Chapter 40 - The Hungry Mate Part 1(18+)

One year…

Two massive swords clashed, their metallic clang echoing throughout the chamber as their wielders ducked and wove about. It had been one year to the day since they were revived…

Miranda and Chloe disengaged, the latter being thoroughly impressed when their session was done. Even Hysteria and Rosemary had to admit the girl had potential to be Number One, now that she had learned all their tricks. While she was not nearly as good at one technique or another as their creators, the former Number 35 was adept enough at each one to give even the current Numbers One and Two, combined a run for their money. While she was still the weakest of their group, it was not by much… not anymore. Throughout the past year, the 16 women group had trained in each other's techniques to the best of their ability. Now, each was a one-woman army, capable of fighting multiple opponents at once.

"We should be just about ready to go after the Ladykiller," Rosemary started with a tiny frown pulling at her lips; she looked at her captain, Raftela, and crossed her arms. "When do we begin the search?" she asked.

"No search is needed," Raftela replied. "The target resides in the rebuilt citadel of Morris. He now rules over the town, inhabited by the survivors of Pieta, as well as several others who have taken up residence in his territory." The other women looked at her intensely as she continued with nary a hint of emotion. "He has since taken ownership of the Dragonspire Mountains, as a whole. Several strongholds pepper the territory, now, to repel invaders. These bases now house large amounts of defectors and awakened beings of the past generations who've now joined his cause."

"We don't want to confront him in the one place he has the advantage." Hysteria said after Raftela said her piece. "If we want to defeat him, through combat or diplomacy, then we need to draw him out."

"He has not left his territory in quite some time," Raftela pointed out. "The last sighting was two months and three days ago, just before the disappearance of the new Number 10, Beheader Letitia."

"There is one place we can go to," Miranda told the emotionless woman and prompted everyone else to look at her expectantly. "The gravesite in the Nile. Numbers 3 and 5 had encountered Naruto there when the handlers tried to dig up the body of his past lover. If we go there he might show himself."

"That sounds like as good a plan as any," Roxanne admitted. "I'm sure I don't need to explain that if we don't want him attacking us the moment he gets there, we need to make sure he doesn't get the impression that we're trying to defile his lover's gravesite."

"We won't be bringing any tools with us except our armour, Bera and claymores. Anything else would be detrimental to our mission." Raftela told her.

"People can get the wrong impression, regardless if we act suspicious or not," Roxanne pointed out, "That said, we will also need to be on our best behaviour."

"We are going to look suspicious no matter what," Noel told the curly pigtailed blonde. "But, I do get where you're coming from. I'm not dumb enough to antagonize him if he does show up."

"When is the best opportunity for us all to head on over to the Nile?" Sophia asked, barely able to hold back the bored yawn that threatened to make itself known. She just wanted to get this thing done as fast as possible. They were theoretically strong enough to take down any awakened being that crosses their path as a unit, but the one they are being tasked to get rid of by any means necessary is someone that is far beyond the Abyssal Ones. So she was understandably nervous but was hiding it with her looking bored. "I want to get this over and done with as soon as possible."

"You're not the only one," Miranda replied grimly. "I know that we're just doing the right thing and all, but something about this still feels… dirty. Like we are missing a bigger piece." she closed her eyes and exhaled, "The sooner I can just put it all behind me, the better."

Cassandra frowned, pulling her friend into a comforting hug.

"I shall inform the Handlers that we are ready and then we will be on our way," Raftela said, robotically as ever.

----

Meanwhile, back in the Citadel of Morris, Ophelia wailed in pain as she Shizune and Tsunade urged her on. Naruto, as usual, had dropped everything the instant her water broke.

This last year or so had been quite… eventful, to say the least. Not only had Cynthia given birth to a second pair of twins, but Jean turned out to be pregnant with a pair of her own! The daughters she gave birth to were named Natalie and Katea to honour the fallen comrades she'd fought alongside, all those years ago. Riful also gave birth to a healthy, blond baby boy named Lavitz after a legendary knight of old, reputed to have the power of dragons at his beck and call. Then, there was a wedding, a couple of weeks later. Poor Clarice was every bit as flustered throughout the whole ordeal as one would expect… and, as luck would have it, she got herself knocked up, immediately. Both ecstatic and terrified, the mudhead couldn't keep her mouth shut about it to save her life. She was constantly gloating that she'd have a baby and often badgered Naruto's other wives for advice.

Eventually, word got out that he'd also impregnated Nalani and Rafaela… and Deneve... and Helen… and Joy… and even Tabitha! But, not Miria… or Glissa. Somewhere around that time, those two allied the fires of hell and trapped Naruto in his room for three… damn… weeks! Then, he got dogpiled by no less than seven of his women, four of whom eventually got themselves knocked up, as well! By the end of it all, he had fourteen pregnant women in the citadel to worry about! It was utter madness… and yet, he regretted nothing. Crazy as it may sound, he honestly wouldn't have had it any other way. Tsunade and Shizune were both rightfully worried that they would end up being the death of him when they found the state he was in, because of their dogpiling. But as the famous last words went: .... it was totally worth it!

Ophelia roared in exertion as she pushed with all her might.

"Just a little more," Shizune coaxed. "He's almost out."

"Times like these, I wish we just laid eggs or something, FUCK!" Ophelia complained as she did her best to get the damn kid out of her.

Naruto expertly hid his amusement as he comforted one of his first wives. This would be the last of the munchkins he'd see for a while, thankfully. Once those fourteen women mentioned earlier started coming to term, the kids started popping out quite rapidly around the end of last year. Obviously, Jean was the first by a long shot - not only have a head start but a pair of twins on the way, which generally meant they'd be born prematurely. With Tsunade present, though, so that was not an issue. It certainly made for quite the spectacle though, as Jean had some surprisingly… creative things to say, during the whole ordeal. The two daughters she had were then named Natalie and Katea to honour her fallen comrades. Next came Nalani, who gave birth to a little boy she named Benjamin. Surprisingly, Clarice was the next in line, giving Miata a baby sister named Anabel… only to get knocked up a month later. Naruto felt an amused smile tugging the corner of his mouth at the memory. Compared to his other women, he swore the poor mudhead could get herself pregnant by looking at the damn thing!

Now, she was standing by off to the side and observing as part of her training to become Tsunade's next apprentice. Seeing as how her husband has a habit of being… prolific, it would likely be best for Clarice to learn how to deliver a baby as soon as possible, if Tsunade or Shizune was unable to help for whatever reason - the drunkenness of the former being the most likely culprit, at this point. The next woman to become a mother was the long-overdue Rafaela. She had a boy named Tobias. Interestingly enough, the brat had red hair like his auntie. Tsunade explained that it was likely because red hair tends to skip generations and that Naruto's mother was also a redhead. Helen and Deneve's kids came soon after… and of course, their waters would break within five minutes of each other. Of course, Cristiana popped out first, while Deneve's kid, Isabella was brought into this world soon after. Helen had… quite the imagination on her. And true to her personality, Deneve was relatively level headed throughout her labour. Granted, she was still in fucking labour, so that wasn't saying much, but it was still a refreshing change if one were to ask him. Next in line, Joy came to term and had a little girl named Jenny, followed by Tabitha, who gave her husband a little birthday present in the form of a son named Ezio. She named him. Not him. Otherwise, he would have named his son after Obito; the guy may have caused him and a lot of others grief with all the shit he pulled, but he pulled through for them all at the end. The guy saved his and Kakashi-Sensei's life after all. But needless to say, Tabitha was having none of that.

Then, just when everyone thought they were done for the year, Glissa's water broke at the last second, giving birth to a little girl named Lyesse in late December… or Argentum, as the locals called it here. The brat was practically a carbon copy of her mother and named after Glissa's deceased sister. Then, three days later, the day after the new year started, Miria came to term as well. She had a boy named after Naruto's mentor, Kakashi. Honestly, he was honoured that Miria wanted to name her son after his first mentor. Even if he was a perverted one… and not very good at his job. Stupid lame excuses he would come up with every single time he was chronically late… he would be late to his own funeral if he had a say in it! ...He was a pretty cool guy, though. And very dependable when push comes to shove.

And then, one month after that, Undine had a second daughter, whom she named Altea. She had hair that was a natural silver. Which surprised him and Tsunade a lot since that was something that neither of them has. Then again Undine pointed out that some hybrids have silver hair, like Irene, or have sandy-brown like Miria's, or in the extremely rare case like Clarice's. It made sense, more or less. Finally, two weeks ago, Alicia and Beth came to term as well. Had it not been for them having a son and daughter, last time, Naruto would have sworn those two were the same person in two different places or some shit. Not only did they both get pregnant at the same time, but they both had twins, they both had sons, and they even seemed to have started giving birth at the same time! Alicia's boy was named Jordan and Jayden, while Beth's were named Kiraa and Bii, much to Naruto's genuine surprise and amusement. Seems Octo-pops had left quite the impact on the younger twin if she named her sons after him. That would be quite the amusing revelation once his fellow Jinchuuriki finds out. Naruto's train of thought came to a screeching halt as Ophelia let out one last roar and pushed her kid out the rest of the way. Now, the last kid to pop out for the foreseeable future let out a scream as she finally slipped into Shizune's arms. "It's a girl," the brunette said with mild surprise. She could've sworn Ophelia was going to have a boy, but the technique she'd used to determine that wasn't perfect.

Ophelia panted, leaning her head back in fatigue, before giving Tsunade's apprentice a haughty grin. "T-told you… Never underestimate... a woman's… in-intuition." Taking a moment to recover, she reached out and was given her little bundle of joy. She smiled widely. "Well, hello, there… Olivia," she cooed. "Aren't you a beautiful, little thing? Yes, you are!"

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at that and leaned over to get a look at Olivia. "She looks a lot like you; she has your ears and hair," he said giving his wife a grin. "I have a feeling she is going to look like you growing up."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Ophelia giggled. "Nissa turned out to be a lot like me, though she certainly inherited your love of pranks."

"Much to my dismay," Tsunade muttered. She would never forgive that brat for finding a way to replace her vodka with Tobasco sauce, of all things! How the hell she'd pulled that off was quite the mystery, to say the least.

"I know," Naruto sniffed proudly and overdramatically rubbed the fake tears from his eyes, "the things she managed to do make me so proud!"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Chuckles," the elderly blonde muttered grumpily. "Just keep your kids away from my booze and no one will get hurt."

"By 'hurt' you mean, 'spanked'. Right?" Naruto quickly asked in clarification upon seeing Ophelia's eyes turning to demonic gold at what the former Hokage had said. "Because you're not really going to hurt the kids, are you?"

"What? Of course not!" Tsunade nearly shouted, looking genuinely offended, "What do you take me for? A child abuser?! I was joking!"

Ophelia scoffed. "Just making sure…" she said. "I'll admit I'm a little overprotective at times."

"That's an understatement," Naruto said.

Ophelia continued as if her husband had not talked at all. "But, I'm sure most people who've been through what I have would be, too."

"Oh, I've seen the other girls," Naruto chuckled. "You're actually a bit tame in comparison to Luciela." The redhead in question never let her girls out of her sight, unless Naruto, himself was present. Even then, she would only settle for the original. "But, yeah, it's perfectly understandable, regardless." then he looked to Shizune and Tsunade and asked, "so it's going to be the same old, same old, right?" the blond was talking about Ophelia resting for several weeks before doing anything strenuous. The two 'doctors' knew this and nodded. Smiling Naruto nodded back and looked to his wife, "Alright, you heard the two: no working or training for several weeks. Which means I get to spoil you rotten~! Is there anything you want?"

Ophelia giggled. "Snuggles, of course, ~!"

Off to the side, Clarice smiled widely. She could never help but find it cute how her man always treated his many wives, doting on them and making each and everyone feel like she was his only love when he did. It was nothing short of remarkable. Naruto chuckled, scooping the blonde and their kid into a bridal carry, before hauling them off to the nearby bed. Then he laid them down on it, before he lied down beside them both, and allowed Ophelia to pull him to her as she snuggled up to him. If there was one thing all his girls liked to do, it was the cuddling. They seemed to enjoy the act a lot. And he didn't mind it actually; it was a real stress reliever. Not to mention it felt so damn nice to just lie down and snuggle without a care in the world.

After several minutes passed Naruto leaned up and looked at the disguised elderly blonde, and asked, "So, Granny-Tsunade, how are you handling growing the innards for the awakened beings here?"

Hearing that, the legendary medic let out a tired sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Well, for one growing innards for the awakened beings to eat is one hell of a process. Thank you for providing the flesh and blood for growing them."

"You're welcome," Naruto replied. Turns out that for her to grow the organs for the awakened ones to eat, she needed blood and skin for it to work. So, Naruto provided the medic with his own source material and allowed her to grow them using his DNA. Allowing the woman to take a piece of him to hurt like a bitch, but he endured since it was for a good cause.

"Other than that, there isn't much I can say; they are being stated with the food they can eat." the blonde sighed and scratched the side of her head in puzzlement. "Though some are showing signs of being able to eat other meats; some find other meats taste disgusting. Some of those who are affected by your chakra, like Ophelia here, find that the other meats they eat taste off. I am unfortunately in the dark as to the reason why that is."

"I see. Well, as long as you don't overstrain yourself." Tsunade despite all of her accomplishments and ability was only one person. There was only so much she could do by herself. With a sigh, Naruto looked to Clarice and smiled at her, "What about you, babe? How are things going for you now that your stigma is gone, and that you are no longer at risk from dying upon using your yoki?"

"It... feels weird, but in a good way," Clarice said with a giggle. "Ever since I first started using my yoki, it's become a bit… addicting, if I am, to be honest, but I've been able to keep myself in check surprisingly well."

"Just let me or Galatea know if you start having trouble, okay?"

"I will," the brunette assured. Then, she giggled when Ophelia pulled Naruto back down.

"Less talking, more snuggles," the blonde grumbled.

----

Several miles away, in Shatter Keep - a stronghold on the south-eastern edge of Naruto's territory, Audrey and Rachel nervously skirted about the edge of the castle. It was one of the old, rectangular keep-style castles from an age long since past, and should have been in complete ruin from sheer age, as the damn thing was over three-hundred years old. But, this building, perched on a small hill before them and surrounded by a moat, looked as good as new! Furthermore, the technology used to build the damn thing all those many, many years ago predated the extended battlements it now, inexplicably had! It had to have been restored… but why and by whom was what they were there to investigate. Being this was close to the rumoured territory of the Ladykiller, both women had a damn good feeling it was him that restored it. But they can't exactly tell the handlers that they had deduced that solely on their gut. And given their previous experience with the Ladykiller himself, the two friends opted to stay on the side of caution. Lest they inadvertently bring his wrath down upon their heads. He may have told them that he had no problem with the hybrids in general, but that could have been some honeyed words to lower their guard.

Furthermore, there wasn't exactly anything stopping him from making an exception, if Letitia's disappearance was anything to go by… they just hoped she was quickly put out of her misery and her death wasn't long and painful. She was such a kindhearted woman, despite her nickname. Hell one could argue she got that moniker in the first place because she was so merciful - granting awakened beings and yoma alike a swift, painless death. Though, depending on the awakened being - since some can survive to have their heads lopped off - she would always sever their heads one second and then chop it to bloody chunks the next. Audrey sighed sadly at the memories she'd shared with that woman, but pushed her melancholy thoughts aside. She had a job to do…

Meanwhile, within Shatter Keep, herself, a certain someone let loose a giggle upon sensing a the presence of two high-tier warriors skirting the moat outside. Riful of the West grinned impishly, now back in her loli form. With her were Harja and Elspeth, along with a few other awakened beings - those being Europa, Agatha, Jessica and Octavia. Upon joining Naruto's cause, the latter three had picked up archery, making them ideal for the castle's defence in the off chance of an invasion. Europa, Riful, and Octavia were also among the better tacticians in Naruto's new family, so any bandits or the like who tried that shit would be thoroughly fucked.

As for why Harja and Elspeth were here, their mother decided it was a good time to bring them on a 'training expedition' to the newly-restored castle. The other awakened beings she'd brought with were, in actuality, chosen precisely because they didn't really give a shit about what she was scheming. And they knew how vindictive and schemeful the loli is, and how she 'takes care' of anyone dumb enough to be seen as a liability. Before Naruto came along, Riful didn't get of Dauf because was the only one who could take her punishment, even if he was as smart as a doormat. Now, as the blond's consort, Riful was his beloved cocksucker~! And how she enjoyed it being so! And now, she just needed to ensure that Harja and Elspeth were up to the challenges she had in store for them. She still wanted to make an empire for her man that would stretch across the entire world, immortalise them as gods and goddesses and have an army of superpowered soldiers that would do their bidding! But, one had to start somewhere. As it stood, she had four in the works. Now, she needed one in particular to... graduate.

Harja was growing rather nicely. Now going on seven, she looked to be about thirteen, while having the mental maturity of someone even older than that! Seriously, she seemed to have the mind of an adult, already! Elspeth had the body of a seven-year-old, and had the mentality of a thirteen-year-old already, despite having just celebrated her third birthday a few weeks ago. From what observations she could make, the average half-awakened child seemed to develop at more than twice the rate of humans, initially, slowing down around the age of five. Their mental development, however, seemed to keep that pace until its full development at age seven or so, though she'd need to see more of them pop out and grow up before she was able to say for sure.

Putting those thoughts aside for later, Riful gestured Harja to come forth. It felt awkward looking younger than her own daughter, even if it was only by a little bit, but she pushed those thoughts aside, as well. "You can sense then, yes?" the Abyssal loli asked.

Harja gave her mother a devious grin as she stepped into the light. She was decked out in a tan, sleeveless, leather dress with many leather straps and pouches. There was a large survival knife on her him and she wore heavy boots on her feet. Aside from her attire and deep, cerulean eyes, the brat was a damn-near carbon copy of Riful. "Indeed I do~!" she chirped.

"Be a dear and… greet them," Riful ordered with an impish giggle.

Harja grinned menacingly at that and, without dropping the wide-faced smile, the Riful lookalike asked, "Am I allowed to have some fun with them?"

"No killing, unless they're openly hostile," her mother reminded. "You know how Papa is about that. He might want to fuck them, later." there was no one around to reprimand her for swearing in front of her own daughter, so the Abyssal One she can curse all she likes. No one was going to stop her. "However… those two were with the men that tried to desecrate Natalie's grave. Do be so kind as to remind them that we will not tolerate such… indecencies, will you?"

Translation: make them wish they were dead. Harja giggled maniacally at that.

"Elspeth," Riful called out. The blonde perked up, her hair in a bun with her bangs framing her face. She was garbed in a modest, black halter top and white shorts, leather gloves, and matching boots from Naruto's continent. "I want you to observe from the sidelines and learn from your sister."

"Yes, Mama," she chirped.

"Now, go you two!" she ordered. "Give them hell~!"

Back outside, Audrey and Rachel frowned at the inactivity of the mysterious keep. They didn't know why but… something about the place felt off. Very off. There were no indications of it being inhabited, aside from the drawbridge being raised. Then, as if on cue, the bridge in question came slamming down with a crash as the portcullis started to rise. The clockwork rapping of gears and chains sounded off and then, the gate opened to reveal a blue-eyed brunette in tanned leather. She stepped forth to greet the warriors, skipping across the moat while humming a happy tune. The only thing that really seemed off about this girl was how young she looked. She couldn't be a day over thirteen, at most! But, that alone was not a cause for alarm. Audrey couldn't sense any yoki coming from the girl, so she had to be human… right?

"Hellooo~!" Harja chirped, thoroughly acting her apparent age. The Numbers 3 and 5 were none the wiser of being in the presence of Riful's daughter thanks to the early stages of the training Naruto was putting her through. To them, Harja was just an ordinary girl that was apparently living in the fortress… alone… for some reason.

Audrey nervous smiled, "Hello, yourself." she glanced at the fortress for a moment before looking back down at the little girl. "Are you the person living in that castle?" she politely asked, getting down on a knee so she was at the girls level.

Harja nodded enthusiastically with a bright grin, "Papa told me to keep watch over it while he was away," she said, easily catching their misconception. "Can I help you, Ms Claymore?"

Rachel kept quiet and let her friend do the talking since she was could talk to kids a lot better than she ever could.

"Maybe you can," Audrey answered with a smile. "My friend and I were sent here because the Organization discovered this fortress has been restored without their knowledge and wanted to make sure nothing suspicious was going on. Do you know who rebuilt it, young one?"

"It depends on what those old fucks mean by 'suspicious'," she replied menacingly, suddenly giving Audrey an evil grin. Then, out of nowhere, her yoki flared, startling the living hell out of both warriors as her eyes glowed a fiery orange. Before either of them could draw their claymores or getting the fuck away from the awakened being, Harja's hair lashed out coiling around their arms and legs and lifting them off the ground. "You're in the Ladykiller's territory, and he remembers what you were planning on doing to the gravesites back in the Nile."

The black ribbons lifted them further and further up as Harja unravelled, taking on the form of a woman literally made of metallic ribbons with empty, glowing pits of orange light for eyes. Harja expertly hid the amusement she felt upon seeing the terrified expressions on the faces' of Audrey and Rachel; they just realised how bad their situation was and apart from bringing out their yoki to try to fight against the bindings on their arms and legs - and they had a bad feeling they would still lose if they tried - the women had no way to get out of this mess they had accidentally allowed themselves to get into.

"R-r-r-r…. Riful of the West!" Audrey stammered.

'Riful' giggled at that, her voice taking on a metallic tinge as she delighted in the warrior's terror. Well, if they think she is her mother, then why not oblige them?

"Yeeeep~!" Harja giggled childishly, as a menacing grin spread across her lips. "You two made a grave mistake coming here. And Naruto still remembers what you were planning on doing. Now, I just have to wonder - what were you two really here for? To spy on Naruto? So those old fuckers you're working for can get more information on him? Depending on your answer, I might let you go. If not, then I can just torture you both until you awaken and become my new friends!" Just then, poor Harja blinked owlishly as she felt something... warm around Audrey's legs. Her composure cracked a bit as the realization hit. "W-what?! No! Ew… Please don't stain my body…" she barely resisted the urge to drop Audrey like a brick and leap into the moat just to wash off the urine. Instead, she let Audrey's legs go and plopped the violated ribbons in the water as she gave Audrey an unamused frown.

"W-w-w-we just… we j-just came to investigate the… the castle, I s-swear! Please, d-don't hurt us!" the current Number 3 wailed, already reduced to tears.

Little Harja's composure cracked again upon hearing Audrey's pleading cry; this was the first time she was exposed to something like this after all. And despite her looking like a thirteen-year-old, she was still a little, six-year-old girl. This was… a lot harder than she thought. Harja whimpered, as sympathetic tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced them back down. No! Harja's expression hardened before the warriors could take notice. Her mommy was watching! She didn't want to disappoint Mommy! But… what would Daddy do, in this situation?

'He'd be too soft,' she realized. 'He's too merciful for his own good. That's how his first woman got herself killed. I don't want to make a mistake like that.' Plastering on her best evil grin, Harja asked, 'how about we make a deal, then?"

It took a moment or two for her words to sink in, but she was patient.

"...W-wha-what k-k-k-kind of… of deal?" a wide-eyed Audrey asked.

Harja brought Audrey to her face and said in the most polite tone she could muster. "Since you're not lying, I am feeling merciful. So I will let you two go, unharmed, in exchange for information. Do we have a deal?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she patiently waited for her answer.

Audrey hicked and whimpered, nodding timidly.

"Great!" Harja chirped. "This will work both ways: you both can ask me just one question. And I can ask you both two questions in response to each. Which means between the two of you, you have two questions you can ask me, and I can ask both of you a total of four questions of my own. Okay?"

"Y-yeah, sure." Rachel nodded, thoroughly overwhelmed by the kid's sheer presence; she will do anything to get out of this unharmed. Even if it means making a deal with the devil. Screw the consequences!

"Wonderful," Harja chirped. "So…" her tone immediately turned threatening as she gave them a dead-serious expression. "Why were those men in black you were sent to protect trying to dig up Natalie's grave?"

Audrey was the one to answer that one, quite nervously, as she knew the 'Abyssal One' would not likely appreciate the answer. "W-we don't know, I swear! We were kept in the dark. All we do know is that Dae wanted her body for some reason." upon feeling Harja's mood sour even more, she hastily added, "b-but given his reputation, I would say he is trying to experiment with something that needs a deceased warrior. That man is constantly experimenting!"

Rachel had a bit more knowledge on the matter, however, "Dae is the type of person that likes to try and increase the effectiveness of the Organization's warriors. If I had to guess, I think he wanted Natalie's, flesh and blood to use to try and get a better result than the last warrior who had the flesh and blood of a warrior grafted into her!"

"So, all you have for me is speculation and hearsay," Harja said with a tone of disappointment one would expect to hear from a mother scolding a child. "Very well. What are your first questions?"

Audrey and Rachel exchanged looks for several seconds. Then the latter turned to Harja and asked, "Why are you out here?" for Riful to be this far away from the Ladykiller, either she is keeping an eye on things and making sure there is no one trying to put up any invasions… or… she is picking off warriors that got too close to the Ladykiller's territory.

"To make sure no uninvited pests, or guests, enter our territory, of course," Harja said with a giggle. Oh, how amusing it was for them to have wasted their first question like that. Was it not obvious?

"Why did someone as powerful as you mate with a human?" Rachel asked. "Surely you would have killed him for taking out your consort like that." To her credit, that was a gutsy question to ask.

That got Harja to pause. How did Daddy kill Mommy's last consort again…? She'd have to ask later. "Simple: he's stronger than me. I did it for self-preservation… at first. I eventually came to love that man, though… Oh, how he treats his ladies~!" she made a show of wiggling her hips as she giggled like a little school girl with a crush. Her tone became more and more sensual as she went on; her performance was nothing short of impeccable. "It makes me want him all for myself, but the Twins were so cruel to me~! I simply couldn't handle him all by my lonesome, no matter how hard I tried…"

Back in the keep, Riful smiled more happily than she had in years. She was so proud! The other Awakened Beings in the castle, though, couldn't help but feel that Harja pulling this performance off a tad bit too well...

"My turn~!" Harja declared childishly, "I get two questions, now~!"

Audrey and Rachel looked unnerved at how immature the 'Abyssal One' before them was acting.

"How has the Organization been planning to 'deal with' my mate?" Harja asked. "I know damn well that they have to be plotting something, seeing as how their competition has this historical tendency to… disappear. As do defectors."

"Straight to the point, I see," Audrey said with a nervous chuckle. "I can't say I blame you for wanting to protect someone precious. There's a rumour floating around about warriors in red. We don't know anything about them for sure, but word on the street is that they are specially-trained warriors, each with the power of a Number One, created to hunt down the Ladykiller."

Harja blinked owlishly at that, visibly showing interest. "Warriors in red, you say? That's new… Very interesting indeed, even if it's just more hearsay." She paused in thought for just a moment. "Next question: what is the Organization planning to do to any of the defectors that went to his side? I know for a fact they simply will not allow them to return to their previous ranks with just a slap on the wrist."

Audrey and Rachel looked a bit nervous to say. That one, they did know. The latter was the one to speak. "All defectors are to be executed," she said. "That has not changed, though the Handlers have been careful to leave the Ladykiller's… harem alone until further notice. We assume the warriors in red are to carry out that execution after dealing with him if the rumours are true. We don't know for sure if that's how they plan to do it or not, though."

"It is just as I'd suspected, then," Harja sighed, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "Those old fucks are sticking to their ways, then… Alright, last questions. You both get one, and I'll ask mine."

Audrey and Rachel exchanged looks once more before looking at Riful's daughter. The former then asked, "J-just what is the Ladykiller planning to do w-with the warriors that are not on his side?"

Harja shrugged. "He isn't planning on doing anything to them or you. You warriors are not the ones he has a grudge with. But if any of his loved ones are hurt by their hands, or dug up from their graves, that can change." she growled, her eyes flashed threateningly before them to drive home the fact that she was not bluffing.

Audrey trembled at those last three words. "I'll… I'll bear that i-in mind," she replied timidly.

"Now that you have asked your question, that leaves your friend here with one now." Harja then looked at Rachel and grinned childishly at her. "So, what question do you have for me, hmm?"

"What is the ladykiller planning to do?" the Number 5 asked. "I know he's pissed off at the Organization for sending two of his lovers on a suicide mission, that he thinks they are the ones creating the yoma, so what does he plan to do about it?"

"Well… I suppose there's no harm in telling you a small part of his mission." Harja giggled. "Obviously, he plans to kill the Handlers. After that, he will replace them - actively hunting down and exterminating the yoma, once and for all."

"The yoma? But what about the-" Rachel tried to ask, only for Harja to press a tendril against the masculine woman's lips.

Harja tutted childishly and wagged her finger reprimanding at the Number 5. "Ah, ah, ah~! For shame; you already asked your question. It's my turn~!"

Rachel scowled but complied.

"Good girl," Harja said with a giggle. "Now, for my final question: if you were to find out why the Ladykiller was fighting the Organization, that everything he said about them and the youma was true, what would you do?"

Audrey and Rachel exchanged a nervous glance, not sure how to respond to that.

"I… don't know," the former admitted, looking down in contemplation.

"One thing's for certain," Rachel said with a scowl. "I'd be pissed off as all hell... if everything he said about the Organization was true. I wouldn't join his little harem, but I'd certainly throw in my lot with him. Hell, I'd kill Elder Rimuto, myself!"

"...Same here." Audrey said after a moment of contemplation. "I wouldn't join his harem'... not until I know what he is like first of all. But I would throw my lot in with him if everything he said about them was true."

"...Handler Rimuto wanted the body of… what was her name… Nat? Nattar?" Rachel asked aloud, then she looked at her friend. "You think the warriors in red are revived warriors or something?"

"Impossible!" Audrey declared, "No one but the gods can raise the dead!"

"That is actually not true," Harja told them, "Naruto's people can raise the dead. And are practically immortal, and are constantly regenerating from any wounds or damage inflicted on them." Then, she set them down on their feet, facing away from the castle, as she gentle swatted them on the rear with her ribbons. "Now, go on you two; shoo! A deal's a deal. We all have much to think about, I'm sure."

"W-wait!" Audrey called out as she turned around to face the awakened being; the woman had no idea why she was doing this. But there was just something about the awakened being that was different from how Riful is rumoured to normally act.

Had she any eyebrows in her awakened form she would have arched one as her head tilted cutely. "Oh? Do you have something else you want to ask? Please do know that I have no patience for... annoyances."

Audrey flinched at her tone, "I-I uh, just have one more question and we'll be gone. I promise!"

Harja blinked at her, then with a sigh and shrugged. "You caught me in a good mood, so I am feeling lenient; I will permit you, and only you, to ask one more question. So what is it?"

"Uh... " Audrey dampened her lips; she had no idea that the awakened being was going to be that patent with them! So she thought of one question on the spot, "How come there are no reported incidents with any awakened beings or yoma here?"

"Hoo?" Harja giggled childishly and crossed her arms with amusement. "Well, that is because the awakened beings are living with Naruto. They do not need to eat since he is providing them with homegrown innards to eat every fortnight. As for why there are no incidents with yoma… well, he has many strongholds throughout the west; so, do use your imagination~. Now, shoo you two, you're beginning to overstay your welcome here~!"

"Right!" Rachel said hastily and started to pull her friend away, who was still looking at the ribbon made Abyssal One. "Come on, Audrey. No need for us to make her change her mind!"

Audrey nodded, not having to be told twice, and started walking away. Harja giggled, slipping her ribbons back into her abandoned garments and expertly shifting back into her human form, fully clothed, before skipping on back to the keep. Not long after the portcullis was lowered once more, the drawbridge was raised, not another peep coming from the castle afterwards. It was as if nothing had ever occurred. Even her yoki disappeared, leaving the warriors even more unsettled than they already were.

"So… what do you think?" Rachel asked.

"...About what?" Audrey asked back, wanting her friend to add more context to her question.

"If the Ladykiller really is telling the truth about the Organization making the youma, then… what does that mean for us?"

"It means we reserve our judgment until further notice," Audrey said with a sigh. "For all we know, Phantom Miria tricked him into thinking that. Among other possibilities."

----

Meanwhile, much farther down south, in the port town of Sandy Crotch, Keira and Phina - the Organization's Numbers 31 and 38, respectively couldn't help but feel a bit… apprehensive about the information they'd just gotten from Anastasia. They, plus Winged Anastasia and the current Number 18, Dominique were sent there to investigate the sudden disappearance of a pirate crew that had been harassing the area, only to find out that they had been eaten by Luciela of the South, as well as a few other former Single Digits - most notably, the former Number 2 of Riful and Sistina's generations. That image of Glinda swallowing the first mate whole would haunt the warriors' nightmares for the rest of their lives.

"Luciela of the South…? Wasn't she rumoured to be with the Ladykiller in the West?" Keria asked herself aloud.

"I really hope we're not going to have to fight her… or those awakened beings that are with her." Phina shuddered; the young woman, with a similar hairstyle to Clare's, then looked to her acting captain Anastasia and asked. "What should we do now? We're not strong enough to go against an Abyssal One, let alone three other high-tier awakened beings!"

"Just one of them could kill us all!" Keria said concurring with the Number 38.

"We simply inform the Handlers that one of the Ladykiller's lovers was to blame for the pirates disappearing," Anastasia pointed out. "Seeing as how we are under strict orders not to engage, we can do nothing more here."

Dominique put in her input. "If any of them were to step out of line, the Ladykiller himself will set them straight. They do listen to him after all, and Luciela herself is his consort."

"Indeed," Anastasia nodded in agreement.

Keira and Phina looked at their captain and second-in-command nervously.

"You two seem to know a lot about him," the former pointed out.

"We met him a year ago." Anastasia told them, "he is… not at all, what the Organization is portraying him as." she admitted with a sigh, the fact that they made him seem like a monster in human skin when he wasn't, got on her nerves. Yes, he is stronger than the Abyssal Ones combined, yes, he can wipe out an entire town in the blink of an eye, and yes he is housing warriors that defected. But he isn't a monster; if anything, he is everything the Organization says he is not! He isn't enslaving anyone. He isn't brainwashing anyone either. And he is being truthful in what he says too, and not to mention it is Miria that is the true leader of their rebellion. He is just a front, the poster boy meant to draw attention away from her. Unfortunately, the Elders saw right through that from the start, because Miria was not nearly as good at hiding her animosity towards them as she'd thought. But, that was neither here nor there.

Phina and Keria both stared at the awesomely curly-haired woman with their brows creased in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" the latter asked.

Anastasia sighed and turned to address the two low-tier double digits. "I mean the Ladykiller isn't brainwashing anyone. When Dominique and I had met him, it was in Morris - the very town he has taken over."

Phina and Keria both became wide-eyed at that.

"What?!" Phina exclaimed in shock.

"What happened?" Keria asked something has obviously happened when they went there.

Dominique answered Keria's question. "It turns out the yomas we were sent to eliminate were, in fact, twelve awakened beings - all of whom were in the single digits. The Ladykiller got to them before we did, thankfully."

"If he didn't, we would have had to fight all of them and died in the process, or worse." the Number 6 said. "We were warned by Camilla the Charmer, who had also met the Ladykiller, that the Organization are setting up their trouble warriors up to die. Including the ones that they deem too weak. And after what happened to us, I believe her. This is the third time this year I've been sent to deal with a 'yoma problem' that had turned out to be an awakened being. The last one was a restored stronghold on the eastern edge of the Dragonspire Mountains. Apparently, Chronos, Gwyn and Lars of the lost generation have taken up residence there and thrown their lot in with the Ladykiller. Thankfully, they were rather civil. So the party I was with had been sent on our merry way without a fight."

"W-would you happen to know what happened to Letitia, then?" Keira asked.

Anastasia and Dominique exchanged a glance, before answering with a shrug.

"If I had to guess, she met the Ladykiller and tried to live up to her reputation… she is known as Beheader Letitia for a reason. Or… maybe instead of trying to take his head, she decided to give him head after meeting the guy?" Dominique told them with a shrug. "He is cute, I'll give him that. If I had the chance I would do the same thing."

"He's a charmer too. He is married to several of the defectors after all." Anastasia pointed out.

Keira and Phina turned beet red at the implication. "S-so… uh… Letitia may still be alive then?" Phina asked as she tried her damned best to put that mental image of Letitia sucking the Ladykiller off out of her head.

"Yes. There is a very high chance that she is still alive. From what we discovered, he doesn't see us, warriors, in a bad light and would prefer to leave us alone." Anastasia told them. "The chances of us finding him here though is low, since he rarely leaves Morris, let alone the West."

The two low-tier warriors looked somewhat relieved by that information.

Just then a suspiciously familiar mop of blond hair walked past them with the guy saying, "Unless he's here to make sure the Abyssal One of the South and those under her command are not messing around," Anastasia and Dominique went ramrod straight, as they recognised that voice. "Do be on your best behaviour while you're here, you four, okay?"

"O-okay," Keira squeaked upon seeing the man speaking.

Naruto nodded and gave Keria and Phina a polite nod and a smile before continuing on his way. Then he stopped and turned to address the group of four, "By the way, if any of you want to… 'have some fun', I'll be here a while," he added teasingly. The blond couldn't help but chuckle and Dominique's flustered sputtering. "Anyway, I got places to be, so I'll hopefully catch you, ladies, later." and with that, he turned around and continued on his way.

"Yeah… maybe you will." Anastasia told him with a chuckle; Naruto chuckled in response but didn't otherwise say anything else.

Dominique, however, hungrily eyeballed the retreating blond. He was definitely going to be seeing her again if she had any say in the matter… but to make sure he would see her again…

"Where will you be in case we want to find you?" asked the secret defector.

Naruto stopped once more and looked over his shoulder to address the Number 18, "In an inn called The Hungry Mate. It's near the port; can't miss it. I'll be there for a few days." The low-tier warriors blushed heavily at that, knowing damn well what Dominique was planning. Once all was said and done Naruto continued on his way.

"...Captain, shall we book a room at The Hungry Mate?" Dominique asked once Naruto was out of earshot.

"You can do as you please," Anastasia said with a giggle. "Your job is done. I, on the other hand, need to check with my handler." she tapped the corner of her lips with her forefinger, before adding on as an afterthought, "I may join up with you later on, however."

Kiera and Phina just stared at the two women awkwardly; they had so many questions to ask them but had no idea where to even begin. It's obvious they know more about the Ladykiller than they're letting on, given the way they're acting: calm, relieved and happy. It was nothing like the way they were feeling at the moment. However, Phina wasn't touching an inn called the Hungry Mate with a ten-foot pole. She had no intention to… mate with anyone any time soon. That's for damn sure. Kiera, on the other hand, was curious, if a bit wary of the whiskered blond's intentions.

----

Meanwhile, Naruto followed Luciela's yoki signature down to a little patch of land hidden from the town by a large, rugged cliff. Below was a beach, with a large ship, crashed on the sand. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that was to greet him when he met up with the group.

He found Glinda, as a fifteen-foot-tall harpy with a mostly-human body, wings for arms, and razor-sharp talons for feet. Her feathers were white, and the metallic scales on her talons and, upper arms, lower legs are gold in colour. In this form, she also had no eyebrows and her hair is replaced by a mane of feathers. And what he saw her doing… was a first, to say the least. She snatched up a screaming woman in a sailor's outfit, completely disregarding her cutlass, and lifting her. The former Number Two then tilted her head back and started letting the woman slip on down, slowly gulping the sailor down whole. The hapless woman struggled down, kicking and screaming as Glinda moaned, licking her lips in euphoric delight as she took enjoyment in feeling the woman struggling to escape her demise in vain. She then jumped upon hearing Naruto clearing his throat to get her attention. When did he get so close to her?

"Ah, there you are, honey," Luciela called out. She was busy eating a few pirates of her own; her tails, that had mouths on them, were coiled around a man and a woman. "As you can see, we were just finishing up. The Crimson Sail Cutthroats have been dealt with, as you can see."

"I can." the blond chuckled; then he looked up at Glinda. "You must enjoy eating your prey whole, don't you?"

Said awakened woman let out a sheepish chuckle. "More than I should, admittedly…"

He stared at her for a looong while, with each second serving to make Glinda more and more nervous. Then Naruto shrugged and said, "Well, if that makes you happy then who am I to complain?" then he leered at her, "I have to admit, though, the view is nice."

She immediately covered her chest with a giggle. "Oh, stop, you're embarrassing me~!" She certainly enjoyed the praise, even if she wasn't used to it. Hell, she was afraid that her little… habit of swallowing people whole might scare him off, so she'd kept it to herself.

"Oh? You don't like it when say stuff like that? Okay. I can stop…"

"N-nevermind," Glinda said a little too quickly, much to Luciela's amusement. "I was just teasing, you flatterer!"

Naruto grinned and crossed his arms. "Really? I have to admit you are charmingly beautiful in your awakened form. You have a nice pair of tits on you as well~. The same goes for you, Luciela."

Both women giggled at that. And Luciela discarded the cleanly picked bones of her victims aside and strode over to her husband before leaning against him. Her tails, now without any jagged mouths on them, slithered and coiled their way around Naruto's body; as for the blond himself, he chuckled before putting an arm around the redhead's waist and pulling her towards him.

"So where are the other three who are with you?" he asked looking around for the awakened beings in question.

"Elda's hanging out in the ship," Luciela pointed out, "she led a charge when Glinda managed to beach it. Cinder and Tammy followed her in while Glinda and I mopped up out here."

"Which was when I showed up," Naruto said. As if on cue, a blood-curdling scream and a maniacal cackle came from the ship as Elda found the captain. "I should ask if Elda is okay… but I know better than to do that." the answer is obvious, anyway... and there wasn't much of a point in asking in the first place.

A few minutes later, Elda slithered back up on deck. Her awakened form greatly resembled Ophelia's in that she was a snake from the waist down… though it was significantly smaller. The 'human' part was no bigger than in her actual human form. And unlike Ophelia, Elda had wings and four arms. Her hands were equipped with razor-sharp claws and her wings were mostly white, with black patterns. Her hair was replaced with black, writhing tentacles and her eyes were glowing red. She was also wearing an elaborately decorated tricorn with a large peacock feather in it - most likely a trophy from the now-dead captain. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at that. He had to admit that tricorn she's wearing oddly suited her. When Elda spotted him, her eyes lit up - literally at that - and she fluttered down to the shore… at which point, Naruto noticed that she was stacked. The woman had bigger tits in this form than Hinata! It was impressive.

"Enjoy yourself, Elda?" Naruto called out as she approached; he looked down at himself momentarily upon feeling Luciela's tails pulling away… but not before giving him a playful nip on the buttcheek. He yelped and chuckled at that.

"More than I thought I would," Elda answered with a childish giggle. One pair of arms crossed under her bosom, inadvertently making them look better, and the other pair adjusted the hat she… 'commandeered' from the captain of the ship.

"Alright, I have to say," Naruto began, as he looked her up and down. "You look similar to Ophelia's awakened form. Minus the extra pair arms and wings. Very nice, though. I like it~!"

Elda giggled, blushing heavily at that.

Soon after, a black, fox-like creature with two heads, red, glowing eyes and three tails hopped out from the bowels of the ship. This creature was adorned with white, boney spikes and plates bearing red markings. Naruto recognized it as Cinder, due to her yoki signature. Her maws and the lower part of each head's jaw was heavily dirtied with blood. As were her tails and front paws.

Following her out was Tammy. Her awakened form was the smallest one here, and out of everyone else, her transformation was the most minimalistic. The blonde now had a long, black, spiky mane in place of her golden locks, accompanied by curled, ram-like horns. Large, black spines also shot forth from the sides of her shins and forearms. Her hands were equipped with three massive claws and she had a long, whip-like tail with two spikes on either side. Finishing the look was a large pair of bat-like wings sprouting from her shoulders with a span twice as wide as her height. All-in-all, she looked very much like a demon of local folklore… a succubus, if Naruto wasn't mistaken? She was also naked… and bloody. And had the heads of two men and a woman held by their hair in her hands and tail. Naruto didn't know if he should be disturbed or aroused by the sight.

Naruto let out a whistle and said. "I don't know if I should be disturbed or aroused, by you, Tammy."

Said woman giggled as she presented the heads. "The captain and her two subordinates," she said, "they won't be bothering this town anymore."

"Alright," Naruto took the heads off her before sealing them away in a scroll together. Then he looked at her and Cinder, "Do you girls want to get cleaned up before we go? I know a technique I can use to wash off all the blood."

"What about the ship?" Luciela asked; she didn't want to just leave it here to rot. If anything it will serve as a way to get off this damnable island once they finally take care of the Organization and the yoma.

"That's a good question…" Naruto replied. "She would certainly come in handy. How good of shape is she in?"

"We didn't do too much damage." Elda answered, "We simply broke in through the top, so the hull is still secure. You may have to repair the doors to the captain's cabin and the cargo hold, however."

"Noted," Naruto muttered. "Alright, Let's seal her up for now and see what we can do with her, later." as he said that Naruto took out another scroll and approached the crashed ship, where he proceeded to seal it away. Once that was done he rolled up the scroll and put it… somewhere. Where he put it neither of them knew… considering chakra lets him do a lot of insane shit, they didn't bother asking. Then Naruto looked at Tammy and Cinder again. "My previous question still stands: do you two want to get cleaned up before heading into town? I'm going to be staying at The Hungry Mate for a few days, before heading back to Morris."

Cinder giggled, quickly shifting back to her human form. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to watch me bathe~?" she asked enticingly.

"I would love nothing more than to watch you bathe, either in your awakened, or human form." Naruto admitted, "But there are a few warriors here, and I want to make sure they don't do anything stupid like attacking your pretty asses."

"We met them earlier," Luciela replied. "They were scared shitless of us, so I wouldn't worry too much… but, then again, fear does encourage people to do some stupid shit." and by 'they' she meant Phina and Keira, Anastasia and Dominique played the act of being scared very well.

"I see… well hopefully with me around they won't attack you. Even if they know full well who you are." then he leered at Cinder who wasn't even bothering trying to hide her nudity. "I'm actually tempted to let you bathe, I'd have one hell of a showing~."

Cinder giggled, licking her lips hungrily. "Maybe when I'm done, you can… warm me back up~!"

Naruto let out a hearty chuckle at that. "I'll think about it," he said. She won't be affected by the cold anyway, because of what she is; but he will most certainly think about it. Then he looked at Elda and surprised the heck out of the awakened one as he grabbed onto her tits and started rubbing and squeezing them. "And as for you, Elda; you should be ashamed of yourself~! Keeping your fat tits out like this? It's like you're asking for me to do this!"

Elda mewled sliding her tail around him as she hugged the man close and leaned into his touch. Her lack of action told Naruto everything he needed to know, and so he started squashing her fat tits together while rubbing them. The former Number 6 was not idle as she swiftly undid Naruto's pants with her lower arms and raised his tunic with her upper pair. Chuckling, Naruto looked back to Cinder, then Tammy, "New plan, you two can bathe yourself... while Elda here gets herself some much-needed attention. Maybe Luciela and Glinda can join in if they want to as well. You two certainly can come and get 'warmed up' by me once you're done washing of the blood if you want."

Cinder and Tammy giggled and nodded, scurry on over to the shoreline to wash up, once the latter shifted back into her human form. Then Naruto looked at Glinda as Elda started worshipping his upper body with kisses, "Are you going to stay in your awakened form? I have to say, I don't mind if you do. It'll give me something nice to look at if you get what I mean~" he said with a suggestive wagging of his eyebrows.

Elda giggled. "I still have a place for it to go, even in this form," she said. "Just let me guide the little beast and I will let you spill your seed within me to your heart's content~!"

Luciela giggled in amusement, "I do believe Naruto was talking to Glinda, there." she pointed out.

"That can work both ways," Naruto chuckled, "I certainly wouldn't mind fucking your sexy ass into the sand, Elda." he gave the snake-like awakened being several kisses on the jawline. "Now, as for you Glinda: are you going to stay in your awakened form?"

She giggled shrinking down a bit until she was about seven feet tall. "How's that?"

"A pleasant surprise!" Naruto commented happily. "Seems Luciela isn't the only one here that can change heights."

"Well… there goes one thing that made me unique…" then the redhead put the back of her wrist against her forehead, "Oh how can I ever win his affections back~?" Luciela wailed overdramatically, it was a little too dramatic for it to even be real.

She let out a squawk upon feeling Naruto swat her buttcheek. "You can start by showing me the affection of course~." the blond pointed out with a smirk. "You're good at that, remember?"

Luciela giggled. "Noted~!"

Feeling that his attention had been drawn away from her long enough, Elda spat on her clawed hand and carefully lubed Naruto up, before guiding him to her concealed hole. The blond chuckled, wrapping his arms around the awakened being, pulling her body towards his.

Naruto groaned as he felt himself enter Elda's tight, hot snatch, revelling in the unique feel of it. Elda's arms and tail pulled him closer,

"Oh, my," she gasped, already out of breath the instant she felt the blond bottom out within her. She shuddered blissfully when he started to withdraw and the wailed in pleasure at the feel of her man slamming back in. Then, he did it again… and again… and again.

Luciela giggled and pressed herself up against her husbands' back. "That's it, my love. Give her the fucking she deserves~!" she goaded while leaning in against the crook of his neck to give him kisses.

----

Meanwhile back in the Citadel of Morris, in the bedchambers belonging to Naruto, Miria went ramrod straight and glared suspiciously at Naruto lying down beside her. As he felt her eyes on him the blond looked at her and cocked his head to the side.

"What?" he asked.

"You're messing about with those harlots aren't you?" she accused.

Not knowing what she was talking about, but having a suspicion that his wife was probably talking about a clone or two that are venturing out in Lautrec, Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. "No," he corrected her patiently. "I'm here with you. It's probably a clone of mine."

"Still counts," she muttered grumpily. "Why can't you be satisfied with me, or… or… Clare, or Galatea, Jean or Cynthia?"

Naruto sighed, pulling his wife down into a loving hug. "Look, honey," he said with a warm chuckle, "you're spending more time with me: the original, than any of the others in this family. That has to count for something right? Besides… remember that time you and Glissa kidnapped me and tried to kill me though fucking for three. Bloody. Weeks…"

Miria sighed, still grumpy. "I… wasn't trying to kill you," she mumbled.

He chuckled warmly again, "It would have been one hell of a way to go through. Death by sex with a pair of hot-ass brunettes."

His wife blushed heavily at that. "It was certainly fun," she admitted. Then, she sat up, straddling Naruto's lap. "You always somehow manage to make up for it… I don't know-how. But, you're not stopping if I have anything to say about it." She gave him a dirty look. "I also know damn well that you're going to have more kids on the way by the end of it, and one of them will be mine. You got that?"

"Well, well, well, look who's putting her foot down~!" Naruto grinned widely at her. "I do love a woman who shows me who's boss. It's so damn sexy~!" With that, Miria let out a yelp as she was pulled down into a heated, loving kiss as her man rolled them over so that she was on the bottom. "So… shall we begin~?"

----

Elda wailed to the heavens as she felt Naruto pound her like a jackhammer, rapidly and deeply thrusting into her dripping snatch with complete abandon. Meanwhile, Tammy and Cinder were washing the blood off their bodies all the while watching the blond having his way with Elda. Luciela meanwhile was rubbing herself against her husband whispering encouraging words into his ear, and lastly, Glinda was no longer in her harpy-like form and was happily rubbing up against him as well. Kneeling on one knee, atop the cliff, where Naruto had gone down, the group of five were being watched by Dominique, Phina and Keria. Their leader, Anastasia, had gone off to meet with her handler, and it was Dominique who had wanted to see where the blond was going. Phina and Keria had gotten themselves roped in, as they wanted to back the wavy-haired woman up in case things went wrong. For Dominique… this was exactly what she was expecting, because of Naruto's reputation to seduce female warriors and awakened beings.

For Phina and Keira on the other hand… not so much.

"What the hell!?" Phina hissed with hushed disbelief.

"Is he really… fornicating with those awakened beings…? Is he insane!?" Keira hissed aloud in a hushed whisper; she did not want to give their presence away to them. Not now. Not ever!

"He's insane enough to have fucked Riful of the West," Dominique pointed out, "That alone should tell you enough." She then blushed heavily upon hearing Elda being brought to climax. "I… can't help but wonder what it feels like…"

The Number 18 had received odd looks from Numbers 31 and 38. "Dominique… you cannot be serious," the latter hissed in disbelief.

"And even if you were… would he even look at us once he sees our stigma?" asked the former. The secret of him being able to heal their stigma' is still a well-kept secret amongst the rebellion; even if Anastasia and Dominique were doing their job of spreading the word through rumours, that the Organization is not all they appear to be.

"He didn't care when he pounded the survivors of Pieta," she said dreamily. "I hear that he fucked no less than ten of them in one setting~!" She got odd looks from them again; even as they did their best to ignore the wailings of Elda as she came again. "Or… was it fifteen of them in one setting? It's been years since the War in the North, and I heard so many people talking about it, that the number of women he had fornicated with is no longer accurate…"

"Uh…" Phina and Keira ever so slowly edged away from the woman as the far off look on her face became more and more… extreme. And was she… drooling?

"YES!" Elda shrieked at the top of her lungs, no longer caring if someone just happened upon their romp, and startling the ever-living hell out of the Numbers 38 and 31. "FUCK ME GOOD, YOU STUD! FILL ME UP AND MAKE ME YOURS!!!"

Phina turned beet red upon hearing that.

Back down on the beach, Naruto grunted in exertion upon feeling Elda's inner walls clamp down, greedily milking and sucking his cock. And to think, this all started by just grabbing onto her fat tits… he should really learn to keep it in his pants more often. But fucking was way too much fun for him to stop. And, feeling her snatch snuggled around his prick so nice and tightly like that… well, who was he to deny what she desired? And so taking his hands away from her heaving knockers, Naruto moved them down to her hips, just where they connected with her lower-snake like body, and suddenly doubled his pace, fucking her as he meant it. He was already close thanks to the feeling of her unique cunt milking and sucking his dick, he'd as well go for the extra stretch and push himself to it.

Elda wailed once more, a third orgasm wracking her very being immediately after the second. Her inner walls clamped impossibly tight around his dick and her juices gushed forth as she writhed in pleasure and hugged him close. That feeling of being so thoroughly squeezed and milked was Naruto's downfall, as he slammed into her one last time with a pleasured grunt. His entire dick visibly throbbed as the blond emptied his balls into the awakened woman, and filled her womb with his seed. A small part of him couldn't help but wonder if she'd lay an egg or something but that thought was tossed aside as he continued to paint her inner walls a pearly white with his jizz. Still… a 60 percent chance of getting pregnant is above average, in comparison to the 55 percent chance of hybrids getting pregnant. It is not a guarantee. Even IF his seed was potent. The awakened woman getting her womb painted white has a 60 percent chance of getting a kid growing, so two times out of five, they wouldn't.

He wondered if her tits would get bigger…?

Elda fell back in a heap, keeping her form as she writhed about and revelled in the utter bliss of being claimed. With her current form, she had gravity on her side to help ensure that Naruto's little invaders would be able to venture all the way back to her farthest depths in search of their other half.

Naruto's curiosity would be satisfied soon enough… just not for some time. Speaking of the blond, he suddenly found himself on his back with a ravenous, white-haired woman straddling him. Glinda had seen enough and wanted a piece of this stud for herself, she was going to get it! He had a good feeling he wasn't going to be leaving the beach any time soon… because Cinder and Tammy had finished bathing and were making their way to join in.

----

Several hours later in the port town of Sandy Crotch, Dominique, Keira and Phina were aimlessly wandering around with no destination in sight. What they had seen could not be unseen… and would be etched in their memories for the rest of their lives. Out of the three however only Dominique was aroused, and she would have kept watching Naruto fornicate with those awakened beings, had they not have someplace else to go.

"...how many hours was that?" a heavily blushing Phina timidly asked.

"...several." an equally timid and flustered Keira answered, "five hours, at least… I, think? I do not know. They just wouldn't stop. First, that winged-snake awakened, then that human-bird awakened, and then those two awakened beings from the water, then finally Luciela."

"They just. Kept. Going!!" Phina and Keria shuddered at the same time; they had no idea if they should be terrified of the blond or not for the feat alone!

"At least Luciela and her entourage are no longer near Sandy Crotch," Dominique said optimistically. "Now what was the name of that inn again…?" The Hungry… something; she remembered that much of the name.

"The… Hungry Mate," Phina muttered uncomfortably. "Who names a town Sandy Crotch, anyways?"

"Someone who has a bad sense of naming," Keira mumbled, crossing her arms.

"Or just a bad sense of humour," Dominique giggled. "I wonder if Anastasia is still around?"

"I am." Speak of the devil and she shall appear! Dominique, Keira and Phina all stopped walking and looked to their right and found the woman in question approaching them with a small frown. "I informed the handler of the situation here, and also informed him of the Ladykillers whereabouts. Our new orders are to try and gather information on his combat potential…"

"They want us to find out how he fights?!" Phina almost shrieked at that. "Why!?"

"I believe they want us to get information so it can be used for the rumoured 'warriors in red'," Anastasia answered.

"...The warriors in red… word is among us is that they have the power of Number One, right?" Dominique asked for clarification.

Anastasia nodded. "Yes. And if the rumours are true, they are being specially trained to fight the Ladykiller himself." then she ran her digits through her hair and sighed. "Of course, I have no intention of fighting the Ladykiller. No matter what our orders are."

"Not that I'm going against our orders… but, how are we going to get information to the Organization then? By asking him?" Keira asked; it was almost rhetorical, a question the Number 31 wasn't expecting to be answered.

The short-haired blonde was surprised when Anastasia shrugged nonchalantly. "Asking never hurt anyone. And Dominique and I have met him before." She leered at the woman in question. "Perhaps you can give him… incentive?"

So, now she had an excuse to suck his dick? Dominique grinned lewdly. "I can certainly try, but we will have to wait and see…" then she looked at Phina, and added, "And since we're all tasked to get information on how he fights, and we all know where he is going to be staying for several days… it looks like you don't have an excuse to not be in The Hungry Mate inn now."

The Number 38 blushed heavily but gave the wavy-haired woman a stern look, "I ask the questions, you give him the incentive to answer," she replied defiantly.

"Okay. I can do that…" Dominique replied, then she looked at Anastasia and said, "Unless you want to help me give him an 'incentive' to answer too?"

Anastasia blushed and giggled. "Considering what I could literally hear from a mile away, you might be enough for him… but, if you're not, I'll see what I can do to help."

Keira and Phina both groaned into their hands as the two more capable warriors of their little group talked about seducing the Ladykiller. He can't be that easy to seduce, can he?! Nevertheless, Anastasia was once again the leader of this party and what she says goes. With their little plan of action agreed on, the group of four made their way to The Hungry Mate inn on the port to book a room. Phina and Keira were going to ask the questions, Dominique was going to 'help him' along with answering them, and Anastasia was going to help her do it if she was unable to do so alone.

----

To the Northwest of the Dragonspire Mountains, Naruto - a clone of him at least - cocked his head to the side, as he stood unfazed by the seemingly dire situation he was in. He was surrounded on all sides by twenty yoma. All of whom had fresh blood on their hands. And in front of him, was a fresh pile of bodies lying on the ground, and behind said bodies was a cabin.

"Gah-ha-ha!" one of the yomas laughed, "What have we here? More fresh meat!"

"Well…" the Naruto clone casually surveyed his surroundings, "we're too late to save those people… but we can certainly avenge them." the Kage Bunshin looked to his companions and asked, "What do you ladies think?"

Tesla frowned, drawing her sword with a grim expression. "I will make them suffer," she said.

Soon after being 'kidnapped' by the Ladykiller, the former Number 15 found herself quickly becoming rather used to this new life of hers. The blond was lenient, friendly, and understanding, and when he finally healed her stigma, she outright pledged herself to him right then and there. Phantom Miria looked like she wanted to rip her head from her shoulders when she glomped her husband in her nudity. But throughout her stay, Tesla had met a couple of people from his homeland when they came over to visit, even two of the tailed beasts, Shukaku and Matatabi! The tailed beasts… they were not what she had been expecting. At all. The cat-like one was so friendly and polite that it was legitimately shocking. The raccoon… was a little weird, but friendly too.

Naruto looked to his other two companions, "And you two?"

Irene shrugged, saying, "let the youngsters take care of them. If I get involved, it'll be over, before they have a chance to blink."

"I see your point," Naruto chuckled, then he looked at the final girl. Their newest recruit, Letitia. "And what about you?"

Former Number 10, Beheader Letitia was a young woman with a heart-shaped face and has a hair-style that is very similar to his wife, Miria. Only Letitia's mop of hair was more sharp, more ragged. The woman looked even sterner than Miria did, though that was just a front for her gentle and concerning personality.

Letitia took her sword out of its slot and held it up in a hanging right stance, "I shall put them out of their misery."

Just then, Naruto vanished as a pair of claws shot forth extending from within the cabin and impaling the ground upon which he'd previously stood. In that very instant he did, Tesla and Letitia charged forth, immediately putting their new skills to use. As the latter shot a stream of water with Mizurappa, the former produced a lightning bolt, giving the yomas quite the shock, pun intended. Three dropped dead instantly, while six more were stunned. Then, with one sword coated in lightning and another coated in wind chakra, the two women made quick work of the extending claws sent their way. While Letitia and Tesla took care of the yomas that were outside, with Irene watching them go to work, Naruto was inside the cabin and was a little preoccupied in dealing with some yoma of his own.

When he showed up in the interior of the building, the blond was immediately put on the defence... for about five seconds. Turns out there was a few more yoma inside of the cabin. So that was actually twenty-two yoma… well… until he sliced their heads from their shoulders with his chakra enhanced kunai; now it was minus five, so there was sixteen yoma. Looking around momentarily Naruto put his kunai away and started searching around. This many yoma in one place? It wreaked with suspicion and begged to investigate.

Back outside, Tesla lopped three heads off with one swing as she gave chase to a few of the survivors who'd lost their balls and tried to flee. Letitia coated her claymore with wind chakra and used her sword to effortlessly lop off the heads of three more yomas that tried to get the drop on her. Then she turned on the balls of her feet and sliced and diced at many a yoma in half vertically and diagonally. Several times in fact. It happened so fast in five seconds that if you had blinked, you would have missed a part of it. Five more fell before the blade of the Former Number 10, leaving eight yoma left to face them. The warriors charged, disappearing in poofs of smoke, just before they would have been impaled by several sets of extending claws. In their place were two of the yoma they'd been charging at, and they were impaled through the head and torso by said extending claws, killing them before they could react. That shocked the remaining yoma, and two more were killed when Tesla and Letitia reappeared behind them and drove their swords through their skulls. It was here that the remaining four realised they were way out of their league and tried to hightail it out of there.

Tesla and Letitia were having none of that, though, and gave chase. Narrowing her eyes, the latter silently muttered a few words while making several hand seals with one hand; and using the moisture from the Mizurappa she'd shot off earlier and calling it forth around her offhand. Then, with a wave of her arm she launched a thin stream of water in the form of Mizu no Muchi, the water whip technique, wrapping the tendril around the ankle of the yoma in front and dragging him back, tripping his friends in the process. Then, Tesla, whose hand was crackling with lightning chakra that resembled Kakashi and Sasuke's Chidori, yet, at the same time it did not, reared said hand back before throwing it forward. A bolt of lightning shot out from her palm, taking the form of a bird before it struck the yomas less than a second later. Irene nodded to herself as the younger women killed the remaining four yomas. They handled that quite well. While this was nothing for someone like her, seeing these two eliminate twenty yomas without any help was damn impressive in her opinion. Granted the… chakra Naruto allowed them to use, had given them an unfair advantage... but then again the world wasn't fair. The silver-haired woman then looked towards the cabin and stepped over the bodies of the deceased civilians as she made her way over to the doorway.

"Hey… it's okay…" Irene heard the blond say as she got within earshot, "I'm not going to hurt you." when she peered into the interior of the building, the woman found Naruto kneeling at a safe distance away from a bed.

"Mmm…" Irene grew slightly wide-eyed in realisation. There was a child under the bed! A young boy, from the sound of it.

"You want me to back up? I can back up. See?" Naruto backed away a little more from the bed. "The bad monsters are gone, now. Listen, closely... Can you hear them?"

From under the bed, the brat didn't reply, frowning as he looked to see another pair of boots standing in the doorway.

Naruto followed the boy's gaze and found Irene standing there. "She's a friend of mine. She won't hurt you. I promise." he told him, bringing his gaze back to the child. "I need to take you someplace safe. Come on, take my hand."

The boy whimpered, but after a long pause, he crawled forth and reached out to him. Naruto took a few cautious steps forward and held the child's hand before gently pulled him out from under the bed. He couldn't be older than six. Naruto carried him in his arms and stood up. The child was very young, indeed, with black, shaggy hair and silver eyes. He was decked out in simple tunic shorts and shoes - all varying shades of tan.

"What's your name?" the blond asked.

The young boy frowned, looking down. "M-my name is Devlin."

"Devlin, huh." Naruto then looked to the doorway and found Irene standing there. He looked back at the child in his arms and asked. "Devlin, this may be hard for you to do and you don't have an answer if you do not want to, okay? So, do you know what happened? When did the monsters come?"

Devlin sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, "T-t-the monsters came a long time ago. I-I-I was under my bed f-for a long time. I heard me… my mama and papa, and my… my brothers and sister screaming as the monsters took them outside… then, there was a lot of bad noises..."

"A long time ago, huh…" Considering that the child was only six, that could have meant anything from a few hours to a day or so. And the bodies outside were fresh. Seeing as how Devlin was also not dehydrated, it was safe to assume the former. "Devlin, I'm going to take you outside where my friends are okay. What I want you to do is press your face against my shoulder and ignore the smell; and don't look, until I say you can look. Can you do that for me?" he kindly asked the child. Devlin looked up at him for a moment, sniffed and nodded before doing as Naruto asked. With a heavy sigh, Naruto turned and made his way out of the cabin where Irene, Tesla and Letitia were waiting for him. Irene already knew about the kid being in there, but the other two did not. They were unable to hold in their shock as Naruto emerged from the building with Devlin in his arms.

"Let's go," he told them and got started on getting as far away from this place as possible.

"What about the kid?" Tesla asked.

"He is coming with us. I am not leaving him here to fend for himself." Naruto answered, and knowing from personal experience how shitty living alone with barely anyone around to look after you were, there was no fucking way he was leaving this kid to the same fate. "I'll see about looking after him or getting Shizune to watch over him. Maybe Miria… She's been wanting another son, lately."

"Are you not married to Miria?" Tesla pointedly asked.

"I am…" the blond confirmed to something that was already known, "and with her looking after Devlin, so would I by association." His carefree attitude towards that declaration was nothing short of jarring to the newest members of his little rebellion, but they and Irene couldn't keep the smiles off their faces upon hearing it.

"Can I look up now?" little Devlin asked.

Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw they were far enough away from the cabin for the boy to not be scarred for life. "Yeah, you can look up now," he told the dark-haired child. Sniffing once more Devlin slowly looked up and found himself under the gazes of Tesla, Letitia and Irene. He whimpered and pressed himself against Naruto. The Uzumaki Patriarch chuckled and bounced the boy in his arms. "There is no need for you to be scared of them, Dev. They won't bite."

"Mama and Papa were always scared of the silver-eyed ladies," the boy countered as if this point was all that mattered in the world.

"A lot of people were because silver-eyed ladies are weird," Naruto pointed out. "People are scared of weird things, things they don't understand, but weird things aren't always something you should be scared of. They won't hurt you. I promise. I wouldn't let them near you if they would."

Devlin looked at him inquisitively. "How do you know they won't?"

At that Naruto said, "Because I've been around them for a long time, and they never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it. And, I trust them with my life." then he grinned, "Besides, they're pretty awesome ladies. They can do stuff that normal people can't, and they are very underappreciated for what they do too." it just sucks that they, along with everyone else on this continent, have been brainwashed by the Organization for so long; the Uzumaki Patriarch was pretty sure that other warriors in past generations started asking questions, and stuck their noses in things they shouldn't like Miria had done. And since the Organization is still around, it's pretty damn obvious that those warriors were silenced before they could do anything.

"Yeah." Tesla nodded concurringly. "We shed our humanity so we can protect people from the monsters. And people like your mommy and daddy fear us because we are no longer completely human."

"Which is pretty stupid in my opinion," Naruto said with a roll of his eyes. "If people treat you like monsters, is it any wonder why many women who shed their humanity are worse off? And don't get me started on what happens to the children, who lost their parents to the monsters in towns and villages. In my opinion, it is completely unnecessary and not needed when there are other ways to find out if they had become monsters themselves."

"Oh? And how would you do things?" Irene asked, out of interest.

"The monsters you fight bleed purple. All the villagers had to do was draw blood to see if it was purple. Or, if the 'claymore' they hired to kill the monster was still there, they could have had her check and see if the child was a yoma as well. But, for some reason, they don't do either of those things." Naruto pointed out to her, Tesla and Letitia.

"Well, to be fair, drawing blood leaves most people susceptible to infection," Tesla pointed out. "We don't have that problem, because we're not fully human anymore, but most people don't have much understanding of medicine and the like."

"I don't have much understanding either, but even I know our bodies have immunities to certain illnesses. And if we do get sick, our bodies adapt immunities to them."

"If you survive," Tesla countered.

"To be fair," Irene butted in, "you're from a continent with far more sophisticated medical technology and understanding. We don't have that here. On this continent, so much as getting your face cut in battle is quite often a death sentence."

"I see your point there; then again, against some yoma and voracious eaters, your armour is pretty useless. You'd as well be wearing no protection."

"Again, we don't get sick, because we have the flesh and blood of yoma in us." Letitia pointed out.

"Having the flesh and blood of yoma won't matter if you have your legs chopped off." he countered.

"What does this have to do with villages adopting a yoma-detection process?" Tesla asked, legitimately confused.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "I... have no idea. Sorry that I got off-topic, there. How that went from a conversation of yoma detection to you ladies, is beyond me." he cleared his throat and went back to the original subject, "Anyway, I'm not saying the villagers should make a large gash on the palm of their hand, or their leg. It should just be a little prick on the finger. We could easily teach them how to disinfect the wound with alcohol and show them how to brew Everclear more easily for that purpose, as well."

"I personally like the idea of them using us as a way to find out if anyone is a yoma or not," Irene said. "It may be a hassle to do, but if it stops people from dying…"

"People will be resistant to change," Tesla pointed out with a sigh. "That is an unfortunate trait humanity shares… but, if it helps some people, that's better than nothing..."