan when Sakura took a kneeling position on the floor between the two connected lovers and began sucking on the Fuma-nin’s clit. The added stimulation caused Sasame to seek out more so she leaned forward to place her hands on Naruto’s knees as she began to raise and lower her pussy over his shaft. Naruto let out a groan of pleasure from the orange-haired woman’s changing things up, but it grew in intensity as Sakura switched from sucking on Sasame’s pussy to his balls.

Naruto was in heaven as Sasame’s pussy and Sakura’s mouth continued to pleasure his manhood. His excitement was only driven to greater heights as he watched his mother continue to energetically fuck Ino. His gaze was only pulled away due to Mikoto’s cries taking on a much greater urgency due to her nearing the point of no return. He watched as the Uchiha clenched her hands into fists within Tsume’s brown hair as she screamed, “Yes…right there… shit…” Mikoto’s eyes grew to the size of saucers as she let out a soul-wrenching shriek when Tsume pressed her tongue against the woman’s overexcited pleasure button.

It was quickly followed by Ino as his mother came with the Yamanaka her juices pouring down the inside of her thighs as she mawed her tits while the blonde’s cunt convulsed around the plastic dick. Ino’s knees grew weak so she dropped down to them, before falling forward to rest her head on the floor. However, Kushina didn’t give her a moment’s respite as she followed the blonde down and lifting the blissed out woman’s hips into the air promptly began pumping the dildo inside her again.

He looked back to Tsume to see that the Inuzuka was still licking up the honey of Mikoto’s release which was coating her thighs. His gaze drifted down to the Inuzuka’s drenched pussy which she was rubbing in pursuit of some release of her own. Wanting to help out, he created several K-clones which broke off to entertain his other lovers as he began matching his upward thrusts with Sasame’s downward ones.

Two of the clones moved towards Mikoto and Tsume. The first to reach them crouched down behind Tsume causing her to yelp as it slammed its cock into her. The other took a standing position next to Mikoto and presented its dick to her. The Uchiha began to lazily suck the clone even as she watched Tsume’s face contort in pleasure between her thighs.

Naruto began to fondle Sasame’s tits as he watched the final clone approach his mother. The clone much like the one for Mikoto stood next to her, and folded its hands behind its back. His mother immediately wrapped her mouth around his clone’s cock, and began sucking it energetically while still pounding the rubber version of it into Ino’s cunt. His blonde lover moaned as Kushina reached between her thighs and began rubbing her clit with two fingers. Ino stiffened as she let out another cry as an orgasm ravaged her body. His mother smirked lustfully around his clone’s cock as she said after she let it slip free of her lips, “Oh my naughty girl, did you just come again?”

Ino simply panted in response so his mother said while pulling the blonde up against her chest, “Now’s not the time to be resting. Especially since Naruto’s seen fit to create a clone to join us.” Kushina turned Ino’s face to the clone’s groin and the one-eyed beast sticking out from it.

The blonde kunoichi gave a tired smile as she said, “Mmmm, don’t worry I can still give him what he needs while taking everything that you can dish out.”

“Brave words,” Kushina said even as Ino leaned forward to begin blowing the duplicate of her son. She watched the copy’s face take on a look of pleasure as Ino began to moan around its cock while she began to pump the toy into her. The clone moved to stand before them as it began to pump its hips to fuck the Yamanaka’s mouth with short strokes as Kushina continued to pump the fake cock while fondling the blonde’s tits.

Naruto focused back on his situation as Sasame’s moans grew louder. Unable to feel Sakura’s mouth on his balls he figured his pink-haired lover had switched her focus back to the Fuma’s pussy. But a moment later he groaned as Sakura’s warm mouth returned to suck on his cum filled testicles while her hands traveled up Sasame’s stomach to join his in fondling the orange-haired woman’s breasts. Resting her hands on top of his, she interlaced her fingers with him as she began squeezing the Fuma’s tits as well.

Sasame threw her head back as the rhythm of her downward thrusts began to become erratic. Her moans grew wilder as Naruto made up for it by increasing the speed at which he drilled his cock inside her. “Yessss,” Sasame hissed as she felt her insides tightening in preparation of the sexual release she knew was approaching, “more… I’m so close…”

She screamed out as her vision turned white from her climax as with a final violent thrust, Naruto buried his cock inside her until the head was pressed against her womb and released his tiny soldiers to invade it. Sasame feeling the heat entering her core let herself get swept away on the wave of ecstasy that passed over her until she felt weak so fell back against her lover. She mewed softly as Sakura’s tongue traced around the still hard cock inside of her as she scooped up the cum beginning to leak from her.

She felt herself get moved so that she was laid out on the couch and whimpered as Naruto’s dick was removed. It was quickly replaced with Sakura’s tongue as the kunoichi climbed up onto the couch and buried her face into Sasame’s mound to drink the combined essence of Naruto and the Fuma. Sakura moaned into the orange-haired kunoichi’s muff as Naruto knelt behind her on the couch and buried his cock inside her drenched quim. She drank thirstily as her teammate and lover energetically fucked her in order to plant his seed inside her as well.

Mikoto’s moans were cut short as the clone that had been fucking Tsume pulled out of her pussy and shoved his cock into her mouth. She quickly went to work running her tongue around it while sucking as it pumped its dick through her lips. She moaned around the Uzumaki and Inuzuka flavored popsicle as her pussy continued to quiver under the clone kneeling behind her due to its relentless thrusts as well as from Tsume’s tongue as the woman beneath her licked her clit. Mikoto’s moans returned to their previous volume as the clone pulled free of her mouth and in a smooth motion buried its cock into the pussy of the woman lying beneath her.

Mikoto decided to return the favor so lowered her mouth to Tsume’s pussy where she began to lick the nether lips wrapped around the dick sliding between them. Tsume pulled her mouth away from Mikoto in response to moan, but it was cut short as well as the clone fucking the raven-haired woman withdrew to have the Inuzuka begin sucking the its dick which was now coated in essence of Uchiha.

Mikoto feeling empty began to shake her ass invitingly as the seconds without the clone’s dick seemed to stretch on forever. As such she nearly climaxed in anticipation as the clone gripped her butt to steady it in order to push inside of her once more.

It turned out to be a good thing that she was close to release as a moment later she heard Naruto’s voice shouting, “Yeah, suck it… shit I’m cumming!”

Mikoto pulled her head from between Tsume’s thighs to lock over her shoulder as the clone Ino had been sucking stepped back and began fisting its dick. A moment later it sprayed both Ino and Kushina’s faces and outstretched tongues with its cum. A moment later it burst into smoke causing the other Narutos in the room to groan as well. Mikoto, upon feeling her insides being pumped full of her lover’s seed, exploded into a powerful climax which was echoed by Tsume. She heard a similar but muffled shout of pleasure from the couch so assumed that Sakura was also enjoying her inside being coated in Naruto’s thick spunk.

She let out a weak moan as her clone pulled out before burst into smoke, but almost immediately felt Tsume’s tongue press inside her. Following her example she returned her mouth to the Inuzuka’s honey pot in order to drink the concoction that was Uzumaki and Inuzuka combined.

Kushina smacked her lips before licking some of the seed coating Ino’s cheek from it. She smiled happily as she watched Tsume and Mikoto continue to sixty-nine each other while Naruto rested on the couch watching his cum begin to leak from Sakura’s freshly fucked snatch. She stood picking Ino up along with her while continuing to pump her plastic cock inside of the blonde kunoichi. She looked over at Naruto, who feeling her eyes on him looked over with a contented look. “Honey, why don’t you and our guests go get freshened up since it wouldn’t due for them to leave her smelling like sweat and cum. We wouldn’t want them running into Kurenai in such a state.” Her voice grew strained as Ino suddenly climaxed again and caused the toy to exert more pressure against her pussy as it became harder to move due to the kunoichi’s spasming insides. Resisting the urge to cum herself she said, “Afterwards you can help me tuck in Ino.”

Naruto nodded, as he stood helping Sakura and Sasame to their feet in order to guide them to the shower. He watched as his mother carried Ino off to his bedroom and chuckled as a look of concern appeared on his blonde lover’s well pleasured face as the prospect of being left alone with his mother donned on her. He watched as Tsume and Mikoto continued to dine on each other’s pussies energetically causing his manhood to cease its deflating. Something both Sakura and Sasame noticed as they each reached for it. Linking their hands around it they caused him to groan as they began to stroke him in tandem. Wrapping an arm around each kunoichi, he got them moving towards the shower as he felt it wouldn’t hurt to try and get clean even as they continued to get dirty.

*****

Tenten giggled due to Ino’s haphazard state as they ate breakfast together. The blonde looked like she was on her last legs even as Kushina sat next to her looking vibrant and content. “Wow, Ino… rough night.”

“You have no idea,” Ino replied wondering how Kushina looked so rested considering that when she had finally passed out from the pleasure overload of being the Yamanaka filling in the Uzumaki sandwich it had almost been well after midnight. Then as if to shame her lack of endurance, Ino had awoken to find the mother and son still going at it after what she had assumed was maybe few hours of sleep.

Sakura giggled as she stated, “Well, it’s nice to see the haughty Ino humbled a little. Especially after all that bragging you did about how you were going to show me up since Ayame and I only managed to have Shion join the Family during our Wave trip.”

Ino arched an eyebrow as she asked, “My failing to keep up with Naruto and Kushina’s god like stamina is hardly the same as only succeeding in helping Naruto seduce one of our potential targets.”

The Yamanaka sent an amused look towards Kushina as she responded to the compliment, “You’re too kind Naught Girl. You lasted longer than I thought you would.”

She smirked as her gaze returned to Sakura as she continued, “Let’s face it Sakura, when it comes to getting women into Naruto’s bed you’re a rank amateur compared to me.”

A little bit of the old rivalry between the two appeared as Sakura countered, “Oh yeah, that pretty big talk coming from someone with the same record as me from your last trip which was when you said you’d show me how it’s done.”

Ino showed a wide smile as she stated, “What makes you think I’m done.” Ticking her points off on her fingers she explained, “First, I wouldn’t go around bragging about how I got Shion to join the family if I were you. This is a girl that basically made her interest known by offering to get knocked up with Naruto’s baby, remember? It is for a similar reason I don’t consider Sasame to be a success on my part. She was already totally into Naruto so all I needed to do was make myself scarce. Now, who I do consider to be a future success is that kunoichi Soifon.”

“What do you mean?” Tenten asked in interest, “From what I’ve heard she’s total into Yoruichi. If you ask me, she’s more interested in women than men anyway. Not to mention does she really bring anything to the table.”

Ino shook her head as she asked, “And what would you say if someone asked you what do you bring to the table, Tenten.” The weapon using kunoichi frowned and looked hurt as if she believed Ino was pointing out how she wasn’t a member of a clan like some of those present. However, Ino quickly put her at ease stating, “I really don’t think that is something we should ever ask ourselves before reaching out to someone. Tsunami for instance would perhaps have been one that we overlooked if we had such an attitude. But without her, we wouldn’t be aware of S.I.N’s likely sinister intentions towards Wave. We also wouldn’t be sitting on the gold mine for meeting and scouting nobles that is the Whirling Tides Manor. Not to mention, we wouldn’t have secured the Gato Corporation’s harbor to make inroads into the Land of Water. A person’s value to our ambition isn’t necessarily visible at first glance. In fact it might be fair to say it is some of the people whose value is the least perceivable that have had the greatest positive effects on it.”

“Well said,” Miya said before taking a sip of her tea, “But still I believe you see some value there as from what I heard you exposed your relationship to Naruto to her along with Kin and Yoruichi’s. That’s a rather large risk for a potentially small reward. What if she reacted negatively, or worse?”

“Then, I would have blanked her memory and made her think it was a dream,” Ino said calmly causing a few of the women to send impressed looks her way.

“You can do that?” Sakura asked shocked.

“I would have done it to you if you had reacted poorly when I showed you the truth,” Ino said with a smirk as it did feel good to remind Sakura that she wasn’t the only one to have improved since their match in the Chunin Exams. “But, she acted exactly as I suspected. Plus, she’d definitely into men.” Ino added the last part with an amused flourish as she recalled fingering the kunoichi as she watched Naruto fuck Yoruichi. “As to what she might offer, well to be honest I think she’ll be good for the Bijuu.”

“Huh,” Tenten stated with a disbelieving look. “I’m afraid you’ve lost me there.”

“Well when you think about it the Bijuu have to be rather scared that their currently peaceful lives will come to an end,” Ino replied quickly having given the matter a lot of thought.

“What peaceful lives?” Temari asked in a similar state of disbelief as the other women, “Several of them did just help you and Naruto take down those bandits. Not to mention all the fighting they do protecting the Gold Level Shipments.”

“True,” Ino said nodding at the point. “But that has to be a cakewalk compared to constantly being hunted to power some jinchuriki. If you think about it outside of those that have become Naruto’s lover the others seem rather content to remain removed from humanity.”

“Not all of them,” Yakumo pointed out; “Kukaku is out partying almost every night she is in the village. Not to mention sleeping around.”

Ino nodded, but countered, “Sure, but how many of those people that she has slept with know who she really is? How many of them has she opened up to?” What about Yoruichi?” She held up her hand to forestall the counters that she knew where going to be heading her way so explained, “You can’t really count any of us in the Family. Or if you do, you have to treat us as just a single point of acceptance.”

“Why?”

Kushina was the one that answered Tenten as she stated, “Because we’ve all become Naruto’s lovers, and while we all are individuals there are certain traits that unite us. For one, we can all be rather tolerant, after all those of you that learned of Naruto being the jinchuriki of Kiyomi didn’t reject him. Having been a jinchuriki myself and one for whom the fact that I was one remained secret, I can tell you that is something that you fear almost every day. The day your secret will get out and the people that used to be friendly to you begin to look at you with fear and hatred. I only ended up telling two people of my burden, Mikoto, and Minato.”

Ino took over saying, “Exactly. Naruto isn’t interested in us just for our looks. It is our personalities that attract him, and one thing all our personalities have in common is that we didn’t reject him when his secret became common knowledge. Or, for those that came around after it was revealed, we showed a similar capacity to accept others that might suffer similarly as he did.”

Sakura coming to understand the point Ino was making said, “Then what you are saying is that Soifon represents someone that Yoruichi could open up to about being a Bijuu that isn’t necessarily a part of the Family yet.”

“Precisely,” the blonde said, “She’s already shown that she can keep a secret that might not exactly have cast Yoruichi in a positive light in her eyes. Yet, rather than reacting harshly she became inquisitive and seems to genuinely want to understand her as a person. She just needed the blinders that she wore stripped away.”

“Okay, I get that. But doesn’t the point become moot if she ends up sleeping with Naruto before Yoruichi becomes comfortable enough to reveal her secret?”

Ino shrugged as she replied to the Kurama Clan Head’s question, “That is true, but Yoruichi has already begun opening up to her. She no longer sees Soifon’s presence as an annoyance. I think that if I’m right then if she sees Naruto might add her to the Family then she’ll move to reveal her secret first. In order to see for herself that there are people out there not bound to Naruto who will accept her and to prove her own instincts about who to reveal her secret to can be trusted.”

“I think it is a wonderful thing that you are doing, Ino,” Kushina said with a warm smile.

“You’re probably just excited at the prospect of another woman leaping into your son’s bed,” Ino stated with a teasing smile.

“Well having been one of the women caught up in your little plots to become one of my Honey’s lovers, I can also speak with the knowledge of how glad I am that you did act on my behalf.” Kushina leaned her face towards the blonde’s as she added seductively, “Plus, I have grown quite fond of listening to you call out my name in pleasure as well. A treat I would never have known if not for your efforts.” The other woman watched the two women made-out before they were forced to separate as a presence began to make its way down to the dining room.

As such the room was filled with a different conversation as Kurenai opened the door dressed in skin tight shorts and a sports bra. All those present noted how Kurenai seemed to be coming around to the more relaxed manner of dress that they had adopted thus leaving them wondering how soon it would be before she was fully aware why they didn’t mind Naruto seeing them in various skimpy outfits. Quite a few moved up their personal timetables for the event when Kurenai asked with a slight air of disappointment, “No, Naruto this morning?”

“My Honey is resting as he had a late night,” Kushina said with a pleased smile as she recalled making love until a few hours before dawn and then resuming again shortly before she got out of bed for breakfast. She suspected the only reason he had wanted to sleep in was due to his needing to meet with Tayuya later as she had contacted him using a messenger bird. She knew he had been concerned by her strange means of reaching out to him. The letter had been rather vague as well as if the red-head had suspected it would be intercepted, but had asked that he bring the scroll that she had liberated from the Daimyo of Yugakure.

“Oh,” Kurenai said kneeling at the table with the others, “So what was everyone talking about?”

“Oh, just about how Daimyo Haruna has offered to host a potential minor country summit that the Daimyo of Bird Country has called for,” Ino said having suggested to Anko that she ask Haruna to do so when Toki’s efforts to form an alliance with the leaders of her fellow minor country neighbors had reached her ears. The reason Ino had done so was to help correct the mistake that she viewed Sakura and Ayame had made in sharing too much, too quickly. She didn’t fault the two as she knew it was born of their extreme happiness at being Naruto’s lovers, but she felt that also made it easy to forget that in reality most people would view there being something wrong with them for being willing to share him. That was why Ino hoped Toki accepted the invitation to use Haruna’s castle as the venue for the negotiations. If she did, she figured that with Anko’s help they would be able to enlighten the Daimyo to the fact that love came in many different shapes and forms.

Yet, that was still a big if as Kurenai pointed out, “I wouldn’t get my hopes up. It’s a long shot that enough minor village leaders would even be willing to go. Not to mention it might upset Iwagakure since I’m sure one of the topics that would be talked about is how they were behind a lot of the chaos going on along the Western border. Such a conference might become too tempting a target to pass up.”

“I know,” Ino stated, “But, the alternative is living in fear that Iwa might target them and they have nowhere they can turn to. I’m sure a few leaders will recognize it as being a good idea to form an alliance against Iwagakure aggression.”

Kurenai inclined her head at Ino’s point causing the blonde to mentally add, “Plus, it might give Naruto another opportunity to add a few Daimyo to our Family. I’m sure having him guarding such a conference might go a long way to get a few of the more skittish leaders to attend.” Ino almost felt likely cackling like a villain in a movie that Koyuki would star in, but refrained due to Kurenai’s presence. She watched the woman eat and wondered if she should give the woman the push needed to make her take the plunge. But taking in what the dark-haired woman had worn to breakfast she decided to focus her energies on more difficult targets to prove to the others that when it came to helping Naruto capture the hearts of women in order to move their ambition forward she was without equal. Not to mention Ino knew it was only a matter of time before she joined and the Hidden Eddy Inn became the home that the Yamanaka imagined it could be.

*****

A henged Naruto was sitting outside Tayuya’s office waiting for his appointment as the silence was shattered as his Demoness shouted. “I don’t give a flying fuck what he fucking told you. Those Earth Country fucks signed a pact with Koyuki that they would let her film a movie of her choice within their borders in order to prevent from getting cut off from Spring’s resources. You tell that fat stupid fuck of a Daimyo that the time to pay up is coming around so he better stop sending you back after fucking come up with some bullshit excuse or I’m going to personally shove my next response so far up your fucking ass that your children’s children will walk funny.”

“Look Tayuya, I’m just the messenger…”

“Just the fucking messenger we are paying a shit ton of money to in order to finish these god forsaken negotiations asswipe,” Tayuya said angrily.

“Well perhaps if you didn’t personally insult the Daimyo’s son then you could handle them yourself.”

“The fucker was lucky I simply reduced him to tears after he refused to take no for an answer and thought he could grab my ass,” the fiery red-head replied. “When we hired you to resume the negotiations you assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem, especially since we already have a fucking treaty with these assholes.”

“They aren’t trying to back out of the agreement,” the negotiator replied, “They are just saying that now isn’t a good time. The Leaf, Kumo, and Sand are about to have their first Chunin Exams in a little over a year which means a large number of new Chunin are going to likely be filling all three Shinobi Village’s ranks. That is making Earth Country nervous and they likely don’t want a movie crew with ties to the Land of Fire inside their borders in the immediate aftermath in case hostilities do break out.”

“Here’s the thing,” Tayuya said taking a seat behind her desk, “I don’t fucking care. Koyuki is on my ass about getting the Earth Daimyo to honor their agreement, and so I’m getting on yours. You tell that fuck that if he doesn’t give me a fucking date on when we can start shooting this movie, he’s going to find his stupid ass cut off from Spring’s resources. Let’s see how fucking confident he feels about pursuing actions that might start a war while he’s having a hard time keeping his fucking lights turned on. If you want, I’ll even draft the fucking letter for you.”

“No thanks,” the man replied drily, “My job is difficult enough already without having to ease his ego after reading what I am sure would be an insult laden message from you. If you’ll excuse me?”

“Don’t let the door fucking hit you on the way out,” Tayuya replied looking down as she began rereading the letter the Earth Daimyo had sent refusing to specify a date for the next Princess Gale movie to begin shooting. The delay was making a few of the other financial backers nervous causing them to begin sending out calls to writers to have the script rewritten to fit different shooting locations. One of the worst being someone had rewritten Shiho’s story so that it took place on the moon without bothering to answer how it was possible to breathe on it. It wouldn’t be devastating if the other financial backers pulled out, but it would hurt the image of the upcoming movie and if Tayuya had learned one thing it was that image was everything to a lot of the people in show business.

Crumbling the letter up, she tossed it into the garbage can while promising that someday she’d kick the Daimyo’s ass for making things so difficult for her. Her anger though faded as a henged Naruto said, “Tough day?”

“Are you fucking deaf? That should have been apparent from all the shouting.”

“Well maybe I can…”

“Did you bring what I asked?”

Naruto frowned at Tayuya’s briskly cutting him off. He nodded as he said, “I’m not sure why you wanted me to bring this scroll to you.”

“I have a line on someone that can help me translate it,” Tayuya said noticing Naruto’s face scrunch in confusion. She knew that she was taking a risk in not alerting him to what she had planned, but she couldn’t take the chance that someone would notice her missing or Naruto suddenly appearing in her office. It had been the reason that she had contacted him via a messenger bird to bring the scroll that she had taken from Yugakure.

She breathed a little easier as the confusion disappeared from Naruto’s face and he looked about the room for the listening device that had been planted in the room. She nodded her head towards the lamp on her desk causing him to nod in understanding as he said, “That’s good because we’ve yet to have any luck. I’m pretty eager to find out what it contains and why the Hot Spring Daimyo kept it so closely guarded.”

Tayuya nearly wanted to jump him right then and there as he perfectly filled in all the important details for the person listening in on the other end. She considered doing just that to give the spy something tantalizing to listen to, but figured it could wait for later. Smiling she came around the desk as she said, “That can wait till morning. For now it has been a while since we’ve been free to be together.” She took the scroll from him and returned to her desk in order to lock it inside stating, “But first let me put this away so we can concentrate on something a little more pressing.”

Tayuya smirked as she could imagine the person that had been spying on her and eavesdropping on her meetings in her office practically salivating at being so close to what she suspected was the reason she was being observed. Confident that the spy wouldn’t let the opportunity slip by she followed Naruto out of the office. Her lover noticing that they were alone in the reception area created a clone to keep tabs on the scroll which silently slipped into the office before Tayuya locked it up.

****

It was well after midnight when the clone noticed the soft sound of a lock being picked. The clone gave the person credit as the door handle hadn’t budged an inch as its lock was defeated. The handle began to rotate as the clone hid in the darkened office waiting for the person that Tayuya was sure was spying on her to enter the room. Hiding in a corner, it crouched down as the door opened and could tell the spy had been there before as she moved towards the desk without the fear of tripping suggesting that she knew the room’s layout.

The clone took in the spy’s appearance noticing that she was wearing a skin tight unitard with an embroidered vest. In the dark it was difficult to make out the color but he was sure it was a shade of blue, along with yellow markings running up the sides and covering the vest. She also had yellow ribbons in her hair holding together the twin buns of her dark brown hair.

The woman moved silently to the desk while the clone traveled along the wall to block the door she had entered from to cut off her escape. It heard the lock of Tayuya desk unlatch before the woman opened the drawer. She was about to reach for the scroll when the clone stood turning on the light via the switch next to the door as it said, “I don’t think that…”

The woman rather than reacting in surprise or freezing immediately rolled over the desk towards the clone. Then all the clone saw was feet as she lashed out with a kick that suddenly seemed to strike hundreds of times causing it to fly out the doorway before bursting into smoke.

The would-be thief spun to snatch the scroll out of the desk even as a flash of red appeared behind her. Before she could register the new threat a fist collided with her jaw which sent her tumbling back against the wall before slumping down.

*****

Tayuya smirked as she recognized the studio’s head of security and the woman she had suspected was a little too interested in her business. When she had realized that her office had been bugged, she had considered using a genjutsu to reveal the culprit, but hadn’t chanced it in case the woman had allies who could have pulled her out and would have revealed her shinobi abilities to them. Something that didn’t appear to be the case as Naruto reported what his other clones watching the area noticed as he said, “It doesn’t look like anyone is here to back her up. Any idea who she is?”

“Not really, she has been acting as the head of security for the studio,” the red-head answered, “But I doubt that is her real name.” Tayuya noticed the woman’s eyes beginning to flutter before snapping open. She was about to leap into action, but Tayuya whistled casting a quick genjutsu which caused her opponent’s body to freeze. Giving the woman a smirk she dropped to her haunches in front of her and repeating a complaint the woman had leveled against her multiple times said, “I’m really going to need to see your pass. We can’t be too careful about who we let onto the studio lot now, can we?” The brown eyed woman simply glared at her causing Tayuya to stand as she said, “Look, one way or the other you’re going to tell me what I want to know. So let’s start with something simple. What’s your name?”

“Go to hell!”

“Sorry, been there once already and I’ve no plans to go back.” Tayuya looked over her shoulder and smiled before turning back to add, “Especially not after having been shown what heaven can feel like. Why don’t I show you a glimpse? I’m sure that will get your tongue working.”

Next Chapter: Expanding Territories: Yugakure Part II

Author’s Note: First let me take the time to thank all those that review my stories as always. Well my story got pulled down again on FF.net so FicWad is going to remain the primary home for all new chapters. I’ll eventually post on FF again but have to let the head die down as a crusader named A big fan of most things, has targeted me and tried to get my account and IP address banned. Needless to say I would hate for that to happen.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter as if kind of focused on a few of the lingering plot points like the hard feelings between Tsume and Kushina. But also some of the future ones, I figured I’d stop here so the next chapter can focus on Yugakure exclusively.

Again, I hope you all continue to enjoy the story and thanks for all your support over the years through the multiple deletions on FF.net and searching out my stories. I hope to continue to entertain through the years to come. Sincerely, The Lemon Sage.