While Rubel was in Konoha, Naruto was in the castle he and his clones made by hand. In the bailey, stood the blond in front of a bullseye target. He looked at his fist, then to the target, and then back to his fist again. Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked back at the target drew his arm back, exhaled before lazily throwing it forwards. Then he stopped just as his fist was about to connect, and gave the thing a harmless flick of his finger.
The bullseye target was lift off the ground, shredding to pieces just before it collided against the large brick wall.
Naruto's toad-like eyes grinned in amusement as he took in the scene. He had other bullseye targets lying around in a similar condition. All twigs, or chunks, but otherwise in the same condition. This was a trivial task for sage mode, but he had to admit it was just… funny seeing the things caving in on itself before exploding into twigs. He would have to find some harder targets. He makes a wall and carries it around on his back using Sage mode… or use the Doton jutsu to make something else that can help him out.
But not now, not yet. The blond let out a sigh as the nature chakra flowed back into the earth. The orange pigmentation around the top of his eyes vanished and his toad-like eyes went away with them, turning back to their original blue.
"I could use Sennin Modo, on them… but that would be overkill… not to mention unfair for the girls." Naruto mused aloud. He rubbed the back of his head as he exhaled. "I can use it for my training though."
And he needed to train, now more than ever, after discovering the Organization finally made landfall in the Elemental Nations around a week ago. He will have to up his training and his girls training too. Help Alicia and Beth with their soul link thing, teaching Clare his Kage Bunshin to allow Teresa to come out and play and get either Beth or Rafaela to teach her the soul link to make that happen.
There was also Helen who's trying to learn Jean's Drill Sword, and Clare trying to learn Flora's wind cutter. Yuma has a good arm, so helping her with throwing projectiles would prove to be interesting. And Miria is trying to upgrade her phantom to it looks like there's three of her at once. Cynthia is learning yoki manipulation, mainly to help with regeneration and healing others.
But everyone was learning how to suppress their yoki completely while retaining the ability to sense and attack the yoki of others. Once they finally get his chakra training down all 26 women were going to be forces of nature.
Priscilla… she is someone he is going to have to train, apart from the others. And after seeing what he's teaching them, she is eager to learn from him. The blond just has to figure out where to start with her; she's scary strong, how strong is up for debate - if Kurama of all people said she could take on the Five Kages and win, he'll believe that - but what he felt from the brunette was more than anything he ever felt on this island so far.
And speaking of Priscilla, Clare was tolerant of her presence now. So there wasn't a lot of antagonism between them.
Ophelia was still… a work in progress. And by work in progress he meant, Ophelia was still not talking to him and would growl when Priscilla got anywhere within spitting distance of her. She was going to be a tough nut to crack, but Naruto dealt with similar people before. Getting her alone and let loose her frustrations upon him would be the best bet on getting her to calm down.
With a sigh, Naruto walked to a bench and sat down to meditate on what he should do in regards to the snake woman. He can see two options in front of him: wait for her to come to him, and make the rift bigger or try approaching her… make that one option. He didn't want to risk Ophelia to lose the only person she had left to her anger. He sighed, again, his decision made. Naruto stood up and made his way to the keep to find Ophelia.
He hoped she wasn't going to be pissed off… and if she is, then getting Ophelia to take her frustration out on him through sparring sounds like a good idea. He really hoped they wouldn't get distracted, but knowing his luck he wouldn't hold his breath.
----
Unfortunately, she still was.
Ophelia sat in a corner of the castle's great hall, pouting childishly with her arms crossed. Priscilla was on the other side of the chamber, frowning sympathetically. Were she in the same position, the brunette knew she'd feel the same.
Priscilla had gotten a new set of clothes since her last ones were shredded to pieces. She wore a form-fitting leather and cloth dress, similar to her previous one. The only thing that was recovered before her transformation into the 'One-horned Monster' was her cloak.
Then, out the corner of her eye, she spotted Riful marching on up to the pissed off blonde.
The Abyssal One of the West had enough of this shit! Naruto was so worried about Ophelia and everyone else was getting worried about him. Even Renee, the one and only girl left who 'didn't' have romantic feelings for him, still was off sulking somewhere. Despite herself, the former 'Eye' couldn't help but feel sorry for Naruto.
"You done brooding?" the loli asked.
Ophelia gave the Abyssal one of the West a dirty look before huffing childishly. "...no," she admitted.
"Look, I can understand that you're not happy about Naruto-sama taking in Priscilla," Riful said. "Hell, even I was irritated, admittedly. I never was a fan of other people being stronger than me… with Naruto-sama as the obvious exception, but there's nothing we can do about that. She's here, and she's here to stay, and so are you." the loli sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's what the ring around your finger means, so at least try and talk to him. Or get along with her. He would be happy again and he won't be worried sick because of you being angry at him for something that was out of his control."
Riful had a point, the former Number 4 knew that, but she can't help but feel a little bitter. "He could have tried to resist, or something," Ophelia complained.
"You make it sound easy," Riful chastised. "When they touched, Kurama, the powerful demon inside of him, became very wary of her. I shouldn't have to explain the implications of that." she pointed out with logic and reason. Anything that could make fricking Kurama of all people wary had to be bad news.
Ophelia pouted, letting out a sigh. Just as she was about to complain, again, a certain newcomer decided to throw in her two cents.
"I hate to say it, but the shrimp is right," Luciela said. After noticing that Riful was going to try and mend the ties between Ophelia and Naruto, the ginger simply couldn't sit idly by and get upstaged. Rafaela followed along if only to try and keep her sister out of trouble. "If I was in our husband's shoes, I would have bent over and let my assailant have their way with me. Granted, he fought back 'that' way, but at least he's still alive. No offence, of course, Priscilla."
"None taken; he did fuck me good…" Priscilla began to daydream. Shivering pleasantly as her body got phantom sensations from their copulation. If she was with him right now, the 'One-Horned Monster' would be trying to get him out of his depression by tending to his… 'primal needs'.
Not to mention she got a kick out of it when no one could detect just how powerful she was until they touched her directly. Or stopped suppressing her yoki. Even when she was in her 'One-horned monster' form, she still had her yoki suppressed - it was enough to fool Rigardo and Isley of the North into thinking they were stronger than her. Up until they started fighting that is.
"We all love him," Rafaela pointed out. "That includes you, and he loves us all back - hence the fact that he's been moping over you for the past few days."
Ophelia didn't answer but visibly felt guilty about that.
"You need to talk to him. And soon." Luciela told the still pouting woman. "Something tells me he might do something reckless to try and get your attention if you don't do something."
Just then four more people joined up with the small group. Going from five to nine. Helen, Deneve, Yuma and Renee were on the search for the wayward blond, to no avail. They knew he was still in the castle, but the place was so big they couldn't possibly cover it by themselves.
"Has anyone here seen where Naruto is?" Helen asked the awakened beings. "We've been trying to find him, but we got no luck so far."
Ophelia frowned, now legitimately worried about the blond. By now, she's figured out that Yuma and Renee had a talent for yoki sensory, so if they were unable to locate him, that spelt trouble.
"Could he be training somewhere?" Rafaela asked them. "Naruto did show that he can negate us from sensing him. And, knowing him, I wouldn't put it past him to hide so he wouldn't get interrupted."
"A castle is a big place," Riful told them. "He could have easily occupied one of the rooms right under our noses."
"Wait," Helen furrowed her brow in deep thought. "he said there were different 'climbing exercises'... what if he's trying to do one of them that's a lot more dangerous than the one he had us doing? What was it called again… um… Lava walking?"
"I'm not that crazy; hell, I'm not so sure Lava walking is even possible." a male voice said from behind the former Number 22. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm flattered that you all wanted to help," he said with a wide, appreciative smile. "Thank you!"
"There you are!" Helen immediately turned on her heel to glare at him out of sheer worry. "Where were you?!"
"Sorry," Naruto said, giving her a sheepish grin. "I was just keeping my skills sharp in the bailey for a bit, before coming here to check on Ophi. Didn't mean to worry anyone."
"Oh? What were you doing, honey?" Ophelia glanced at him from the corner of her eye as Luciela asked him that.
"I was trying to keep myself competent when using one of my other transformations. It basically enhances my strength, speed, durability, and reflexes like the others. But, if I do it wrong, it can petrify me."
"Petrify?" Helen asked narrowing her eyes in confusion, she didn't know what that word meant. It was the first she even heard of it.
"What does that word mean, exactly?" Yuma asked him. "Is it bad?"
The blond shrugged nonchalantly. "I get turned into a toad stone; in other words - I turn into a toad, then a toad statue and die. I've undergone training to keep that from happening, but if I don't keep my skills sharp, I could find myself fucking up, so I train with it once in a while to make sure that doesn't happen."
"And that could happen anytime you use this method of training?!" Deneve shouted, aghast.
"Pretty much, it's similar to you girls using yoki. If you go over your limit, you lose your humanity." and that was where the similarities between sage mode and their awakening ended. "Only I turn into a toad statue and die when that happens. You all just turn into super-powerful demon babes with a craving for guts. But at least you'd still be alive. As it stands, the risk of me getting stoned is minimal, though, and I want to keep it that way."
"Thank god!" Helen exclaimed in relief. "I think I speak for everyone that Riful, Luciela and Clare would have gone berserk if you died to something so stupid."
"Among others," Naruto said, giving her a good-natured chuckle. "Give me some credit, eh?" he then redirected his attention to Ophelia. "Wanna spar for a bit? If anything it'll get rid of any pent up frustrations you have? To sweeten the deal - you'll be on the offence, I'll be on defence?"
The former Number 4 blinked at him, before leering at Priscilla. "I'd rather take it out on her," she said with a childish pout. "Bitch needs a spanking after what she did to my family."
"Hmm…" he nodded, thoughtfully. "You know, I met the guy who killed my family, so I can understand how you feel. Though a spanking sounds hot~ I didn't know you were into that Ophi," he grinned at her cheekily.
Ophelia blushed at that, as did a few others. Riful, ever the sadist, couldn't help but giggle.
"But all teasing aside, there will come a day when you find yourself being unable to use your yoki and transform," he told her and in effect, everyone else. "All you'll have when that happens is your fists and feet. But what good are they if you can't even land a hit on your enemy? So, I'm offering you a little spar. To get some experience in hand to hand, and to help you vent - two birds, one stone."
"One on one, or in a team?" Ophelia asked as she got to her feet. With one hand on her hip, she regarded his offer with curiosity.
"One on one. The others can observe of course. If we're going to fight, they'd might as well get a demonstration, no?"
That seemed perfectly reasonable to her. Grinning Ophelia walked over to her man and wrapped an arm over his shoulder. "Well? What are we waiting for? Lead the way, stud!"
Chortling Naruto led Ophelia outside. The others exchanged looks before following them.
----
Once they made their way to the armoury, the other girls sat around Naruto and Ophelia in a circle. The awakened blonde and her lover eyeballed each other. True to his promise, Naruto had taken on a defensive stance and waited for his wife to make the first move.
"Ready when you are," he said.
Wasting no time, Ophelia dashed forth with a roar and savage haymaker. When Naruto blocked it with his forearm, she surprised him with a knee to the gut. The blond staggered back as his woman charged, not giving an inch. She had several days' worth of frustration to vent and she showed it with a relentless flurry of blows.
Ophelia delivered another haymaker, he caught her fist before it could connect, and blocked her knee when she tried to ram it into his gut with his shin. Naruto pushed her back and was put on defence once more when the woman came back for more. An uppercut he avoided by leaning back, a jab to the abdomen that was deflected; Naruto retaliated by throwing a right hook followed by several jabs when she left herself open.
Ophelia tried blocking as many of them as she could, before backing off to get a breather. Naruto did not pursue and merely jumped in place from the heels of his feet. Then she lunged at him with a savage growl and tried to trick him using fake-outs and misdirections.
The blond saw she was going for another haymaker with her right hand. Once Ophelia saw he was focused on that, she switched midway and went for an uppercut with her left hand instead. He was so surprised she managed to deck him under the chin and the blond grunted in pain, staggering back as his head was forced upwards.
She didn't let up there though. With a menacing grin, she grabbed her husband by the forearms, turned her heels and using her momentum to her advantage, turned around and with a mighty yell changed her eyes to their demonic gold, as tossed him three yards across the room. Her eyes went back to normal as she followed after him and she giggled giddily as the blond rolled across the floor.
As he got back up Naruto was honestly impressed. Though her technique in a similar manner to Clare, was reckless and clumsy, she made up for it with creativity and enthusiasm. He backed up when Ophelia got close and chopped her wrist when she tried to jab him in the stomach, forcing her trajectory to go down. He grabbed her other wrist that she tried to haymaker him with, with his other hand and pushed her back with all his might.
Ophelia staggered back, but then she grinned, bracing herself on her back foot and sending a kick to his face. Naruto couldn't help but be a bit distracted as his wife 'accidentally' flashed him in the process. He got nailed right in the nose for that. The blonde giggled both impishly and triumphantly as she took advantage of Naruto's disorientation, rushing him once more.
The hapless blond let out a squawk and found himself immediately pushed onto his back foot. With a jumping switch kick, Ophelia flashed him once more and just barely missed a potential knockout blow to his chin.
Naruto grinned. Two could play at this game. He sidestepped her charge with a flourish and gave her a swat on the rear. "Naughty girl!"
On the sidelines, Renee turned beet red, having not expected something like that. Luciela giggled, thoroughly finding Naruto's dirty tactic rather amusing.
Ophelia yelped and giggled as she turned to face him. "You never said I couldn't fight dirty~!"
'Very true," Naruto chuckled. Then, he dodged a roundhouse kick to the head and got yet another eyeful of her little coochie. Again, he got distracted, resulting in his wife landing a nice hook punch to the jaw.
He grunted as he went with the punch rather than against it. He combat rolled across the ground before getting back up on his feet and turned to face his wife. As his luck would have it, she had a leg raised high to deliver an axe kick, resulting in another eyeful. This time he was more prepared for her; Naruto sidestepped her kick, swiftly got behind her and wrapped his arms around her abdomen, lifted her and suplexes her.
Ophelia squealed, catching herself with her hands before she could make contact with the ground, and then latched onto Naruto's arms as she found herself lying atop him. The man chuckled and took advantage of the situation by groping her chest.
Renee's eyes nearly popped out of her skull at the sight. What the hell?! Ophelia's giggling only left the former 'Eye' even more confused. Then Naruto shoved her off of him and rolled up on his feet.
Rolling his shoulders and getting the feeling back into his arms, Naruto rubbed under his nose with his thumb and beckoned his wife to come at him again. Giggling once more, Ophelia did just that and rushed him with a wide menacing grin. Naruto intercepted her punches and kicks, stopping the latter before she could try and distract him again with her vagina.
He gave her a vicious haymaker to the face with one hand, and with the other, he jabbed her in the middle of her chest. Ophelia staggered, held her chest where he jabbed her and took a deep breath before re-engaging him once more.
"She's trying to distract him." Deneve realised once she realised what Ophelia was trying to do. The view up said blonde's dress she got from Naruto's suplex all but confirmed it. When both Renee and Helen looked at her oddly, she elaborated. "She's not wearing anything under that dress. Every time she throws one of those high kicks, Naruto is treated to a view of her genitals. Clearly, she's using that to her advantage."
It was crude, but effective - as exemplified by the jab Naruto just received to the gut after ducking under a roundhouse kick.
Renee went beet red, the thought of actively showing one's privates to a man-made her feel… dirty.
Riful was decidedly unhelpful in that regard as she giggled. "I like that idea. Certainly worth stealing, in my book."
"We are all essentially naked under our clothes." Luciela pointed out, "Apart from our current attire, there really is nothing to stop us from going over there and doing the same thing Ophelia is doing."
Upon hearing that, Helen got a mischievous idea as she took in the husband and wife sparing. Seeing that Naruto's back was turned to her, she couldn't resist. She stretched out an arm, literally, and gave him a swat on the rear.
Naruto yelped and gave Helen an amused grin.
Said blonde smiled back. "Oops," she said, "my hand slipped."
Taking full advantage of the distraction, Ophelia leapt forth and tackled her man to the ground. She giggled. Now straddling her man, she rubbed herself against the awkward boner he'd developed throughout their spar.
"Feeling better?" Naruto asked. He held her by the hips and sat up, hugging the silverish blonde to him.
"Slightly," Ophelia said with a shrug as she put her arms around his shoulders. She then leered at Priscilla. "I still want to spank her, though."
One could practically see a question mark floating above said brunette's noggin.
Then, Ophelia let out a surprised yelp as Naruto gave her a playful swat on the rear. She giggled, leering at her man. "Naughty, naughty~!"
"Pot calling the kettle black, much?" Naruto quipped. Then, he pulled the awakened blonde down into a deep, loving kiss. Ophelia mewled and returned it enthusiastically as Naruto wrapped his arms around her and hugged the woman tight.
On the sidelines, Priscilla shifted about, thoroughly aroused by the spectacle, as many were. Yuma was beet red, staring intently, and Renee couldn't look away. While this wasn't quite the first time in her life the former Number 6 found herself sexually aroused, it was most certainly the most… potent.
Meanwhile, Luciela and Riful were giggling to themselves, sensing the possible incoming orgy from a mile away. Rafaela was both aroused and irate upon coming to the same realization. How the hell she ended up in such a debauched family, she hadn't the foggiest damn clue, but she found herself caring less with each passing day.
Deneve rolled her eyes as she heard a lecherous snicker coming from Helen. The damn girl was always trying to get herself in some manner of trouble.
"Damn, I'm so jealous~!" Helen cooed with a lewd grin. She licked her lips and slowly got down on her hands and knees, her face a mask of perverseness. "I wasn't with him like this since that time in Pieta." she let out a pleasured shudder as the memory of his throbbing cock pummeling her cunt came to the forefront of her mind. "Seeing them go at it like that is making me want to join in~!"
Deneve rubbed her forehead as she looked at her best friend from the corner of her eye. "Of course you would say something like that," she said, with a look of exasperation on her face. "But I agree with you, it has been a long time since either of us had been with him. I… wouldn't be opposed to joining in."
While Naruto and Ophelia were busy making out, the newest member of Naruto's harem decided she wanted some of that. This in mind, Priscilla stood up and started to cautiously approach.
With her eyes closed, Ophelia didn't notice Priscilla approaching them. Too lost was she to the pleasure of making out with her man for the brunette to even be given the time of day, at least initially. She finally took notice of her presence when Priscilla was on her knees beside her, looking at both Ophelia and Naruto with her lower lip bit in arousal and need.
The blonde gave her an evil grin before lifting herself off Naruto to straddle one of his legs, allowing the former Number 2 to take the other. Seeing the spare leg, Priscilla immediately hopped on and snuggled up to Naruto as she pressed her lips upon his.
Then, Priscilla let out a yelp as Ophelia gave her a firm swat on the rear. She didn't mind though. Raising her ass in the air, the brunette continued showering Naruto with affection.
Taking that as in an invitation, Ophelia grinned and spanked her again. Priscilla whimpered into Naruto's mouth as she felt Ophelia's hand harshly slap her butt again, and again, and again. Her cheeks were aglow with embarrassment and arousal; her cheek stung each time her palm smacked her, her skin rippled under her dress with each impact; and she enjoyed it.
She whimpering turned to a combination of mewling and whining when Naruto grabbed her ass and started kneading it. Priscilla slowly realised she was getting spanked by one person, and fondled by another, one for each cheek. It gave her a mixture of pleasure and mild pain. She wanted more.
Yuma shifted about uncomfortably, doing her damnedest to hide her lust. How the hell the sight of Priscilla being repeatedly swatted and fondled aroused her, she frankly didn't want to know. But, still, she wanted to be in the brunette's place so badly! Yuma looked at Priscilla nervously. There was no way the former Number 40 was about to risk pissing that chick off… She'd have to wait, at least for now.
Renee, on the other hand, just… stared. How the hell was that mud head enjoying this?! It made absolutely no sense to her! It seems the only way for her to find out is to either ask them or, have it done to herself. The braided woman bit her lip as she rubbed her thighs together.
"So, are you calm now?" Naruto asked Ophelia after he pulled away from Priscilla's lips.
The elf-eared woman leered at the brunette from the corner of her eye and smirked. "...not yet," Priscilla squealed aloud in shock and with wide eyes when she felt Ophelia's palm smack the middle of her butt. Her fingers slapped her vulva, being the reason she squealed. "Ah, now, I feel better." Ophelia giggled deviously.
Priscilla glared at Ophelia from the corner of her eye. She would have taken off Ophelia's head for that alone, and it looked like she was going to - then Naruto made her look at him and she immediately calmed down when he pressed his lips to hers.
He pulled away and Priscilla and Ophelia both yelped and or squealed when he gave them a playful slap on the arse. "Come on you two, up you get. I'm starting to lose the feeling in my legs," he told them, and with reluctance, the two voracious eaters got off his lap and stood beside him.
Naruto groaned as he stood up and let out a relieved grunt as he stretched his legs. He got a satisfying crack from the joints as a result of the stretching.
"So, what now?" Luciela asked him, slightly disappointed by the lack of an orgy being in the works. "More training?"
Naruto was relieved for the subject - it gave him something to do. "Yeah. It's been five days since I gave you instructions on wall walking. Depending on how far you've gotten on it, I'll instruct you on the next step." he scratched under his chin, "I might throw in a few chakra techniques I know as well. Given her interest in the subject, I'll have to separate Priscilla from everyone else, she needs to catch up."
"A clone substitute then?" Riful asked as she crossed her arms. Helen had her arms crossed too and was glaring childishly at Priscilla. Deneve shook her head at her friend's antics, while said brunette returned Helen's glare with a confused look.
"That's what I was thinking," Naruto confirmed with a nod. "Leaving her one to focus on her one-on-one will allow her to catch up to everyone else more quickly."
Priscilla redirected her curious look to Naruto and Riful. "Catch up?" she asked. Naruto crossed his hands and she jumped at the resulting poof, then found herself staring at yet another Naruto.
The clone gave her a lopsided grin and said, "Yep, catch up. Since the boss had to share his chakra with everyone else to kick start their chakra system, I'm going to have to do the same thing with you." he shrugged, "Given how massive your yoki is, I have to assume your chakra is going to be massive as well - and talking from personal experience here, the bigger your chakra pool is the harder your control is going to be… I might have to teach you the Kage Bunshin if that's the case."
"How come she might get to learn it, and we're not?" Luciela asked as she gestured to herself and Riful.
"I just said I might throw in a few chakra techniques -- that included the Kage Bunshin." he reminded her, "Pretty much everyone who is and was, in the single digits, has enough chakra to learn the Kage Bunshin. But I'm waiting until I see how far your chakra control is; I don't want you to accidentally kill yourself because you used too much."
"So, I have enough chakra to learn this technique, then?" Riful politely asked.
Naruto nodded in confirmation. "Well, yeah; you, Luciela, Rafaela, and Ophelia... Renee, as well, actually." Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Again, Priscilla might be one, depending on if her chakra pool is as big as her yoki. Now that I think about it, Helen and Deneve seem eligible to learn it, too. Yuma, I'm not too sure about; seeing as she's in the lower double digits. But if she's doing well in pushing herself past her limits… As for those who aren't here, you've also got the captain's, Galatea, and Undine. Cynthia's other potential candidate, as well as Zelda. I don't want to teach it to someone while she's pregnant, though. It causes a lot of physical strain, so I'll wait on Jean, Galatea, and Veronica, for now."
Riful nodded, quizzically. So, most of their heavy hitters were the best candidates, then. That made sense. The others were excited they were going to learn some of the more advanced techniques soon. They were given some examples, but they never learned them. So this was a good reason for them to be so excited.
Yuma on the other hand - despite smiling to herself - wasn't feeling a lot of confidence in her self-worth. Naruto noticed that, and, made a mental note to talk to her; he can't let her feel so deprecated. He'll help her out, she is his friend after all.
"Everyone, except Priscilla, follows me out to the bailey." the blond told them, before looking at the brunette. "You are going to follow my clone and will personally get one to one training from him until you're caught up with the others," he told her; Priscilla blinked owlishly, looked to the clone who waved at her with a bemused smile, and back at the original. Then, she nodded in acceptance and followed the clone as he led her away. Then another clone appeared in a poof of smoke; he saluted the original before jogging off to collect the others.
Then Naruto looked to Luciela, Rafaela, Riful, Helen and Deneve and Yuma and Renee; he gestured for them to follow, before making his way out to the bailey. Being eager to show him how far they had gotten, so they could go on to the more advanced techniques the women followed. Although, Yuma was the only one who didn't feel all that confident in herself.
...he's going to have to break her out of her shell.
----
Meanwhile, back in Kumo, Ei found himself scowling deeply at the report on his desk. Just that morning, a messenger hawk arrived to deliver a letter from Team Samui. Seeing as how many sightings of Naruto had been reported in Nami, only for him to vanish without a trace a few minutes later, Ei had always suspected that he was capable of the notorious Hiraishin. So, that came as no surprise. What irked him, however, was this JDLR case and the organization is involved.
The thought of a half-demon army potentially threatening Kaminari no Kuni's shores understandably rubbed the Raikage the wrong way. Granted, Kumo was substantially better off than the other villages. Not only had they suffered fewer losses than any other army in the last Great War, but they also had Gyuuki and Matatabi on their side. Even with that being the case, though, the thought of an unknown enemy that literally commanded demonic soldiers was to be kept the fuck in one's imagination.
He didn't know how much of a threat they are, but, until he gets confirmation from the blond himself, he'll keep his forces on a strict 'DNE' - short for 'Do Not Engage'. It was better to be paranoid than reckless at times like this. Speaking of the blond…
"Rei," he called out, "prepare a messenger hawk for Team Samui. I've got some new orders for them."
"Right away, Raikage-sama," his new secretary responded, bowing respectfully. She then turned on her heel and was off to inform the hawk master.
Ei laced his fingers before his face and pondered whom the task force should be comprised of if needed.
----
Naruto sighed as many of his lovers gathered before him in the castle's bailey. He had his back to them and was thinking about what to teach them if they had gotten far enough in-wall walking.
He hoped they did. Because he was pretty sure they're eager to learn how to manipulate the elements. Thankfully, he had some scrolls handy - a parting gift from a few friends. Too bad they weren't translated to their language, otherwise he would have given the scrolls to them, though there was the possibility of teaching Miria how to read kanji. Maybe she could do it? She certainly seemed smart enough and could read the local script… thoughts for later.
But, for now, he had the girls' training to focus on.
"I hope you girls were dedicated to your training," Naruto said, looking at his girls from over the shoulder. "Because if you were, then you all get to continue to the next part: elemental techniques." with that he turned to face them completely, "I would have gotten you all to try water walking - but we don't have a body of water nearby. We'll have to correct that, soon."
A moat would certainly come in handy, especially if he had anyone with a water affinity on hand.
There were looks of excitement on their faces. Yuma timidly raised her hand and with Naruto giving her a look of encouragement, she shyly asked. "How do we begin with that?"
Naruto reached into his tunic and pulled out a scroll. After opening and channelling chakra into it, everyone looked confused when they saw several little pieces of paper and a manual. He grabbed the book and explained, "these little pieces of paper react to chakra. When you channel yours into them, the way they react determines which of the five elements you have an affinity for."
He picked up one and channelled his chakra into it as an example. It split down the middle, resulting in many a raised eyebrow. "Mine is the wind," he explained. "That's why it split like that. With enough practice, you can also use techniques outside of your affinity, but you'll have a much harder time learning and mastering techniques of the element your affinity is weak to. Learning fire techniques, for example, is a bitch for me, because fire eats wind. If you have a fire affinity, you'll have a hard time with water, because water quenches fire and so on."
Miria, heavily interested, quickly raised her hand. Naruto smiled and gestured for her to continue, "Can you combine these techniques to make them stronger?"
"It is easier to do if you've got a partner, but you can to some extent," Naruto confirmed. "The obvious example would be combining a wind and fire technique. A tiny fireball can become a very dangerous, very huge, inferno if combined with a gust in the right direction." the blond rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to think of another example. Then he snapped his fingers, "There was one person I knew who could create a mist, purely out of water that could cover his tracks. He used it mainly for intimidation and silent kills. Fire and water could be used to mirror that effect. Imagine you, Miria, were able to do that in combination with your phantom?"
Galatea would likely have an easier time abusing the hell out of such a technique, but that certainly sounded appealing.
"...holy crap, she'd be unstoppable," Helen uttered with wide eyes.
Naruto chortled and gave the wide-eyed Helen an amused grin. "Unstoppable? Hardly. Difficult to track? Hell yes. Combine that with Miria's technique, she would be a literal phantom; she would be hard to track because of her phantom technique, and because of the mist, she would be able to strike from anywhere." he shrugged and then pointed out one of the flaws, "The only ones who would have a chance of fighting her would be anyone who has a good sensing ability, like Renee and Galatea. It's hard to get the drop on someone who can track your every move. And for someone like me, all I would have to do is blow the mist out of the way."
"That is a good point…" Helen admitted, then she sheepishly added, "still would not want to fight her though."
Naruto let out a shudder. "How do you think I feel? I had to fight the person who could do that on my first real mission. And back then, Clare would have been able to kick my ass. While I may have been one of the ones who wanted to continue the mission, I was lucky to get out of there mostly unscathed." Getting stuck by needles sucked - it sucked so bad he could feel phantom pains from the incident for weeks. Then the blond cleared his throat and handed out the chakra paper to the girls to take. "To see what element you have, just channel your chakra into it."
Riful wasted no time in approaching her man, eager to see what kind of affinity she had. When passed a slip of paper, she channelled her chakra into it and tilted her head in perplexment when it turned brown.
Looking into his book, Naruto saw what it meant and said, "looks like you're an earth type. Makes sense, given your awakened form. Earth users tend to be more defensive."
Luciela, and a dragged along exasperated Rafaela, were the next ones to go up. When they were handed a slip of paper, the two sisters channelled their chakra into it and Luciela watched as hers burnt up and her sisters were born in the middle.
"Fire for Luciela and wind for Rafaela," Naruto said, "looks like you two complement each other." and he was just talking about fire and wind, talk about ironic. "Looks like I'll be having an easier time teaching you, Rafaela, since we both share the same elements."
The one-eyed woman nodded in understanding.
Naruto saw how to put off Luciela was, and decided to cheer her up. "Look on the bright side of things, Lucy," the blond put an arm around the gingers shoulder and grinned, "in your awakened form you can use fire! Maybe even breath it."
That perked her right up. Oh, the things she could do with that~!
Alicia and Beth were the next two to approach the blond. Once he had given them their slips of paper, they channelled their chakra into it. For Alicia, hers tore in the middle and Beth's crumpled up.
"Wind and lightning…" Naruto said. Imagining Alicia using Hien with her awakened form's blades, that is a terrifying thought. And he can't help but think it's hot at the same time. "If you're able to use chakra in your awakened form, I can't help but feel sorry for anyone you use the techniques I have to teach you on." Then, he looked at Beth. "I can't help but wonder what you'd be capable of. Short of wind, lightning is the most offensive element out there."
Beth looked at him and then at her own hands in bewilderment. Renee and Dietrich were up next and took the slip of paper passed to them. Naruto, Renee and Dietrich were all taken aback when they sent their chakra into the papers; for Dietrich, her chakra paper split in the middle and burst into flames, causing her to drop her slip of paper to the ground with a startled yelp.
Renee's crumpled up and then went up in flames, resulting in an identical reaction to that of her colleague.
"...Two elements." Naruto whistled in awe, "That's pretty rare, but not unheard of." the blond looked at the munchkin and said, "It looks like you have fire and wind. That is going to make you pretty dangerous once you finally learn them."
Dietrich looked absolutely giddy when she heard that. The young woman had a massive grin on her face as she looked at her hands. Oh, the amount of fun she's going to have when she finally gets to use them~!
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. She looked so damn cute! Then, he redirected his attention to Renee. "You have fire and lightning. Basically, the potential to be an offensive beast."
The former 'Eye' couldn't keep the smug grin off her face if she was paid.
Eager to see what she got, Ophelia approached next, as the others formed a line. When hers went limp, she blinked owlishly, noting that the others hadn't done such a thing.
"Looks like you got water," Naruto said. "Makes sense, all things considered." He then gave her an impish grin. "I think you'd have fun with that. Water's the most versatile element of the five."
The awakened blonde giggled, imagining herself spraying him with that water technique he'd used on her a while back.
After she was a very curious Miria. She and Naruto were both surprised when hers crumpled up.
"Lightning, huh?" Naruto mused aloud. "In hindsight, that should be less surprising than it was. Lightning types do tend to be fast as all hell, I hear. Lightning techniques are also a good way to increase cutting and piercing power, meaning you'll be pretty good at swiftly killing multiple opponents, if and when you need to."
Miria hummed thoughtfully, before giving her husband a smile and a nod. After she came Helen and she was surprised to find her slip of paper went limp. Of course, Deneve was dragged along with. Her slip turned brown, though.
"Water for Helen, earth for Deneve," Naruto said, then he gave the former a curious look. "Huh… would've figured you were a fire type, given your personality. Deneve's is less surprising, though." He also couldn't help but find it amusing that their affinities were exact opposites, just like their personalities.
"Why'd you think I would be a fire type?" Helen asked him; she was very curious as to understand his reason.
Naruto shrugged. "They tend to be the passionate, loud and proud types. They're also usually outgoing and very social."
She shrugged, stepping aside for the next woman - that being Flora. Hers split in half, prompting Naruto to chuckle. "Windcutter Flora is a more fitting nickname than it already was, apparently."
Flora giggled, leaning over to give her man a peck on the forehead. She yelped from receiving a playful swat on the rear, courtesy of Cynthia and stepped aside after childishly sticking her tongue out the pigtailed blonde with a giggle.
Cynthia then moved up and grabbed a slip of paper. Hers burnt up, indicating a fire affinity.
"Hmm, fire," the blond said, "fitting considering your personality, Cynthia." the pig-tailed blonde giggled and gave him a peck on the lips. And, before she stepped aside to allow someone else to take a slip of paper, Cynthia turned around and pressed her rear against his groin and cooed mischievously as she ground against him.
She was trying to rile him up, and, while she was doing a damn good job of it, Naruto had enough self-control to not rise to her wiles. For the most part, that is. He gave her ass a nice squeeze before she stepped aside, and watched as Undine came forward.
She took the slip of paper and channelled her chakra into it. Undine watched as her paper became damp. "Looks like you have a Water affinity." Naruto told the blonde, "Strange, I thought you would have Fire or Earth. Then again, you do tend to be pretty flexible, as far as your style is concerned, so it makes sense."
Following her former commander came Zelda. Her slip burnt up to indicate a fire affinity, prompting the former Number 24 to imagine herself wielding a flaming claymore. She grinned devilishly; that sounded awesome!
Naruto chuckled, knowing an evil scheming face when he saw one.
After Zelda scurried off to contemplate all sorts of nastiness she might be able to achieve with a fire affinity, Veronica gave her a curious look, but quickly decided she didn't want to know. She then grabbed a slip of paper and cocked her head curiously as it turned brown, wondering what she might be capable of with an earth affinity.
"Earth for you too, huh? Hmm, I wonder how you and Cynthia are going to be like as a team? Should be interesting..."
Veronica raised an eyebrow, as did the aforementioned blonde from where she'd taken a seat.
Following her captain's example, Pamela stepped forward and grabbed a slip of her own. When she channelled her chakra into it, Naruto was taken aback when it went limp before going up in flames. Or tried to at least.
"Water and Fire? Are two elements opposite of each other? While it's not impossible, I would never have expected it." he said. He gave his lover a reassuring smile. "That just means you're going to have an easier time making that mist I was talking about earlier."
Pamela grinned at the thought of that. Making a mist that she could use to hide and get the drop on yomas? Including the Organization who are fucking everyone over? Ohh… she's going to fucking abuse that technique once she finally learns it.
Next up came Queenie, dragging a flustered Yuma by the wrist. Amused by this, Naruto handed them their slips of paper, and Queenie wasted no time in wondering what element she may have.
Yuma shyly took hers and channelled her chakra into it. She was surprised when it crinkled up, indicating a lightning affinity. When she looked to Queenie the long-haired blonde saw that her teammate's slip of paper had split in the middle, indicating wind.
"Lightning for Yuma; Wind for Queenie. Interesting. It looks like Miria's team has two lightning users, so far." Naruto said; then he looked at Yuma, then at her claymore, and shuddered. "I just realised how deadly your sword throws are going to be, once you include lightning… that is not going to be a pleasurable experience. For your enemies, anyway."
Yuma smiled timidly, before averting her gaze. "I… uh… t-thank you."
Naruto chuckled. "While I gotta admit that I find shy girls cute, you should try showing a bit more confidence. I've noticed that you have a bad habit of selling yourself short," he told her.
Yuma turned beet red, swearing she could feel the heat coming off her cheeks. Still, she found that so flattering. "I… I… uh…" she wobbled a bit, thoroughly reduced to a sputtering mess the instant she heard the word cute.
Naruto couldn't wipe the grin off his face if his life depended on it. Poor thing was just so damn adorable; she reminded him of Hinata in so many ways!
"Let me give you some advice: it doesn't matter where you're numbered, or where you're ranked, the only person holding you back is yourself," Naruto told her. "Granted, I never got this strong by myself, I had help." he looked to the other women. "I take you all are self-taught?"
"For the most part," Miria said. "We had some training back in the Organization, but the techniques that make us stand out, like my Phantom or Helen's ability to stretch her arms, are generally developed independently… with some exceptions."
"I see. In my case, my training was almost abysmal - as much as I don't want to admit it, I had no style, no skill at hand-to-hand, and I barely had any techniques to use short of substitution, transformation, and my Kage Bunshin." He then gave a shocked Yuma a charming smile. "But, I improved and so can you - especially with my help because I know what it's like to be at the bottom of the bucket. If any of you need any advice, don't hesitate to ask." he paused then added as an afterthought. "I'll keep from using some methods my mentors used to teach me, though. Hell, I'm surprised I survived a few of them..."
Many of them blinked owlishly. Then Yuma asked, "Uh… what did these training methods entail exactly? Ours had a fatality rate of 80%..."
Naruto had a really dull look on his face as one came to mind; it stood out the most. "I have shoved off a cliff for one. Basically, that training entailed me using Kurama's chakra to summon toads or die when I reach the bottom… that one sucked. And the bottom was pitch black too, so no one knew how far the cavern went."
Cynthia scowled deeply. "I never thought I'd legitimately want to murder someone, before…"
"You're about three years too late, Cyn. Jiraiya's dead." Many people winced at the flat, and dead tone in Naruto's voice. But none more so than Clare, as she remembered him saying the man was like the dad he never had.
She decided to bring her knowledge to their attention. "He's the one you thought of like a dad, right?"
"...yeah." Naruto rubbed at his suddenly damp eyes. "I-I really miss him."
"S-sorry," Cynthia muttered dejectedly. She felt like an utter bitch, right now.
Naruto sighed. "You didn't know… and I can't blame you for reacting the way you did." he grinned as the more happier memories came to mind. "Truth be told, he acted like an idiot - a perverted letcher too. But, he was always respectful towards women. Not sure how the hell he pulled that off, but he did. His antics would always get him punched into next week… kinda like me, now that I think about it." he chuckled. Then, he beckoned Cynthia over to him. When the former Number 14 timidly approached, he pulled her into a one-armed and kissed her on the cheek. "If you're feeling guilty: don't. You didn't know. And if you still are… well, there's a certain bed we can use to correct that~"
She blushed at that and timidly nodded. Then, she yelped at the sudden thud, as poor Yuma fainted right there. The display of affection and naughty suggestion had proven too much for said blonde.
"Well…" Naruto said owlishly. "that happened." He quickly summoned a clone who scooped the unconscious blonde in a bridal carry to check on her in a less crowded part of the bailey, before changing the subject. "Right, before we get any more sidetracked, let's continue. We still have about six of you who haven't had their affinities checked, I think?"
Jean's team walked up - including Clare - as well as Tabitha. Galatea and Jean themselves were off to the side and would go last. Since this wasn't anything strenuous on them, they would be able to take part in the first step. Anything else beyond that and they would be sitting on the side, watching to see how it's done.
Clare, Tabitha were the ones to get theirs first. When they channelled their chakra's into the chakra paper, Clare saw hers going up in flames, then she was surprised when it aggressively tore itself up into a dozen pieces. And it still kept tearing itself apart until there was nothing left. Not even the flames remained.
Clare was honestly reminded of the Quicksword.
"Wind and fire," Naruto said. "Wind seems to be the dominant one though, despite the paper going up in flames first." he rubbed his chin as his eyes narrowed in thought. "I never saw chakra paper being torn apart that aggressively though..."
"Is that not normal?" Clare asked, looking at her husband with a bewildered expression.
"Not as far as I know." the blond admitted. "Very interesting, though."
Then Tabitha channelled chakra into hers and watched as her chakra paper turned brown. After seeing everyone else, she wasn't surprised to see herself with an Earth Element. Though she wanted to have an affinity with Lightning. That way, she could stay by her captain's side.
"Earth. Fits you to a T, I think." Naruto told her. Tabitha blinked, smiled and allowed someone else to go next.
Eliza took up the spot and took the chakra paper. When she channelled her chakra into it, the slip burst into flames so aggressively that it had legitimately startled her.
"Well… obviously fire," Naruto chuckled. "A potent one at that."
The second-in-command giggled, giving Naruto a peck on the forehead, before stepping aside for her squadmates to follow suit.
Emelia and Diana grabbed one slip each and channelled their chakra into it. Emelia's became damp while Diana's crinkled up.
"Water for Emelia, and, Lightning for Diana. This is going to be interesting." Naruto gave them both smiles, which they returned, and they gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before backing up.
The last two to approach were Jean and Galatea. While the former was only about a month or so in, the latter was visibly showing and had been on her feet for a bit longer than she'd have preferred.
When they took the last two slips of paper, both Jean and Galatea looked at Naruto as he said, "Since you two and Veronica are pregnant, the three of you won't be able to do any elemental training, just yet. That doesn't mean you can't ask for advice or just observe."
Both women nodded, while Veronica shrugged. That was entirely understandable. With that out of the way, Jean channelled a bit of chakra into it first. Naruto did a double-take upon seeing the result. First, it split in half, the piece that fell off bursting into flame as the other crinkled up.
"W-wind, Lightning and Fire. T-three Elemental affinities?!" He looked into his booklet to see how common that was. "It's not unheard of, but, it's incredibly rare. There's only been… ten other instances where people had three chakra affinities. One of them was Salamander Hanzou?! Holy shit… Another was Nagato… though he was even rarer - having the Rin'negan, which gave him all five of them."
"Those names sound significant." Miria pointed out, and, given his reaction, it sounded like those people were a big deal.
Naruto nodded and nervously rubbed the back of his head. "They are - when Hanzou was alive, he was one of the toughest ninjas the Elemental Nations had ever seen. He was so tough no one was able to defeat him. And those who fought him rarely lived to tell the tale. I can count on one hand who had fought the man and lived. Jiraiya, who would go on to train Nagato, and my father, who would eventually become the Fourth Hokage. Tsunade Senju, who would become the Fifth Hokage decades later - and Orochimaru, a man who would become a traitor to Konoha and would experiment on people in ways that would make what the organization did tame by comparison. Though he did lighten up on the experiment thing, after the Fourth World War. Hanzou was finally killed by Nagato… who was also the one who killed Jiraiya-sensei and flattened my home. Nagato was a cousin of mine too, now that I'm thinking about it."
Helen nervously rubbed the back of her head. "...I don't want to come off as a heartless bitch since this is your cousin you're talking about, but, thank god they're dead! I'd hate to find myself fighting someone that powerful."
Naruto shrugged, unable to blame her if he wanted to. He wondered if he should tell them there's a technique that can bring the dead back to life, that is nigh-immortal and unkillable...
Before he could complete that trail of thought, Galatea cleared her throat to make sure they wouldn't get sidetracked - although she was thinking the same thing as Helen. She channelled her chakra into the paper and it became damp.
"Hmm. Water; that is fitting all things considered. You are the graceful type, Galatea." Said woman giggled at that. Then, she leaned in and gave her man a peck on the cheek. Naruto smiled at her and then looked to everyone else, including Yuma who was making her way back to the group after waking up. "Alright, that's everyone. It'll be a bitch and a half to train a lot of you, since lightning my weakest - and I barely know any Earth and water. Luckily for you, I got several scrolls on different techniques so even if I can't do that, I can give you a guide. So, before we get started on your elemental training, has everyone kept up on their wall walking?"
"Yep! We all did!" Helen answered with enthusiasm, with Jean, Galatea and Veronica nodding concurringly.
Grinning Naruto closed the book and got out the scrolls. Let's get the lightning users out the way first...