A few hours later, back in the clinic, Gaki whimpered as she tried to stand on wobbly legs. Shizune was holding her hands, trying to get her to start walking straight. That hunched over, all-fours stance was not good for her spine, as people were simply not designed to walk like that - especially for extended periods of time.
But, this felt so weird to the poor Feeder. How did Alpha walk like this? It was so hard to keep her balance!
"You're doing well, Gaki," Tsunade praised while healing up the spine of another feeder. The short-haired woman grunted happily at the feel. "Keep it up and you'll be walking straight in no time."
Right now, the women were dealing with physical therapy, giving poor Inonon a break for the day as that girl was working herself to the bone. Clarice was behind Gaki, ready to catch her just in case her legs were to suddenly give out.
"I… d-don't... li...like this…" Gaki grunted out, her voice soft, and raspy from years of disuse. There were some things that Inonon couldn't fix; so she had to improvise a little.
The young Yamanaka gave some of her experiences to the woman, since it would take time, a lot of time, for Gaki to be retaught to talk and a bunch of other things. The woman now knew what was right and what was wrong. What to do and what not to do in public - being naked was in the latter category, but fuck it! She was old enough to make her own decisions! She can even talk now, which is a huge step in progress. She and the others felt weird when doing so, but they were all capable of speech.
"I know you don't, but you've come so far!" Shizune said with an encouraging smile. "Soon, you'll be as normal as someone like you can be. This is a lot better than thinking like an animal, isn't it?"
"A... A… A… l-li… little…" Gaki stuttered raspingly.
Miata was just sitting on a bed, rocking back and forth as she kicked her feet. She was just observing everything her Mama was doing. She didn't want to separate from Mama, so she'll be a good girl and wait for Mama to be finished here. She was very curious about what she could do with Chakra, now, though. The girl had never felt anything like it before. It felt… a lot better than yoki. She saw her Papa use it and was amazed! She wanted to be like Papa, but she also wanted to be like Mama!
She liked Mama more, though. Mama was more like her. Papa was… not. She didn't know how to explain it, but Papa was different, somehow. He felt different, he smelled different and though it wasn't by much, he acted different.
Inonon, meanwhile, was conspicuously absent, due to having the day off.
The blonde in question was currently busy taking full advantage of her freetime by stalking her crush - much like Hinata had, all those years ago. The object of her desire was chatting it up with Sasuke in the mess hall while Sakura was in the room they occupied, tending to Sarada.
"So… you've been keeping an eye on my kids from the Elemental Nations, have you?" Naruto chuckled. "I take it Gaara had asked you to? I mean, I would have, if I knew where you were when I left. How many are there? I haven't been able to check on a few of the women I've been with."
"He did," Sasuke replied, deciding to answer the questions on order. "As it turns out you have 22, including Mirai and excluding Tomoka: twelve in Nami, five in Haru, and five more who are scattered about."
Inonon blushed heavily upon overhearing that. Naruto really was a stud~!
"I see," It would appear that Miria was onto something about those rumors with Tsunami. He'll check on her later. "Who are the mothers of those other five? I wanna track them down and see how they're doing."
"Guren, Isaribi, Shizuka, Haruna, and Amaru," Sasuke replied. "Guren, Isaribi, and Amaru are in Iwa, last I heard, and the other two are in their own respective countries."
Guren… that was a name he hadn't heard in a long time. Naruto scratched his jawline in utter perplexment; when did he and Guren fuck? He doesn't remember that… wait a minute, he was unconscious some time after the two of them were eaten by Isobu… they were friends by that point, and she would always give him these odd looks after he revealed that he was Kurama's container…
Then, it clicked. Oh! That naughty woman…
Naruto chuckled. "Thanks. I'll get to checking on them as soon as possible." Then, he leaned against the table and asked, "So how's everything going with you lately? Did anything big happen… aside from the obvious?"
"Nothing much," the Uchiha answered with a shrug. "Konoha is still on their own and most of the other Nations are reluctant to let her rejoin the Shinobi Union. Of course, I did receive word from Shukaku that you had asked Konoha for help."
"I did," Naruto replied with a nod. "I wanted to give them another chance, and I got some old friends to help out. I gave the village 20 million Ryu for a job well done, afterwards. It should keep them afloat for a while."
Their little observer smiled brightly at that. She knew the village was suffering and that some of the clans were even considering the thought of leaving - hers included. Considerate, selfless, a good father, and a stud; what more could she ever want in a man? Inonon stifled a giggle, not wanting to reveal that she'd been spying on them.
Unfortunately, she'd been noticed long ago. Naruto and Sasuke were kage-level, after all.
"So, when are we going to address your new stalker?" Sasuke asked. Though he didn't show it, this development was at least mildly amusing.
Naruto chuckled as he heard a squawk and a thud behind him. "You're not as sneaky as you think…" He turned to look at the person in question, and finished, saying, "...Inonon. I gotta say, though, that it's pretty refreshing. After being stalked by Hinata for several years, I found myself missing it."
The blonde turned beet red at that. "Uh… eh-heh… S-sorry. I… couldn't help myself."
Naruto smiled and got up to offer her a hand. Inonon blushed even more heavily and accepted it with a smile.
"So, how's everything going?" he asked. "You doing well enough?"
"Yes, actually," she replied with a smile. "The living conditions and time difference took some getting used to, but I managed. Also, the 'Feeders' are doing well. They've made a lot of progress and are even talking, now. Though much of what they're capable of had to be replaced with substitutes. Many of their memories couldn't be recovered, unfortunately." Inonon scowled with clear disgust as she said, "Whoever this 'Dae' guy was, he did a thorough job in trying to make them mindless monsters. He was a lot worse than Danzo in some regards."
Naruto smiled and ruffled her hair, drawing a giggle from the blonde. "I can't thank you enough for your help. Try to take it easier, though. Tsunade's told me you've been working yourself a bit too hard."
"Uh… sorry," Inonon replied sheepishly. "After seeing the state of their minds, I couldn't help myself… I knew it was going to be tough, but I figured that if I was going to fix them, I'd might as well go all out or not do it at all."
"Just so long as you don't overdo it," Naruto replied with concern. "I don't want you to exhaust and hurt yourself."
The poor blonde could feel the heat coming off of her cheeks.
Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the young girl. "Hmm… interesting."
"What's interesting?" Naruto asked him.
"She is acting similarly to Hinata," the Uchiha observed. "Granted, it's not as bad as her - she hasn't fainted yet. But, it's similar."
Inonon went bright red at being called out like that.
"Huh…" Naruto looked mildly bemused by that. Then he shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I don't mind - it's kinda cute, actually." He has absolutely no intention on fucking her. Nope. No way. No how. He doesn't care if those Goddesses are behind her crush on him, he is not going down that road.
Even Hinata had more tact than that! Plus she's thirteen…
"Hypocrite." Kurama grumbled in the back of his head. "You've fucked more than one. Hell, that girl who walked in on you in Kumo had barely turned thirteen when you banged her!"
"I know! But that was before I learned my sex life was being influenced by Divinity! She's got a whole career ahead of her. I'm not taking that away from her."
"If she wants it," Kurama pointed out. "Whether or not she wants to pursue it is her choice to make, anyway, and it's not like she'd be unable to raise a family while being a psychiatrist. Several of your wives are already raising the others' kids. Also, as they pointed out, she was just given a nudge to see if you'd be a good mate and I can tell that she's interested."
"I know, but I'm trying to keep my dick in my pants. Seriously, I've bedded, like… over a hundred, by this point. It's ridiculous!"
"Didn't stop you last night… She's also not the only one looking in your direction and she won't be the last, I'm sure."
"Ugh… tell me about it." He does not envy Sasuke after finding out what having fangirls is like. He was honestly getting a little sick of them to be honest. Shallow girls, the lot of them.
"Let her make that decision, brat. Whether or not she wants to pursue you is her call to make, anyway, and most of them weren't shallow."
"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto muttered with irritation. "And by the way, all of those fangirls became ninja just so they could get close to me. I have your negative emotions sensing, remember. I could tell who was lying, and they all lied."
"I wasn't talking about those brats from Konoha, and this one wasn't among them."
"...Oh. I thought we were." Naruto mentally replied. "And I know that. She was already a ninja by the time I left. I never met her officially, until now, though."
"...ruto? Na-to?"
Sasuke looked at his friend with a single, narrowed eye. His lips curled down to a prominent frown, at being ignored. So he did the one thing that was certain to get his attention.
Sasuke Uchiha, the last living male of the Uchiha Clan… gave Naruto a hard whack across the scalp.
"OUCH!"
Naruto's conversation was cut short on impact and he realized that he was still rubbing Inonon's scalp - the poor blonde was now blushing so hard he could practically see steam rising from her cheeks.
"Whoops. Sorry." Naruto took his hand off the blonde's scalp and used the other to rub at the place where Sasuke whacked him. The blond gave said Uchiha an irritated look as he said, "I was having a conversation with Kurama. I got a little preoccupied as a result."
"Th-that's okay," the young Yamanaka muttered shyly, still blushing hard.
"So, this 'Organization' has been taken care of. What's next?" Sasuke asked. He wanted to know what his friend was up to now that his main obstacle has been taken care of.
"Well… it was getting rid of any remaining youma and Awakened Beings that are not on our side. But with that huge army of youma taken care of and so many of the surviving Awakened Beings on my side, it's pretty safe to say there's not much left. I do have an eye on an island, though: Uzushiogakure no Sato. The ancestral home of the Uzumaki Clan. I'll probably focus on getting that back on the map, once the girls are ready to serve as the Organization's replacement and protect the people here. I might also help Shion with getting a Church of the Twins established on our continent, as well."
"Anything I can do to help?" Inonon asked, eager to see what she could do for her crush.
She was disappointed when he shook his head, no, "No. Nothing I can think of that would require your expertise… aside from helping with the Feeders."
"Oh, that reminds me," she said. "I was never able to recover their names. Only Gaki has one, because 'Alpha named her Gaki.'"
"I'm working on giving them all names. It's pretty hard to think of names native to this continent. And native to the Elemental Nations." Naruto answered. "I can think of a few, but I want to give them all one at the same time, so no one feels left out."
"I can help out with that if you want," Inonon chirped cutely. "I could give you some suggestions."
"Write them down for me," he told her with a smile. "It'll help me remember if there's more than a dozen."
Of course, the blonde swooned upon seeing that smile and eagerly nodded. "I'll be on my way, then." With that, she scampered out of the dining hall.
Naruto decided it was high time for him to get going. He still had a group of hybrids to train after all. And there's the simulation out in the bailey they can use for training purposes. If Henriette thought it was a wise idea to stay stationary where they could be picked off, he'll break that mindset.
Maybe 'Insane Naruto' can come out to play…? Naruto then remembered what she and a few others were put through when Miata tried to use the Flower Simulation and decided he might want to be a little less… brutal than that. Still there were a few ideas he could use.
----
It didn't take long for Naruto to gather the girls he'd decided to train and bring them out to the bailey. Kushina and Minato were done talking to the kids for now and that left the simulation ready for use. When they were all outside, Naruto came to a stop and turned to face them.
"I was contemplating on giving you all a simulation where you all were pressured to move… but the person I was thinking of using would to… well… overkill." he said.
Tanya looked at him with an expression that showed she was offended by his words. "Are you saying we wouldn't be able to handle it?" She asked, no, demanded him.
"Honestly? Yes." Naruto bluntly replied. "Heavy-Bladed Chloe fought him, and she was forced to retreat."
"No way!"
"That's… unsettling…"
"How could a Number One be forced to retreat?!" that last one was from Audrey; since none of them had any idea Chloe had faced an insane version of him it was understandable that the idea of a Number One losing hadn't crossed her mind.
Needless to say, Naruto was not at all surprised by the reactions he got.
Then the seal formula that made up the simulation behind him started flickering. Naruto looked at it and frowned. That wasn't supposed to happen. The barrier was soon covered by the familiar ink-like substance, and when it slid back down to the ground a moment later, Naruto was a little surprised and more than a little exasperated when he saw the dark-clad, blood splattered insane version of himself.
He had his blood stained hands pressing flat against the barrier and was glaring at the trainees and warriors, with a wide toothy, crooked grin. His crimson red, bloodshot eyes were darting between them all, taking in each and every face.
Then he had a fit of disturbing, giggles, "So more, so more, hehehehehehehehehehe…" He reared his head back and smashed his forehead against the barrier and tried clawing his way out. A bubbling red cloak of chakra manifested around the dark-clad blond. Turning his eyes decidedly fox-like, and making his whiskers and canines more pronounced. As a direct effect of that, the unstable blond decidedly became more violent. "I wanna rip you people to FUCKING PIECES!"
To say the others were afraid of the blond in the simulation was an understatement.
"Oi!" the insane Naruto growled as he snapped his head to his creator. "Knock it off! You're scaring them!"
The other Naruto broke down in a fit of insane cackles, to the real Naruto's annoyance. Then he looked at the warriors, grinned maddeningly and dragged a thumb across his neck in an elaborate line.
The message was loud and clear: "You're Dead."
"Maybe you'll be a lot more fun than that woman with the much bigger looking sword." he cocked his head to the side, eyes flickering, darting, never staying in on one person for too long. Then he punched the barrier with his blood covered hand. "Try not to die too quick if you're unlucky enough to fight me. It won't be fun, not being able to listen to your screams as I rip you apart piece. By Piece. If you're dead!" Then he gave them a mocking wave. "Tata… For now."
With that ominous promise, he faded away like a mirage and the ink like substance rose up to cover the entire barrier again.
"I'm sorry you all had to see that." Naruto apologised and he wasn't surprised to see they were absolutely terrified of what they saw.
"What. The Hell?!" Rachel was calm enough to say that in a collected manner, but even she was seriously put off by that thing. "What the hell is that? He's you! He sounded like you! But he didn't act like you!"
"You're completely right." Naruto nodded, "That is me. He's an insane version of me. The one that Heavy-Bladed Chloe fought and was forced to run away from to be exact."
"You wanted us to fight him?!" Henriette yelled as she waved her arms up and down in outrage. She'd rather take on the flower again!
"Emphasis on 'wanted'," Naruto pointed out. "After thinking about it, I felt that would be overkill. He's not the type of person you can just 'stay still and brace for impact' on. He's relentless and will not stop until you're dead if he sees you. Knowing you, Henriette, you would have tried to protect your team as best you can and hunkered down somewhere. Except for him that wouldn't work. He'd massacre the lot of you if you were to stay in one place for too long."
"I'd rather take on the flower again than fight him." Lytelle muttered to Henriette who wholeheartedly agreed with her. At least Himawari was nice.
"The flower…?" Erica asked, legitimately curious.
"You… probably don't want to know," Naruto chuckled nervously. "The flower is probably one of the more 'safer' simulations I have, and there are difficulty settings to it and the simulation itself can be adjusted to give you a better fighting chance. But it's probably best that you don't take it."
Now deep in thought Naruto started tapping his fingers on his arm rythemically.
He cocked his head to the side, now that he thought about it Tsunade did say the missions he's been on were out of the norm. There was that search and recovery mission for a beetle, or a bug of some sort for Shino, and that turned into a clusterfuck.
"To be honest, most of my missions in my career were not in the norm. They had people who were more skilled and more experienced than me. Team Miria had taken my first high ranked mission, and even though they won, the person they were fighting had almost beaten them." And Zabuza would be overkill for them so that was out of the question. Maybe for the more experienced warriors, like Audrey and Rachel he'll use him.
"So, what sim are you thinking, then?" Despite the fear she felt seeing the other Naruto, Tanya was eager as all hell.
"...A teamwork exercise." inspired Naruto turned to the simulation and pressed his hand against the barrier. The inky substance ran up the walls of the energy-wall and blocked everyone's view on the other side. "I'm going to take a page out from Kakashi-Sensei's book and have you take the Bell Test."
"Bell test?" Hanna asked as she cocked her head to the side curiously.
"Yep. It's a Team 7 tradition, back home. My dad used it on his team. Kakashi-Sensei, used it on his own team which you already met." Naruto replied, the inky substance slinked back down to the ground again to reveal a grassy clearing with three stumps and a small river. The old training grounds he took his bell test. "The goal of the Bell Test is simple: work together with the intent to kill and get the bells."
Tanya cackled menacingly. "I like the sound of that~!"
"So… anything goes?" Audrey asked.
"Yep. Anything goes." Then Naruto looked at the former Number 3 and what he said next gave her a chill of fear. "You're going to be fighting me after all. Of course, I will be holding back. This is a training exercise, after all."
Audrey let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was glad he wasn't going to be going all out. That monster he turned into at Nile scared her. So now she was a little more confident in herself.
"Alright." the long, straight haired woman stepped forward with more confidence in her step. "So, how does this thing work?"
"You just walk on through." Henriette answered, stepping forward herself with Lytelle following after her. This was nothing like the flower one so she was more at ease. "Lytelle and I had used it once before."
"The flower you keep mentioning?" Erica asked.
"Yeah… I'd rather not go into details." Lytelle answered, though she was tempted to do that one again now that she has the knowledge on what to expect. Then she and Henriette stepped through the barrier and into the simulation.
After they went inside and everyone else saw them walk to the clearing, completely fine and at ease, the rest of th trainees and warriors delved inside of the simulation. The Naruto followed in after them once the last of them went in, and the barrier solidified behind him. Once he was inside, Naruto went over to the stump and sat down on it, gesturing everyone to assemble around him.
"Okay. The Bell Test is fairly simple: work together to get these bells..." he held up a hand and before their eyes two jingly bells with pieces of strings on them manifested in his palm, "from me. Now, while I said anything goes, there is one rule I want you all to abide: no yoki is allowed. This exercise is to see how far you've come using chakra. Understand?"
He, of course, was going to be holding back a lot for this test. It wouldn't be fair if he just brought out the big guns and beat them all in a matter of seconds. The blond wouldn't learn anything from them otherwise.
Everyone nodded in unison.
"Alright," Naruto nodded back. Then he stood up from the stump and tied the jingly bells to his pants. Then, on the tree stomp behind him an alarm clock materialised. "Once this alarm goes off, the test is over. It'll start ticking down once you start." Naruto told them, upon seeing the confused looks on their faces. "Start when you're ready, then."
There was no hesitation from Tanya. She immediately pulled out her claymore and leapt at him to try and sever his head from his shoulders. Naruto nonchalantly ducked under her swipe, and when she was going overhead above him, the blond got back up and brought up his arm to wrap around her chest. Tanya hurked when she was forcibly stopped mid-flight and she saw the world spin around her as Naruto forced the thirteen year old to the ground.
Tanya cried out in both surprise and pain when she felt her back and head smash against the earth. The sheer unexpectedness of that counter had caused her grip on the handle to slacken when she hit the ground. She had never been countered like that before! However, instead of just lying there, she immediately tightened her hold on her sword handle and side-rolled away from him before he could go on the offensive.
The truth was, Naruto could have gone on the offensive easily when she was on the ground. He had more than enough time to stomp on her. But he wasn't to see everything they learned.
"The point of this exercise is to work together. Not alone." Naruto drawled, sounding completely and utterly bored as reached into his jacket pocket and took out… a book. The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja, to be exact. "But if you're going to be acting like that… then I'm going to read this book."
"Kurama, keep an eye on them. I don't want them to get the drop on me." Naruto requested his friend. He had a very good feeling, that pulling out his favourite book by his late mentor would offend them.
"Alright. I see you're playing the old 'Kakashi not taking things seriously, when he actually was' route." Kurama was amused to say the least.
"You know it!"
As Naruto had predicted, almost everyone was were pretty offended by that move. Even the twins, Ava and Eva felt something about that. And they didn't like that feeling. It made them feel… sad, but somehow more than sad. They didn't remember the last time they felt like this but they didn't like it.
The only ones who weren't offended by that, were unsurprisingly, Audrey and Rachel. Out of everyone in their little group, they're the only ones who actually fought him. So they know just how dangerous the blond can be when he wants to be.
"The hell?!" Charlotte shouted.
"Take us seriously dammit!" Heidi yelled at him looking legibly offended.
"I'll take you seriously, once you take my attention away from my favourite book," he glanced at them, and added, "Or, if you manage to touch the bells." he shrugged and went right back to reading. "Whichever comes first."
While she didn't have much experience in using chakra, Henriette was more than willing to prove Naruto wrong. She tapped Ava, Eva, Lytelle, Erica, Hanna and Regina on the shoulder gaining their attention and beckoned them to follow her lead.
Naruto was pleased to see that the trainees, the twins included, followed Henriette without question when she darted off into the treeline. The rest of them on the other hand hadn't moved from their spot.
"We just need to get the bells, right?" Savra asked, 'looking' at him with her yoki-sensing. He hadn't moved from his spot, and he didn't seem nervous when the younger girls left the area.
"Yep. Get the bells and you win." then he smirked and threw a thumb over his shoulder, at the alarm on the stomp behind him. "By the way, time's a-tickin'. If it goes off, you automatically lose."
"How much time do we have?" Rachel demanded, pulling her claymore out from the sword holder on the back of her plate gorget.
Naruto shrugged unconcernedly as he gave them a mischievous smile, despite not taking his eyes away from the page he was on. "Who knows? It could be an hour from now. It could be within the next few minutes. And you standing there, wasting time, is doing just that: wasting time. Which is fine for me." he replied, making sure he was loud enough for the trainees hiding in the treeline to hear.
Wasting time brings them that much closer to losing and him winning. And, from the many sounds of swords being pulled out, the women in front of him came to realize that.
"Remember you lot: no yoki. Only chakra." he said remindingly. Then Naruto casually turned a page in his book.
Then, with a slight flare of chakra, Leia vanished.
"Behind you!" Kurama warned.
Naruto immediately dodged to the left when the girl in question tried stabbing him in the back via a lunge. He glanced down briefly and saw her hand reaching out to grab the bells. The blond retaliated by turning and whacking the woman on the top of her head with the hardback of his book. Hard. She let out a surprised, pained yelp at the impact. Then he grabbed the back of her head with his other hand, and without taking his eyes away from the page, he casually tossed Leia to the rest of her comrades, and was caught by Charlotte and Heidi.
Audrey and Rachel then attacked him together. The latter leapt into the air, with Audrey following after her. As Rachel brought her arms back, above her head, claymore in hand, Audrey appeared behind her, slightly to her right and slashed at her friends edge holding it in place when the woman grit her teeth and put all her strength in bringing it down.
"Move to the left!"
Naruto did so, just as Audrey pulled her claymore away and allowed Rachel to bring her sword down to cleave his skull. The woman missed by mere, seconds, and the ground shattered when her claymore impacted the earth.
Like the last time they did that attack on him in Nile, that attack was so easily telegraphed that even an idiot could see it coming a mile away.
They weren't done there though. When Rachel landed on the floor she kneeled down and allowed Audrey to step on and jump off her back in another overhead. Naruto avoided that one by combat rolling along the ground. When he stood back up Naruto was assaulted by them both.
"Left!"
Naruto weaved to his left.
"Right!"
Naruto dodged to the right.
"Duck!"
Naruto ducked when they tried to cut off his head scissor style with their swords. And he ran between them both, and gave them a swat on their nice asses for their trouble. They jumped and yelped at the feeling of getting their butts spanked out of nowhere.
Pushing their embarrassment to the side, they quickly turned around and engaged the blond.
"Yeah. Keep focused on us. Expose your back to the others…" Audrey thought with narrow-eyed determination.
With Naruto having his back to the rest of her fellow warriors, they would be able to try and grab the bells. Or, if they're feeling especially brave, mount a sneak attack on him.
----
Off in the treeline, Henriette, Erica, Hanna, Regina, Lytelle, Ava and Eva were observing the fight with Naruto. Henriette was looking for, something, anything, that would give them an advantage in this test. She also heard that they had a limited time limit too; while she was concerned at the time limit the girl wasn't focused on that.
She was more concerned on getting those bells from him, and what the best way to go about it would be. That was one of the reasons why she wasn't joining the other hybrids. She wanted to learn more about Naruto's capabilities.
Audrey and Rachel were forcing the Lord of Morris back to the others, the girl noted. But he still take his eyes away from his book. Even when they were attacking him; he was able to avoid their attacks effortlessly!
Naruto not looking at them while Audrey and Rachel attacked him told Henriette two things: either Naruto was cocky to the point of arrogance... or he actually was that skilled.
Then Tanya tried attacking and going for the bells, from behind. Naruto, however, retaliated by side stepping, and turning at the same time; he then grabbed the outstretched hand and threw the petite blonde to Audrey and Rachel.
That was the trigger for everyone else to attack him.
Heidi was the first to go down. He tripped her and sent her stumbling to the ground on her hands and knees. Leia was next, as Naruto smacked the hardback of his book onto the side of Leia's head, causing the woman to stagger with disorientation, and fall on top of Heidi. The woman fell to the ground as her arms and knees gave out under the sudden weight.
Savra, was 'dispatched' next. Naruto finally took his eyes away from his book, spun around in the opposite direction of her slash when she tried cutting his back. He retaliated by spanking her, hard. She squealed and turned around, lopping at him with a flushed face. Naruto dodged that one and finished her off by grabbing the side of her head and tossing her into Charlotte. Both of them knocked heads, and conveniently knocked themselves out.
Then he looked at Audrey and Rachel again… stared at them for a moment, before casually going back to reading his book as if nothing happened.
Okay… he actually was that skilled.
"It looks like we'll have to fight him together," Henriette observed; everyone else tried fighting him one by one, with no coordination and that failed.
"Got any ideas?" Hanna asked.
Henriette narrowed her eyes. "We just need to get the bells… a distraction. We have to work together and distract him. There's one of him and seven of us. We have the number advantage." the young girl looked at her fellow trainee's and the only warriors that came with them. "Here's the plan…"
----
Several several minutes of waiting later, Naruto was already several pages in his book. He was waiting for Henriette's group to reemerge from the treeline. Audrey and Rachel haven't tried anything again, after seeing how he so thoroughly defeated everyone in their group. They did drag everyone he dispatched away from him, and the blond let them.
Naruto, however, was focusing on Henriette's group, and Kurama was keeping an 'eye' on Audrey's.
"Seems like Henriette's group is finally making a move. They're separating to try and get themselves into a better position from what I can sense," Naruto thought to Kurama. He then risked a glance back at the alarm clock. They had two minutes left before it goes off.
"So it seems." the fox huffed, "Rachel and Audrey are not making a move. Neither is their group, obviously." They were still recovering from their humiliating defeat. But they were still keeping an eye on him. "Once that brat's group emerges from the treeline, I'll bet my tails they'll join in."
"It's possible." he took his eyes away from his book when Naruto heard an explosion behind him. Not a moment later, Ava and Eva had both seemed to materialise behind him. The twins had chakra-walked up a tree and purposely sent too much chakra to their feet in order to launch themselves. "Well, how creative of them."
Naruto snapped his book closed and as he put it away, the blond spun around in order to face the twins. He caught their fists in his palm and was surprised when his feet slid along the ground upon the impact of their fists. Holy shit, they had a lot of strength in those lanky arms of theirs!
Then another explosion sounded from another tree, and Henriette was thrown clear across the clearing, with her claymore held in front of her. She was trying to impale him! Naruto jumped to the side, and he saw her smirking. He frowned, wondering what she was thinking. That was when he felt it: a tug.
Looking down the blond found Regina holding onto the jingle bells.
"How the hell did she get so close!?" Naruto snapped his hand down and grabbed her wrist. Just when he was about to apply force in order to get her to let go, he his negative sensing went off - followed by a battlecry from Erica and Lytelle. Both of them had their weapons sheathed and had their fists drawn back ready to right hook him on the nose.
Well, he was in one hell of a dilemma right now. Either he can let go, catch their fists and let Regina get those bells. Or he can ignore them, focus on getting Regina and get two fists to the face…
He took a third option.
"What the heck?!" Regina squawked out when Naruto grabbed her arms and lift her up off the ground. Then she yelped in both surprise and pain when the blond used her as a makeshift club and whacked Erica and Lytelle. He let go and watched the three of them roll across the ground.
Of course, when he let go of Regina, Naruto felt a rather sharp tug on his waistline. He took a quick check to see if the bells were still there. He let out a relieved sigh. They were. Seems she let go when he used her as a makeshift club. He had to admit, they were impressing him the longer this went on.
Of course, he remembered one person that went forgotten: Henriette. And he was reminded of her harshly, when the sharp edge of her sword cut into his waist, where the jingly bells were. He gasped and moved away as fast as he could. But not before catching the bells themselves.
Gasping, he looked at his hand and saw blood. His blood. Seems he really did need to take things seriously now. Henriette landed on the ground, with her claymore embedded into the ground.
"I have to admit," Naruto started, putting pressure back onto his wound, "you're impressing me more and more. You hurt me, and managed to cut off the bells, but didn't catch them." Closing his eyes one corner of Naruto's mouth curved upwards, into a sharp smirk, and his eyes reopened, giving him a rather evil look. "This is the kind of teamwork I'm looking for! And now that you've cut me… let's see if you can keep it up, hmm?"
Then he went on the offensive. Henriette quickly yanked her claymore out of the ground and used the flat of her blade to block whatever he was about to do. It was out of instinct more than anything. But it was the right call. Naruto gave a devastating jab to her sword and while the blade wasn't cracked or hurt in anyway, she still felt the impact vibrating through the sword and up her arms. Naruto may not have been using chakra, or any other techniques, but thanks to the Old Man Sage he was a lot stronger than he use to be before the war.
He wasn't surprise to see Henriette being sent back with her feet dragging against the floor. Though he took a lot of satisfaction at the shocked look on her face when she finally came to a stop, almost a meter away.
"Brat! Two on your six!" Kurama warned.
Naruto heard the whooshing sound of cutting air, and he surprised his would be attackers by throwing himself to the ground. When he saw them try to turn around the blond quickly pushed himself up and flipped himself onto his feet. It was Audrey and Rachel and they standing side by side, holding their claymore's defensively opposite of each other. Naruto came to realise they were protecting each other's weak spots.
Very clever.
And they had rather irritated looks on their faces… either that, or they were still embarrassed that he managed to swat their nice asses. Naruto chanced a glance back at the alarm clock and saw they had little under half-a-minute before they lose automatically.
"To your right!"
He dodged to the side when Tanya tried to cleave his shoulder. Her claymore embedded itself into the ground and she yanked it out with one hand before turning to give him quite the flirtatious grin along with the bedroom eyes.
Well… warriors of the Organization were trained to act as prostitutes to give them cover when they are in places that don't accept their kind… like Rabona. Because of that, Naruto wasn't as surprised as he should have been. Or disturbed for that matter… at least not until that grin morphed into a psychotic, full-on rape face.
Her sword not held in a rattail guard, Tanya charged, cackling madly as she kept swiped at him. He backed up to evade her horizontal slash and after reinforcing his hand with chakra, caught the sharp end of her sword when Tanya brought it back down. That startled the living hell out of her, since no one ever had the balls to actually catch her sword with their bare hand, before. The same went for everybody else, except for Audrey and Rachel who had seen him do the same exact thing when they fought him.
Then, without withholding his grip on her sword, Naruto pulled Tanya to him right into his knee. Tanya wheezed as the air was forcibly expunged from her lungs. She didn't let up though and used one of her hands to try and punch him in the stomach. Of course, Naruto caught her wrist with his free hand and gave her a mocking, 'Tut, tut, tut!', like she was a naughty child, before he forcibly pushed her away.
Of course, Naruto had forgotten that was the same hand he was holding those bells with, and he dropped them when he went to grab Tanya's wrist. They went forgotten.
Savra and Heidi tried to blindside him, the latter using chakra to buff her speed, while Savra was using her yoki-sensing to get a feel of where Naruto is. When he backed away to avoid Heidi's lunge, Savra adjusted accordingly and tried to tackle him.
Surprisingly, it works!
Naruto was still injured and the gash on his hip was beginning to throb. It distracted him long enough for Savra to get the drop on him. He made to shove her off, only to stop when he heard a pair of bells jingle. Not long after that the alarm went off.
Blinking Naruto realised he no longer had the bells in his possession, and remembered that he had to let go of them when he caught Tanya's wrist. He looked in the direction the jingles were coming from and found Henriette standing there, jiggling the bells with a look of accomplishment on her face.
"Well… how about that?" Naruto chuckled warmly, reaching up to ruffle the girl's hair from his place on the ground. Henriette giggled and let him as he turned to address Heidi. "I gotta say, you've got an impressive sister, here. She's got a good head on her shoulders." then he looked at Savra who was still straddling him. "Do you mind getting off of me?"
Said woman giggled, blushing madly as she gave him an impish grin. "I don't know; I've come to like it, here."
He blinked at her, then shrugged. "Alright. Suit yourself." he sat up, but made no move to get the woman off of him. In fact, he did the opposite, causing her blush to deepen as he pulled Savra into a close hug. "Obviously, you girls pass. While your strategy and methods could use some touching up, your teamwork was not bad at all. I'm impressed."
"I have a question…" Audrey spoke up.
"Yeeeeeeeees?" From the looks on their faces, Naruto had a feeling he knew what was going to be asked next.
"What was up with you slapping our asses?!" Rachel yelled at him with a shaking fist.
Naruto took a moment to act as if he was really thinking on it. Then he just shrugged uncaringly and said in the most serious tone they had ever heard him say, "You have nice asses, and you left yourselves wide open, of course I'm going to take the opportunity to give you a good spanking!" then he gestured to Savra on his lap and added, "Savra, here, has a nice ass, too. I couldn't help myself." He then leaned in and whispered into the blind woman's ear, "especially after what we did last night~!"
Unfortunately, he'd underestimated the girls' hearing, and several of the trainees looked remarkably jealous at that, much to Naruto's inward exasperation. Even Erica looked like she wanted some attention!
"S-so… you like our butts?" Audrey coughed, looking remarkably more shy.
"Not just your butts," Naruto chuckled impishly. "You girls are all kinda cute, actually… in many ways." And he got a squawk out of Savra when he swatted her nice ass. Every last girl who'd taken the sim was now beet red from his casual admittance. "And I did see all of you naked after all, so I know what I'm talking about~ You have no idea how hard it was for me to not bend you over and have my way with you, when I was healing your stigmas~!"
"And what happened to you not trying to bed more women?" Came Kurama's exasperated voice in the back of his head.
Naruto, of course, ignored the giant fox in his gut. He was actually talking about girls from the Elemental Nations when they were talking about Inonon… those who were on Testing Ground One were fair game as far as he was concerned. Though, if that girl was to pursue him, then he'll gladly fuck the shape of her ass into his mattress.
"Of course…" Kurama was shaking his head in exasperation. The fox knew exactly what his vessel was thinking. Seriously, the brat said one thing, and he would contradict himself later on in the same day!
"Sounds to me you wanted to fuck them," Savra airly pointed out.
"I fucked the near entirety of the Crimson Guard right after I healed their stigmas. I wouldn't get to Miranda or Neideen until later." Naruto replied with a shrug. "They were interested in me as well, and I don't go for anyone who doesn't show any interest in me. I flirt with them, sure, but other than that…"
"Noted," Tanya chirped, slinking around and pressing her modest bust against the back of Naruto's head as she hugged him from behind.
"Well, that's quite the step up." Naruto said with an amused grin. Meanwhile, poor Savra felt the heat comong off her cheeks when she felt something familiar poking her. "What age are you by the way, Tanya?
"Old enough by the standards of your continent, I hear," she replied impishly. "But, I'll be turning fourteen, soon."
"S-so… What is the age of adulthood in the Elemental Nations?" Erica asked shyly.
"It varies," Naruto replied, before adopting a thinking tone. "In Konoha, ninja, like myself are of consent when we reach 13 years of age. That's mainly because in our line of work, most of us don't live for long. It's actually very rare for ninja to live past the age of 50. It's common for ninja to die in the line of work in their 20's to 30's, but that's mainly due to the higher ranked missions. Civilians, on the other hand, reach the age of consent when they reach 16; because they're at a lower risk. Some countries like Kumo have it at 13 regardless, according to Karui… and Kakashi-Sensei, the current Hokage, was a ninja from the age of seven; though that was because Konoha was in the middle of a world war at the time, so the age of consent probably would have been a lot lower back then." Naruto took a moment to think.
"The age of consent was dropped to 10 at the time… just like it was in the previous two." Kurama informed.
"How do you know that?" Naruto asked out loud, mainly from curiosity.
"Brat, I was sealed in your mother. She was trying to bang someone the instant she turned ten, because she wanted to take advantage of that amendment as soon as possible. It didn't work though, because there simply wasn't enough time. And because of the war, your parents were always on different fronts trying to hold back the tide of Iwa and Kumo. She didn't get pregnant until she was in her twenties, after the war had ended. Not to mention, I've been through that war. And the war before that. And the war before that. You tend to notice those things when they happen enough times. Plus I was bored to hell."
"...Well...Kurama just told me that the age of consent was dropped to ten, back when Kakashi was was seven. And the two wars before that. Turns out it's a common thing when war is on the horizon. I wonder if that happened during the war I took part in?"
"Not likely. That war you partook lasted several days and came, literally, out of nowhere." Kurama pointed out.
"It didn't though… Obito declared war at the Kage Summit." Naruto rebutted; that was literally common knowledge now.
"Comparatively, it did; he came out of nowhere, declared war and in the next few days, war broke out between the Akatsuki and the entire Elemental Nations." Kurama argued; he had more knowledge on this since he was there for all of them. He was even around during the 'Clan Wars' and that era was more brutal than anything his container had ever seen. The life expectancy back then was horrendous. People died enmass, in battle at the age of five, back then! It was rare for anyone to reach the age of 20!
A lot of clans were wiped out as a result, though the more bloodthirsty ones, like the Kaguya Clan had managed to prevail due to the sheer brutality they displayed. They were so brutal that even the Senju and Uchiha clans feared fighting them. Of course, when the shinobi villages were formed those bloodthirsty clans were either wiped out like the Kaguya Clan, or they were assimilated… and eventually wiped out when they didn't like how 'peaceful' the village they joined was being for their liking.
"That war, despite having the five elemental countries working together - therefore qualifying as a 'World War' - only happened over the course of a few days. The previous ones lasted a few years and those in charge of the countries participating saw the writing on the walls, often years before the wars broke out. The third one lasted almost an entire decade. You've had your taste of war, but it technically wasn't a 'major one' unlike the one your parents took part in."
"Point taken…" Naruto muttered. To be honest, he was relieved to have not taken part in something like that. Then he realised that everyone was listening to their one-sided conversation and Naruto looked a bit sheepish. "Ah, sorry, I was just learning a few things from Kurama. He says it's unlikely that the age of consent was dropped at the time of that war I participated in. It only lasted for a few days and there wasn't any real buildup to it."
"That sounds unsettling." Henriette muttered. "I'd hate to see a world war suddenly break out. At least when tensions rise between countries, preparations can be made, just in case."
"Yeah, it did kinda suck," Naruto replied with a humorless chuckle. "Lost a lotta good men and women in that… even a close friend. Even one enemy I had to face was… nightmare-inducing. It makes any Awakened Beings you've encountered look like pussycats in comparison."
While Tanya was not the type to really care, she felt the need to comfort Naruto and so she did - popping a squat next to him and rubbing his back. He smiled appreciatively at that. Then he leaned back slightly, and grinned impishly, "Nice ass you got there, Tanya."
She giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek for that. "Keep up the flattery and I'll give you a nice reward."
Naruto chuckled at that and gave her a peck on the nose, drawing a heavy blush from the teen. The other girls, meanwhile, started looking a bit jealous, especially when Erica latched onto his arm.
"Oh, my," Savra giggled when his erection poked her in the thigh. "Someone's enjoying the attention he's getting~!"
Naruto chuckled sheepishly at that. "I got a cute, girl hugging one arm. Another on the other. And I got a beautiful woman straddling me," he pointed out, before teasingly adding, "bite me."
Savra giggled again and gave him a light nip on the cheek with a playful growl. Naruto chuckled again and gave her a swat on the rear. "So, we still got time to kill - we were meant to go on a training trip after all." he reminded them all pointedly. "Is there anything you all want to do? We can head over to Raby for it." if his mum got here from the simulation in Raby, then in theory, he should be able to do the same.
"Oh, I think I know what some of us want to do," Savra chirped with an impish grin. She then leaned in and whispered into his ear, "something involving this 'mighty spear' I kept hearing about when Sistina was still in Staff~!"
Naruto let out yet another sheepish chuckle and had to willfully force his dick to not throb at the thought of fucking Savra and so many beauties here. An attempt that was successful.
Remembering what Lytelle had said earlier, Erica said, "I'm kinda interested in seeing what this 'flower' is all about."
"You do not want to know," Henriette stressed with a heavy sigh. "No way in hell am I doing something that embarrassing again!"
Naruto couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that. "You don't need to participate," he assured. "Anyone who wants to can, though. I'll set it up back in Raby, so none of my kids end up seeing something they shouldn't. I can adjust it so it can be easier. Or harder, to make it challenging. It depends on what you want."
"We'll see when we get there," Savra was interested in what this simulation was all about. So she was going to partake in it… and so were all the others, except for Henriette. Lytelle was quite eager for another round it seems.
"Alright, let me up then and I'll end this simulation." Savra, Erica, and Tanya did just that somewhat reluctantly. They liked the feel of his warmth. Then Naruto got up on one knee, and before everyone's eyes - except for Savra's - the seal formula for the simulation faded into existence and Naruto pressed his palm against it. The formula glowed and everything faded to white.
----
When their vision came back to them they were waited by three women from the currently inactive Crimson Guard.
The first was Roxanne, looking at Tanya, Savra, and Erica with a raised eyebrow. She was currently garbed in an elegant red dress that she'd purchased from the taylor in town. It hugged her curves quite nicely and showed off a good amount of cleavage while leaving just enough to the imagination.
The other two were Sistina and Neideen - both of whom visibly had the wheels in their heads a-turning. They were both dressed in religious garb and eyeballing the girls that surrounded Naruto - their orgy senses tingling. The religious garb of these two was identical to the outfit Flora had worn in the more previous roleplay orgy, though it lack Jean's crest.
The outfit in question was a pair of Mary Janes; white, thigh-high stockings; a black dress; black armlets; and a black and white headdress. The short, leafy skirt, generous display of cleavage and gold accents denoted that they were not mere acolytes and the gold medallions depicting Teresa and Clare showed that they were of particularly high rank in the Church of the Twins.
Sporting a bright grin, Naruto suddenly appeared in front of them and brought his girls into a hug one armed hug and pecked them. He lingered on Roxanne for a moment, as he reached down to boldly cup her ass.
"Hey, girls! What are you up to?" he asked them with enthusiasm, after pulling away from Roxanne.
"I got word that you came back early," Neideen answered, "Thought I'd come and check up on you. But it seems everything's okay."
"Yeah, I just came back because I heard that some old friends were paying a visit." Naruto replied with a nod. "We were using the simulation to train not too long ago. It just finished and we were planning to head on over to Raby to try out another simulation…" suddenly, Naruto was struck with an idea. The Crimson Guard were seen as a force to be feared back when they were still part of the Organization…and Sistina and Roxanne are regarded as some of the strongest Number Ones. He had to try. "Say… do you three want to join? You don't need to change clothes, or anything. The simulation can do that for you if you want."
Neideen, Sistina and Roxanne all exchanged looks at that. They shrugged and looked back at him, all smiles. "Sure. I got nothing better to do." Roxanne said.
"I suppose the Church can go without me and Sistina for a while." Neideen chirped. She the gave him a sultry grin and added. "I've also been looking forward to some Naruto time, if you don't mind having some fun afterwards~!"
"Oh, I would love to," Naruto growled sexily, sending hot shivers up the spine of every girl present. "By the way, the ones you call 'Twitchy and Squeaker' are coming along too," he added, giving the twins in question smiles. "Who knows? Maybe we can have some real fun in private~?"
Ava and Eva perked up a little at that. It wasn't much, but that was the first display of emotion outside of sheer stoicness he had seen from them.
"Sounds like a plan~' Sistina giggled.
"Alright," Naruto looked behind him again and said with encouragement, "Everyone, grab on. We're heading to Raby!"
Of course, Neideen and Roxanne took his arms, Sistina wrapped her arms around his waist from the back. Everyone else had to make due, by either grabbing onto Neideen, like the twins had done, Sistina and Roxanne, and each other. Then, they were gone from the bailey enmass in a yellow flash.
When they reappeared again, it was in the similar sight of Daby's bailey. For Neideen, and Roxanne however, it was unfamiliar, because this was the first time they had ever set foot inside of this fort.
For Sistina on the other hand, old memories resurfaced. "It's been a very long time since I set foot in this fort."
That got Naruto's attention. "You've been here before?"
Sistina nodded as she took it all in with her one good eye. "Oh yes. This fort used to belong to a Lord called 'Daby Tour' during my first life. Like Morris, Daby had had a small town called 'Toure'. Both the town and fort were destroyed by a mass of youma after Lord Daby refused to pay the Organization for their services. The ruins of the town were later dismantled, and the fort remained in ruins. You did one hell of a job rebuilding it, I must say."
"You learn something new everyday," Naruto replied, visibly flattered by the complement. "Is it the same as you remember?" he tried finding the blueprints of the original layout. He was successful to a degree, but the blond was unable to get everything right.
"Mostly," Sistina replied. "It lacks the whitewash and I'd need to see the interior before I can comment on that, but the only difference I can see on the outside is that the hoards and hoardings were made of wood at the time, not stone. The technology for such advanced masonry hadn't yet been invented back then. Very impressive.".
"I found the blueprints of the original fort and I got a few architects to help rebuild as much of this fortress as possible. I helped in my own way, of course and learned a lot from them." and he used that knowledge in rebuilding Morris. Then he cleared his throat and made his way to the simulation he placed on the ground and turned it on. Luckily that other Naruto wasn't apparently in the mood to show up, so he got to work on setting up the simulation. The seal formula glowed and a large dome of energy appeared in front of him.
Then the ink-like substance emerged from the ground and covered the insides of the domb, keeping everyone from seeing what was inside.
"Alright," he said, turning to look at the others assembled behind him. "With Neideen, Sistina and Roxanne here that brings the potential number of candidates from 14 to 17. Who wants to do this? Raise your hands so I can do a headcount."
Tanya outright said," I'd like to stay behind and observe." Of course, she had an ulterior motive, much to the amusement of Savra, Sistina and Neideen, who could all smell it a mile away.
"That… actually sounds like a good idea," Erica muttered, opting out as well, just as she was about to raise her hand. She was curious, after all, and observations tended to be achieved more easily from the sidelines.
Heidi, meanwhile, turned to her little sister and whispered. "There's no need to worry, Hennie, I'm here for you."
Henriette sighed heavily and nodded reluctantly. "A-alright," she said, buckling to her big sister almost immediately.
While all of this was happening, several of the girls were chatting amongst themselves and started raising their hands one by one, until everyone but Tanya and Erica had done so. Even Lytelle was eager for a round two, now that she had such powerhouses on their side.
"Okay…let's see. 17, take away 2… That leaves 15 people to partake the simulation." Naruto said, "Sistina! Neideen! Roxanne! Come forth! You three are going to be the team leaders!"
The women in question stepped forward out of the assembled group and stood in front of him.
"Everyone, listen up! When I call your names, you are to step behind the person I choose to be your Captain. Understand?" They all nodded at that and Naruto had a look of satisfaction. "Roxanne, your team has Audrey, Henriette, Heidi and Hanna." The woman nodded acceptingly, and the girls in question stepped behind her.
"Neideen, you're going to have Ava, Eva, Savra and Regina." The twins eagerly scampered on up to her, much to Neideen's amusement, while the other two trailed behind. She ruffled Ava and Eva's hair with a grin.
"Sistina, your team has Rachel, Charlotte, Lytelle, and Leia." While unhappy that she wasn't with her friend, Rachel nonetheless went up to Sistina without a word of protest. Lytelle, Leia and Charlotte followed after her.
"Henriette and Lytelle, since the two of you had taken part in this simulation before, any knowledge you have is not allowed to be shared… it would defeat the purpose of this exercise otherwise."
"We know, we were told this before." Lytelle said with a nod, with Henriette agreeing with her.
"I see… right, well, I suppose I should get to your debriefing then." Since it's been a while since anyone took part in this simulation, Naruto had to think what the backstory was. "Alright," Naruto said. "Every one of you will be going in mostly blind. This simulation is going to take place in a forest. The enemy is unknown, and everyone sent before you to investigate and deal with this threat has disappeared, mostly without a trace - only their clothes were left behind."
That got Neideen's attention. "No bodies?"
"No. There are no bodies, just the clothes, plate armour and weapons. There is a rumour, that an experiment had taken place in the forest you're being sent into years ago. But something went wrong. No one knows how long ago it took, and no one was able to confirm it - because they went missing. This is especially serious for you, because Team Miria, Alicia and Beth, Helen and Deneve, Teresa, Irene, Priscilla, Galatea, Clare and so many others had ventured in and were never seen again."
Granted, the last five were incapable of using chakra or yoki, and Deneve passed the second time with the help of her team and Glissa, but they didn't know that. It had the intended effect of surprising them.
"I see… and what is the objective?" Sistina asked while she was intimidated the nun-garbed woman didn't let it show. She had an example to make for her peers after all.
"The main objective is easier said than done: survive. That's all. There are plenty of side objectives though, but they're not vital. Find out what happened to the previous victims before you, and find out what is causing people to disappear. You can use whatever method you want to find out." Roxanne blinked at him in surprise for that part. Then, unknown to anyone else except for Naruto she had a very nasty slasher smile. Then Naruto inhaled sharply and snapped his fingers, as if he just remembered something, "Oh, since there are 15 of you that's going to be taking this simulation, I'm going to bump up the difficulty to accommodate that. It wouldn't do if you just steamrolled your way through it."
He was given odd looks for his choice of word at the end.
"It's a figure of speech. It a metaphor of saying 'it's so easy you'd walk right through it with no challenge'." Naruto explained to them.
"Good to know," Rachel chuckled, cracking her knuckles. "I like a challenge."
Naruto smiled at that, thoroughly reminded of Undine. "All you ladies, and girls, need to do is step on through. The simulation will begin once you all are in, as usual."
Neideen, Sistina, and Roxanne nodded, before gesturing for their respective teams to follow. Once everyone who was planning on stepping in did so, the barrier solidified behind them. The ink-like substance slid down to the ground revealing the teams inside.
Naruto took his hand off the dome and stepped back to observe. Tanya, and Erica came up to his sides to do the same, at least at first. The blond looked at them both with a warm smile, ruffling their hair. then, he leaned back to look at their asses.
Erica didn't notice at first, but Tanya did and giggled, shaking her booty at him. Naruto chuckled grabbing her ass. She giggled and pressed her posterior against his groping hand.
Naruto scrunched his face up in thought as he looked between the two girls. Tanya was turning 14 soon... so what age was Erica? Naruto took his hands away, to their hidden disappointment and asked, "Say, Erica, what age are you?"
"I am nearly 13-years-old." the white haired girl answered timidly, and Naruto slowly nodded. She was too young for that kind of activity. Tanya, for that matter wouldn't be, since she is at the current age. At least on his continent.
But, then again, the former Number 13 seemed eager to bang him, regardless of local law - in fact, she didn't seem to give a shit. She's a hybrid, they don't abide by rules the normies have in place. Neither did the other hybrids for that matter; except for the Organization's rules. With those bastards gone, Naruto was the sole dictator, as far as she was concerned.
"I see… I'll have to find out when your Birthday is, then. Can't exactly have you go without a present, do I?" then Naruto brought his and their attention back to the simulation. "Anyway, you both wanted to observe the simulation, right? Let's see how they fair..."
Tanya shrugged and did just that. Truth be told, she'd stayed behind in hopes of having some fun with Naruto, but she didn't mind.
----
Inside the sim, in its usual spot upon the grassy plane, an innocent-looking sunflower perked up as it sensed several more women enter the sim. "Oh! There's more!" It bounced hyperactively, as it cheered. "Oh, there's so many more! Oh, wait-wait-wait… what's this...?" Something seemed... different. There were more floras, now, for one. And… there was plenty of more around. Not all of them were sunflowers either. There were also several giant snakes and… something else.
"Oh, that simply will not do, oh, no, no, no..." Himawari commented swaying from side to side as if in thought. Just what is going on…?
"Come, little children, I'll take thee away into a land of enchantment~!"
Wait, was that… singing? From a young girl for that matter? "How odd… How, very odd, indeed." Deciding not to dwell too long so as not to lose out on these succulent morsels, Himawari sank down into the ground and ventured forth to get a better read on its 'guests' and new surroundings.