Chereads / The Guild of Gamers: The Warlord / Chapter 10 - Mission Complete

Chapter 10 - Mission Complete

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The Guild of Gamers: The Warlord

Chapter 10: Mission Complete

— Hiashi Hyuuga —

Even after he returned from the bar, the sounds of Hei accomplishing his… mission could be heard through the entire compound, making him curse himself for not remembering how loud Hitomi could be in the throes of passion. He should have moved them to a soundproof room, but it was too late now and he didn't dare interrupt.

Hei's stamina was impressive, given that it had now been several hours since he first entered that room.

God his reputation was going to be weird after this, but if it actually helped Hitomi he'd accept all the jokes about him being a cuck. He'd rather be seen as a cuck than be made a widower.

He wouldn't be able to hide Hitomi's recovery if this worked anyway, and frankly he wouldn't ask his wife to play the invalid to save his reputation.

Time continued to pass as the sun set, and the sounds finally died down making him pause, heading towards his wife's room hesitantly.

Spotting his youngest daughter fleeing the scene, he sighed. That was going to be awkward. Had Hanabi been spying on them?

She was getting to that age, but that wasn't a conversation he was mentally prepared to have.

The door opened, and Hei stepped out, exhaustion clear on his face.

Wearing nothing but his trousers, Hei had lipstick marks on every part of his body, scratches and claw marks that were slowly healing up as Hei tiredly looked towards him.

"Mission accomplished, Lord Hyuuga," Hei said, yawning. "Lady Hitomi is asleep, thank god," Hei continued, whispering the final two words under his breath.

"Did it work?" Hiashi asked, his lips quirking up even as he felt a hint of awe that Hei had outlasted Hitomi.

"She appears to have recovered significantly already, and her stamina and strength have certainly returned, though I'd get her checked out all the same to be sure. I'm no medic-nin," Hei pointed out, making him nod.

Despite Hei's quip about his wife's stamina, he felt only joy in his heart at Hei's words. It worked. Hitomi was recovering, his wife wasn't going to die.

"Thank you, Hei, from the bottom of my heart. I know this was about as abnormal as a mission gets, but you have my utter gratitude for this," Hiashi said sincerely, making Hei nod gently.

"You're welcome, but if it's all the same I'd like to go and pass out now," Hei said quietly, making Hiashi pause before nodding.

"Of course, and sorry for not warning you about Hitomi's… habits," Hiashi said with some embarrassment, making Hei laugh.

"No amount of warning could have prepared me for her. Good day Lord Hyuuga," Hei said with a light bow.

"Aren't you going to get the rest of your clothes?" Hiashi asked, making Hei pause. "And you can call me Hiashi, I think we are past honorifics, Hei."

"Only my trousers survived, Hitomi passed out briefly earlier and I tried to get dressed and make my escape. She woke up again and… didn't approve of how overdressed I was," Hei said simply, making Hiashi pause before nodding grimly.

That sounded about right.

"Ah, my apologies," Hiashi said awkwardly, getting a tired smile from Hei. "We can speak more later, go get your rest. I'm sure you need it."

"Of course, good… it's night already? God that woman is insatiable, good night Hiashi," Hei said, muttering his comment on Hitomi's insatiable appetite, sinking into his own shadow.

Hesitating, he opened the door and stepped into the room, the scent of the intense physical activity immediately hitting him as he looked around the trashed room.

Her bed was broken, just a mattress on the floor now, having been unable to survive the rigorous exercise that took place atop it, and laid on the mattress was his wife.

Bowlegged, Hitomi was completely out cold and utterly naked, her legs spread apart as a veritable river of cum leaked from her heavily used holes.

Semen stained almost every inch of her body, no part of Hitomi having gone unused, and her stomach was slightly bloated from the sheer volume of cum that had been pumped into her.

She looked like she'd served every man in the village, twice, not a single teenage boy, but none of that even registered to him as he stared at her.

The years of atrophy from her bedridden state was gone, her far-too-skinny frame from her lack of appetite had filled out to a much healthier state, she looked like he remembered her before that damnable illness, not the husk she'd become after so many years of being ravaged by an 'incurable' disease.

Instead she just looked like she'd been ravished in an entirely different way.

…which servant was he going to give the 'honour' of attending to her state? Because as much as he wanted to embrace his wife, to cry tears of joy that she wasn't going to die, he wasn't going anywhere near her or the puddle of cum that she was laying in until she'd been cleaned up.

Calling for the servant who normally helped Hitomi with her daily needs, Hiashi frowned.

This was a joyous day, but having Hitomi miraculously recover was going to change things, not least of which would be to draw a lot of attention towards Hei.

He'd need to talk to Shikaku, even if dealing with the lazy Nara patriarch was a troublesome task at the best of times (to borrow Shikaku's regular complaint).

Between Tsume and now Hitomi, people would notice the effect Hei had on his… partners, and that was bound to attract all kinds of attention from both within and from outside the village.

This wasn't something that would go unnoticed, or stay secret for long.

— Hei Nara —

Waking up in my bed, I realise that I didn't even bother dream-walking last night. God damn, I like sex, but that was exhausting.

Hitomi is a freak, and to be honest, I'll be baffled if she's not pregnant after that. I didn't think about it at the time, but she insisted on getting creampied over a dozen times, and only my regenerative capabilities allowed me to keep up with her unstoppable libido.

That's going to be a shitshow, the Nara heir knocking up Lady Hyuuga, but I will embrace my Nara heritage and make that my dad's problem. He doesn't do enough work anyway, he can deal with that whole mess.

Getting up, it comes as no real surprise for me that I'm still the only male Nara actually functioning despite my busy night, finding the house basically empty besides a note from my mom telling us that she's gone out with Aunt Iyona and Chuya, she's always been close to the Yamanaka and Akimichi matriarchs so that's not surprising.

Knowing dad and Shikamaru won't get up before midday if they don't have to, I set out as I consider what to do with my day.

I need to get stronger, my fight against Kushimaru showed that. Despite everything, I let my pride as one of the strongest Genins get to my head and he gave me one hell of a wake-up call.

I'm strong, for my age and rank. That means a grand total of fuck all in the grand scheme of things. This world is full of monsters who could handle me with their hands tied behind their back.

The stronger I grow, the more attention I'll get, both positive and decidedly less so. The more powers I develop, the more the other villages are going to consider trying to grab me worth crossing Konoha.

I definitely need to get stronger before the Chunin exams, since every village will have their own 'elite' team who definitely aren't actually Genins.

I also need to meet with Momiji's mother about my new role as the next Dragon Ninja, a title I'm woefully unprepared for.

Ryu was Kage-level in strength, I'll see it as a win if I'm in the upper-Chunin levels. I don't know what's required of the Dragon Ninja but I'm guessing I'm still too weak for it.

Heading out, I start to walk through the village as I plan.

Even in terms of growing stronger, I've got plenty I need to work on. I need to get better with katanas so I can actually use Ryu's blade properly, I need to get better with my clan jutsu, basically I need to improve in every single aspect of myself.

I also need to complete my class quest, which is the easiest way to grow stronger.

[Alpha Beast Class Quest]

Objective: Get three mates (3/3)

Objective: Grow your pack to five members (3/5)

Objective: Feast on five foes (1/5)

Tsume, Mai and now Hitomi.

I've deliberately not shared the beast transformation with anyone but Tsume, but Mai and Hitomi both got an injection of my chakra.

I should find some bandits, that last objective could be completed by me tracking down a weak group of criminals, but I'm also basically restricted to the village for now.

Sharing my powers with the Hokage was the right choice, but it has come with the downside of putting one hell of a spotlight on me.

Speaking of Alpha Beast…

A familiar scent fills my nose as I walk, making me turn around and spot Tsume, walking towards me with her usual grin.

"Lady Tsume," I greet, noticing immediately that she seems younger than when I last saw her.

She doesn't look young, but I'd say she's in her late twenties instead of her early forties, some signs of ageing having vanished, leaving her body a little perkier.

It's been around two weeks since I made her my mate, and the effect is obvious.

"Hei, you've been balls deep in my ass and pussy, we're a little past that formal shit," Tsume scoffs, making me nod in acknowledgement.

"Fair enough, Tsume. What's up?" I ask, dropping the polite tone.

"You got time to talk, brat? Need to discuss some clan shit with you," Tsume says, and despite her brash tone, her stance is almost submissive.

"Sure, I've got time. Your place or mine?" I ask with a light smirk, making her roll her eyes.

"Come on, better to talk in my clan compound," Tsume says, turning and walking away, her hips swaying as I follow behind her.

Tsume isn't exactly subtle, and word has already spread that I banged the infamous Inuzuka matriarch so I can tell that most people who see us think this is a booty call, one guy giving me a thumbs up as we head inside.

"Heard you killed one of the seven swordsmen. Not bad for a runt," Tsume says as we walk, making me chuckle.

"A mixture of good luck, his arrogance, and just ripping him limb from limb with my beast form," I admit, making her laugh.

"Lemme guess, he could have killed you and kept you alive to gloat?" Tsume asks, making me shrug.

"To gloat and torture me, but yes. He fucked around, and then he found out," I say simply, seeing the understanding in her eyes.

"Good, one less dumbass polluting the gene pool, still, taking down a legendary ninja as a Genin? Your rep is growing fast, brat," Tsume points out, as I simply smile.

"I have big boots to fill," I respond humbly.

Heading into a building, she gestures for me to sit down on the couch. I'm not particularly surprised that she either doesn't have, or isn't interested in using, an actual office as she sits across from me.

"So, what did you want to discuss? Or did you just want an itch scratched?" I ask, giving her a look as she scoffs with a grin.

"Nah, this ain't a booty call. Need to talk about some actual clan shit with you," Tsume replies.

"You want the boon I can grant to my… partners for the rest of your clan?" I ask, making her blink.

"Did your dad tell you that?" Tsume asks, making me shake my head.

"No, but it wasn't hard to work out. You're a clan head, my boon granted you both a power that's very appropriate for your clan and your returned youth, as the head of your clan it's only logical that you'd want to spread that around," I explain, making her nod. "You look good, by the way."

"I feel damn good, better than I have in years. You're right, I want you to spread that gift of yours to some of the girls in my clan. I've talked to your old man, and the Inuzuka are going to be joining the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi bloc, our clans are gonna be real close," Tsume says with a fanged grin.

The Hokage is probably thanking his lucky stars that all four of our clans are known for being very loyal to the village, because that's a scary alliance.

"Hm, how would we go about this?" I ask, making her smirk.

"I know you don't need help knowing what to do with a woman, or are you asking for a refresher?" Tsume asks tauntingly, making me chuckle.

"You know what I mean," I reply with a little laugh.

"People ain't dumb, half the clan heard you making me your bitch, and suddenly we both can turn into beasts? It doesn't take a Nara to work out you're responsible for this," Tsume says, gesturing at herself.

"I suppose it was a lost cause to try and keep it a secret," I agree.

"I doubt word has even left the village yet, hell most of the village don't even know about your magic dick," Tsume laughs. "But word had started to spread, especially around my clan since some of them saw you turn into a beast when we were dealing with that little shithead with his fancy knives," Tsume points out.

"True, they aren't angry?" I ask, making her shake her head.

My Alpha Beast form isn't a Inuzuka thing but they don't know that, I could see them thinking I stole something from their clan.

"Nah, well some hot headed little shits were but I put them in their place and knocked some sense into them," Tsume admits, making me chuckle. "I was stronger than them before you pumped your magic juice into me, now I can handle any of the stubborn fuckers with my hands behind my back."

Ah, Inuzuka politics.

"The point is, my clan know you can grant people a power boost by fucking them, and let's just say some of the girls are interested. Don't be surprised if you find a bunch of Inuzuka girls sniffing around you," Tsume says. "Fuck the ones you find hot, tell the rest to beat it. If they can't convince a horny teenage brat to fuck them, that's on them."

"Heh, that simple?" I ask, making her grin.

"Why complicate things?" Tsume replies. There's something enjoyable about the Inuzuka mindset.

"Then I suppose there's one last thing to settle," I say, standing up as she blinks. "Stand up."

As she rises, I grab her and spin her around, bending her over the chair as she yelps in surprise.

"Who are you calling a brat?"

As her trousers are ripped down, she gives me a hungry look over her shoulder, making me grin.

— Hana Inuzuka —

Her enhanced senses were a curse at times like this, because as she returned home she immediately was hit with the scent of sex.

On everything, every room smelt of semen, her mother's arousal and the unique scent which had to belong to Hei.

Hei, who her mother wanted her to seduce since he had a magic cock that could make a Kunoichi stronger and awaken new powers in them.

Pretty much every Inuzuka girl was after that cock, and she couldn't deny she was interested in the power Hei had given her mom, every Inuzuka had seen her mom turning into a humanoid wolf at this point.

Her mother got a lot of challenges for her position, and now she was crushing her challengers like it was nothing, and Hei was the one to grant her that.

Some of the men of the clan didn't like that, at all, but that was a different problem entirely.

Hei's scent was powerful, she could feel her panties growing wet just from the scent of him, but the truth was that while a lot of Inuzuka girls could be… wild, she was one of the rare ones who stayed a virgin into her twenties.

She was too busy being a veterinarian, a job in high demand with an entire clan of reckless idiots who fought with equally reckless ninja dogs.

Some people thought it was cruel to have their dogs fight, but honestly try keeping those idiots out of the fight.

She had the triplets, and all of them liked fighting even more than her.

She didn't have time for dating when she had so much work to do. It was hard being the responsible Inuzuka, because none of the others were going to do it.

Including her mother, she noted, pausing at the bedroom door as she spotted her passed out mom laid on the bed, legs spread and semen leaking from her freshly-fucked pussy.

Kuromaru looked up at her from where he'd been guarding his passed out partner, huffing in annoyance. Yeah, she got that.

She didn't want to just spread her legs for some guy she'd never met, no matter how good he smelt, but she had a duty to the clan.

It sucked being the responsible one.

— Yugao Uzuki —

Hei had so much sex.

That was 80% of her job guarding him from potential kidnapping attempts, just watching him get laid as he strolled around Konoha with a smile on his face after fucking Tsume bow-legged.

She supposed it was a good thing, given the results of his man-whoring, but it didn't particularly help her with her current problem.

She needed that boost, but not for herself. Did it even work on males? Would Hei even be willing to try? She doubted it personally, and Hayate wouldn't be thrilled at the idea of getting fucked by a younger man either.

She needed to work out how Hei was empowering these people, sex was definitely involved but was it only vaginal that counted?

She needed to see if oral or anal granted the same boost, if it was just taking his semen into their body then it was possible for Hayate to get the boost by drinking the semen without the sex, it would be distasteful but it was better than him withering away.

Hopefully that shouldn't be too hard to find out given how often he got laid, but worst case scenario she'd do it herself.

She had no doubt that the Hokage gave her this job because he knew she'd be tempted, it made sense that he'd want to spread Hei's gift as far and wide through the village as possible.

Moving silently, she kept up with the wandering teen who had rapidly become Konoha's most valuable asset.

Jinchuriki's were useful, but Hei was a force-multiplier, making everyone around him stronger which was more useful than one incredibly powerful but barely controllable force of nature.

Anyone with a brain would take boosting all their already well trained ninjas over a single powerful tool.

Fortunately, Konoha had both.

Watching as Hei made his way to a certain training ground, she hummed to herself. Hei did agree to teach Sasuki, but honestly she didn't expect him to actually keep his word with how much of a brat Sasuki had been.

Kakashi briefly glanced towards her hiding spot, a few barely noticeable hand twitches making her smile and perform a few of her own, ANBU code making Kakashi relax at her reply.

She almost forgot just how good Kakashi actually was, and he noticed her damn near instantaneously.

Naruko looked towards Hei as he walked towards them, the two secret weapons of Konoha meeting up.

— Naruko Uzumaki —

That was Shikamaru's big brother, right?

The older boy was much more intense than Shikamaru himself, but while she'd never talked to him before, she'd seen him around and Shikamaru talked about him a lot, so did Choji for that matter.

"Ah, I didn't expect you to show up so quickly," Kakashi said with a lazy wave, making Hei smile slightly.

"I have some free time, since I've been once again taken off duty," Hei said easily. "Sasuki already told you I was coming then?"

"Yup, you really think you can teach her your little trick?" Kakashi asked, making Hei shrug slightly.

"That's going to depend on her, it takes extremely precise chakra control to pull off," Hei explained.

Naruko winced at the answer, her own chakra control was… not great apparently.

As Hei got closer, her nose twitched. Hei smelt really good, even from a distance.

"Well, they've not even gotten tree climbing exercise down yet, or started it for that matter," Kakashi admitted, making Hei blink.

"Wait, seriously? Shika and his team got that down within a week of graduating. Hell, I mastered that before I graduated," Hei said, as every member of team seven winced and then glared at their sensei.

"I've been focusing on teaching them teamwork first, it's not been going great," Kakashi admitted shamelessly.

"All you've done is made us do D-rank missions while lecturing us on teamwork," Sasuki grumbled, Kakashi's eyes crinkling in amusement.

"Ah, I see. Combative team? I got lucky, my team worked together well from day one. Anyway, this is gonna be more troublesome than I expected, but I gave my word. You don't mind me butting in?" Hei asked, making Kakashi shake his head.

"Feel free, we were finishing up anyway. If Sasuki wants to do some extra training on her own time, that's fine," Kakashi said, waving his hand.

"Eh, why is she getting extra training?" Naruko butted in, making Sasuki glare at her. "That's not fair."

"Because she asked me for it, and I have the free time while I'm on my downtime after my last mission," Hei explained easily.

"Ah, I heard about that one. Saving princesses and fighting a legendary swordsman, you're living the life academy students think being a ninja is like," Kakashi said, slightly teasing as Hei snorted.

"Legendary swordsman? Princesses? What are you talking about?" Sasuki asked, making Kakashi chuckle.

"I was assigned to protect Princess Azula and her cousin Princess Yue during her tour of the Land of Fire. We were attacked by one of the seven swordsmen of the mist who wanted Yue dead. We fought, I won," Hei said simply, and while Naruko didn't recognise the 'seven swordsmen', Sasuki and Sakura clearly did as they both breathed in sharply.

"Heh, Ryu would be proud. He talked about you a lot, well a lot for a guy who barely talked about anything," Kakashi praised, making Hei straighten up slightly at the mention of his deceased sensei.

"Here's hoping, honestly I got through with a mixture of dumb luck and my opponent being too arrogant," Hei said modestly.

"Lemme guess, he either tried to monologue or dragged the fight out? I heard Kushimaru was a sadist," Kakashi guessed.

"Little of both, I pissed him off and he decided to keep me alive for a while longer to teach me a lesson. He let his guard down, and it got him killed," Hei snorted.

"Figured as much, still it's something to be proud of, you kept your cool and came out on top. Dumb luck might just be the most important trait any ninja can have," Kakashi said with a chuckle. "Right, we're calling it a day today. Good session," Kakashi said to them, unaffected by their glares from another pointless 'teamwork building' session as he just vanished.

"Are you free for the rest of today, Sasuki?" Hei asked, making Sasuki perk up and nod. "Good, because this is going to take a lot longer than I expected. Honestly baffled Kakashi hasn't even started you on the chakra control exercises yet, but I suppose he knows what he's doing."

"…I'll take your word for it, thank you for this Hei," Sasuki said, uncharacteristically polite as she blushed slightly. "And sorry for… before."

"It's fine, I've had worse conversations," Hei said simply, he might be more serious than his brother but he did seem to have his family's chill.

It wasn't fair, Sasuki was going to get even further ahead with some genius teaching her.

"Can I join you?" Sakura asked, making Hei and Sasuki turn to her, Sasuki glaring at first before she visibly calmed herself.

"Hey, it's Sakura right? I've seen you with Ino," Hei said, before shrugging. "Sure, why not."

Naruko went to speak up before she paused, hesitating.

"And I know you," Hei said, turning to her as she froze. People knowing her wasn't usually a good thing. "Naruko, right? You're one of Shikamaru's friends."

Ah, that was better. She wasn't that annoying troublemaker or the Kyuubi brat, just one of his little brother's friends.

"Yeah, that's right," Naruko agreed, breathing in his scent again now that he was closer.

"You wanna come along? Might as well save Kakashi a job and start all three of you on the chakra control exercises," Hei offered, making her smile even as Sasuki frowned at her.

"Sure! Thanks," Naruko said happily, she wasn't letting Sasuki get ahead.

Sasuki looked like she swallowed a lemon, which was pretty funny, but she also didn't argue which was actually pretty surprising.

"Right, let's take this to the Nara compound. We have our own training ground in the forest that'll work for this," Hei said, gesturing for them to follow as he turned and walked off.

— Hei Nara — Later —

It turns out Kakashi has taught them very little so far, but I've already worked out why. This is a problem team.

Sasuki and Naruko have a rivalry, which isn't the worst thing but even when training they can't stop competing and arguing. Sakura is lusting after Sasuki, and keeps picking on Naruko to try and impress her crush, who doesn't want to spend time with either of them.

They have exactly zero coordination or chemistry, it'd be a disaster to let these three out of the village like this. I'm not sure Kakashi's strategy of endless D-rank missions is working, beyond uniting them in their anger at him.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji have started making their own combo techniques, borrowing ideas from the old generation of Ino-Shika-Cho and giving it their own unique twist, my team were a well coordinated machine, we all knew our parts. We played them perfectly, trusting our teammates to have our backs.

These three are a disaster waiting to happen.

Sakura will do something dumb to show off for Sasuki, Naruko will butt into Sasuki's part to try and one up her teammate, Sasuki doesn't want to work with either of them because she thinks she can do everything on her own.

It's no wonder Kakashi is focusing on trying to get them to work together, but if I remember right, Kakashi failed every other team he was assigned, I remember some of my classmates got assigned to him and got sent back to the academy a day later, I'm not sure he's ever actually been a sensei before.

This isn't really my problem, but Sasuki and Naruko could be useful allies in the future, plus Naruko is close with the Hokage and staying on his good side is always a good thing, all things considered.

I'm sure Hiruzen suspects I haven't told him the entire truth, just enough to get some wiggle room.

I'm sure my bodyguard is reporting everything I do back to him anyway, but that's ninja life for you.

I started them on the tree climbing exercise, and immediately spotted some things.

Sasuki is a quick learner but she's too hasty, she rushes things to try and get to anything that could help her with Itachi.

She doesn't see the point in this when she needs power, but convincing her that this isn't about walking up trees, it's about improving your control over all jutsu, seemed to help focus her.

Sakura is honestly a genius, she figured it out almost immediately with a little nudging from me, which pissed off Sasuki and Naruko.

I've moved her onto water walking, which she's having more trouble with. Her control is amazing, probably the best I've seen. That said, she doesn't have much chakra and tires out easily.

She surprised me, because after she failed for the first time she stripped down to just her shorts and a sports bra, even though she's clearly embarrassed to be so exposed. I've been a gentleman, mostly because I've gotten laid so much that the sight of a teenage girl in her sports bra isn't going to drive me wild.

Naruko has the opposite problem, she's got too much chakra and barely any control over it. Anything she does, she overdoes.

She's also not even remotely patient and quickly grew jealous of her teammates' greater success. She's needed the most direct mentorship, which of course has also pissed off Sasuki. Soothing Naruko's ruffled feathers just needed me to point out that she was having problems because of how much chakra she has, and that's a good thing.

She's also distracted, because this girl is wetter than Sakura. Her arousal is blatant to my enhanced senses, but I'm not sure she's even noticed it herself.

As night starts to fall, I call an end to this training session, and all three seem mostly happy, even if Sakura looks exhausted and soaked.

Sasuki got tree walking down by the end, Sakura was starting to make progress with water walking and Naruko has almost got tree walking down.

I have a feeling [Forbidden Teachings] makes teaching come easier for me, because I can almost instinctively tell where people need help. Naruko is going to be a powerhouse if she gets chakra control down because she has so much chakra, even without bringing up her… passenger.

"We can pick this up again another day, I doubt you'll need much longer to get this down Naruko, then we can start you both on water walking," I say, giving the three a small smile. "You all did good today."

"Are you really a Genin?" Sakura asks, making me shrug.

"Officially? Yeah. I missed the last Chunin exams because I was on a mission, which means when the next one rolls around we'll be competing against each other," I say, pausing. "Good luck."

"You're a better teacher than Kakashi, at least you actually taught us something," Sasuki grumbles, making me smile.

"I'm just passing on what my sensei and my father taught me, this is pretty basic stuff," I say easily, ruffling Sasuki's hair which makes her squawk in indignation.

Hand seals are used for moulding your chakra, my entire 'technique' is just me doing it manually. It does mean I need to remember the exact sequence for every technique without using the hand seals as a cheat sheet so it had its downsides.

Thankfully, we Nara have good memories.

Sasuki will need near perfect control to pull off my trick, and while she's decent she's not even close to being there yet.

"Thanks, Hei. Shikamaru's right, you are really cool," Naruko says, making me grin.

"Oh, he said that, did he?" I say, blackmail acquired. Embarrassing my little brother is basically my duty as a big brother.

Sakura hesitates for a moment, before she moves forward and gives me a short hug, moving back almost immediately. She's still not put her top back on and her small budding breasts briefly push against my chest.

"Thanks, Hei," Sakura says shyly.

"No worries, good work today Sakura. Have you considered becoming a medic-nin? You have the fine control for it, and they're in very high demand," I say, making her pause.

Medical jutsu need the best control, I know that because it was brought up as a potential future for me when my own fine control was made apparent.

"I haven't, but I'll definitely think about it," Sakura says, genuinely thinking deeply about it.

Sakura is self-conscious over her skills. She's weaker than Sasuki by far and Naruko could easily beat her in a fight, she hides it but she feels like the odd one out in her team.

Having something that neither of her teammates can do appeals to her, I can see that immediately.

"If you're interested, talk to Kakashi about setting something up, I know the hospital is always looking for volunteers so you can get a taste of that life," I suggest, making her nod shyly. "Sasuki, can you stick around for a few minutes? I want to talk to you alone," I say, making Sasuki look up and nod. "As for our next session, I'll talk to Kakashi and find a time where we are both free."

I've got my own training to do as well, even if this was surprisingly fun.

"Sure, later Hei!" Sakura says, waving as she finishes re-dressing, I don't stare but I can't deny that girl has an amazing ass.

Naruko hesitates, before following behind her, talking to Sakura about going to… a ramen stand? She seems genuinely surprised when Sakura agrees to go with her.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Sasuki asks, before pausing. "And thanks for today, I know you're busy as well."

"You realise you aren't going to be able to take down Itachi alone, right?" I say bluntly, making her freeze.

"I-"

"I know a thing about wanting someone very powerful dead, it's nowhere near as… tragic as your own story but I am going to kill the bastard who killed my sensei and teammate, but this lone avenger thing you are doing is just going to get you killed," I say softly, interrupting her reply as she goes quiet.

"Is this going to be one of Kakashi's teamwork speeches?" Sasuki asks, somewhat mockingly. "Gonna tell me to give up on revenge and embrace the will of fire."

"Fuck no, I'm going to tell you to cheat. Itachi is a monster, in more ways than one, but what's more important to you? Your pride or avenging your family?" I ask, making Sasuke pause, clearly surprised. "Do you think I plan to fight the man who fought Ryu Hayabusa one on one and came out on top in some epic duel? No, fuck that. I'm a ninja, if I can slit his throat in his sleep, I will. If I can poison his food, I'll laugh at him as he chokes to death. If I have to fight him, I'm bringing as many friends and allies as I can with me."

Sasuki doesn't respond to that, because I can already tell she had dreams of some epic showdown with the brother who slaughtered her clan.

"But even beyond your ambition, you should be happy that Sakura and Naruko are doing well. Because if they fall behind, Kakashi will hold the entire team back from more dangerous missions, a team is only as strong as its weakest link, they need to succeed for you to get the experience you need to thrive, so stop pouting so much that they butted into your training time," I tease, rubbing her hair again as she blushes ever so slightly.

"…sorry," Sasuki says quietly, embarrassed at getting called out.

"Don't worry, you're still young. Some mistakes and irrationality are expected," I tease again, flicking her forehead like I do Shikamaru's.

It always annoys him, but it seems to briefly send Sasuki into shock.

"I- thanks for the talk, I'll think about what you said," Sasuki stammers out as she looks away, not quite fast enough for me not to see the slight tears forming before she shakes her head harshly.

Whoops, I think I just dragged up some unwanted memories, but if she actually thinks about my words I'll take that as a victory.

"No worries, just don't do anything reckless. Revenge isn't much good if you get yourself killed in the process," I say, ruffling her hair one last time. "Later, Sasuki."

"Later, Hei," she says, waving and noticeably avoiding eye contact as she turns and leaves.

Heading back to the main building in the clan compound myself, I smile to myself. Today went well, even if it cut into my own personal training time.

I have a few ideas how to increase my power anyway, but I need to reach out to a couple of people since training alone is inefficient and only makes your mistakes into habits.

Heading into my home, I notice that nobody is in, which is odd. Dad never works this late unless something serious is going on, because he hates working.

I think Shikamaru is staying with Choji tonight, so his disappearance isn't that odd.

But mom isn't back either? That's unusual.

Sitting down in the living room, I open a clan jutsu scroll and start reading. I'll see anyone who comes in from here.

Time passes, and I consider trying to track them down before I force myself to relax. None of them have any reason to leave the village, and they'll be safe in the village itself. I'm just being paranoid

I've lost one family, I'm not eager to lose a second.

Some noise makes me sit up in my seat, the door opening and two women walking in which makes me relax.

A… heavier woman with short brown hair helps my clearly drunk mother through the door, making me facepalm.

Oh right, mom was spending time with my aunts. Yeah, that makes sense.

"Oh, you're home Hei?" Aunt Chuya says as she guides Yoshino through the door.

One advantage to her size is that my Akimichi aunt doesn't get drunk easily, she probably drank twice as much as Yoshino but she's barely flushed.

"Yup, the only person who is. Shikamaru is staying at your place tonight, right?" I ask.

"That's right, I think Yoshino mentioned that Shikaku was busy with the political shitstorm you've been picking up. Heh, it'll do the lazy bastard some good to actually have to work," Chuya says with a healthy laugh.

Ah.

Meh, that's his job.

"Hei? Oh, hey, Hei!" My mother says, giggling to herself as she is put down on the couch, making me sigh.

I'm never going to escape that joke.

"I see you've had a fun night," I say simply. "Thanks for bringing this one home, Chuya."

"Ha, it was nothing. Getting Iyona home was much harder, she's a feisty drunk," Chuya laughs, patting my shoulder. "You doing okay? Heard about your last mission. Honey, you've had some bad luck with missions."

"You're telling me, but I had the good luck to survive, so I can't complain," I say.

"Remember you're not alone, you've got at least three clans ready to have your back. Hell, make that five if what I've heard about the Inuzuka and Hyuuga's is right. You need anything, you can come and let me know," Chuya says sincerely, making me smile even as I wonder if fate is laughing at me.

Didn't I just have this conversation with Sasuki, more or less?

"I will, thank you," I say, making her smile.

"Bah, you're family. No thanks needed, now if you'll excuse me, I'll leave this drunken mess in your hands," Chuya says with a laugh, an indignant noise coming from my mother as I give her a wave.

"Hei, why are you so serious, all frowny all the time," Yoshino asks, poking my face. "You should- should- not be that, yeah."

She nods proudly at that, convinced she's said something truly profound. I just sigh.

Dad, get your ass home already, because I'm in no hurry to handle this drunk. Surprise, you lazy fucker, more work is waiting for you at home.

— Bonus Scene — Hinata Hyuuga

Her mother was healed.

The words themselves seemed downright alien even in her mind, some impossible dream that she'd long since given up any hope of coming true.

But it was true, her mother was out of the bed she had lived in for as long as Hinata could remember, and the fact that Hitomi had almost broken her and Hanabi's spines with her hug told her that her mother's strength had returned.

Hei Nara had saved her mothers life, how? She had no idea, honestly she didn't care. The how didn't matter, only the result.

Her father seemed to be genuinely happy, for the first time in years. Hanabi was trying really hard to not show how happy she was, and Hinata herself kept breaking into tears at the joyful realisation that her mother wasn't going to die at any given moment.

There was a bunch of political stuff going on, something about an alliance and friendship between the Nara-Akimichi-Yamanaka alliance and both her family and the Inuzuka's for some reason, but again she genuinely didn't care about that.

It was a bit irresponsible as the heiress, but she couldn't bring herself to care about the political ramifications while her mother was up and cooking dinner, humming happily.

Still, she wasn't fully recovered. She couldn't be, otherwise why would she be walking with such a limp?

And why did she seem proud of her limp?

Author's Note: Sorry about the delays, I needed a break from writing and just didn't have much motivation.

It's a shorter chapter because Warlord has already been updated this story cycle so I've decided to make 'bonus' chapters shorter to make it easier to finish each rotation.

For those that don't know, I have a tracker on discord that keeps track of all my stories, how much I've written for each and what's been updated each cycle.

Priapus' note: We've been in new-story epicycles for so long that I genuinely forgot that that was a thing.

I am entirely motivated by praise and interaction, so leave a review and I'll probably write faster.

I have a discord server (technically someone else's but my name is on the server so it's basically mine) with a bunch of other authors and a load of porn. Here's the link for that: discord .gg/wd3tUYWVCd

If it says it's expired, add my (The Pumpkin King#1234) and I'll invite you myself.

I've finally started to use my pat reon for something, mostly I've just added some discord integration so that my pat reons can read early previews of chapters. This won't affect regular posting, but if you wanna read my works a day or two early then consider checking it out

Link: Pat reon. com/TheDarkWolfShiro