Tenten giggled due to Ino's haphazard state as they ate breakfast together. The blonde looked like she was on her last legs even as Kushina sat next to her looking vibrant and content. "Wow, Ino… rough night."
"You have no idea," Ino replied wondering how Kushina looked so rested considering that when she had finally passed out from the pleasure overload of being the Yamanaka filling in the Uzumaki sandwich it had almost been well after midnight. Then as if to shame her lack of endurance, Ino had awoken to find the mother and son still going at it after what she had assumed was maybe few hours of sleep.
Sakura giggled as she stated, "Well, it's nice to see the haughty Ino humbled a little. Especially after all that bragging you did about how you were going to show me up since Ayame and I only managed to have Shion join the Family during our Wave trip."
Ino arched an eyebrow as she asked, "My failing to keep up with Naruto and Kushina's god like stamina is hardly the same as only succeeding in helping Naruto seduce one of our potential targets."
The Yamanaka sent an amused look towards Kushina as she responded to the compliment, "You're too kind Naught Girl. You lasted longer than I thought you would."
She smirked as her gaze returned to Sakura as she continued, "Let's face it Sakura, when it comes to getting women into Naruto's bed you're a rank amateur compared to me."
A little bit of the old rivalry between the two appeared as Sakura countered, "Oh yeah, that pretty big talk coming from someone with the same record as me from your last trip which was when you said you'd show me how it's done."
Ino showed a wide smile as she stated, "What makes you think I'm done." Ticking her points off on her fingers she explained, "First, I wouldn't go around bragging about how I got Shion to join the family if I were you. This is a girl that basically made her interest known by offering to get knocked up with Naruto's baby, remember? It is for a similar reason I don't consider Sasame to be a success on my part. She was already totally into Naruto so all I needed to do was make myself scarce. Now, who I do consider to be a future success is that kunoichi Soifon."
"What do you mean?" Tenten asked in interest, "From what I've heard she's total into Yoruichi. If you ask me, she's more interested in women than men anyway. Not to mention does she really bring anything to the table."
Ino shook her head as she asked, "And what would you say if someone asked you what do you bring to the table, Tenten." The weapon using kunoichi frowned and looked hurt as if she believed Ino was pointing out how she wasn't a member of a clan like some of those present. However, Ino quickly put her at ease stating, "I really don't think that is something we should ever ask ourselves before reaching out to someone. Tsunami for instance would perhaps have been one that we overlooked if we had such an attitude. But without her, we wouldn't be aware of S.I.N's likely sinister intentions towards Wave. We also wouldn't be sitting on the gold mine for meeting and scouting nobles that is the Whirling Tides Manor. Not to mention, we wouldn't have secured the Gato Corporation's harbor to make inroads into the Land of Water. A person's value to our ambition isn't necessarily visible at first glance. In fact it might be fair to say it is some of the people whose value is the least perceivable that have had the greatest positive effects on it."
"Well said," Miya said before taking a sip of her tea, "But still I believe you see some value there as from what I heard you exposed your relationship to Naruto to her along with Kin and Yoruichi's. That's a rather large risk for a potentially small reward. What if she reacted negatively, or worse?"
"Then, I would have blanked her memory and made her think it was a dream," Ino said calmly causing a few of the women to send impressed looks her way.
"You can do that?" Sakura asked shocked.
"I would have done it to you if you had reacted poorly when I showed you the truth," Ino said with a smirk as it did feel good to remind Sakura that she wasn't the only one to have improved since their match in the Chunin Exams. "But, she acted exactly as I suspected. Plus, she'd definitely into men." Ino added the last part with an amused flourish as she recalled fingering the kunoichi as she watched Naruto fuck Yoruichi. "As to what she might offer, well to be honest I think she'll be good for the Bijuu."
"Huh," Tenten stated with a disbelieving look. "I'm afraid you've lost me there."
"Well when you think about it the Bijuu have to be rather scared that their currently peaceful lives will come to an end," Ino replied quickly having given the matter a lot of thought.
"What peaceful lives?" Temari asked in a similar state of disbelief as the other women, "Several of them did just help you and Naruto take down those bandits. Not to mention all the fighting they do protecting the Gold Level Shipments."
"True," Ino said nodding at the point. "But that has to be a cakewalk compared to constantly being hunted to power some jinchuriki. If you think about it outside of those that have become Naruto's lover the others seem rather content to remain removed from humanity."
"Not all of them," Yakumo pointed out; "Kukaku is out partying almost every night she is in the village. Not to mention sleeping around."
Ino nodded, but countered, "Sure, but how many of those people that she has slept with know who she really is? How many of them has she opened up to?" What about Yoruichi?" She held up her hand to forestall the counters that she knew where going to be heading her way so explained, "You can't really count any of us in the Family. Or if you do, you have to treat us as just a single point of acceptance."
"Why?"
Kushina was the one that answered Tenten as she stated, "Because we've all become Naruto's lovers, and while we all are individuals there are certain traits that unite us. For one, we can all be rather tolerant, after all those of you that learned of Naruto being the jinchuriki of Kiyomi didn't reject him. Having been a jinchuriki myself and one for whom the fact that I was one remained secret, I can tell you that is something that you fear almost every day. The day your secret will get out and the people that used to be friendly to you begin to look at you with fear and hatred. I only ended up telling two people of my burden, Mikoto, and Minato."
Ino took over saying, "Exactly. Naruto isn't interested in us just for our looks. It is our personalities that attract him, and one thing all our personalities have in common is that we didn't reject him when his secret became common knowledge. Or, for those that came around after it was revealed, we showed a similar capacity to accept others that might suffer similarly as he did."
Sakura coming to understand the point Ino was making said, "Then what you are saying is that Soifon represents someone that Yoruichi could open up to about being a Bijuu that isn't necessarily a part of the Family yet."
"Precisely," the blonde said, "She's already shown that she can keep a secret that might not exactly have cast Yoruichi in a positive light in her eyes. Yet, rather than reacting harshly she became inquisitive and seems to genuinely want to understand her as a person. She just needed the blinders that she wore stripped away."
"Okay, I get that. But doesn't the point become moot if she ends up sleeping with Naruto before Yoruichi becomes comfortable enough to reveal her secret?"
Ino shrugged as she replied to the Kurama Clan Head's question, "That is true, but Yoruichi has already begun opening up to her. She no longer sees Soifon's presence as an annoyance. I think that if I'm right then if she sees Naruto might add her to the Family then she'll move to reveal her secret first. In order to see for herself that there are people out there not bound to Naruto who will accept her and to prove her own instincts about who to reveal her secret to can be trusted."
"I think it is a wonderful thing that you are doing, Ino," Kushina said with a warm smile.
"You're probably just excited at the prospect of another woman leaping into your son's bed," Ino stated with a teasing smile.
"Well having been one of the women caught up in your little plots to become one of my Honey's lovers, I can also speak with the knowledge of how glad I am that you did act on my behalf." Kushina leaned her face towards the blonde's as she added seductively, "Plus, I have grown quite fond of listening to you call out my name in pleasure as well. A treat I would never have known if not for your efforts." The other woman watched the two women made-out before they were forced to separate as a presence began to make its way down to the dining room.
As such the room was filled with a different conversation as Kurenai opened the door dressed in skin tight shorts and a sports bra. All those present noted how Kurenai seemed to be coming around to the more relaxed manner of dress that they had adopted thus leaving them wondering how soon it would be before she was fully aware why they didn't mind Naruto seeing them in various skimpy outfits. Quite a few moved up their personal timetables for the event when Kurenai asked with a slight air of disappointment, "No, Naruto this morning?"
"My Honey is resting as he had a late night," Kushina said with a pleased smile as she recalled making love until a few hours before dawn and then resuming again shortly before she got out of bed for breakfast. She suspected the only reason he had wanted to sleep in was due to his needing to meet with Tayuya later as she had contacted him using a messenger bird. She knew he had been concerned by her strange means of reaching out to him. The letter had been rather vague as well as if the red-head had suspected it would be intercepted, but had asked that he bring the scroll that she had liberated from the Daimyo of Yugakure.
"Oh," Kurenai said kneeling at the table with the others, "So what was everyone talking about?"
"Oh, just about how Daimyo Haruna has offered to host a potential minor country summit that the Daimyo of Bird Country has called for," Ino said having suggested to Anko that she ask Haruna to do so when Toki's efforts to form an alliance with the leaders of her fellow minor country neighbors had reached her ears. The reason Ino had done so was to help correct the mistake that she viewed Sakura and Ayame had made in sharing too much, too quickly. She didn't fault the two as she knew it was born of their extreme happiness at being Naruto's lovers, but she felt that also made it easy to forget that in reality most people would view there being something wrong with them for being willing to share him. That was why Ino hoped Toki accepted the invitation to use Haruna's castle as the venue for the negotiations. If she did, she figured that with Anko's help they would be able to enlighten the Daimyo to the fact that love came in many different shapes and forms.
Yet, that was still a big if as Kurenai pointed out, "I wouldn't get my hopes up. It's a long shot that enough minor village leaders would even be willing to go. Not to mention it might upset Iwagakure since I'm sure one of the topics that would be talked about is how they were behind a lot of the chaos going on along the Western border. Such a conference might become too tempting a target to pass up."
"I know," Ino stated, "But, the alternative is living in fear that Iwa might target them and they have nowhere they can turn to. I'm sure a few leaders will recognize it as being a good idea to form an alliance against Iwagakure aggression."
Kurenai inclined her head at Ino's point causing the blonde to mentally add, "Plus, it might give Naruto another opportunity to add a few Daimyo to our Family. I'm sure having him guarding such a conference might go a long way to get a few of the more skittish leaders to attend." Ino almost felt likely cackling like a villain in a movie that Koyuki would star in, but refrained due to Kurenai's presence. She watched the woman eat and wondered if she should give the woman the push needed to make her take the plunge. But taking in what the dark-haired woman had worn to breakfast she decided to focus her energies on more difficult targets to prove to the others that when it came to helping Naruto capture the hearts of women in order to move their ambition forward she was without equal. Not to mention Ino knew it was only a matter of time before she joined and the Hidden Eddy Inn became the home that the Yamanaka imagined it could be.
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A henged Naruto was sitting outside Tayuya's office waiting for his appointment as the silence was shattered as his Demoness shouted. "I don't give a flying fuck what he fucking told you. Those Earth Country fucks signed a pact with Koyuki that they would let her film a movie of her choice within their borders in order to prevent from getting cut off from Spring's resources. You tell that fat stupid fuck of a Daimyo that the time to pay up is coming around so he better stop sending you back after fucking come up with some bullshit excuse or I'm going to personally shove my next response so far up your fucking ass that your children's children will walk funny."
"Look Tayuya, I'm just the messenger…"
"Just the fucking messenger we are paying a shit ton of money to in order to finish these god forsaken negotiations asswipe," Tayuya said angrily.
"Well perhaps if you didn't personally insult the Daimyo's son then you could handle them yourself."
"The fucker was lucky I simply reduced him to tears after he refused to take no for an answer and thought he could grab my ass," the fiery red-head replied. "When we hired you to resume the negotiations you assured me that it wouldn't be a problem, especially since we already have a fucking treaty with these assholes."
"They aren't trying to back out of the agreement," the negotiator replied, "They are just saying that now isn't a good time. The Leaf, Kumo, and Sand are about to have their first Chunin Exams in a little over a year which means a large number of new Chunin are going to likely be filling all three Shinobi Village's ranks. That is making Earth Country nervous and they likely don't want a movie crew with ties to the Land of Fire inside their borders in the immediate aftermath in case hostilities do break out."
"Here's the thing," Tayuya said taking a seat behind her desk, "I don't fucking care. Koyuki is on my ass about getting the Earth Daimyo to honor their agreement, and so I'm getting on yours. You tell that fuck that if he doesn't give me a fucking date on when we can start shooting this movie, he's going to find his stupid ass cut off from Spring's resources. Let's see how fucking confident he feels about pursuing actions that might start a war while he's having a hard time keeping his fucking lights turned on. If you want, I'll even draft the fucking letter for you."
"No thanks," the man replied drily, "My job is difficult enough already without having to ease his ego after reading what I am sure would be an insult laden message from you. If you'll excuse me?"
"Don't let the door fucking hit you on the way out," Tayuya replied looking down as she began rereading the letter the Earth Daimyo had sent refusing to specify a date for the next Princess Gale movie to begin shooting. The delay was making a few of the other financial backers nervous causing them to begin sending out calls to writers to have the script rewritten to fit different shooting locations. One of the worst being someone had rewritten Shiho's story so that it took place on the moon without bothering to answer how it was possible to breathe on it. It wouldn't be devastating if the other financial backers pulled out, but it would hurt the image of the upcoming movie and if Tayuya had learned one thing it was that image was everything to a lot of the people in show business.
Crumbling the letter up, she tossed it into the garbage can while promising that someday she'd kick the Daimyo's ass for making things so difficult for her. Her anger though faded as a henged Naruto said, "Tough day?"
"Are you fucking deaf? That should have been apparent from all the shouting."
"Well maybe I can…"
"Did you bring what I asked?"
Naruto frowned at Tayuya's briskly cutting him off. He nodded as he said, "I'm not sure why you wanted me to bring this scroll to you."
"I have a line on someone that can help me translate it," Tayuya said noticing Naruto's face scrunch in confusion. She knew that she was taking a risk in not alerting him to what she had planned, but she couldn't take the chance that someone would notice her missing or Naruto suddenly appearing in her office. It had been the reason that she had contacted him via a messenger bird to bring the scroll that she had taken from Yugakure.
She breathed a little easier as the confusion disappeared from Naruto's face and he looked about the room for the listening device that had been planted in the room. She nodded her head towards the lamp on her desk causing him to nod in understanding as he said, "That's good because we've yet to have any luck. I'm pretty eager to find out what it contains and why the Hot Spring Daimyo kept it so closely guarded."
Tayuya nearly wanted to jump him right then and there as he perfectly filled in all the important details for the person listening in on the other end. She considered doing just that to give the spy something tantalizing to listen to, but figured it could wait for later. Smiling she came around the desk as she said, "That can wait till morning. For now it has been a while since we've been free to be together." She took the scroll from him and returned to her desk in order to lock it inside stating, "But first let me put this away so we can concentrate on something a little more pressing."
Tayuya smirked as she could imagine the person that had been spying on her and eavesdropping on her meetings in her office practically salivating at being so close to what she suspected was the reason she was being observed. Confident that the spy wouldn't let the opportunity slip by she followed Naruto out of the office. Her lover noticing that they were alone in the reception area created a clone to keep tabs on the scroll which silently slipped into the office before Tayuya locked it up.
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It was well after midnight when the clone noticed the soft sound of a lock being picked. The clone gave the person credit as the door handle hadn't budged an inch as its lock was defeated. The handle began to rotate as the clone hid in the darkened office waiting for the person that Tayuya was sure was spying on her to enter the room. Hiding in a corner, it crouched down as the door opened and could tell the spy had been there before as she moved towards the desk without the fear of tripping suggesting that she knew the room's layout.
The clone took in the spy's appearance noticing that she was wearing a skin tight unitard with an embroidered vest. In the dark it was difficult to make out the color but he was sure it was a shade of blue, along with yellow markings running up the sides and covering the vest. She also had yellow ribbons in her hair holding together the twin buns of her dark brown hair.
The woman moved silently to the desk while the clone traveled along the wall to block the door she had entered from to cut off her escape. It heard the lock of Tayuya desk unlatch before the woman opened the drawer. She was about to reach for the scroll when the clone stood turning on the light via the switch next to the door as it said, "I don't think that…"
The woman rather than reacting in surprise or freezing immediately rolled over the desk towards the clone. Then all the clone saw was feet as she lashed out with a kick that suddenly seemed to strike hundreds of times causing it to fly out the doorway before bursting into smoke.
The would-be thief spun to snatch the scroll out of the desk even as a flash of red appeared behind her. Before she could register the new threat a fist collided with her jaw which sent her tumbling back against the wall before slumping down.
*****************************
Tayuya smirked as she recognized the studio's head of security and the woman she had suspected was a little too interested in her business. When she had realized that her office had been bugged, she had considered using a genjutsu to reveal the culprit, but hadn't chanced it in case the woman had allies who could have pulled her out and would have revealed her shinobi abilities to them. Something that didn't appear to be the case as Naruto reported what his other clones watching the area noticed as he said, "It doesn't look like anyone is here to back her up. Any idea who she is?"
"Not really, she has been acting as the head of security for the studio," the red-head answered, "But I doubt that is her real name." Tayuya noticed the woman's eyes beginning to flutter before snapping open. She was about to leap into action, but Tayuya whistled casting a quick genjutsu which caused her opponent's body to freeze. Giving the woman a smirk she dropped to her haunches in front of her and repeating a complaint the woman had leveled against her multiple times said, "I'm really going to need to see your pass. We can't be too careful about who we let onto the studio lot now, can we?" The brown eyed woman simply glared at her causing Tayuya to stand as she said, "Look, one way or the other you're going to tell me what I want to know. So let's start with something simple. What's your name?"
"Go to hell!"
"Sorry, been there once already and I've no plans to go back." Tayuya looked over her shoulder and smiled before turning back to add, "Especially not after having been shown what heaven can feel like. Why don't I show you a glimpse? I'm sure that will get your tongue working."
Next Chapter: Expanding Territories: Yugakure Part II