AN: some people still complain that I am putting too much focus on my SI... my response is plainly thus. If you don't like, then don't read. The only times I actually use my SI's view is before the chapter starts, and after the end. That is it... having to listen to idiots who sign in as guests cry about it over and over is a waste of my time. I immediately delete those guest comments. During the chapter, if I am not using a character's view, then I am using a third person view, NOT my SI. So no I am not focusing on him all the time. His time is before and after the chapter and complaining that I have "ruined the story" makes me wonder just how stupid those complainers are. I am moderating the reviews, so no guest review gets in, unless I let it. Any and all flames WILL be deleted. If you have a problem, then cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it. Sign in on an actual account instead of guest to whine and cry because I am doing something that you don't 100% agree with. Telling me I need to commit suicide, or that they wish I have never been born, or any other stupid things just shows just how stupid some of you 'guests' are. They get instantly deleted. It is kinda sad that you don't have the balls to log in to an account and say things like that.
For the ones who support me, I thank you, and I will be trying to get out new chapters as soon as I am able to.
Chapter 10: Turning Point
XoX
As morning approaches, I pull myself away from my nightly duties ( read: playing games all night) and wait for the others to trickle in. Seems that Akamaru stayed with the sekirei all night. I wonder what Kiba's reaction to the bow he now has will be. So far, only Miya noticed, as she is trying to not laugh at him.
The ninja slowly come out of their bedrooms, and head to the buffet table. Looks like Kakashi and Anko are still tired from last night. Kiba and Sakura are both wide wide awake. Tho noticing Akamaru's new accessory, both of them snorted while trying to not laugh. They failed. The rest of the ninjas just complimented him on his new bow. Akamaru just huffed at Kiba and went to sit next to the sekirei, making Kiba apologize to him, saying he was not expecting him to wear a bow like he was. Akamaru was still annoyed. As everyone got settled in, the book which was still hovering in the air, spun around and starting floating towards the next reader, Kiba.
"Alright, here we go. Chapter ten: Turning point. I wonder what is going to happen. I am willing to bet it is something major. That and the fact that with Naruto, everything that happens inevitably gets blown out of proportion, and then some." Naruto just gave him a deadpan stare, even if he knew it was true. The rest were chuckling lightly. "Alright, lets get this started:
It was not even fifteen minutes after the entire incident with Matsu is over that Naruto found himself sitting on the veranda drinking a cup of warm tea. The tea combined with the peaceful and quiet atmosphere as the blond sat in seiza and looked out at the expansive courtyard managed to sooth his frayed nerves. The whole experience just a few minutes prior had been one for the ages. Never in his life had Naruto felt so much conflict within himself. That is not to say he had never felt conflict before, but most of his own struggles hadn't been internal but external. Fighting the bad guys, rescuing the princess, saving the bridge builder from the evil conglomerate company, things like that. The only time Naruto had ever struggled internally was when he fought against his darker half.
"Ohh he is going to talk about his dark side?" Matsu joked. "This I got to hear." Kiba smirked, until he noticed the next line, and froze up.
"Umm... Naruto. Please come here. You too, Tsunade." Kiba said, looking nervous and slightly scared. Once both come over, he showed them the next line. Naruto winced at what it said, while Tsunade sighed, mumbling that she knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Sakura glanced over, seeing the line as well. Tsunade just said to keep reading, and they will have to explain all of this to them. Kiba sighed, but kept going.
And he supposed Kurama could be considered an internal battle on a technicality, since the great Bijou had been sealed into him.
Naruto winced, as Matsu was asking "What is a Bijou?" Tsunade started to explain to them about the nine bijou and the Jubii, the TV screen showing pictures to illustrate everything Tsunade, and to a lesser extent, Naruto were saying about them. Only the relevant information was being given, like their composition, size, strength, abilities, and powers as well as what was meant by them being sealed inside someone. Naruto also showed them the seal he has, also telling them which one he has.
Some of them start looking towards him nervously before Miya asks "Is there a chance of it escaping?" Naruto smiled at her for understanding while Tsunade says "No chance, unless Naruto releases it himself, or he dies." The sekirei all calmed down, while Kiba started to read again.
Even than his battle with his other half had not been anywhere near as conflicting as this. Maybe it was because his battle with his dark self had actually been more of a battle and not of a struggle. Yeah, he may have been facing himself, but it had been in such a way that Naruto had been able to disassociate himself from that of his darker half. This recent issue had not been a battle, it had been a struggle against his own feelings. The thoughts and emotions he had been trying to deal with had nothing to do with the dark side of himself that he had fought at the Water Fall of Truth, and everything to do with his own inner turmoil. It had been hard, one of the most difficult things he had ever done. Perhaps that was because Naruto was not used to dealing with his emotions and feelings, preferring to shove them to the back of his mind and locked them up in a vault tighter than the seal that had held Kurama had been. With them now being forced out, no doubt due to the bond he had with his Sekirei, Naruto was being forced to deal with them in short order.
Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, you know it is not healthy to keep all your emotions bottled up like that. This is a prime example of what happens if you do." Naruto pouted at him.
"I know this Kakashi sensei, but old habits are very hard to let die out sometimes." Naruto responded. "I have been doing much better lately, so something like this shouldn't happen to me."
For some reason, he couldn't find it in himself to complain, or even regret what was happening. It was just another way the bond was changing him, he guessed. Whether that change had something to do with his own emotions being pulled from the depths of his mind where he had hidden them, or the emotions of his Sekirei simply subsuming his own conscious didn't seem as important now. In fact, Naruto found that the idea of his mind getting subverted by his Sekirei to be almost negligible.
Kami he really was apathetic.
Turning his attention away from his own thoughts, Naruto took a small sip of his tea and looked up at the sky. It wasn't even midday yet, the sun was shining brightly overhead, with only a few sparse sprinkling of cumulus clouds scattered about like fluffy white pieces of cotton candy. The day was quite beautiful, he had to admit. It would have been the perfect day for an outing. Too bad Naruto was far too tired to even think about going out somewhere. It wasn't a physical exhaustion so much as a mental one brought about by the strain of his recent struggles, but he supposed that was neither here nor there.
"Penny for your thoughts?" asked a gentle voice that Naruto was coming to recognize almost as well as his Sekireis. He turned his head slightly to see the lavender haired beauty clad in her usual kimono standing behind and slightly to his left, her hands clasped in front of her as she stared at him with a gentle smile that had her eyes crinkling shut. Putting on a small smile of his own, albeit, one that looked a touch too tired for someone who looked so young, Naruto patted the wood paneling beside him.
"Miya-chan," he said, somehow managing to slip into his bright persona with a bit of extra effort. "I was wondering when you would come."
Miya raised an eyebrow at his choice of words, though whether she was truly surprised by them was anyone's guess. "You were expecting me?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side.
"Of course," Naruto replied, playing this game of dancing around each other with her. "Quite a bit has happened today. Ku-chan thinking she saw a ghost, said 'ghost' turning out to be a Sekirei who has been hiding out in your house, said Sekirei reacting to me in a most... erm, perverted manner." The blond paused, taking a moment to realize just how much of an understatement that was. The woman had literally tried to jump him. Shaking his head, he continued. "There is also the fact that Matsu has apparently been peeping on me and all of Maison Izumo via spy cameras she set up in every room." Naruto made a quick note to himself that he needed to do a quick sweep of his room to make sure he got rid of any hidden surveillance cameras that might be there. It didn't matter who it was that was doing the spying, Naruto hated it when people spied on him.
Naruto playfully glared at Matsu, while she was looking sheepishly around, partially hiding behind Minato. Most of the room started laughing at this byplay.
Miya's right eye twitched at the mention of Matsu's spy cameras, no doubt she was annoyed about the perverted Sekirei actually installing spy camera in some of the more private places like the bathhouse. Naruto was almost sure Miya had no problems with the other places Matsu had placed her cameras. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if Miya actually encouraged the red head to install cameras in his room. Naruto got the feeling that the landlady, despite all of her gentle and kind nature, was just as bad when it came to peeping on others as Matsu was.
Miya started to turn as completly red as Hinata used to at hearing this, either from embarassment at being caught, or anger at being thought a pervert. Perhaps even a bit of both. The snickering and chuckling heard around the room certainly didn't help matters either.
"It is true that a lot has happened," Miya began, her eyes still looking at Naruto as the blond turned his attention back to the courtyard. Perhaps it was in an effort to ease some of the slight tension that had picked up between them since the whole incident had ended, but Miya let loose a soft giggle. "Maison Izumo has certainly become lively since Uzumaki-kun and his flock have come here. It's almost saddening to see such beautiful maidens having their hearts played with like that, and now he's got Matsu-san in his clutches as well." Miya put a hand to her cheek and sighed dramatically. "Oh Takehito, what would you think if you realized that your dear wife was surrounded by such debauchery in her own home?"
"You know Naruto won't let that speech pass without some kind of retaliation, right Miya?" Matsu asked. "I almost wonder if this is just you flirting with him. Maybe you cold be even jealous at the attention he has and you want some from him too?" The ninjas start laughing at the teasing comment from Matsu.
Naruto snorted at the woman's jab at his apparent habits as a player who played with the hearts of women. "Considering you had Kagari-san living here before I did and he actually works as a host at a club that women go to in order have a bunch of players lavish attention on them, I don't think you have any right to make fun of me. Now, sit down and drink your tea," he finished, pushing the second cup of tea he had made across so floor so Miya could see it. The lavenderette looked at the cup of steaming liquid, giggled, and made her way over to him. She sat down on his left, with about six inches of space between them. Close enough that she could offer him comfort if needed, but far enough that no one could possible mistake them for anything other than friends.
Miya congratulated Naruto on a excellent come-back making the blind ninja bow from his seat.
"My flock, huh?" Naruto said to himself, tasting the word the landlady had used to describe his growing harem. "A wagtail reference I take it?" he asked, turning to look at Miya, who just smiled in return.
"Well, they are a bunch of little birds waiting to spread their wings, after all," she said, hiding her smile by taking a sip of her tea. As the cup left her lips, the smile disappeared and the two descended into an uncomfortable silence. Naruto knew that Miya had not come here to make small talk, she had a reason for coming to him, and if he were to follow the law of common sense, then it most likely had something to do with the recent incident with Matsu. He watched the woman out of the corner of his left eye, noting the way she was struggling. Her posture was a little tense, most people would never notice it, except he wasn't most people. Her eyes mostly focused on the horizon, but would occasionally glance over at him, only for her to worry her lower lip and look away. She wanted to ask him something, obviously, but was probably unsure on how to go about asking. He had already proven to be great at circumventing questions when he didn't want to answer, and she was most likely trying to find a way to stop that from happening.
Well, he wouldn't be the one breaking this silence. Naruto wouldn't stop her from asking her questions, but he also wouldn't help her along with them by bringing whatever it was she wanted to ask up.
"Is it really so bad?" she finally decided to break the silence by asking something. Naruto tilted his head, indicating that she needed to be a little more specific if she wanted him to answer. He knew what she was talking about, of course, but as he said, he had no intention of helping her along when it came to prying into his life. "To have so many of my kind bound to you?" apparently she knew that he wasn't going to be giving her any help either, because she had decided to elaborate with her question.
"You know, I think that's the first time I've ever heard you admit to being a Sekirei," Naruto commented.
"Is it? Oh dear," Miya replied with a slight smile. "I do hope I haven't startled you with this information."
Naruto snorted and shook his head. "I think I'll manage," he said dryly.
"You still haven't answered my question," Miya prodded him. It seemed she had managed to pick up on his stalling tactic and was in no mood for it.
"Yes and no," A heavy sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he began deciding on just how he should answer that question. "It's difficult to explain," he began, frowning as he tried to put his reasoning into words. It was more difficult than he had expected. "The idea of being with numerous beautiful women is the dream of every straight male," the blond began with a bit of humor in order to give him time to come up with his answer. "Even though harems are considered taboo in this day and age, it's still the desire of many males."
"Oh my," Miya started as she placed a hand on her cheek and looked away with a slight tremble. "It seems Uzumaki-kun really has given into his lustful urges. Should I be worried about Uzumaki-kun attempting to seduce a poor widow like me?" she asked, her expression taking on a look of worry. Naruto rolled his eyes at the woman for being so dramatic.
"Well if I did make an attempt at seducing you, it probably wouldn't last very long before you gutted me with your sword," Naruto shot back. "So I don't think you need to be worried about anything." From the smile on Miya's face, the blond knew his words may not be quite the joke he had made it out to be. It just reaffirmed his beliefs that he should never try to seduce Miya.
The smile on Miya's face left a moment later and her lips thinned slightly. "Perhaps it would be a good idea for Uzumaki-kun to quit stalling," she said softly, and Naruto sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to allow him to take circumvent her question. However, just because she was adamant that he answer her, didn't mean he was going to come out and reveal everything to her. He had learned the true art of lying without really lying. The key to telling someone a lie was to tell them the truth, or at least part of the truth, enough so that they wouldn't be able to question that what he said was a lie, but not enough that they would know the true secrets he was hiding.
"I've loved before," Naruto started, determining the path he would take with his answer. "Years ago, I once believed just like Musubi did. I loved, and cherished, and formed powerful bonds with people I had grown to consider precious to me. They may have been nothing like the bond between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi is, I couldn't feel their emotions like I do with Akitsu, Musubi, Kusano, and now Matsu, but still..." Naruto sighed and shook his head. "The bonds I had formed with them were strong, strong enough that if necessary I would have been willing to give my very existence to ensure their happiness."
Hinata hugged Naruto to her tightly, knowing that the book versions was talking about her and the other ninjas. Sakura just grabbed Naruto by his spare hand and gave him a squeeze. Kiba just gave him a thumb's up.
Miya was looking at him now, both of her eyes open as she studied him with a critical gaze. He had caught her attention, he knew. Naruto had never been this forthcoming with his past, always sticking to strange things he had seen and done during his travels, but never mentioning his origins. There was no question that the woman was very interested in what he had to say.
"Something must have happened," she prompted when Naruto remained silent. "I take it that something happened to them, the people you formed these bonds with?"
"They died," Naruto said, his tone clipped, emotionless as he forced himself to remain clinical. "I was unable to protect them, I wasn't strong enough, wasn't smart enough, I lacked the power to truly do anything to help, and because of my incompetence they were killed." The blond looked down at his hands and upon noticing how they were trembling, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and forced them to stop. "After that I realized that to love another was to invite heartache. The only way to avoid feeling the pain of someone you love leaving you was to not love at all."
"I traveled a lot after that," looking down at his hands and towards the courtyard. "Never staying in one place long enough to form bonds, never allowing myself to grow close to anyone. I would get lonely occasionally," he admitted. "But when that happened I would just find a woman willing to spend the night with me, having a warm body next to me at night seemed to help keep my nightmares at bay." It was a true testament to just how interested Miya was in learning his past that she did not even tease him for giving into his 'lustful urges' as she was wont to do.
"I traveled the world and did my best to never let myself truly feel," he smiled a depreciating smile as he leaned backwards, placing his hands behind his back and using his arms to support himself. "I was alive but I never let myself live. I suppose you could say it was my hope that by deadening my emotions, I would no longer be able to feel pain." He chuckled a bit, but the only emotion it held was bitterness. "Maybe I was trying to fool myself into believing that so long as I ignored my own feelings I could pretend there was nothing wrong with me."
The intake of air you could hear from the adult ninjas was almost loud at what they were hearing. None of them could imagine a pain at this level. Both Kakashi and Tsunade were thinking the same thing, 'And I thought I had it bad'.
And there it was, Naruto had always known that he was broken, no one could be as apathetic as he truly claimed, no one could do the things he had done, watch the things he had seen and remain sane. It wasn't just the Fourth Great Shinobi War, that had damaged him, probably even irreparably. Yet even then, after Naruto had realized that everything he had loved was gone, he had at least tried to move on, tried to live a life his friends would have been proud of, tried to create the world his sensei had dreamed of, a world of peace. How long had he traveled the world back then? Going from town to town and trying to spread his beliefs about peace and understanding? He didn't really know, there was no way he could truly know. It had happened such a long time ago that he could only remember what happened during those days. Those days where he had finally given up on humanity. When he had realized that no matter what he did, no matter how hard he preached, how many 'miracles' he performed, humans could never learn to understand one another. Peace was a lie. And love would never be strong enough to triumph over everything. How could it when there was so much hatred in the world? So much greed? How could peace ever be achieved when humans were so flawed the refused to understand that everyone was the same? The answer was it couldn't, and Naruto doubted that would ever change.
He could still remember that day so clearly, the day he had given up on his dreams and turned cold. It haunted him in his dreams just as much, perhaps even more, than the horror of losing his precious people during the Fourth Great Shinobi War.
The feeling of a hand being placed upon his own snapped the blond's attention back to reality. He looked over to see Miya giving him a gentle, understanding smile. "I can only imagine how much you must have suffered to form such beliefs," she said, turning her body around so she could fully face him. She placed her other hand on his, it was the first form of true physical contact they had, and Naruto had the feeling it was the first time Miya had even touched a male that was not her husband.
"I think I can understand a little," she told him, her smile turning a little sad. "When my husband first died, I had felt so lost. For a long time I was unable to do anything, I didn't know what to think, or what to feel. In many ways a large part of me died with my husband. When I lost him, not only had a part of me died, but I felt overwhelming guilt that he had died while I lived. During those first few months I had wanted nothing more than to die." Miya paused, and Naruto used that time to put his thoughts in perspective.
Miya was starting to cry. The book was very accurate on her emotions and feelings when her husband died. Having them come out like this, even if it was not her actually saying them, was almost refreshing to her. That some of the others understood fully what she was going through also helped a lot.
He was surprised that Miya was willing to tell him this. The blond was sure she had not told this to anybody else, and he was even more sure that she had never intended to tell anybody about this. That begged the question about why she was telling him. Was this her way of returning the favor for him revealing a little more about himself? Or perhaps it was because she felt connected to him due to their mutual experience with the pain of loss? It could have been either of those reasons or any number of other ones. He supposed that, in the end, it didn't quite matter why she was telling him. What was important was that she was willing to tell him of all people about her past. A part of him felt honored. That this powerful woman was willing to tell him about her own pain, even though it was probably just as difficult for her as it was for him, told him just how much trust she was willing to place in him. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Maybe it was because he usually tended to stray when other people tried to load their problems on him, maybe he just felt like an intruder despite the fact that she was revealing her past to him willingly. Whatever the case was, Naruto decided that he would put aside his own discomfort in order to listen. Who knows, perhaps she was telling him simply to get this off her chest? Maybe she had kept her own pain hidden for so long that she needed someone to confide in, and if Naruto knew her pain than wasn't he the best option to talk to?
"You must be strong if you managed to overcome that kind of hardship," Naruto commented, and at his words, Miya took her hands off his and turned away, looking out at the sky with a soft smile.
"Not as strong as you might think," she admitted lightly, though with an undercurrent of emotion only someone like Naruto could place. "In fact, if it hadn't been for Seo of all people, I don't think I would have ever been able to recover."
The others blinked a bit, "Seo?" Sakura asked, "We thought you hated him." Kiba snickered as he started to read on.
"Seo?" Naruto blinked several times, nonplussed by this new knowledge. "That scruffy Ashikabi you constantly call 'trash' and 'scum'?" Now this was something he had never seen coming. While Miya never outright said it, he was sure the landlady held, if not hatred, then at least extreme dislike for Seo.
Miya giggled at him, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. "The very same," she said, calming down as she looked back out at the courtyard. "Despite the fact that I would constantly tell him how I didn't want to see him, he would still come in and check up on me every single day just just to make sure I was ok."
"You have to respect him for doing that for you, Miya." Kiba said. "but, you should really start to move on. I mean, I am sure your husband would not want you to be alone for the rest of your life in mourning like you are. It is quite unhealthy." Miya nodded slowly, thinking on what Kiba had said, knowing he is right, but just can't bring herself to change just yet.
"I see," Naruto said, his own mind working around her words. "I suppose that's why you put up with him even though I can tell you don't really like him all that much." It was clear that neither Miya nor Seo really got along very well, they still remained sort of, somewhat, slightly, cordial with each other. At first, Naruto had just thought it was due to their relationship with Miya's husband, but perhaps there was more to their relationship than anyone else really knew. With that in mind, the way they acted towards each other made sense.
"Well, that, and he happened to be my husbands best friend," Miya said with another giggle. "It would be rude of me to deny helping someone my husband had befriended just because he's scum. Ufufufufu!" As Miya began to giggle some more, Naruto promptly felt a large drop of sweat beginning to form on his head.
Ok, so maybe Miya didn't really like Seo and only just put up with him because of his friendship with Takehito. God women were so weird.
Most women started glaring at Naruto for that thought, prompting him to tell Kiba to hurry up and keep reading.
"Let them in," Naruto blinked, then turned to look over at Miya. She wasn't looking at him, but at the sky above them, a gentle smile on her face that crinkled her eyes. "It's clear to me that you are a kindhearted young man who needs help. You have suffered so much that you're denying your own feelings and not giving yourself the chance to heal." She turned and directed her smile at him. "Let them into your heart, and I can guarantee you won't regret doing so."
Naruto stared at the woman for a little while longer, going over her words. She made it sound so easy, like all he had to do was reach out and accept them into his life and everything would be ok. And perhaps to most people it was, were he a normal human who had suffered something as simple as heartbreak then maybe letting himself fall in love would make everything better. If nothing else, the bond that formed between a Sekirei and their Ashikabi would normally be strong enough to heal all wounds of the heart. If things were as simple as he had led Miya to believe.
But things weren't so simple. It wasn't just a matter of giving in and letting himself love the four he had bonded to. They were mortal, and as such any bonds he may form, any love he may find, would eventually disappear from his life. That was his curse. To never be able to form a bond with another person without feeling his heart break when they died, to be unable to fall in love because any love he may find was too fleeting to last more than a hundred years at most, to never be strong enough to protect his precious people, because no matter how much strength or power he had, there were some things that even he could not protect people from.
Naruto facepalms at what he is hearing about his book self, looking almost embarrassed about it. Hinata just smiles as she puts her head down on him to continue listening, being quite comfortable cuddled up to him.
Time. It all came down to time. Naruto had all the time in the world and no use for it. Everyone else had so little time and wanted more. No matter what happened in this world, time would continue moving, flowing, a never changing concept, an unstoppable force. THE unstoppable force. It was the one thing that no one could defeat, the most powerful force in the entire world, no, the entire universe. Because even the stars were born and killed in time.
"Maybe you're right," Naruto found himself saying, his eyes closing as his own mind warred with itself. Would be so bad, he wondered, if he allowed himself to fall in love? To love and be loved in return? A part of him knew the pain that awaited him at the end of this journey. If he let himself fall in love, allowed these bonds to run their course, he would only get hurt in the end. But wouldn't it be worth it? Even if it was only for a little while, even if this was only a temporary escape, wasn't love something worth fighting for? He wanted to feel love. By the sage did he want to feel love. Naruto didn't even care if it was the bond that had caused these emotions that now stirred within him. It didn't matter if these weren't his thoughts, his feelings. Naruto acknowledged that he wanted to be able to love. To find love, to learn to love, to make new bonds with others. To protect what was most precious to him. Akitsu, Matsu, Musubi, Kusano. Maybe if let them they really could heal his heart. Even if it was only temporary, it would still be nice.
"Of course I'm right," Miya said, her perennial smile back in place. "Really, Uzumaki-kun, you should know better than to question a married woman when it comes matters of the heart." Naruto couldn't help but let out a chuckle at her words. Grinning, he looked over at the woman with an amused twinkle in his eyes.
"Ohh, more banter. I am starting to love these parts" Anko said, grinning. Kakashi just sighed, but you can see him smirking under his mask.
"Indeed, how careless of me," he said, chuckling a little more. "I should have realized by now that no man can understand matters of love better than women, especially for one as incredible as Miya-chan." He adopted a thoughtful expression, tapping his right index finger against his chin. "Does that mean I should ask Miya-chan what the best way to get into a woman's heart? Perhaps she would let me practice with her so I can get it right," he finished, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the woman in question.
Only to receive a smack to the head.
The ninja all start laughing. Naruto makes an imaginary mark on the imaginary board as he got an actual physical reaction to the bantering, causing the sekirei to laugh at his antics.
"Owch!"
"Now, now," Miya said pleasantly. "You should know better than to say such things to a widow like me, Uzumaki-kun. I may end up taking offense to them."
"Duly noted," Naruto grimaced as he absently poked the small lump that had begun to form on his head. How did she hit so hard without using any momentum to increase the strength of her strike? He looked at the implement she had whacked him with and frowned. "Just where did you get that ladle? I could of sworn you had not been carrying it when you walked out here." He was of course, referring to the steel ladle the landlady was now tapping against the palm of her open hand like it was some kind of blunt weapon. She couldn't have had it sealed, no one but him knew Fuīnjutsu. Could she have hidden it up one of her sleeves? They were certainly wide enough. Or maybe she had the fabled female pocket dimension. The dimensional pocket all woman are said to possess that allows them to carry thousands of items no matter how large within their clothing. He thought it was a myth that came from anime, but maybe there was more truth to those stories than he thought...
"Perhaps you just need to pay more attention, Uzumaki-kun," Miya replied cheerfully, causing Naruto to huff. As Miya began giggling at him, no doubt taking some kind of innate pleasure at having got one over on him, the loud sound of feet thumping down the halls had the two turning their heads to look at the open entrance to the house just as Uzume burst into view.
"There you are!" She shouted at Naruto, causing the blond to wonder why she was so excited. Even Miya had an eyebrow raised.
"Something up, Uzume?" asked Naruto, looking at the busty star shirted Sekirei curiously.
"Heh, you bet your butt something's up," she started with a grin. "I have something I want to show you." And with that, she walked over, grabbed the blond's arm, and hauled him to his feet. "Now come on! Get off your butt or you might miss it!"
"W-What?" Naruto started in surprise, stumbling as the woman dragged him away from a laughing Miya and into the hallways. "U-Uzume, where the hell are you taking me? What am I going to miss!"
Uzume didn't stop dragging him as she looked back at him with a large grin on her face. "Something you're going to love!"
"More like something perverted, if what the story is saying about her keeps going." Sakura added. Hinata giggled at her, agreeing, but also curious as to what it is herself. She wants more ideas for her and Naruto's love time.
XoX
"Ta da!" Uzume began as she made a dramatic gesture towards Naruto's Sekirei as they all lined up in a row. Grinning, she looked at the blinking blond as he stood in front of his four Sekirei. "So wat'cha think? Pretty nice, huh?" She said, grinning wickedly at the blond as he stood there looking stupefied.
"Are those maid outfits?" he asked bluntly.
Cue laughter from the ninjas while Naruto just sighs. He has a feeling he will see Hinata in one of those soon.
Indeed, all of his Sekirei sans Kusano were wearing what looked to be maid outfits, though perhaps the term 'naughty maids' might be more apt when describing their clothing. The outfits themselves seemed to consist of a brief black dress and an apron. The skirts came up abnormally high on their thighs, enough so that if his Sekirei were to bend over they would give him a panty flashing for the ages. The upper half of the dress was low cut and displayed just enough cleavage to tantalize and tease the senses, and the apron itself only tied around the back near the hips and not at the neck like the usual apron. Instead it was tucked into the front where their cleavage was exposed so that it allowed for the dress to show off his Sekireis assets. The outfits were finished by a collar that wrapped around their necks and fastened with a lacy bow, but were not connected to the rest of the outfit, and a bonnet, the headpiece that came standard with most maid outfits. The dresses themselves were all in different colors. Musubi's was light pink, Akitsu's was an ice blue, and Matsu was wearing a dark red maid outfit. All in all they looked like a hentai's wet dream.
A picture of the sekirei maids appeared on screen, which caused all the males and a couple females to get a nose bleed of varying pressure.
"What do you think, Naruto-sama?" asked Musubi, twirling around to show off her outfit and inadvertently giving the blond a perfect flash of her panties. The blond found himself blinking as he tried to process the marvel before him. He had seen Musubi naked a number of times. Hell, he had slept with her naked and the only reason they had stopped was because of Miya. The sight of Musubi in a maid outfit should not be enough to fry his brain like this. Still, there was just something about this girl in a skimpy little maid costume...
In other universes, all the Jiraiyas sneezed at the same time while at the same time all having an intense feeling of congratulating Naruto for something extremely perverted.
"They're so nice, aren't they?" she finished her twirl and struck a pose. Kusano seemed to get into the same spirit as Musubi and soon she was striking an identical pose as the excitable Sekirei. Not long after that the two began twirling about in some kind of strange dance.
"Naruto-tan," Matsu's whine brought the blond's attention to the other woman, and Naruto found himself gulping as the red head bent forward so that he could see down her shirt and began hefting her chest with the palm of her hands. "What do you think of my outfit?" she asked with a pout that seemed both childish and seductive.
"Urm... uh... um..." Naruto found himself not only at a loss for words, but was also having difficulty deciding who to look at.
"Ah..." Naruto's head snapped towards his left as Akitsu decided to get in on this charade. She grabbed a hold of his hand and the blond almost had a heart attack when Akitsu, shy, subservient Akitsu, pressed his arm directly into her magnificent cleavage. "Do you like my clothes, Ashikabi-sama?"
"Urk," Naruto felt his head starting to spin as he found himself surrounded by so much feminine flesh that Jiraiya would have died from blood hemorrhaging were he in the blond's place. "You look, uh... I mean, all of you look... well..." Dammit! Why was this so hard? He had wooed thousands of women in his life! Handing out compliments were as easy to him as killing! It was he who made the woman fall into stuttering messes, not the other way around! "You girls look uh..." the blond tried again, only to blink when he realized Akitsu's outfit was slightly different than Matsu's and Musubi's. "Is that a choker around your neck?" he asked, then blinked again. "And why are your hands shackled together?" Naruto didn't even bother commenting on the fact that the ice user was still wearing her normal chains around her neck. By now he was so used to their presence that they just didn't register anymore.
"Ah," Akitsu looked down at her gleaming steel where her hands were shackled together. "I like them," she admitted, and Naruto felt his eye begin to twitch.
"He-heh, cat got your tongue, bro?" asked Uzume, her grin widening even further as it took on a 'cat that ate the canary' quality to it. The blond managed to get over the brain damage he had received by seeing so many magnificent female specimens at once to send the feisty tomboy a glare. So this was the girls plan. Dress up his Sekirei in sexy maid outfits and have them come at him at once in order to leave him a stuttering foolish mess? Well, he couldn't have that. It had been a long time since anyone had something like this over on one Uzumaki Naruto! He wasn't some eighteen year old virgin who had never experienced the pleasures of the flesh! He was the one who gave the women unimaginable pleasure. He would show this girl what happened when you messed with Uzumaki Naruto!
This got Naruto's attention, as he knows a prank is coming up. He starts grinning like a loon at what is going to happen to Uzume.
The blond's potential plotting for revenge was halted when something grabbed onto his right pant leg and began pulling. Looking down Naruto saw Kusano looking up at him in what was thankfully not a maid costume. Unlike his other Sekirei, the Green Girl was wearing some kind of bird outfit. It was rounded and puffy, and reminded Naruto of those ridiculous costumes one might expect to see in a school play. Belatedly, the blond recognized the costume as a wagtail. The girl was looking up at him with large green eyes, and Naruto felt familiar old feelings beginning to stir.
"Heh, well don't you just look cute," Naruto grinned as he placed a hand on Kusano's covered head. "So what are you supposed to be? A wagtail?" he asked, his grin widening when the little girl nodded her head up and down and replied with an enthusiastic 'uh huh!'. With the arrival of Kusano and her costume, Naruto felt his own mental fortitude realign. Smiling up at his Sekirei, he said, "all of you look amazing." He felt a moment of satisfaction when Akitsu and Matsu both gained a light flush on their cheeks. He would have been disappointed when all Musubi did was cheer, but considering how naïve that girl was, he supposed he should just be thankful she at least recognized the compliment for what it was. He looked over at Uzume and smirked when he saw the busty tomboy looking at him in shock. That should serve her for thinking she could mess with him.
"So what's the occasion?" asked Naruto as he turned back to look at his Sekirei.
"We're going to be making Naruto-sama lunch!" Musubi crowed, pumping her fist into the air. Once more Kusano decided to get into the act as she too pumped her fist into the air as well.
"Ah," Akitsu nodded slowly as she agreed with Musubi. "Yes," she said.
Naruto blinked several times. "Lunch?" he asked, tilting his head.
"That's right, Naruto-tan," Matsu said, claiming his attention. "We've all decided to show our love for Naruto-tan by making him lunch."
Naruto looked at the red head skeptically. "Can you even cook lunch?" he asked. While he knew Musubi was a decent chef, even if the only thing she could cook was curry, Matsu didn't really look like the type who would know her way around the kitchen. In fact, Naruto doubted Matsu would be able to tell a spatula from a ladle.
Matsu pouted at Naruto, knowing too well he was actually right. The others were all laughing to hard to notice though.
"Of course Matsu can cook," Matsu said, puffing her cheeks out as she pouted at him childishly. The red head pointed a finger at him, one hand on her hip and feet spread apart in a stance that looked like something you would see in a manga. "Just you wait Naruto-tan! Matsu will show you! I'll cook the best lunch you've ever had! By the time you finish eating my food you'll be begging me to be your permanent cook! You'll fall so in love with my cooking that you'll lose control and all that pent up lust you possess will break out and you'll ravish me on the kitchen table! Ohohohohohoho!" Having finished with her... speech, Matsu raised a hand to her mouth and began to laugh in a manner that Naruto had seen from female antagonists that were often found in manga. He promptly sweat dropped, and watched as Matsu began dragging his other Sekirei down the stairs. When they disappeared down the stairs, Naruto sighed, and began making his own way downstairs, a still grinning Uzume following him.
He sincerely hoped that letting those four cook for him wouldn't end in disaster.
Matsu sighed, knowing too well how much of a disaster it was going to be.
XoX
"Oh dear. Matsu-san, what happened to you?" asked Miya, one hand raised to her mouth and her eyes open in honest surprise. Naruto looked up from where he was sitting at the table and watching the news to see Matsu, her entire face blackened by soot and ash, and her hair looking burnt. Considering she had been in the kitchen helping Musubi and the others cook, it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.
A picture of Matsu's burnt face and hair showed on the screen, causing uproarious laughter from everyone except Matsu, who had her face covered in embarrassment. Sakura eventually told er she can't cook either, once she stopped laughing as well.
"Ah, well," Matsu looked away as an embarrassed flush appeared on her face. "Matsu was helping out in the kitchen and Matsu think Matsu just turned the heat up on one of the stoves too high. It um, ahem, it sort of blew up in her face." The blush on her face increased to even greater hues, so much so that it stood out in stark contrast to the blackened soot that covered it. "Akitsu-tan and the others told Matsu that she should probably wait out here."
"Oh my, are you alright, Matsu-san?" asked Miya, her voice reflecting her concern. Matsu grimaced a bit, but quickly waved off the woman's worry.
"Matsu's fine, hehe, don't worry about me," she started, quickly making her way over to the table in an effort to make the woman focus on something other than her failure in the kitchen. However, just because she attempted leaving Miya's presence, didn't mean all of her problems had ended.
"Had some trouble in the kitchen, I see," Naruto commented as the red head sat down with a plop, smiling when the woman's cheeks flashed pink. With a groan, Matsu hid her head in between her arms as she set them on the table. Chuckling at the girls misfortune, the blond said, "see, cooking is a lot harder than it looks, isn't it?"
"He-heh," Uzume chuckled as well from her place across from Naruto. She was sprawled out, her legs stretched out under the table and her hands being used for support as she leaned back. The busty Sekirei had been a bit quiet for the most part, likely still dealing with the surprise of having Naruto get over the sight of his Sekirei in her cosplay outfits. "Matsu's not really the type of person you would expect to see in a kitchen.
"Ugh, not Uzume-tan too," Matsu groaned, her voice muffled by her arms. "Alright, fine, so Matsu don't have any talent at cooking. Are you happy?" she asked, sounding miffed that she was actually admitting she couldn't cook.
Naruto chuckled some more. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm happy," he stated with a small smile. Setting the elbow of his left hand on the table, the blond leaned forward and propped his cheek on the butt of his hand. "But I am glad you realized that cooking is a tad more difficult then it looks." It took a lot of hard work to learn how to properly cook. When Naruto had first started he had been horrible at it, so bad that one time he had actually managed to burn water. However, through perseverance and hard work, he had eventually began learning the ins and outs of working in the kitchen. To be honest, he was actually surprised Musubi knew had to cook so well, even if all she could make was curry.
"Hmph!" Matsu huffed as she sat up, crossed her arms under her bust, and looked away. "If Musubi-tan and Ku-tan can do it, then Matsu should be able to do it too!"
"Ku-chan's probably only being given small tasks," Naruto stated boredly. "And Musubi only knows how to make curry. She probably had someone teach her how to make it and practiced it so often that making it has become second nature to her." He looked over at Matsu and raised an eyebrow. "Can you say you've done the same?"
Musubi agreed with Naruto's assessment, saying she was taught how to cook by the MBI chefs, and that almost all sekirei are given the option to learn how to cook. She was saddened a bit when she told them that only a few took the time to learn, as they were all focused on getting as strong as they can.
"Well, no, but still," Matsu pouted at him, her lower lip sticking out in a childish display. Naruto chuckled one more time, before switching gears and deciding to talk about something else.
"So hey, Matsu," he began, making the girl stop pouting and turned her attention back to him. "Just why have you been hiding out in Maison Izumo?" he asked, allowing his curiosity to finally get the better of him now that the incident caused by her reaction had passed. Both Miya and Uzume had been rather adamant in claiming that Matsu didn't exist. He couldn't help but be curious about why they were so intent on keeping the red heads existence a secret.
"Ah, well," Matsu rubbed the back of her head when she began to laugh sheepishly. "You see, when I left MBI I may have gotten into a spot of trouble." She began to blush, and her hands moved away from their current positions to cover her face in a futile attempt to hide it. "No, more like a lot of trouble," she amended almost reluctantly.
"So you're a fugitive?" asked Naruto, only partially surprised by this information. After all, it wasn't like there were that many people Matsu would need to hide from. Off the top of his head, Naruto could only think of one other person besides MBI that Matsu may have needed to hide out from. Izumi Higa, the Ashikabi of the East.
"Mou, you don't have to put it so bluntly," Matsu mumbled with a pout. When Naruto just deadpanned she turned her head to the side. "In the end, I had to come here in order to hide." The blond blinked, and then glanced over at Miya who had now taken a seat at her usual spot at the end of the table in front of the television. When she noticed his gaze, the landlady offered a smile.
"As I said before," she started. "It was my husbands policy to never turn away someone in need."
"Well I can definitely see why Matsu would come here for protection," Naruto said thoughtfully. If the red head was on the run from MBI then the only place she would really be safe was with someone who had enough power that the people at the top would deem obtaining her to not be worth the effort. It said a lot about Miya's power. If Miya's strength was such that MBI was unwilling to go after Matsu for whatever crime she had committed for fear of bringing the landlady's full might on their heads, it meant that either Miya could match the entire might of MBI or it would take far too much effort and resources to capture Matsu. Whatever the case was, it only confirmed to him that Miya was not someone who you wanted to get on the bad side of.
Miya blinked at his assessment, surprised at how accurate it truly was.
Returning to the matter at hand, Naruto focused on the red head once more. "So just what did you do to make yourself a fugitive from MBI?"
"Ah!" Matsu let out a strangled gasp. She looked at Naruto with slightly wide eyes. "Um, well..." A quick glance over at Miya caused the blond's focus to split, and as he watched the lavenderette shake her head, his eyes narrowed in thought. Now Naruto was curious. It was clear that Matsu had done something monumental if Miya was still intent on keeping it a secret from him. He couldn't help but wonder as to what the red head had done that would warrant so much secrecy.
He would have pondered the question some more, but at that moment, Musubi and the others came out of the kitchen and walked into the room, each of them carrying two large plates piled high with curry.
"Lunch is ready!" Musubi called out as she walked over to the table and set her plates of food down, one in front of Naruto and the other off to his left. She then sat down as well, it was her turn to sit next to him today so she sat directly on his left. The naïve Sekirei gave the blond a beaming smile as she sat down. "I hope you like the food we made for you, Naruto-sama."
Naruto gave the girl an easy smile. "I'm sure I'll love it," he assured her as Kusano put one of her plates in front of a smiling Miya and the other on his right, before sitting down next to him. Akitsu also finished serving Uzume and Matsu, putting a plate down in front of the two before grabbing the one that had been precariously balanced on her head and setting in down in the spot she would be sitting at. When everyone was seated, they began to eat.
"So how is it, Naruto-sama?" asked Musubi as she watched the blond take a bite of the curry. Naruto looked up at the girl, then, as if feeling the eyes of others on him, looked around to see that Akitsu and Kusano were also staring at him very intently. It wasn't so disturbing to see Akitsu doing that, but it was a tad unnerving to see Kusano giving him such an intense look. Still, Naruto managed to keep his composure as he smiled at the girls.
"It's great," he complimented. "You three really are amazing chefs." Akitsu looked over at him, blushed heavily, and then looked down at her place. Musubi had a much more cheerful reaction.
"That's because curries my specialty!" The excitable fist fighter crowed as she pumped her fist in the air. Sitting on the other side of Naruto, Kusano followed suit and pumped her own fist into the air and mimicked the Sekirei she seemed to take after the most.
"My specialty!" She repeated with excitement.
"Oh sure, rub it in why don't you," Matsu muttered to herself, though Naruto hurt it and gave the red head a glance. Rolling his eyes, the blond took another bite of his food. It really was good, he thought with a nostalgic smile. It reminded him a lot of the Curry of Life he'd had back during his mission with Fuzzy Brows, Neji, and Tenten when they had to fight Kurosuki Raiga at the Katabami Mine, only without the fire breathing heat that came with that curry.
"So if you worked for MBI, you must know a lot about the company, huh?" Naruto stated after he finished swallowing a bite of curry.
Anko started chuckling quietly, knowing information gathering when she sees it. She wonders how long it will take to get Matsu to put her foot in her own mouth.
Matsu looked at Naruto as she swallowed a bite of her own food, and then gave him a proud smile. "MBI's not the only thing I know a lot about," she proclaimed. "After all, as a Sekirei I don't have much fighting potential, but that's because my talents lie in information gathering." At her words Naruto stopped eating, the chopsticks that had been just inches away from his mouth were put down, and he straightened up so he could stare at the woman with a much more calculating gaze.
"Information gathering, you say?" he asked with interest. "You mean like what you did with those spy cameras you have set up around Maison Izumo?"
"I'm not just good with spy cameras, Naruto-tan," Matsu stated, not even noticing the change that had overcome Naruto. In fact, the only person who seemed to notice was the one who always seemed to spot these changes when it came to the young man, and she was watching the blond himself more than she was the byplay going on between the two. The red head continued completely, oblivious to both Naruto's expression and Miya's glance at the blond in question. "My abilities are the power the access and analyze any electronic device on a telepathic level, though I can't control them remotely yet."
"In other words, Matsu-san's power is the ability to peep on anyone, anywhere," Miya stated pleasantly and with a beautiful smile. Her words seemed to cause Matsu to deflate, the red head's posture slumping.
Everyone started laughing at the insinuation, even if it was accurate.
"Miya-tan," Matsu whined childishly. "I thought I told you that's not what it's called. Can't you call it 'Eye of the Electronic Brain'?" she asked piteously, and Naruto got the impression that this was a long standing debate between the two. "It's not just used for peeping," Matsu continued with a childish pout. "I was always able to utilize my abilities to break into many databases, including MBI's."
"Wait," Naruto stood up straighter, his eyes now taking on a sharp quality that only Kusano and Musubi seemed to miss. Akitsu might have too, but that was likely because she simply didn't care. "You're telling me that you can hack into MBI's database?" he asked, his voice holding an intensity that had Uzume looked at him in surprise, and Miya narrowing her eyes.
"Hack?" Musubi blinked, tilting her head at the curious expression. "Is that like discretion?" she asked, tilting her head. Naruto ignored her in favor of staring at Matsu, who seem to be shrinking in on herself at the sight of his potent gaze on her. She nodded, her back hunching even further as Naruto leaned forward.
"So you can gain entry into MBI's database at any time? Whenever you want?" he asked, wanting to confirm that what he had just been told was true.
"Um, well, yeah," Matsu said with a nod, sounding reluctant.
"Matsu, you... you..." as Naruto tried to come up with the appropriate words, Matsu's posture became even more slumped and guarded. It wasn't until the blond's next words came out that her fear was replaced by surprise. "Are the most incredible woman I have ever met!" he crowed.
"And here is where he breaks Matsu." Kakashi said with a chuckle. "Mind is now blown."
"E-Eh?" Matsu blinked, her mind trying to replay the blond's words in a form that was understandable, because apparently she was lost. Uzume was gawking at the blond, no doubt due to his outburst, and Miya was staring at him with an expressionless gaze. Once again, the only people who didn't react to his words like normal people were his own Sekirei. Akitsu because she had been staring at him the whole time, except when he looked at her, in which case she would blush and look away. And Musubi and Kusano who merely looked confused.
Another second ticked by before Matsu seemed to realize what Naruto had just said. Her blinking turned into wide eyes and she sat up straighter. "I am?" she asked, no doubt confused by how the blond had just gone from hard and calculating to ecstatic so quickly. Naruto gave her a serious nod.
"In our world, information is power. The more you know and the less your enemies know, the greater chances of you surviving." Tsunade explained. "That Naruto is practically flying blind here would be considered a terrifying experience. Having access to information via Matsu would definitely excite him. You, Matsu, would have just catapulted yourself into his absolutely favorite sekirei category in the top position with that. I would most likely expect him to spend a LOT of time with you, everywhere you go. You could even use that to your advantage to even get him to have sex with you."
Naruto facepalms himself at that last statement, while Sakura and Hinata giggled. Tsunade smirks at finally having a chance to pull one over on Naruto with that last statement.
"Information is power," Naruto stated, speaking from experience. "Matsu, if you can hack into MBI's system at anytime, then that means you can gain any form of information on the Sekirei Plan. Information on all of the Ashikabi, their Sekireis, MBI's goals, their plans, everything." It was easy to see that Naruto was excited, but the others probably had no idea of just how excited he truly was or why. The ability to learn everything he had been lacking knowledge on when it came to the Sekirei Plan. The entire time he had been here, the blond had been flying blind. He knew nothing about the Sekirei or the Sekirei Plan except for the basics, and even then Naruto was sure he was lacking. But now he could learn everything he had wanted to know, all of the information he needed to make more informed decisions, to plan. With the ability to learn everything about the Sekirei Plan and the people involved, Naruto could not only find out just what he had gotten himself into, but also determine the best course of action he could take. In terms of resources, Matsu had just given him the ultimate ace.
And to think he had actually been reluctant to wing her before.
"You know," Uzume began, sounding a little freaked out by how Naruto was acting. "When you put it like that, it sounds really ominous."
Matsu nodded her head as she completely ignored her detractor. Puffing up her chest in self importance, she gave Naruto a large smile as she soaked in his praise. "That's right, Naruto-tan," she said in a self important tone of voice. "There aren't that many brain-type Sekirei like me, so not many other Ashikabi have access to this kind of information." It was clear that she was trying to bump up her own self worth with that information, but Naruto was already impressed enough.
"Oh my, Uzumaki-kun seems awfully excited, doesn't he?" Miya said in a pleasant voice, though when the male in question glanced at her he noticed that she was still studying him intently.
"I've been in Shinto Teito for a total of nine days," Naruto stated. "And in those nine days, I have suddenly found myself bound to three Sekirei, one who was being chased by two girls who looked like something out of an S&M store that could shoot lightning out of their hands; another who was apparently 'scrapped' and somehow managed to escape from the labs they kept her in, and a little girl who has the power to increase the rate of plant growth so much that in only a day, she managed to turn the Arboretum into a complete jungle. Ever since I first got here, I've been flying by the seat of my pants, completely blind and unable to do anything more than react. The amount of rookie mistakes I've made has been ridiculous and could have been easily avoided if I'd had the necessary information at the time." He kept his eyes on Miya, not flinching as he stared at the woman. "I'm sure you can understand why I'm so excited."
Miya seemed to take in his words with a casual ease. Her posture relaxed, as did her intent studying of him. "Yes," she admitted with a nod. "I suppose I can understand that."
"Wait," said Uzume, drawing attention to herself. "Do you mean to say that you don't know what the Sekirei Plan is?" she asked curiously.
"I didn't either until everything was explained to me by Matsu." Minato explained. "I know how you felt. I was also flying just as blind as you were. Matsu really was a lucky find for both of us." Matsu had a full body deep red blush going at his statement.
"Wow! Matsu is starting to look like Hinata used to whenever she was near Naruto when we were younger." Kiba added, which caused Hinata to turn just as red as Matsu. Causing everyone in the room to start laughing, minus the two tomato red women.
"Beyond what the president of MBI told me, no," Naruto admitted. "The only thing I know is that the Sekirei Plan is some kind of battle royal where Sekirei are released into the city, have to find their Ashikabi, and then have to fight until only one Sekirei is left standing. Then that Sekirei gets some kind of prize or something." Here the blond snorted. "And Minaka wasn't very forthcoming in telling me what that prize was. Just mentioning some garbage about descending to the higher skies above and bringing about a New Age of the Gods."
Matsu adjusted her glasses as she looked at Naruto a bit more intently, seemingly reevaluating her opinions of him. "So you managed to accomplish all of this, winging three Sekirei, rescuing Kusano, and winging a scrapped number without a single clue as to what you were doing?"
"Pretty much," Naruto admitted with a shrug.
"That's... actually pretty impressive," Matsu admitted. "I knew you had only been in the city for nine days, but I hadn't realized you had been working with so little information. Didn't your Sekirei tell you more about the Sekirei Plan? They should have at some point."
"Did you really think any of his Sekirei would have, or even could have at this point." Kakashi asked. "No offense to your sekirei, Minato, but from what I have seen in the story, the only one who would have been able to say anything would be Matsu. Now judging from my observations, I wold also like to guess Tsukiumi and Kazehana, and Homura would all have been able to explain it as well correct?" The three named sekirei all agreed with the assessment. "Since you do not have access to their knowledge at this point, then I would say the only one you would have been able to get information from would be Matsu, especially since Miya hasn't volunteered any information herself."
Miya was absolutely ignoring that last statement, regardless of how right he was.
"Matsu, look at my other Sekirei," Naruto said, gesturing to Musubi, who was tilting her head from side to side and had a near permanent expression of confusion on her face; Kusano, who seemed to have grown bored with the conversation and was now playing with her food, making 'thrumming' noises as she moved her spoon around her plate; and Akitsu, who blushed the moment Naruto looked at her and went back to staring at her plate.
"I see your point," Matsu muttered as she realized that none of the other Sekirei were in any position to actually tell him about the Sekirei Plan. Musubi knew nothing more than Minaka had told him, Akitsu was a scrapped number and therefore was not likely to have been told anything, and Kusano was a child who wasn't even supposed to have been released for another couple of months. None of them would have been able to give him any of the information he wanted.
"Right," Naruto said with a nod before he took a large bite out of his curry. Hm, maybe he should remake the Curry of Life restaurant and use Musubi's curry as the main recipe... shaking his head, he refocused on his original topic, pointing his chopsticks at Matsu. "So, as soon as lunch is over you and I are going to have our first strategy session."
"Right!" If Matsu's smile had been capable of getting any wider, Naruto was sure it would have ripped her face in half.
The mental picture that caused everyone had them all rolling around, even Hinata who was still in Naruto's arms.
XoX
"You know, when you said that you wanted to hold a strategy session," Matsu complained with a childish whine. "I had assumed it was going to be just the two of us," she pouted and glared at those she seemed to consider intruders into her private time with her Ashikabi. Naruto tilted his head at the brain-type Sekirei, before looking over at the other occupants in the room. Akitsu was sitting slightly behind him and to his left, and laying across the ground with her feet kicking in the air as she drew on a piece of paper with a set of crayons was Kusano. He had also invited Musubi, but the fist fighter had wanted to spar with Miya instead. Naruto figured that was for the best, no doubt the girl would have been too restless to sit still while Matsu started giving him the information he wanted.
It was only an hour after lunch that Naruto found himself in Matsu's room, watching as she scuttled about on all fours like some kind of overgrown crab. Occasionally she would plop down in front of a specific keyboard and begin typing away at speeds that would put most jounin's ability to make hand seals to shame.
Matsu's typing was put in screen next to videos of quite a few jounin doing hand signs, out of the whole group, only Kakashi's clip came closest to Matsu, even though he still paled in comparison, much to his embarrassment.
As she worked the keyboard over with what were obviously expert hands, several select pieces of data would appear on each screen. Naruto saw maps of Shinto Teito, long steams of code, images, video feed, and just about every form of data he could think of. While most people would not have been very impressed by watching someone type away at a keyboard, Naruto, being someone who had been forced to learn about computers and everything involved out of necessity, found himself impressed.
"Consider them my insurance policy for keeping you in line," Naruto said easily. The red head had already proven herself to be a complete pervert, he was sure that if they were left alone she would try something. For the moment, he needed her focused on nothing but delivering all of the information she had on the Sekirei Plan. "I need information on this Sekirei Plan, and don't have time for us to get up to anything Miya-chan might consider illicit."
Matsu giggled a little bit. "I still can't believe you actually call her that," she told him in between giggles. "Then again, I think I'm even more surprised that she actually let's you call her that." When Naruto shrugged, but didn't respond verbally, Matsu seemed to realize he was being quite serious and stopped giggling, her face taking on a bit more of a serious quality to it. "So what do you want to know?" she asked, turning fully to face him, the light from her monitors gently silhouetting her form in the low lit room.
"Always best to start at the beginning." Naruto said. Minato smiled because he went with the beginning as well.
"Let's start with the basics first," Naruto said, his eyes narrowing. "Just what are Sekirei?"
"What are Sekirei?" Matsu blinked, nonplussed. "Do you mean to tell me you don't even know what a Sekirei is?" she asked incredulously. She looked like she had just been knocked for a loop, the red head was probably appalled that he didn't even know something so basic.
"As I said, the only thing I know is that a Sekirei are some kind of super humans who are released into the city by MBI to meet their Ashikabi, who is like their mate, or life partner, and then battle in accordance with the Sekirei Plan," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "You need to remember that the Sekirei I bonded to before winging you don't actually know much about the Sekirei Plan." He could have asked Uzume or Miya of course, maybe even Kagari, about the Sekirei Plan, but none of those options sounded appealing to him. Uzume wasn't his Sekirei, and therefore there was a good chance they would eventually become enemies. Why would she tell him something that could potentially endanger her Ashikabi? Miya probably knew a lot about the Sekirei Plan, her husband was the lead geneticist that was responsible for the adjustments of Sekirei before he died, and Miya herself was the most powerful creature he had met since Uchiha Madara. But she seemed determined to keep her origins a secret, and had only admitted to being a Sekirei today. As for Kagari, well, aside from the fact that the man was a ghost most of the time, Naruto had begun feeling uneasy in the fire users presence due to... extenuating circumstances. So none of those options were viable as far as he was concerned.
"Was he starting to react to you this early?" Sakura asked. Homura took this as her cue to respond. "Actually, I was reacting to him earlier, but it was more subtle. It took a while before the reactions became uncontrollable. The more sekirei he had, the stronger I would react. The fact I am his newest sekirei out of all of them says as much. At first, it was just a feeling, with a slight warming, but with every sekirei he had it got exponentially more intense. After Minato winged Kazehana I was able to feel him everywhere in the city. Getting close to him was painful, with how my reacting was. It was either wing myself on him, or die. I had chosen to die in a meltdown of power, doing the best I could to try to get to Minaka to take him with me. Minato had gotten to me as I was being cornered by other sekirei. After I was winged, my powers settled down."
"Right," Matsu grimaced, seeming to realize just how bad his lack of information truly was. "Well, to start, we Sekirei aren't human," she said. Naruto's blink was the only sign of his confusion. "We're not from Earth. We came from another planet far beyond this solar system, and our spaceship crash landed here where it sunk into the ocean for a thousand years and was only unearthed due to a large earthquake causing an island to rise from the sea with our ship around twenty years ago."
Naruto leaned back as he was just hit by this new piece of information. "You mean to say that Sekirei aren't superhumans manufactured by MBI threw some kind of genetic manipulation, but are in actuality a race of aliens that Minaka found when the land your ship crashed on was raised from the ocean?" he asked, his voice sounding shocked.
The ninja were shocked to hear this, and all of them turned to Kiba listening to the explanation, while the Sekirei were listening, curious as to weather this story matches up with theirs.
"Well, yeah," Matsu said, looking at the blond strangely. "You didn't actually think we were humans, did you?"
"To be honest, yes," Naruto admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "I was under the impression that you were all just humans that MBI had kidnapped and experimented on in order to try and create some kind of super soldiers, and that the Sekirei Plan was more or less a testing ground to see how much combat potential each type of Sekirei had."
Matsu looked at him for a second, before shaking her head and sighing. "You are so lucky incredibly lucky that I reacted to you when I did, even more so that you managed to make it so far into the Sekirei Plan on so little information." She smiled at him. "Guess it's a good thing I'm your Sekirei now, huh?"
"Yes," Naruto agreed with a nod. "A very good thing." Matsu's cheeks actually went slightly red from his agreeing with her, probably having not meant her words to be anything more than a joke. Not that Naruto was paying as much attention to her reaction as he thought about what she had told him.
Sekirei's were not human, they were aliens who had crash landed on Earth around a thousand years ago. While at first it seemed to be unreal bordering on ridiculous, the more Naruto thought about it the more it made sense. The only thing that had Naruto doubting her words was that he had not heard about any spaceship crashing into earth a thousand years ago. However, that could easily be explained away by him not being on this side of the world when it happened. Back then, there was no way to send large scale information from one side of the world to the other like there is these days. And most countries on the Eastern side of the world had taken a very isolationist stance during that time. To top it off, Naruto did not have the network he did now back then. In which case, there would have been no way for him to know about this incident.
A thousand years ago... Naruto sighed as he tried to remember what he had been doing back then. It was hard, by that point in time he had pretty much been completely lost to his own darkness, moving from one country to another as life passed him by in a blur.
Shaking his head, Naruto dispelled his thoughts and looked at Matsu. "Ok so," he straightened a bit and went over the information one more time. "Sekirei are an alien race whose ship crash landed in the ocean, which rose up due to an earthquake twenty years ago," he frowned. "I actually heard something about that when I was in Europe. Something about large scale shifting of the tectonic plates raising an island that had ruins on it. There had been some rumors at one point that the ruins had been the lost city of Atlantis." Which was just ridiculous of course, because Atlantis wasn't a lost city that had sunk into the ocean. It had simply become a crater when Naruto destroyed it.
The glares of a few sekirei and ninja were focused at him upon hearing this. "What did they do to deserve getting wiped out?" Matsu asked, her pouting glare still focused on him. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and suggested the story might reveal what happened.
"I remember hearing about a joint military force of several unaffiliated nations consisting of three attack wave formations including ground forces, air forces, and ship forces had gone there to investigate the sight and were lost during transit," he looked at Matsu with slightly narrowed eyes. "Though I'm guessing it would be more accurate to say they were destroyed."
"Yes, that's right," Matsu said, and it was now her turn to give him a contemplative look. "I'm surprised you know so much about that. MBI had done everything it could to cover that entire incident up, including going so far as to erase the islands existence from every map and satellite so that no one would be able to find it."
Naruto shrugged and gave her a mysterious smile. "Didn't you know, I'm a wanderer. As someone who's traveled the world, I'm very good at keeping my ears to the ground."
Matsu looked at him for a moment, then smiled. "It seems that Naruto-tan is a very mysterious person," she told him, adjusting her glasses.
"So I've been told," Naruto replied with a pleasant smile. It left him a moment later as he focused back on his objectives. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Minaka was the one who first uncovered the island, yes?"
"That's right, Hiroto Minaka was one of two students, the other being a female named Sahashi Takami, arrived to investigate," Matsu began to once more go into her explanation. As she did, her fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up an image of the island they were discussing onto the screen in the very center on the bottom row. The island looked like nothing more than a large spiral outcropping of rocks. "That's how it all began," she said ominously. "What would later become the Sekirei Plan had it's beginnings on that day."
"They dubbed the sight 'Kamikura Island'," Matsu continued. "And discovered what appeared to be ruins, but upon closer inspection realized it was an enormous spacecraft of some sort. Inside they discovered a veritable treasure trove of advanced technology. Of the two who discovered the island, the male was an eccentric who was dubbed a super genius and the brightest mind of the University." Naruto snorted at her description of the man. From what he had seen, eccentric didn't even begin to describe the amount of crazy Minaka possessed.
Kiba snorted at hearing that. Unfortunately, that caused others to laugh as well, both at Kiba, and what was said.
"That makes a lot more sense than genetically enhanced humans," Naruto admitted to her. "It also explains how MBI was formed. I'm guessing that Minaka managed to reverse engineer the technology he discovered inside of the spaceship and sell it piecemeal in order to build his company." It would certainly explain how MBI had managed to form so quickly, twenties years is a very short time for a company to get itself off the ground, after all, much less for it to begin the leading corporation when it comes to cutting edge technology.
"That's right," Matsu said with a smile, she seemed proud that Naruto was able to come to the correct conclusion without her outright telling him. If he had her pinned right, Matsu admired intelligence above all else. Except maybe perversion. "But he found more than just advanced alien technology," the red head continued. "Within that ship he found one hundred and eight life forms."
"And by life forms, you're talking about Sekirei," Naruto stated. It was not a question.
"Yes, that's right," Matsu replied, adjusting her glasses as she continued speaking. "There were one hundred and eight Sekireis, one was in an adult form, eight were fetuses, and the other ninety nine were found in a fertilized egg stage."
"I see," Naruto hummed. "I'm guessing that this holds some kind of significance." He looked at Matsu and narrowed his eyes. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the nine Sekirei who were in the embryonic stage are inherently more powerful than the ninety nine that were in their fertilized egg stage. The adjustments," he said, his eyes narrowing further into a pair of slits. "The first nine Sekirei to be released were given more power than the others, likely due to this whole process of adjusting Sekirei being completely new to those who did the adjusting. They didn't know what to do, so those nine were given more power, and a few were even given the title of scrapped number because those who did the adjusting didn't necessarily know what they were doing and ended up making a mistake in the adjustment phase."
"Yes, yes! That's it exactly, Naruto-tan!" Matsu practically crowed in excitement. She seemed to really enjoy the fact that Naruto was so capable of putting things into perspective even when he didn't have all the necessary information. "The single digits are all far more powerful than those who were adjusted later on. Each Sekirei from numbers one through nine are supposedly so powerful that they are capable of taking on anyone of the higher numbers even when they don't have an Ashikabi and the other Sekirei does."
"Except for you, right?" Naruto said. "Because you're not a fighting type but a brain-type."
"Yep!" Matsu replied cheerfully, not at all bothered about admitting she couldn't fight. "Now, those single numbers have specs that are a bit naughtier than the ones that the others have," she said, readjusting her glasses as she looked up at the ceiling.
"Ah," Naruto and Matsu paused in their conversation in order to turn to Akitsu. The snow woman looked down at herself, and they both got the impression she was staring at her chest. "I'm naughty," she said, her voice sounding embarrassed and a light blush on her pale cheeks. Naruto shook his head and reached over to pat Akitsu on the leg. She looked up at the blond to see him smiling at her, then promptly looked away with another blush. Interlude over, Naruto turned to look at Matsu and renew their conversation.
"Ok I think I am starting to understand what was said." Naruto stated. "Tell me, how much of it is accurate so far?"
Kazehana spoke up, still holding a bottle of sake in her arms, "Honestly, it has been completely accurate so far."
"Well," Sajian started, "The multiple universes will sometimes only have very small differences. Like for example, Minato could have not winged Musubi right at the beginning like he did, but he could have winged another number. I have seen him wing quite a few others in those worlds. I have also seen where he never winged a single sekirei. Also there are others where the circumstances of how each of you were winged was different. My favorite one was Musubi being winged as soon as she landed on Minato, as they literally landed on each other's lips." the others chuckled at that thought.
"Ok, so the first nine Sekirei have more power than the Sekirei that were found as fertilized eggs," Naruto started. "The adjustment process was probably refined as time went on and adjustments not only became easier, but with the ninety nine in an egg state, they not only had more time to adjust their bodies but were likely able to make more adjustments due to the Sekirei in an egg state being more malleable and able to take to the adjustments easier."
"You're right on the money, Naruto-tan," Matsu told him with a smile.
"And you were one of the first, weren't you?" Naruto asked, but continued before she could answer him. "Sekirei number zero two, Matsu, which would make you the second Sekirei to wake up."
"Correct again," Matsu said, and Naruto nodded as he let this new information give him the answer to another question he had but would not ask. If there were one hundred and eight Sekirei, and eight of them were embryos and ninety nine were eggs, then the adult must be Miya, there was no other explanation for that woman's power. If there was another Sekirei who had even half of the power his landlady did, they would be easily capable of defeating most of the kage from his time on pure power alone.
It a scary thought, the first nine Sekirei were the most powerful, yet Musubi, whose number was eighty eight had enough raw chakra, or whatever power Sekirei had, to match up with the Sandaime Raikage. She may not have the techniques, and she may not have the experience, but in terms of raw power she was a match for the most powerful Raikage to ever live. If Musubi, a lower number Sekirei, could match the power of such a fearsome shinobi, then how powerful were the single numbers?
"I remember you and Miya-chan mentioning that her husband was the lead geneticist in charge of the Sekirei Plan," Naruto stated, letting his curiosity guide him away from the real subject for a moment. "Can I take that to mean he was the one who did most of the adjusting on the single numbers?"
"Yep, he was the one who adjusted me and many of the first nine," Matsu answered him. "In fact, Asama Takehito was known as the other genius within MBI. He was another unique adult life form, but he wasn't a Sekirei. Well, strictly speaking at least."
"So I take it you finally put your foot in your mouth?" Anko asked. Matsu nodded, slightly embarrassed.
"Strictly speaking?" Naruto asked with a furrowed brow. "So then what was he?"
Matsu blinked, it was only as Naruto asked his question that she seemed to realize what she had said. "Gyah! Oh crap! Nothing, I didn't say anything!" Matsu shouted defensively as she began waving her arms in front of her face. "There was absolutely nothing strange or unique about Takehito! Nope! Not at all!"
Naruto frowned, there was obviously something about Miya's husband that Miya herself didn't want others to know. The fact that Matsu was so afraid to tell him meant that either she had been sworn to secrecy and just respected Miya that much that she wouldn't tell him, or Miya was spying on them even now.
And she teased Matsu for peeping.
Miya giggled quietly hiding the fact she was blushing a bit at her other self being found out.
Thinking on the matter of Takehito, Naruto supposed it was possible that he was a human who had made several adjustments to himself in order to give himself a more 'Sekirei-like quality'. Matsu had told him there were only one hundred and eight Sekirei in the spaceship, and only one of them was an adult. She had called Takehito a 'unique adult life form', and if Naruto's theory of Miya being number zero one were correct, then that meant Takehito could not be a Sekirei. After a little more thought, he decided to leave the matter of Takehito unresolved for now. While it was interesting, it wasn't something he needed to know at the moment.
"Is it even possible for a human to be 'adjusted' like a sekirei just like that?" Sakura asked. Tsunade was also curious as the possibilities for medical advancement would be endless if it was. She could imagine making her ninjas resistant to blades, and jutsu, thus making sure they came back alive from missions. Unfortunately for them, not even Matsu or Miya knew if it was possible. Considering she knew her husband never tried to adjust himself as far as she knew.
"Ok, so I think I understand enough about Sekirei in general for the moment," Naruto interrupted Matsu's blabbering. "So why don't you give me a review of the history of the Sekirei Plan before MBI truly got started." His blue eyes narrowed as he thought about the first thing he wanted to know. "You can start by telling me about the army that was wiped out."
At his words, Matsu was quick to calm down. Her face became more serious as she looked at him. "That's a difficult subject," she admitted, before continuing. "After the founding of MBI, Hiroto Minaka managed to turn Kamikura Island into his own private land, removing it from the maps and turning it into an extraterritoriality. However, even with it removed from the maps, news of it's existence reached the ears from outside."
"If there was one thing you can do that would garner the interest of everyone, was to hide the island." Kakashi noted. "He should have moved the skip to another area inside MBI and just let others explore the island. Once their curiosity gets sated, then they would leave. Then he could just "buy" the island and put the ship back. It is too late for that now, but eh."
"And so an invasion force was sent," Naruto said, nodding his head. That made sense, not only explaining why the force had been sent in the first place, but also why Naruto had never been able to gain anything more than rumors. The entire incident had been placed in a level of secrecy that went above anything that had ever happened in a government before or since. Even the black books containing all of the United States most powerful secrets and shameful skeletons would be considered a minor threat when compared to this. Naruto was sure he could have found out more about the entire situation, of course, he had the resources. But at the time he had been far more interested in keeping his existence a secret, and thus determined that the risk of discovery involved had been too great and decided to ignore the incident like he had done everything else.
"Yes, when news of Kamikura Island's existence reached the outside world, a large force of unknown affiliation was sent to launch an invasion of the island."
"And at the time MBI didn't have an army, did they?" said Naruto with an expression of dawning comprehension. "Is that part of the reason the first nine were so powerful? Because MBI needed them in order to fend off the invasion force?" That would make a lot of sense actually. At the time of the invasion, MBI had been a new and upcoming company, not yet large enough to have formed the private army it had today. If that were the case, then MBI would need a powerful force in order to fend of invasion attempts. By that logic, making sure that the Sekirei were as powerful as possible made a lot of sense.
"Yes and no," Matsu answered, bringing Naruto's attention back to her. "At the time, only the first five had been awakened, and as a result of the invasion a special group was formed. The protectors of the S-plan, the Discipline Squad."
"The S-plan?" said Naruto, blinking.
Matsu closed her eyes and gave him a nod. "That was the original name for the Sekirei Plan. At first, the S-plan was merely created in order to protect Kamikura Island from being invaded and keep the Sekirei still in their embryonic and egg states safe. It was nothing like the Sekirei Plan that Minaka has now created." From the way Matsu's lips had thinned, it was clear she did not approve of what would happen later when the Sekirei Plan was formed, which honestly told him a lot more than she probably realized.
Matsu was the second Sekirei to awaken, meaning she had been on the Discipline Squad and worked directly for MBI during the invasion and was instrumental in repelling the invading forces. She had probably worked with MBI for some time after that, but later, when the S-plan became Minaka's Sekirei Plan she left, most likely sabotaging MBI in some way before her escape. And then she came to Miya, Sekirei number zero one, and the one being that she knew MBI would be too wary of to attack.
This story just kept getting more and more interesting.
The rest of them agreed. The ninjas loved hearing about the history of the Sekirei, while the sekirei was fascinated at all the parallels between the book and their own history. Not to mention just how entertaining it is with Naruto added into the equation, especially since Musubi wants to spar with Naruto and the others.
"As you obviously already know there were several invasion attempts on the island," Matsu said again, having regained her composure. "But it was the first one that had been the largest scale in terms of both troops and fire power. The Discipline Squad was formed to thwart this attack, and to defend the island at all costs."
"And they did, obviously," Naruto continued where Matsu left off. "After all, the invasion forces failure was the reason those countries tried so hard to cover up their blunder." He snorted. "Of course, they couldn't cover up something like that completely. The amount of lives lost in those three attempts had been catastrophic for the armies that force belonged to, and nearly several thousand families had been notified of their deaths. The military had claimed it was a large scale training accident that involved an explosion at the facility where it happened due to a gas leak. Only problem was they made the mistake of claiming it only happened at one facility. The army that had been sent was unaffiliated because it had been sent by more than one military that had combined in an effort to claim the treasures at Kamikura Island without fighting amongst themselves. It was a rather rookie mistake, but then," the blond chuckled. "Most of the military bigwigs are a bunch of idiots."
Matsu stared at Naruto in surprise at how he was able to glean so much from what he was told. 'Why couldn't Mina-tan be this fast on the uptake' she thought with a slight pout.
As Naruto finished talking he realized that Matsu was gaping at him, one finger pointed in his direction as she did her best impression of a fish.
"What?" he asked, feeling a little unnerved by the way she was gawking at him.
"How... how... how did you know that?" she asked in a strangled voice. "Even I didn't know that much and I specialize in gathering intelligence!"
Naruto sighed as he realized that he had once again given too much information. Sure, Matsu may be his Sekirei, but it probably wasn't a good idea to let her know just how deep his worldwide intelligence network had ingratiated itself into the various governments of the world. He really needed to learn not to monologue his inner thoughts so much since he wasn't alone anymore.
"I told you before, didn't I?" said Naruto, his statement almost sounding like a question. "Information is power. You don't think I just wandered around the world willy nilly, did you? In order to travel as much as I have without people bothering me, I need intelligence, I need information, I need money, resources, and the ability to put all of it to use in such a way that I can come and go from any country I want as I please without people even batting an eyelash."
"But... but you're only eighteen!" Matsu shrieked, causing Naruto to shrug.
"Let's just say it pays to be me and leave it at that, hmm?" Matsu looked unsure about whether or not she should drop the subject like he asked, but Naruto was already moving on by this point. "Now then, tell me about the Sekirei Plan?"
Matsu worried her lower lip for a moment, obviously she was concerned by the amount of information he had on the invasion of Kamikura Island. It was understandable, and perhaps Naruto shouldn't have spoken out loud. Then again, if he was truly going to go through with letting these Sekirei stay with him, they would need to know just what they were getting into. After all, Matsu and the others may be extra terrestrials from another planet, but Naruto was far from an ordinary human.
"I don't think it is even possible to put Naruto and ordinary together in the same context. He is as far away from ordinary as it is even possible to be." Sakura teased, making the others laugh and Naruto pout.
"It isn't my fault every mission we went on was upgraded in rank... multiple times." Naruto responded.
After a few seconds of silence, Matsu closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, then took off her glasses. She looked older and much more mature than she had with her glasses on. When she opened them her gaze was nothing like the mischievous and childish eyes she had so far possessed. They were the eyes of someone who had seen death, who had caused death, who had experienced war, and knew the way the world truly worked. In short, they were the kind of eyes Naruto would expect from a former member of the Discipline Squad.
"What would you like to know?" asked Matsu, her voice clipped as if she were speaking to a higher ranking officer.
Naruto smiled as he finally got to the crux of what he wanted to learn. "Everything. Tell me everything there is to know about the Sekirei Plan."
Kiba closed the book, after marking the spot for the next chapter. The book flying back up into the center of the room again. Everyone got up and started stretching while heading towards the buffet table. I am glad to note we have passed the first quarter of the book so far. I know it will be getting far more interesting now. The sekirei are mingling more with the ninjas now. I am glad to see. Making friends is another reason I want them to intermingle. This way if I call any of them back for other stories, they will be more comfortable. I decide to sneak out and check to see if any of my projects are completed. I know others are getting tired of reading so much, not to mention some of them like little Kusano can't read that well. I head to the projects room and check up on my workers.
About a half hour later I head back to the reading room with a small pedestal in hand. 'They will enjoy this little gift.' I think while chuckling.
AN: sorry it took so long... I has issues with my last job and got a new one. The hours are hellish, almost 50 a week in a train yard. I am going to see about getting them out a little faster though. Thanks. (^_^)
