The next day, Erica's silver eyes fluttered open after having a stressless sleep. It was also the most comfortable she had ever been! The young girl had no idea if it was the mattress, or the quilt, but she could just lay there in bed for hours more. It was that comfortable! She sat up with a grunt and let out a happy sigh. She wondered if everyone else Ladykiller Naruto brought with him felt as comfortable as she did?
As if on cue, she heard someone groaning just outside her door.
"What's wrong, Mama?"
"Morning sickness, honey," Clarice muttered, just loud enough for Erica to hear. "I'll be fine."
"Papa said morning sickness is when you like someone. So you really, really like Papa?"
"More than I thought was possible." In the hallway, Clarice let out a tired chuckle, patting her 'daughter' on the head as they passed by Erica's room. "C'mon, honey, Mama's hungry. Who knows, you might see a clone of Papa along the way."
"I prefer the real Papa…" she muttered. "I can't smell the clones. It feels like they're not even there."
"We are just chakra constructs," Miata and Clarice looked ahead of them when they saw a clone of Naruto closing the door to the teleport room. "So us not having a smell would make sense." he then adopted a hurtful look that Clarice knew was fake, "I'm hurt that you only want the Boss around though… since I am him in every way."
Clarice smiled and patted Miata on the head. "I'm sure she didn't mean it. Right honey?" she asked looking at the girl who was shyly looking down at the stone tiled floor.
"No…" Miata said, then she looked up and gave the blond a teary eyed look along with a trembling lip, "I'm sorry Papa… I didn't mean it. Honest..."
Naruto waved her apology away and went over to bring the near crying girl into a comforting hug. "It's fine, Miata. Don't worry about it." he chuckled and went down to peck her on the scalp. "I know! Do you want to eat some chocolate? I bought a whole bunch of 'em last night."
Her expression brightened up considerably at that and she nodded frantically. She liked chocolate!
"I do! I do! I do!" she chirped happily.
Chuckling once more, Naruto ruffled her hair and said, "Alright. Then let's go to the dining hall - I left a few dozen sacks of them there."
Meanwhile, back in her room, Erica giggled at the exchange as she heard them walk off and pried herself from bed. The mention of food made her stomach growl. She's never had chocolate either due to it being too expensive to buy back when she was still fully human. And the Organization didn't buy them anything, due to it being 'a waste of resources'.
Maybe she can get a piece if she asked? She really wanted to try one!
Luckily she didn't have to get changed, due to Erica sleeping in her bed with her two-piece bodysuit. A bath would be nice, though. She'd take one later. She threw the covers off her, made her hair presentable, and made her way to the chamber door and opened it. The young former trainee looked to her right and blinked in surprise when she saw the Ladykiller with two people. Her silver eyes widened with curiosity, she could sense yoki in the woman with brown hair… but why did she have brown hair? Shouldn't her pigment have faded away to platinum blonde or something?
Her curiosity getting the better of her Erica emerged from her room, closed the door behind her, and jogged over to the trio hurriedly.
Naruto looked behind him from over the shoulder, having heard the sound of feet tapping the stone floor and the door closing. He smiled upon seeing Erica approaching the three of them with an overly curious look on her face.
"Hey Erica! How was your sleep?" he stopped, greeted and asked the former trainee. And when he addressed her, Erica became shy and nervous when Miata and Clarice both stopped themselves and turned to look at her.
"I did," she replied nervously, her silver eyes darting between Clarice and Miata. Her eyes lingered on Miata though, something about her was… familiar. She had no idea why however. Maybe she saw her around the barracks?
"Hello." Clarice gave the shy girl a friendly smile with an equally friendly wave. "My name is Clarice, and this is Miata." She said, gesturing to herself and her 'daughter', "What's your name?"
"E-Erica." She shyly replied; the girl gave nervous looks to the 'mother' and 'daughter' duo, and with her curiosity rearing its head again, she couldn't help but ask, "M-Miss, how come your hair is brown? Shouldn't your hair have lost its pigmentation like mine and hers?" she gestured to her own hair and Miata's as she asked.
"Clarice's body rejected the conversion process," Naruto explained, wrapping an arm around the brunette's shoulder. "Not sure why, but I probably saved her life by treating her."
"I don't understand it myself," the brunette added, "My yoki was almost non-existent before Naruto healed me… I still don't know why my pigmentation didn't change afterwards either."
"I don't mind it," Naruto said and lovingly pecked Clarice on the cheek. "Your brown hair is special. And it makes you more unique than all the other hybrids here."
She blushed and giggled at that.
Erica, meanwhile, fidgeted shyly, a heavy blush staining her own cheeks bright red upon seeing the loving exchange. It was so… weird to see. "S-So, where are you three going?" she asked; while she did know they were going to the dining hall to get Miata some chocolate, she didn't want them to know she had been eavesdropping from her room.
It paid off as Naruto answered her with a smile, "To the kitchen to get Miata some chocolate." he lovingly ruffled the hair of the girl in question, "Do you want some too?" he paused, and gave the girl a knowing look, "That look on your face - you never had chocolate before have you?"
"My parent could never afford it," she explained. "And the Handlers are stingy with their Bera; said it's a waste." she gave him a hopeful look, "Can I have some?"
"Of course!" he told her with a bright smile. "I bought several sacks yesterday. Come on, maybe we'll see the other girls there." he beckoned her to follow them, and Erica did coming up to Miata's side and walked beside them as they made their way to the dining hall.
"So… how long have you been here for, Mister Naruto?" Erica asked.
"Oh… around five years now. I was in Nile for a while, then Raby Castle for a few more months after that. Morris was meant to be a fallback, but the Uzumaki Clan got too big for Raby to hold. Morris was bigger and not to mention more defendable due to where it's built, so we moved here." the blond answered. It helped the other survivors of Pieta came not long afterwards and settled in. They were instrumental in getting the town back on the map.
"Uzumaki Clan?" Erica asked, cocking her head to the side with adorable confusion.
"Uh… I suppose it would be called 'House Uzumaki' here. The Uzumaki were a noble family back where I came from, but were almost wiped out due to… reasons." Naruto sighed and shrugged. "I'm… well, I was the last known living member." Naruto squinted thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, I think I remember it being mentioned that Karin is a member, though I never talked to her to find out," he muttered. "Beside the point. Seeing as how I'm the last known male member of the clan, that makes me the Clan Head by default. I've been busy reviving the clan for the past few years, now."
Erica blushed heavily at the implication. "I… uh… see," she said with a nervous chuckle. So, did that mean Clarice was pregnant with his child? It was pretty likely.
After several minutes the four came to the dining hall and for Naruto, Miata, and Clarice they were not surprised to see the tables stocked with food. Erica on the other hand was. Her eyes lit up as the scent of the food reached her nostrils. It made her mouth water!
"The chocolate is in the kitchen. I'll go and fill up some bowls for the two of you." Naruto told them. Then he went to the kitchen, only to stop and look at the trio, "Go get a bite to eat. I'll be joining you soon."
Erica didn't need to be told twice. She immediately went to a table and took a seat. She grabbed a plate and proceeded to grab as many fruit, bread and other sources of nourishment that was within arms reach. She may not have to eat a lot, thanks to the operation done to her, but she could still eat a lot if she wanted. And right now she wanted to eat a lot!
Miata and Clarice took a seat opposite her and went to filling their plates. Clarice ate modestly, only having a healthy amount of food on her plate; a few fruits, some bread rolls, some dried and smoked meat. Miata went for having more meat on her plate, though she balanced it out by having some fruit, and several bread rolls with butter put on it. For the finisher she had some warm milk to wash it all down.
Erica giggled, shyly commenting on Naruto. "He seems so nice," she said.
"He is," Clarice concurred wholeheartedly with a dreamy smile.
"Papa is the best~!" Miata chirped after swallowing her food. "He takes care of Mama, and me, and everyone else here!"
"Oh? Do tell," she said, feeling a bit more comfortable, now. "I'm dreadfully curious!"
----
Naruto, the original one, was deep in contemplation as he sat atop Kurama's head with crossed legs. He was in the shared mindscape of the Jinchuuriki, though it was only him, Kurama and Isobu currently occupying it.
"So they haven't moved at all?" he asked the three tailed turtle.
"No. Those things haven't left the Organization's walls, yet." Isobu answered. "It's surprising. I would have thought those men in black would have sent them in the dead of night."
"It only proves they're more cautious than we're expecting them to be. From the looks of it, this Organization won't send their new weapons out until we are there." Kurama said with a huff.
"Well, if I was in their shoes, that's what I'd do," Naruto said with a shrug. "In their mind set, they would want all their assets on hand for when the true battle comes. We don't have many awakened beings with us, only four: Priscilla, Riful, Soleil and Robin. Everyone else is back in the West. So these Abyss Eaters are probably going to focus on the four of them once they're deployed."
"Are you still going to use that form to fight them?" Kurama asked.
"Yeah. I want the Organization to know just what they've been fucking with." the Uzumaki Patriarch replied with a wide, menacing grin.
"I'm surprised you didn't take any more non-humans with you." Kurama said; then he quirked a brow and rolled his eyes up to look at his vessel. "Why didn't you take more than four?"
Naruto shrugged and gave his friends his reason for not doing so. "It would have been more strategic, in hindsight, to bring a few more and spread them around the teams. But if I did that, it would have left Morris more open for retaliation, assuming the Organization was smart enough to think that far ahead." he paused for a moment to cross his arms and to collect his thoughts. "Awakened Beings are stronger than hybrids; a lot of my girls would disagree with that, but the facts are there. They have hides that even steel has trouble getting through. Hell, even the claymores the hybrids use have trouble biting into some of the tougher ones. That said, I figured that if they sent a team out to Morris, they'd be one hell of a defense. Besides, my kids are there. I'd rather give them the best defense as reasonably possible, just in case."
"Fair enough," the fox grunted. "I still think taking more than four would have been wise."
"It's a little too late to change my plan isn't it?" the blond pointed out amusedly.
"Yeah… you and your little harem is already moving to the Organization while we're in here talking."
"Even though he could have snatched one or two more of his 'awakened' women up with the Hiraishin." Isobu pointed out to them with an eye-smile.
"If I need to, I will," Naruto nodded. "That's another reason I left them behind… at least most of them. They're serving as backup, just in case."
Kurama huffed approvingly, "Good to know you're thinking more with your head than charging head first into the heat of battle with no plan at all."
"I can think ahead when I want to, you know." Naruto said, leaning forward to look into Kurama's eye with a deadpan expression on his face.
"You rarely do." Kurama pointed out with a smug smirk.
Isobu closed his only eye and sighed in exasperation, "Oh, you two…" but he couldn't help but be amused at their antics. Kurama hasn't been like this since they were little chakra constructs. But he wouldn't change this. Not for anything.
---
Naruto opened his eyes and found he and his entourage were on the road. It was barren now, having passed the snow a little over two hours ago. Now they were on a straight path to Staff itself. They were in two groups though, due to the plan the Uzumaki Patriarch laid out the day before.
Raftela, along with Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth are to lead Samui, who was taking Teams Guy and Ebisu with her, to the Eastern Evacuation shelters. Omoi is going to secure a safe path for them with Teams Asuma and Kurenai. They're still together though, mainly for safety purposes.
He also sent a few more clones to set up some Hiraishin seals on the paths to the West and South. That would allow him to cut off any escape routes once he dealt with these 'Abyss Feeders' Sistina warned him about. He wouldn't put it past them to try and sneak away into the mountains while they're fighting with their forces.
That bald guy with the fedora he met all those years ago - he seems like the type of person to do that. Now that he thought about it, he never did get the man's name. He was Clare's Handler though, wasn't he? Naruto inwardly shrugged, it wasn't his business.
"Naruto," said blond turned to Queenie, "are you going to give us that yoki cloak for this?"
The blond blinked; that was a reasonable question. He didn't see the harm in answering - plus it was polite to answer.
"I honestly wasn't going to, mainly because you ladies are more than capable of taking care of yourselves now." he admitted with a hapless shrug, "But now that I think about it, being too careful never hurt anybody. I'll give you all the Kyuubi cloak for some extra 'oomph' when we're close."
"That would be advised," Riful chimed in with a nod. "I'd feel more safe if I had that cloak. The name Abyss Feeder, sends a shiver up my spine."
"I'd bet, it's a weapon those old coots in Staff made to kill you." Teresa said with a prominent frown. "If they're as deadly as Sistina made them out to be, they would be able to kill Priscilla if they are given enough time to adapt to her."
"Which is why I'm going to fight them going all out." Naruto told them. "They won't be able to stand against me when I'm in my Rikudō Sennin Mōdo, no matter how strong they are."
"English please honey," Miria sighed.
"Six Paths Sage Mode." the blond said with a sigh of his own. "It's called Six Paths Sage Mode when translated into your language." he chuckled and gave his woman an amused smile, "You've been helping Karui translate my autobiography, and yet, you haven't learned some of the words."
"To be fair I haven't read your untranslated work…" Miria pointed out. "I couldn't read the kanji at all."
"That's fine if you don't know how to read Kanji. It is in a different language after all." the blond told her with a loving smile. "Raftela," said blonde straightened at being addressed, "Once we get close enough to Staff your group will have my permission to split off from the rest of us."
"Understood," she replied robotically.
"I'm going to have to break you out of that," he sighed, before dragging the woman into a one armed hug. "I really want to hear some emotion in your voice. Don't get me wrong, you speaking the way you are has its own charm… but putting some feeling behind your words makes you more sexy. And you can be sexy." he pecked her on the cheek and whispered into her ear, "I remember all the naughty things you were whispering in my ear when I healed your stigma, you naughty girl~!"
She blushed heavily and shuddered, biting her lip. "It is far easier to show emotion when we are copulating," she explained, sounding more timid but it was very subtle. "I'm not good at expressing, otherwise."
"That's fine." he told her with reassurance. "Alicia and Beth were the same way, especially at first. It'll take some time, but you will eventually be able to show emotion like they can." He kissed her on the cheek again and moved to her neck where he started nibbling at the crook of her neck. "And it all started with them innocently sleeping in my bed. Maybe you should do the same~" the blond teased her with a husky tone.
"When we are done here, I look forward to it," she cooed.
"There we go~" he purred, rubbing his nose against the crook of her neck. "that's the Raftela that knows how to be seductive~!"
"There is a time and place for that, Naruto. Now is not it." Camilla told him with an amused giggle, with the Captains, shinobi and awakened beings concurring with the 'Charmer' wholeheartedly. Raftela was the only exception.
"I know, I know." he relinquished his hold on Raftela and with a sigh went right back to leading them to Staff. The Organization's Headquarters isn't far away from them if the memory he received from his clones nearly six years ago was right. Right now, for the upcoming conflict with the Abyss Feeders, he needed to get his head in the game.
If he was in Rimuto's shoes, then sending out the Abyss Feeders would be the first thing he would do when confronting a force of this size. He would want to cause as much damage as possible and throw the enemy into disarray. After fatiguing them he would give the order for the rest of his 'tools' to swoop on in and clean house.
If nothing else it gave him plenty of motivation to engage this weapon and put them down as fast as humanly possible. It would be a mercy for them, for these Abyss Feeders; to live, blind and driven mad by a ravenous hunger with no rational thought. Root has done some questionable things, hell, even Akatsuki has done some very bad things - even leading up to a World War - but the Organization is coming out as worse than both organizations from the Elemental Nations!
But… maybe there is a way for him to control them. If they're made from the flesh of Awakened Beings, then maybe, just maybe there is a chance they will submit if they realise he is the 'alpha'. If they're anything like the youma halves of his girls, then they should know he is an Alpha.
But he isn't holding his hopes up for that. 'Ravenous Hunger' and 'Abyss Feeder' are names one would want to run away from really fast.
Of course, there is also the possibility that the handlers would bitch out and try and run with their tails between their legs. Hence, the clones he made, and sent, to the South and West of Staff for that very reason. If those black-clad fuckers tried to slip away right under their noses then they had another thing coming.
Of course… this research facility of an Island is big. He wouldn't be surprised if a few had managed to slip through. It happens all the time. Not only that the Organization was here for centuries. There is a good chance they have hidden passageways in their headquarters to escape into, in case a rebellion like this one did succeed.
Shaking those thoughts Naruto continued leading his small platoon of rebels and shinobi through the barren desert lands of Sutare.
----
Just under 10 hours later.
As the rebellion came to a stop near the mountain-build-town, the memories of his clone infiltrating it came to the forefront of Naruto's mind. He could see several large free-standing buildings, with the biggest one in the middle resembling a fortress; and it was that very fortress he had infiltrated - and now that he thought back, the blond had seen several women when they were trainees. Clarice, Anastasia, Letitia, Camilla, Dominique to name a few. He may have seen Pyrrha, Glissa and Megan as well.
Staff was literally built into the mountain range and was positioned behind a cliff; and now that they were here everyone can sense Isobu lurking behind the settlement, under the sea. Unlike the last time, when he was running up the wall, they were approaching it from the front. Purposely showing themselves to the handlers and their defenders. Naruto could see well over 200 soldiers, quite a few of them were silver eyed women at that, were positioned over the rocky ridges further in. It gave them the height advantage. Now that he looked closely, two of those silver eyed women were twins… young ones too. They were barely out of their preteens.
Naruto looked back at his women, who were a notably smaller group. Raftela, Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth, along with Teams Guy, Ebisu, Asuma, and Kurenai were missing.
"Be careful, everyone, those weapons the Organization made are around here somewhere." warned a cautious Naruto.
"We know," Priscilla replied with a crack of her knuckles. "You'll be taking care of them while we distract the others long enough for the second team to get in and out, right?"
Naruto nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. They're most likely sneaking in the same way I did, as I speak." he was referring to the time he had snuck in via the wall walking, along the side of the mountain years back. "Until this 'weapon' of theirs is taken care of, do not use yoki."
"Chakra it is," Riful chirped. "That's bound to give the Handlers a heart attack~!"
Naruto chuckled, ruffling the homicidal loli's hair. Then he looked ahead and walked on up. He quickly held an arm up, telling them not to move. He didn't want them to get in the crossfire in the upcoming fight.
Then he came to a stop, crossed his arms, and waited.
"Naruto," a worried sounding Isobu started, "Those yoki signatures are on the move."
"They're not aggressive, though." Kurama pointed out with a low, thoughtful huff, "They seem to be… following someone. Like an attack dog waiting the signal from its master."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at that. There was only one person in the Organization that could have made them. A madman insane enough to have brought back several dead women, and was sick enough to cut open little girls and implant them with the flesh and blood of youmas. And now Awakened Beings.
It had to be none other, than Dae.
"And there they are…" Naruto grunted, as several… scantily clad women slowly appeared on the rocky ridges in before him. A few of them wore chest bindings and underwear, along with some mediocre protection in the form of paudrens; but a lot of them were topless. And they were admittedly attractive; but their bound eyes and mouths took that away slightly.
"...Those things are an abomination." A rightfully pissed off Kurama growled, "They are an affront to Nature itself!"
"I agree with you there." Kurama's vessel concurred, "I wonder if they can be subdued though…"
"Naruto! Now is not the time to be thinking with your other head!" the fox bellowed aghast.
"I'm not." the blond corrected, "Though I will admit I'm kinda thinking with my heart, here. I'm wondering if I can pacify and heal them."
Kurama grunted. "I doubt it; they are, for all intents and purposes, broken."
"Broken people can be fixed." he pointed out to his friend. "And I was told that Harja saw me as an alpha due to her Awakened heritage. Maybe the same applies here…" because they were made with the flesh and blood of Awakened Beings the Organization has somehow procured, that might be a possibility. "It's better to try, than not to, right?"
"Naruto… some people cannot be saved. You know this." Kurama sighed as he knew his words would fall on deaf ears, no matter what he said, "But if you want to try, I won't stop you."
"Thank you, Kurama." the blond said and he genuinely meant it. Then he squint his eyes and counted how many of those, uh, 'women' are up there. There's nine of them.
Then, walking up to one of the ridges behind the nine women, the blond found a familiar looking face… well, not that familiar, not having seen him again after six years of course. But he could remember that smug looking smile on his face, along with the fedora and sunglasses. It was hard to forget someone that Kurama said reminded him of Orochimaru after all. Rubel if his memory served him right.
And beside him was another man; and like Rubel, he was garbed in all black, with his head covered by a hood and walked with a cane. He was, simply put, grotesque to look at - due to the fact he was missing the skin on half his face. This left one eyeball and half of his teeth exposed.
The deformed man's eyes landed on one particular woman when he saw her. The only indication he was surprised was the widening of his left eye and the slight drop of his mouth. And he had every reason, too, considering he had tried and failed reviving her.
"Huh… So that's why it didn't work," he muttered aloud. "She had already been revived."
Naruto looked over his shoulder, and chuckled as he turned to address him. "So you did try reviving her, after all."
"Of course," Dae chuckled. "She was the most powerful Number One in history."
"Strongest, eh? Sure, she's strong, remarkably so, but compared to the people I faced - she's nothing special. No offense!" he quickly added while looking at Teresa with wide eyes.
"None taken," said woman shrugged nonchalantly; she wasn't going to call him out on it. After seeing the Ten tails in its first form, she can admit with confidence that thing would kill her.
Dae frowned slightly and shrugged, before snapping his fingers. The Abyss Feeders all perked up and shambled forth. "Terribly sorry for having to so rudely cut this conversation short, but we have observed your ability to plan ahead and fight dirty over the years," Dae pointed out. "For all I know, you're serving as a distraction so that the members of the Crimson Guard I don't see with you can rig our fortress with explosives."
"I'm not much of a planner, actually," Naruto admitted with a shrug and chuckle. "That's Miria's forte. I tend to fight without planning ahead." Those nine women were growling now that he was getting close to them. "I am good at thinking on my feet, though. Hard to stay alive when you're stupid." He came to a stop and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. He could feel his forehead protector still tucked away in there.
Suddenly, he got a devious idea. Naruto looked directly at Rubel, knowing he had gone to Konoha all those years ago. "Anyway, do you want to know a little secret?"
Dae chuckled. "And what would that be, my boy?"
Chuckling himself, Naruto took out his forehead protector and wore it proudly. "Konoha and the Elemental Nations are not happy with you."
"If and when I have to deal with them, I shall bear that in mind," the deformed man replied with a smile and a nod.
"Kurama! Are you ready?" he yelled out, seemingly in thin air to the onlookers.
"Brat, I was born ready!" the fox declared with a wide, menacing grin; inside of Naruto's mindscape, the titan sized fox was now sitting like he is meditating. Kurama clasped his hands together in front of him and concentrated.
At that declaration, Naruto's clothes were coated in yellow yoki; at his abrupt transformation his jacket automatically opened up, revealing a circular design that is featured prominently over his stomach; the whisker-like markings on his face become thicker to resemble three rectangles, and six magatama markings are present around his collar; his trousers were black, but turned to yellow when it got to his shoes. Various other dark designs appeared along his body, resembling similar but vastly different circular designs that was on his stomach. Behind him eight hand-sized orbs of black manifested and floated behind his back. his eyes once a vibrant blue, were now yellow, and his pupils are now a cross of vertical fox-slits with horizontal toad-slats.
Then, in an instant, several arms of pure yoki shot forth, snatching up the Abyss Feeders, and shocking the hell out of the onlookers. He smiled flatly. They should be shocked. This was the first time he'd been in this form since healing Clarice, and even then, she was the only one who'd seen it up until now.
The Abyss Feeders got more frantic; more, dare he say, frenzied, in the grip of the hands made of solid yoki. The bindings on their mouths were ripped off as they violently opened their mouths, revealing the sharp teeth that was hidden underneath as they howled and hissed at him.
Naruto just...gave them a flat look. "I've seen a lot of scary things…this is…underwhelming." with that the Abyss Feeders were tossed back where they came from. Then the transformed blond looked at Dae. "Is that all you got? Because if it is then I am...underwhelmed. I was expecting your Abyss Feeders to be more terrifying, to be honest."
It appeared, however that he'd spoken just a teensy bit too soon, as three of them extended their necks, their heads shooting forth as their jaws separated. One bit down on his leg, another on his shoulder and the third one almost comically enveloped his entire head in her jaws.
"...Right… credit where it's due, that actually kinda startled me." the blond admitted.
"...Naruto?" Undine called out. "Are you okay?"
Naruto gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, I'm okay... This kinda tickles actually." he said with admittance. Then he reached up with the hand giving the thumbs up and carefully pried the female off his head.
"It…tickles?" even Priscilla looked perplexed by that.
"Yeah. I'm ridiculously durable. So their gnawing only tickles." giving the Abyss Feeder a mocking pat on the head before pushing her away; he then used the other yoki limbs to carefully pry the other two heads off of him and forced them back to the rest of their bodies. "Again, I was expecting them to be more terrifying."
"This is seriously underwhelming." Kurama's deep, growling voice added through Naruto's mouth, catching everyone by surprise. "Those women behind us are more threatening than these so called 'Abyss Feeders'!"
"How intriguing!" Dae said, talking loud enough for only Rubel beside him to hear. "It appears he has a split personality…"
Naruto and Kurama have impeccable hearing though and was able to hear what the disfigured man said. "Wrong, flesh sack. I am the Tailed Beast within Naruto." he grinned cockily and added, "And our souls are linked together in perfect harmony."
Dae, of course, having heard two specific words came to a different conclusion of that statement, "Soul linked…" his one good eye went wide with realization, "my god, he's a Soul Link experiment from that far away land."
That... was actually pretty accurate, Kurama and Naruto both had to admit. It was wrong. But not by much.
The nine Abyss Feeders howled and charged at the synchronised human and Tailed Beast. Naruto, or rather Kurama, gave them a disinterested look before grabbing two of them by the scalp and the rest with his yoki arms.
"I know you want to try and subdue them, brat. So here goes nothing!" Kurama then sent his purified yoki and his father's chakra into the three Abyss Feeders. Almost immediately they slumped over. Like a puppet having its strings cut. He blinked, looking genuinely surprise. They weren't dead as they were still breathing. He looked thoughtful ; could his father's power really have… yes. That must be it. Their minds were broken, yes, but that didn't mean his old man's power couldn't repair them.
"Looks like we can fix 'em, eh, Kurama?" Naruto said.
"To an extent, at least,"/] the bijuu internally replied and corrected. "They're still going to be a bit… off. Whatever that old man did to them is at least partially irreparable, but they won't be completely mindless beasts, anymore."[/
"Got it." then Naruto retook control of his body and gently set them down. The nine Feeders dropped down to all fours, frantically shaking their heads or falling over in confusion.
"Very interesting," Dae said aloud with gleeful intrigue. He was almost cackling with how excited he was. Naruto looked at him with a stern frown; that man reminded him a lot of Orochimaru than Rubel ever did.
Then, the blond perked up as he found several of the Abyss Feeders at his feet, nuzzling at his legs and whimpering, as if trying to get his attention. The others surrounded him looking almost… jealous, somehow?
"What the fuck…?" Priscilla had no idea how to react to the sight, and she was not alone in that.
"Uh…" Naruto admittedly had no idea how to react either. "G-good girls?" he said to them with uncertainty, the blond went and itched the scalp of one of the near naked women nuzzling his waist. Did she just giggle?
Indeed, she did…
"Absolutely fascinating…" Dae whispered in wonder. He then perked up as they started to snarl at him. "It would appear that they've been turned over to his side. Ladykiller, indeed…"
"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!" said blond asked with distress, "Kurama! Why are they acting like this?! You said you healed their minds right, so what gives?"
"The hell am I supposed to know! I never used my old man's power before! Let alone with my own!" The tailed beast answered through Naruto's mouth, startling the Abyss Feeders and the onlookers thoroughly. "I'm in the dark on this as much as you are! They seem better though. They're not rabid animals."
"...point." Naruto said after regaining control. He looked behind him at his harem, then back at the Abyss Feeders, "Uh… can the nine of you understand me? Move your head up and down for yes, left to right for no." he asked them.
The Abyss Feeders giggled and all nodded.
He exhaled with relief. He was getting somewhere. "Okay, if you are able to smell the people behind me, they're with me. No hurting them, okay?"
They nodded, again.
"Okay…" this was damn awkward. More awkward than he expected. Clearing his throat Naruto looked behind him and said to his little platoon, "Looks like the Abyss Feeders are on our side, now. I have no idea how."
"They're on your side," Priscilla corrected with a jealous frown. "They want to mate with you, I can smell it."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Miria and Naruto both muttered in exasperation. Seriously, how the fuck?!
Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead, "You're on my side. Therefore, they're on your side too." he looked at the Abyss Feeders and asked, "Right?"
They tilted their heads cutely in confusion. They didn't know what he meant by that.
"Women behind me are friends. No hurting, friends, right?" he stressed certain words to make sure his point had gotten across to them.
They nodded.
"Good." he gave Priscilla a bright smile, "See? They're on your side too… hopefully." he trailed off with uncertainty at the end. He shrugged, if they still didn't understand the women behind him are on their side, then he can teach them… once they stopped grabbing at his crotch. Naruto looked down to see one with long, straight hair, hugging his leg and fumbling around his groin, trying to release his dick. As tempting as that was, this simply wasn't the time and place for that. Not to mention her jagged teeth would hurt him if she was intending to giving his dick some oral loving. "No. Stop that, right now," he gently scolded her. "We have bad people in front of us!"
The girl flinched and frowned, though she had no eyes to do so with, she 'looked' up at him with a pout.
Naruto sighed and ruffled her hair. "Now's not the time. I need to deal with that man you growled at earlier, first." She perked up at that, and so did the others, as they turned their attention to Dae and Rubel.
"Seems your 'tools' have swapped sides," Naruto told the mad scientist with heavy sarcasm and disdain. "What are you planning to do next, I wonder?"
"I say we run," Rubel said after clearing his throat. He did not like the odds of surviving this.
"You don't have much of a chance of getting away… through land or sea." Naruto told the fedora wearing man with a flat smile. "If I were you… I'd choose my next action very carefully." he warned them threateningly. He was purposely delaying them; the blond was trying to give the second team currently inside of Staff enough time to get those trainees out of their hiding place.
Everyone in on the plan knew this. Even Dae pointed out that he could be a distraction, and he was hit the nail on that; so he needed to keep distracting. Just long enough for the others to get out of there.
Not privy to their new alpha's schemes, the Abyss Feeders started skulking on up to the two men in black, growling hungrily as they prepared to lash out at these bastards the best way they knew how.
"Easy you nine, let's hear what they have to say." Naruto chuckled stepping forth and bringing them to heel. He noted that these girls seemed disappointed, eager to literally eat these two alive. "Damn," he said, addressing Dae, "it looks like you did one hell of a job at pissing them off. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to make them mindless animals."
"That was the intention, yes." Dae said with admittance, and to the disgust of both Naruto and Kurama the disfigured fucker was proud of it! "They are my latest inventions; weapons capable of killing the Abyssal Ones. Though, they unfortunately, seem to be defective now. They are not at all useful for their 'intended' purpose. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test subjects to make more reliable Abyss Feeders. There is always room for improvement for those prototypes."
"He's just digging his grave isn't he?" Naruto mentally conversed with Kurama.
"He is the type of person that only cares for results. Not the means. You would do the world a favour by putting him down like the dog he is." the Bijuu grunted with disgust.
The Feeders snarled at Dae in unison, wanting so badly to eat him. It was very tempting to let them.
Naruto looked down at the… women, by his side. Then at Dae. He sniffed and grabbed one of the Truthseeker-orbs floating behind him and made it turn into a staff, to which he pointed it threateningly at Dae.
"You die first." he declared. Naruto looked at the Abyss Feeders by his side and said two simple words, "Get him."
All nine enthusiastically leapt forth, startling everyone as even he had lost track of their movements, at first. That initial burst of speed was nothing short of monstrous! They weren't even using yoki, which was even more surprising. Seeing as they were solely focused on Dae, and Dae only, Rubel got the hell out of dodge.
The mad scientist's screams and mad cackling could be heard for miles as his own creations literally tore him apart, and then they were abruptly cut off.
Naruto turned to the rest of the women behind him. "Ladies, you know what to do." he told them, then to the surprise of everyone he defied gravity and flew up into the sky. He looked around and surprised everyone yet again when a titan-sized, Golden flamed Nine-Tailed-Fox with dark lines and circular patterns around its body separated from the blond.
The ground shook violently as the yoki construct of Kurama touched the ground. "Ah. It's nice to be out of that seal." he said gruffly through the yoki construct. Then he huffed and looked down under him to gave the awakened beings and hybrids a flat stare, "What are you lot waiting for?! A sign from the gods?! Go kill those meatsacks in black!"
It helped that said 'meatsacks', apart from the other hybrids still on the Organization's 'side' were all wearing black. Even the armour clad soldiers were wearing black. And there were those ninja wannabe's too.
Riful giggled menacingly as she unraveled and shifted into her awakened form, before bolting off to the farthest exit. Seeing as how she could cover the distance in the shortest amount of time, the Abyssal loli took it upon herself to deal with sealing off that one. With a wide menacing grin, Priscilla's yoki spiked as she went into her awakened form, and blitz the first group of men she saw and tore into them like a hot knife through butter. Soleil and Robin exchanged looks, shrugged and threw themselves into the fray. They took to unsheathing their swords as they charged on in, let out an excited war cry as they launched themselves at another group of men carrying spears and shields.
To the men's surprise, the two awakened beings got a two tailed yoki cloak in the shape of a fox; similar to the one Naruto gave to Teams Miria, Undine, Flora, Veronica and Jean when they were in Pieta. The metal of their spears didn't even manage to pierce their skin. The polearms snapped at the wood, curtsey of Soleil and Robin slicing through the wood effortlessly thanks to their abnormal strength that was further enhanced by the kyuubi cloak.
That was the trigger for everyone else to follow suit. They pulled out their claymores and ran into the fray and began to slaughter the men of the Organization. For Anastasia herself, she used her Winged technique and flew.
As for Naruto himself, he flew in ahead and landed in the middle of the remaining hybrids. They understandably raised their claymores, but were smart enough to not engage him; they didn't want to fight and were clearly scared of him.
Naruto gave them a smile and a friendly wave, "Hi."
That was the last thing they'd expected from him.
One brave soul glared at him defiantly. "What did you do with my sister?!" she demanded. The woman in question was relatively young, looking to be in her mid-to-late teens with her hair in a pair of high pigtails with flat bangs.
Naruto looked at her in genuine perplexment. "Sister…? Forgive me, but you'll have to be more specific. Who is your sister?"
"Her name is Henriette," the woman barked. "She was sent to reinforce the Northern defenses and then she and all the other trainees disappeared. I felt it!"
"Oh, the brave one! She's alive and well in Morris, with the other trainees and the rest of the Crimson Guard. My lovers over there and a few friends are watching over them."
Just as the woman was about to say something, she was interrupted by a girl with long, curly hair and a blindfold. Her golden locks were unusually vibrant for a hybrid, bearing a healthy shine. "He speaks the truth," she said.
Naruto blinked and leaned in with squint eyes. "...Sistina? Is that you?" she really reminded him of her. He couldn't see her ears though, but she did remind him of her.
"I am not," the woman replied. "My name is Savra, current Number 11 of the Organization."
"Oh. Pleased to meet you, Savra." he gave her a slight, but polite bow. Though she couldn't see him do it, Naruto swore she smiled and nodded at the gesture itself. "Sorry for the mix up there Savra, you look like her. So I take it you have some questions for me?" he asked, looking over his shoulder for a brief moment when he heard one man give out a particularly painful scream before it was snuffed out.
"What are your intentions?" She went straight to the point. Though she showed no emotion, Naruto could tell it was because she was dead serious. If this woman didn't like his answer, she'd kill him… or try.
Naruto could feel her negativity; she was scared. "To rescue you lot. Honestly, if I had my way, I would have made this place into a crater like Pieta. But, I wanted to pull you girls and the trainees out, first. I have a second team extracting the remaining trainees, right now."
Savra let loose the breath she'd apparently been holding for what felt to her like an eternity, visibly calming down. "He speaks the truth," she said, to the other warriors' shock.
"Of course I do." he chuckled. "Oh, and if you had tried to strike me down like you intended to if I 'lied'" he bent his fingers with sarcasm there, "my truth-seeking orbs would have erased you from existence. Not being mean, I'm just stating a fact for your own safety."
Then, Naruto heard nine thumps and sighed in both amusement and exasperation. He didn't even need to look to know it was his new pets.
"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK?!"
"No. You can't eat these people. They're friends. Down girls." he looked at them to make sure they did as they were told.
They sat there and stared, looking at him curiously.
Naruto coughed into his hand. "These girls are called 'Abyss Feeders', a new weapon made by Dae. He's dead now, and they're on my side. To make a potentially complicated story short: they were made with the flesh and blood of awakened beings. Like you had the flesh and blood of youma put into you. Of course, being the sick fucker Dae is, he destroyed their eyes and from the looks of it tried to remove all traces of humanity and make them crave the flesh of their target… I managed to repair most of their mind. I have no what happened to the last part though." The blond sighed as he looked down to see the one who'd been fondling him before was at it again, much to the warriors' collective embarrassment. "Not here," he said.
She pouted, but obediently popped a squat by his side. She then giggled as Naruto ruffled her hair.
"So, uh, any other questions?"
"ASK THEM IF THEY'RE GONNA JUMP YOUR BONES!" The yoki construct of Kurama yelled to him in the background.
Naruto immediately turned and yelled, "FUCK YOU KURAMA!" he made several hand constructs to give Kurama the finger. Even going to far as to enlarge them just so the golden fox could see it.
"I'M STRAIGHT THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"
"YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A GENDER!"
"I IDENTIFY MYSELF AS A MALE! CLOSE ENOUGH! SO FUCK YOURSELF!"
"FUCK YOURSELF YOU EGOISTIC SELF CENTERED PRICK OF A TAILED BEAST!"
"Uh…" The girl with the pigtails stared at the blond oddly. "C-can I see my sister, please?"
"Hmm?" Naruto looked at her as if he hadn't been shouting obscenities with a massive one-thousand foot tall yoki construct. "Oh sure, right after we finish here. I have to make sure those men in black aren't getting on the boats…" he cocked his head and smiled, "Isobu? Can you take care of that problem for me?"
He got his answer by a massive explosion of water behind the cliffside, with several ships in various states of major disrepair being thrown clear across the sky. Bits and pieces of the ships landed around Staff and within it. Naruto enlarged his yoki made hands to shield the gathered hybrids and his new pets from any potential wreckage. That didn't stop several of the warriors from screaming in panic when they felt the utterly massive yoki spike and heard the destruction, though.
"Thank you, Isobu!"
"You're welcome, Naruto." the turtle said aloud, allowing everyone to hear it from beyond the cliff. The ground shook as the sound of the Earth cracking echoed for miles, and soon, almost everyone let out a panicked scream when they saw two gigantic armoured hands rise up and grab onto the mountains, crumbling the earth under its grip. Then it pulled itself up, crumbling the mountains even more under its weight. First came the gigantic shell, followed by the muscle-like tissue, and then its head that is covered with a huge, shelled forehead and lower jaw - both of which bore massive spikes. It's single red and crimson eye looked down at Naruto fondly. "Five years I've been waiting down there. It feels great to be able to do something, no matter how small it is."
"W-what in the absolute hell…" One of the other warriors said; she was a woman with short, chin-length spiky pale blonde hair, and a small but noticeable beauty mark on her cheekbone near her left eye. The woman was shaking in her sabatons. She looked like she was about to faint from sheer fright. The woman in question was close to doing just that; this… this thing was much taller than any awakened being. And the amount of yoki it contained was insane!
Naruto took a look at her and sensed she was strong; a Single Digit if he had to guess or close to it.
"This is Isobu. One of the nine Bijuu, massive demons that now serve as guardians of my homeland. They're all close friends of mine. Kurama, the Nine-Tailed fox behind me is another, though he's sealed inside me. What you see behind me is basically an extension of his consciousness. It's… complicated. But as Kurama said earlier: our souls are linked in harmony. Our linked souls and mutual trust is what allows me to… well… be in this form." he tried to explain to them as best as possible.
"Fascinating…" one girl sighed in dreamy wonder. She was the only one who'd not been phased by the goings on, thus far and appeared to be the youngest one here. She looked to be about thirteen years old, with messy, wavy, golden hair done back in a hairband, but Naruto could feel the power radiating off of her.
"Name and number?" he asked her politely. This one was dangerous, but… interested him. She reminded Naruto a lot of Riful and Ophelia.
"Tanya the Evil is what they call me," she chirped, "I was Number 13, but in light of so many warriors going missing, I was slated to be promoted when all of this was done, so I currently have no official rank."
Naruto had some real red flags rearing up at the name. But he pushed it aside. "They joined the rebellion; you'll find a lot of them here fighting by my side, actually," he admitted, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Oh, look, there's Anastasia now." he said, casually pointing to said woman flying above them. She passed by them looking for some more men of the Organization to kill. Her claymore was dirted with red blood, many a warrior had noticed. "Some are back in Morris, though," the blond added with a nonchalant shrug.
"Rumor has it that you impregnated them," Savra pointed out with a perplexed frown.
"Some of them, yeah, but not all of them," Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "Having one's fertility returned is a side effect to getting your stigma healed, after all."
That resulted in several warriors present perking up in interest, especially when Savra made no indication that he was deceiving them - Tanya, especially. The 'evil' former Number 13 licked her lips hungrily at the thought of how powerful her children would be if this strapping male specimen were to sire them.
"You can really heal our stigma?" Henriette's sister asked, looking genuinely hopeful.
"Yeah. I would offer to heal it for you now, but, you know," he gestured to the slaughter that is happening around them while they casually talk. Plus there was a bemused Isobu watching them. "Stuffs are happening," he looked at Henriette's sister and asked, "So, what's your name and number?"
"Heidi," she replied. "Number 25, as of the most recent shift."
"Pleased to meet you, despite the circumstances Heidi." Naruto said to her, giving the young woman a respectful incline of his head. Then his attention was brought to two young twins, barely out of their pre-teens who walked up to him and completely ignored the Abyss Feeder sitting beside him who was giving them a warning growl. "Down girl," he lightly scolded her, before itching the blind woman on the scalp.
The twins came a stop in front of him and they stared up at him, blank faced. But there was a brief glimmer of curiosity in their eyes. Being twins they were identical, they had short, pale hair in a bowl haircut and like Jean and Agatha, they have no visible eyebrows. They had small paudrens on their arms, leaving their shoulder blades exposed to the open and around the sides of their necks. Other than that they wore a modified version of Alicia and Beth's form fitting two-piece bodysuit that left their backs exposes completely.
"I was told there was a new pair of twins that replaced Alicia and Beth. I take it you're them?" he asked them, crouching down to get to their eye level. The girls didn't say anything, but they nodded. "I see…" he took a deep breath and looked them straight in the eyes, "I'm responsible for that, and I'm sorry for what the Organization put you through for the past six years."
They blinked and curiously tilt their heads; it took everything in Naruto's power to not gush over how cute they looked.
The one on the left spoke first, her voice in a monotone. "Where is Neideen?"
"Back in Morris." he answered her. "Do you want to see her?" he knew these were the very twins that Neideen was having her way with. It seems she left an impression on them. Whether or it it's a good impression remains to be seen.
"We miss her," the one on the right stated, sounding every bit as robotic as Alicia and Beth did, all those years ago.
"I'll bring the two of you to her, once we're finished here." Naruto promised. Then he gave them an encouraging smile and sat down with his legs crossed. Except he wasn't sitting on the ground, Naruto was instead floating several inches off the ground but kept himself eye level with the twins. "So, you two must be pretty strong if you're to replace Alicia and Beth. I heard you have an improved Soul Link, as well."
The twins blinked and nodded, blushing slightly at the praise. They had never been praised before. It felt… nice.
"Hmm… we might have to work with your emotions, though. Not having them is a weakness." Naruto said and started rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he looked at them. "It'll take some time and effort, but if I got Alicia and Beth to have emotions again, then, I can help you two get them back as well. You're younger than them too, so, there's a good chance the Organization hasn't… for lack of a better word… beaten it out of you completely."
The twins nodded, no knowing how else to react.
"Alright, I'll bring you to Morris and get your Stigma healed up. Then I'll see about helping you with getting your emotions back."
Their eyes lit up at that.
"So… what are your names?"
"They don't have names." One of the women said with obvious disgust, and it wasn't for the nameless twins. It was for the Elder who wanted them to be even more broken than Alicia and Beth. "Just their Number,"
"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Naruto plastered on a smile. He ruffled their hair with affection, drawing a blush from the two of them. "I'll name you two myself, if you want me to?"
The twins exchanged looks, then they looked back at him, and nodded in union.
Naruto closed his eyes and puckered his lips thoughtfully, "Hmm…" his eyes opened again, and he looked at the left twin, "I'll call you… Ava," he then looked to the right twin, "And I'll call you Eva. What do you two think?"
The twins smiled faintly at that, liking the names.
"Ava and Eva it is, then," Naruto chirped. Then he looked at the woman with the beauty mark near on her cheekbone under her left eye. "So, what's your name and Number?"
"I-It's Leia, I was Number 14. But, like Tanya I was to be promoted after all this was over. I currently have no rank of my own." the woman in question answered while nervously rubbing her arm.
----
Meanwhile, with Samui's group, the team of nine ducked and wove about the fortress, several men in black 'going missing' in their wake. Hysteria was doing her job rather well; the woman was moving so fast the poor bastards in black weren't able to react in time to her claymore leaving them in two, doing most of the work as she helped Omoi's unit clear a path for Samui's. Raftela, Rosemary and Elizabeth were serving as secondary pathcutters, leading the way for Samui's unit while picking off any Handlers who were lucky enough to get out of the first group's way - they didn't want the bastards to go raising the alarm after all.
As a result, they were almost at their destination in half the time it would have otherwise taken. And with Raftela giving them directions, and keeping them on the right track, it kept them from going astray.
"They should be right down this hallway," Raftela pointed out, she said as they turned the corner.
"I can sense multiple yoki signatures nearby." Rosemary added, and they all came to a running stop. "They are in separate rooms. It's been a while since I was last here but I clearly remember there being less doors." the killer of Hysteria looked at Raftela as she asked, "has the Organization refurbished Staff with new rooms?"
"Perhaps," Raftela stated. "I was still a toddler when you died, so I have no knowledge of Staff's layout from before I became a trainee."
"I don't even remember this place from my time." Elizabeth said as she looked around idly. "This was just a mountain. When the one called the 'Failed Experiment' awakened, I suspect they made these evacuation shelters just in case another incident like that was to happen. To protect their tools from being 'broken' too early, I suspect."
Hysteria shook her head negatively, and went to correct her fellow Crimson Guard. "No. You're wrong. Luciela of the South had awakened before my generation. And they didn't build any extra facilities here after she killed half of their warriors." she hummed, looking thoughtful as she stroked her chin. "I think they did it after I almost killed off the generation I was a part of. Due to the lack of warriors after the Rockwell incident, I suspect they had to replenish their...conscripts, through questionable means. Having more, 'volunteers', means they can replenish any gaps in their ranks quickly. It would be the case of 'we have reserves' if one is to think of it that way."
"It is entirely plausible." Raftela said robotically. "But we should achieve our original mission while the others are distracting the main force." Then she walked to one of the doors and with the tact of an infant, she unceremoniously kicked it in.
As one would expect, Raftela kicking the door in had startled everyone on the other side. The startled screams of young girls could be heard on the other side as the stoic woman stepped inside with a purpose.
Ino blinked owlishly. "...Even Sai has more tact than that." she said with exasperation in her voice.
Moegi was the first to jog on up towards the doorway, followed by her teammates, Lee, Tenten and Samui.
"A-A Crimson Guard?" they heard the voice of one girl say in surprise.
"Yes." Raftela replied. "The leader, in fact. I have been sent to extract you from Staff and bring you all to safety."
"Is… is it because we're under attack?" another girl asked, "I heard they sent forty trainee's to reinforce the North… but no one's heard from them since then."
"They are safe." Raftela answered her, "They have been extracted by the Lord of Morris."
That had gotten them to whisper and murmur to each other. Some with excited curiosity and others with uncertainty.
Then Hysteria leaned in and told Raftela, "We should get them out of here while we still can. Lord Naruto can't keep distracting the Organization forever. I'll go open the other doors, the sooner we get this done the quicker we can get out of here." the woman walked on down the hall to another door and opened it. She quickly drew her claymore and deflected a spear with the flat of her blade; she saw it was one of those men who was garbed in black from head to toe. His eyes went wide with recognition when he saw just who he tried to attack; Hysteria gave him a flat smile before cutting the bastard down. "Nuisance." the former Number 1 stepped over the body and surveyed the room. A large group of young girls, from ages 13 to 18 were huddled together in a corner. They were looking right at her with wide eyes, though the older ones were standing in front of the rest protectively.
Their eyes went wide with recognition upon seeing her armour.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," she sighed sincerely. "I was sent here by the Lord of Morris to get you out of here before he levels Staff."
"Y-you're with the Ladykiller?"
Hysteria looked at the girl who spoke, one of the younger ones. "Indeed I am," she said with a grin. "He lives up to the name, too. I've never seen a man so good at pleasing a woman~!" Her gushing drew blushes from several girls and she let out a chuckle, "However, a lot of things the Organization has said about him are false. He isn't a demon in human skin, nor is he brainwashing anyone. He is similar to us, in fact, only more… 'stable' I suppose the appropriate word for it is."
"He's not a bad person?" One of the older ones asked, she had pointy ears and long wavy-blonde hair that reached to her butt. "But… but what about those rumours he's been spreading? That the Organization's been the one making the youma? And the awakened beings?"
"I confronted him about it, with the rest of the Crimson Guard," Hysteria pointed out. " He provided the evidence he had on hand to back up those claims. Many of those stolen documents he'd used as proof were hand written by Dae, himself. Seeing as how we're actively helping him now, I'm sure I don't need to say much more than that."
The girls visibly didn't like the sound of that, though some of the more… presumably hormonal ones looked dreadfully curious.
They all exchanged looks, before they all got out of the corner one by one and slowly approached the woman of Elegance. "So…. how big is he?" one of the older ones, asked with an intrigued look. She had straight, shoulder-length blonde hair and had quite the impressive rack and physique on her.
"Longer than I thought possible," Hysteria giggled. "I'm still wondering how he made it fit~!" she took off her helmet and leaned in almost conspirituality, "He can even heal your stigma; it's one of the most closely guarded secrets we've been keeping up until now. The procedure also appears to make us fertile, again. He's had several kids with other warriors as a direct result~!"
Several girls perked up at that, many of whom had always wanted to have children and had been devastated to learn that becoming hybrids had made them barren. If he can truly heal them… their prayers would be answered!
Then Hysteria put her helmet back on and gestured for the trainees to follow her. "Come along now, the Lord of Morris is distracting the main force for us. It's only a matter of time before they are aware of it."
Now with more eagerness behind them the trainees' all followed Hysteria the Elegant out of the room. They all carefully stepped over the body and pool of blood that was around him. They found Raftela, Rosemary and Elizabeth in the hallway with several foreigners by their side. They immediately got them curious.
Hysteria saw their curious looks and chuckled, "Those twelve are foreigners, they are from the Ladykiller's continent to the West. They're friends, here to help us extract you all, so there is no need to be wary of them."
Kiba blinked as he took them all in, "A lot of them are old enough to still be in the academy." the Inuzuka said in well hidden surprise. "Though many are old enough to have already graduated." he looked to Raftela and asked, "Care to explain for me? I get the younger ones are still being trained, but the older ones look formidable enough to be deployed."
"47 warriors on the field. No more. No less. Those who die on a mission, send their Black Card, or awaken after passing their limit, are immediately replaced with the reserves. Had the Ladykiller been intending to kill the warriors outside, they would have taken their place." the woman answered stoically. Then she cocked her head to the side and added, seemingly as an afterthought, "However, due to many of us defecting, or 'going missing' over the past few days with Staff being attacked on top of that, there has not been any time in granting promotions or deploying the reserves."
"Chaos and panic does tend to make people forget." Shikamaru yawned off to the side. "The more they panic, the more mistakes they are prone to make. They had less 'warriors' than they would normally have out there. So they probably forgot about the older ones."
"That or they're just arrogant." Choji pointed out with a shrug. "Anyway, how many more are there? Is that all?"
"There are two more rooms containing trainees." Raftela answered. "I shall go to them."
"Actually…" Elizabeth said, "maybe Rosemary and I should get the other two?"
"I agree," Rosemary nodded concurringly. "No offense, but, your lack of tact when kicking the door down scared them. And Hysteria was attacked when she opened hers. We'll get these ones."
Raftela blinked, then nodded robotically. "Very well."
With that said and done, Rosemary and Elizabeth reached out with their senses and quickly found which doors the girls were behind, before scurrying off to fetch the remaining trainees.
Meanwhile Moegi, Tenten and Ino went over to the ones already fetched and tended to them, making sure the girls were doing okay. They were reserved, and liked to keep to themselves some were aloof as well. It was completely understandable. These girls reminded them of Root, Sai in particular. It was a shame he couldn't come along, but alas the painter was on a mission when Naruto came knocking on their doors. Literally.
Of course, Hysteria's group were very interested in what the woman had to say about Naruto. Many of them were interested in him for… 'academic purposes'. Others, however, were far more blatant, much to the relatively puritanical Tenten's embarrassment. Hysteria was thoroughly amused by this, and kept her answers to their questions to a simple 'Yes', 'No', 'Maybe', and 'You'll have to ask him yourself'.
After several long minutes, Rosemary and Elizabeth came back with two groups of girls. These ones were well into their late teens. Now that everyone was assembled, Raftela beckoned everyone to follow her out of the evacuation shelter.