Reading of Ashikabi no Shinobi

by Sajian

A reading of Ashikabi no Shinobi as written by The Engulfing Silence

25. Chapter 25

Chapter 24: Rescue Operation

As they were going through lunch, they were discussing things they learned about Higa, and were wondering how much of it would be true. And if any of it is, could they use that as blackmail to get him to back off of everything and maybe even to get Yukari to meet Shiina earlier. They decide to start tracking Shiina as soon as they get back as well as call Yukari over, while telling her it is important. If they can keep them at the inn while they can get rid of Higa, or at least force him to back off, then they might be able to make some headway with the sekirei game of theirs. The ninja were just chatting over ways to infiltrate the building and even ways to kill without being noticed. It was actually a pretty interesting conversation. Lunch soon ended and they were back in their seats, waiting for the book. The voice of the chapter turned out to be Lenard Nimoy the original Spock in the star trek original series as well as a lot of their movies. Another favorite of mine.

XoX

Akitsu watched clinically as all of the ice spears she had sent towards the white haired boy, Shiina, melted and dispersed back into water particles long before they could touch him. Confusion flickered in her eyes at the sight. This had never happened before. What sort of strange and unusual power did this boy possess that he could melt her ice so easily?

Her ice was not like normal ice. Not at all. Like all powers manifested by Sekirei, her ice was special. Not even normal fire could make her ice melt. There were only two ways for her ice to disperse. Either she had to will it to do so, or a Sekirei had to meet her power with a greater power.

That was what had happened here. Akitsu could feel some strange power in the air, like a strange hum that vibrated the oxygen molecules around her that caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end, she could feel the left over use of Shiina's powers before they slowly faded into the atmosphere. Yet at the same time, she could not understand what those powers were.

"Unbelievable. Someone can actually match Akitsu's power and not be a single digit?!" Matsu said. "We really need to get him to a safe location when we get back."

Despite her surprise at seeing someone destroy her ice without using any kind of visible form of Sekirei power, the look on her face did not change from it's normally passive expression as she stared at the much younger looking Sekirei with half lidded eyes.

"Please leave," Shiina begged, looking rather miserable. Akitsu felt pity for the boy. He was being used by someone who was holding his Ashikabi hostage. She could not begin to imagine what he must be going through. "I don't want to fight you, but if you get in my way, I will have no choice but defeat you for the sake of my Ashikabi."

Akitsu could understand his sentiment. To fight for one's Ashikabi was one of the purposes of a Sekirei. Her respect for the boy went up. Still...

"I cannot do that," she shook her head at him, hoarfrost began forming along the ground as more jagged daggers of ice appeared out of thin air. "My Ashikabi-Sama's orders were clear."

Her job was to capture the Sekirei before her, unharmed and still active. Her Ashikabi-sama was counting on her to do this. He had entrusted this job to her. And she would complete it.

"I see..." Shiina looked very disappointed about having to deactivate another Sekirei, especially one that he did not need to fight in order to save his Ashikabi. "In that case, I will have to defeat you too." After saying this, Shiina charged forward, his body coated in a light purple aura.

"I still don't see any chance of Akitsu losing this fight, but that is primarily because prime elements can't decay." Matsu said. "They can be changed, but that is about it."

Akitsu did not hesitate to send multiple shards of ice at the Master of Decay. There were much more shards this time then there were the last time she had sent her attack at him. Despite the increased number in ice shards, the results were still the same. She watched as each and everyone of them melted and dispersed into liquid form.

It was barely noticeable, but a small frown appeared on Akitsu's face as she sent even more shards towards Shiina. Her eyes carefully watched as the boy continued to run towards her. She watched as her ice shards reached a certain distance from him, only to melt and disperse again as they reached the strange purple aura.

So the aura had something to do with it? What kind of power could just melt her ice like that? Ashikabi-sama had said number one hundred and seven's power was 'decay' so she had assumed it meant that the Sekirei would be able to make anything that was living deteriorate and age. She had not expected that power to be capable of doing the same to her ice as it was not alive like wood or grass or people.

"It looks as if it is just melting." Hinata stated. "Couldn't Akitsu just refreeze the water?"

Whatever the case was, it was clear that this strange power the number one hundred and seven possess was, in fact, capable of melting her ice. That meant she was going to need to change her strategy. Her first plan had been to shoot her ice shards at him, then use her control over ice to transform them into cuffs that she could use to bind him with. That wouldn't work if he could just make them melt before they reached him.

"World End Garden!"

Shiina reached Akitsu a short while later. The purple energy he had been storing up burst forth in thick tendrils of dark energy. Ironically enough, the tendrils of energy that lashed out at everything within reach, causing the ground, walls and concrete to become dull and cracked with age, looked almost alive with the way they moved and writhed about like some kind of amorphous monster made of oozing ectoplasmic matter.

Jumping backwards, Akitsu tried to make space between the two of them. Unlike number one hundred and seven, who seemed to need to be in close range for his powers to really work, she was not one for getting into such a confrontation unless necessary. And in a situation like this, where the Sekirei only needed to touch her in order to beat her, it would be preferable to win from a distance.

"She is good at making strategies in combat." Sakura said. "And they way she was testing his power like that was brilliant. She might actually have his effective range already figured out."

As soon as her feet touched the ground, she jumped back several more times, creating a space of several meters between her and one hundred and seven. Once she was a comfortable distance away, she created more ice shards and sent them screaming towards Shiina.

They just melted, of course, but they weren't really that important. Just a minor distraction.

Kneeling down, her skirt-like bottom flowing and folding around her like a white waterfall and showing off her milky leg as said appendage appeared between the slit in her clothing, Akitsu placed her hands on the ground, palms down.

A thick sheet of ice quickly spread from where her hands met the concrete. A circle of an ever growing sleet of frost covered the ground, it's radius increasing with each second. Before long, it encompassed much of the battlefield, including the place where Haruka and Kuno were now hiding as they watched the fight from behind a building.

Akitsu would have wondered what they were still doing here, but she didn't particularly care. Her Ashikabi-sama had not specified what to do with them. So long as they did not interfere in her capture, she would let them be.

She focused her attention back of Shiina, who had slipped on the ice after trying to run towards her. The young Sekirei fell on his back before his decay powers could properly melt the ice. As he fell, the water made from her ice splashed against his clothes, soaking them. It seemed he was unable to dry his clothing off with his powers, probably because water didn't age or decay naturally. Good.

"She is going to turn him into a popsicle, and immobilize him that way." Kakashi mused out loud.

Acting quickly, Akitsu used her powers to freeze the water on Shiina's clothing. It wouldn't last long, but she was hoping that by covering him in ice, his body would begin to get cold and slow him down. If she could slow him down she may be able to find some way to capture him that did not involve deactivating him.

The water on Shiina's clothes started to crystallize as it turned into ice. It's effects were impeded, however, when Shiina released a burst of his own power. Soon the ice shattered off his body and melted into a pool on the ground.

As he stood up and began running towards her again, Akitsu frowned.

This looked like it was going to be a bit more difficult then she had originally realized.

"It is almost as bad as me fighting her." Homura said. "I would actually think Tsukiumi would be the absolute best at capturing him. As her water would be all but immune to his power, as long as she can keep calm." THWAK. Tsukiumi had punched the top of Homura's head, thereby legitimizing her very statement. Most of the ninja were chuckling.

XoX

Toyotama. That was the Sekirei Homura found keeping an eye on Shiina from afar. She was standing on the edge of a building just a few blocks away that offered a clear view of number one hundred and seven as he chased number ninety five and her Ashikabi through the streets. She had a smile on her face as she watched, like she was taking some sort of perverse pleasure at seeing others suffer.

A growl almost escaped his lips. He had never liked Toyotama, mainly because she was one of Higa's bloodhounds and had been responsible for a good number of Sekirei being captured and forcibly winged by her Ashikabi. It would not be inaccurate to say that well over half of Higa's Sekirei became his Sekirei due solely to this woman.

Running towards the edge of the building he was on, Homura launched himself in the sky just before he ran out of roof, hurling himself high into the air as he cleared the space between the building he had been on and the one Toyotama was on.

With a swipe of his hand, Homura sent a white hot fireball that coalesced into the air at the naginata wielding Sekirei. He envisioned the ball of flames smashing against the woman's head, burning the back of her head to a black mess and knocking her out of the game. More than anything, he wanted this Sekirei gone for the crimes she had committed against her own kind.

"And I wonder how long it will take for her to notice you." Kakashi said. "Lets face it, you guys are terrible at stealth." Naruto agreed, taking up a more somber voice, all fake of course. "Imagine how many fights would have been won in the first hit if you could be stealthy."

Of course, things were never that simple.

Toyotama had a very keen battle sense, which she soon proved, as the moment his fireball came close to hitting her, she jumped out of the way and let the concrete she had been standing on take the punishment meant for her.

With a growl and a wave of his hand, Homura dispelled the flames his fire had created as he landed on his feet.

"I should have known you would be the one doing Higa's dirty work." The fire user glared at Toyotama. He truly disliked this bitch, more so than he did anybody else. The only person he hated more than this woman was Hiroto Minaka, MBI's director, the Game Master, and the one who created this twisted plan in the first place. "You always did enjoy watching the suffering of others." She would have gotten along well with Karasuba, right before Karasuba killed her out of boredom.

Toyotama blinked several times as she stared at the white haired man, a dumbfounded look on her face. She actually stared at him for so long that he began to feel uncomfortable.

"What are you staring at!?"

"Homura? Is that you?"

An eye twitching was her answer.

"Who else would I be?" he growled at the woman. Was she trying to play him for a fool or something? Acting like she hardly recognized him. He hoped for her sake this wasn't her idea of a practical joke, though he doubted it. Toyotama wasn't the type for practical jokes, or joking at all.

Unless it involved torturing others that is.

"When did you gain tits?"

Homura face-faulted hard. It almost left an impression in the ground. Anko was rolling around laughing.

"What?"

Homura looked down at himself to see what the woman was talking about. It wasn't that hard.

There, sticking out of his chest were the decently sized breasts he had gained after reacting to Naruto. They were the only thing he could see as they blocked out the rest of his body. He couldn't even see his feet.

"Kya!"

Reacting with instincts he didn't know he had, Homura's arms crossed over his chest in an attempt to hide his modest breasts. What was going on here? He could have sworn he had used his chest bindings this morning? Had they come loose sometime during this search of Toyotama?

No. He couldn't feel his chest bindings at all! He hadn't forgotten to wrap his chest, had he? That couldn't be it. Not after all the times he had scolded Akitsu for not wearing panties. There was just no way he could forget something like this. Homura had been ritualistic in doing his morning chest binding ritual every morning. There was no way he would forget to do it today...

"You forgot, didn't you." Naruto asked, still laughing. Homura merely sighed.

Although, he had been pretty distracted this morning. What, with Naruto being an idiot and all. Honestly, that man pissed him off to know end. Why couldn't he understand that an Ashikabi's job was to stand in the back where his Sekirei could protect him? Didn't he realize how worried he... they! Couldn't he see how worried they all got when Naruto put himself in danger?

A scowl worked it's way to his face. If he forgot to do his chest binding ritual this morning, it must have been Naruto's fault! Damn idiot! Making him get so worked up that he forgot something this important. Now he was going to have to go around looking like a woman until he could get back home.

"hehehehehahahaha!"

Homura's scowl deepened even as his blush spread from his cheeks to the rest of his face.

"What's so funny!?"

"You... you have tits!" Toyotama continued laughing at him, further increasing both Homura's rage and embarrassment. "Those..." she gasped, "... look good on you!" The naginata wielding Sekirei was soon holding her stomach, her weapon of choice cast to the side and her entire torso bent over as she tried to remain upright while giggling hysterically.

That was probably why she almost missed it when Homura threw a fireball at her.

It was a very big fireball.

The fireball that Homura hurled the woman's way was easily the size of a human torso and nearly twice as wide. Sort of like a sumo wrestler's torso. In any case, it was probably the largest flame Homura had ever conjured in one go.

"Wow, so your emotions actually power your abilities?" Sakura said. "Too bad it doesn't work as well with us. Emotions can actually weaken out jutsu. We need more focus to strengthen ours."

Had Naruto seen it, he would have theorized that Homura's rage and embarrassment had given his powers a serious boost in strength.

Despite being nearly on her knees in hysterics, Toyotama had enough presence of mind to get the hell out of dodge. She rolled to the left, her hand latching onto her naginata and yanking it out of the cement roof as she dodged the large ball of fire.

Said fireball smashed into the ground with a loud roar akin to that of a raging beast as it exploded, sending a gout of flames and smoke into the air. Curiously enough, the flames did not last very long before dispersing. Even more curious was that the roof did not look like it had sustained any damage during the attack.

Such was the control Homura had over his flames now that he had an Ashikabi.

"That control over fire would make any Uchiha or Sarutobi jealous." Tsunade said.

"Well," Toyotama smiled as she twirled her naginata with both hands before setting herself in a combat stance, both knees bent with her right foot leading and her left foot in the back. The bladed staff was held at a slight angle, pointing at Homura and slightly downwards towards the cement roof as she kept it in a firm grip. "It seems you've gotten even stronger than we last met. Could that have something to do with those mammaries of yours?"

Homura let out a soundless shout of rage as he conjured more flames and sent them straight towards Toyotama.

First, he was going to destroy this woman.

Then, he was going to find Naruto and burn him into a crisp for giving him breasts!

"I guess that answers my question."

"Man, Naruto." Kiba said. "You just can't win with women. You make them stronger, they want to kill you for it, you save them, they electrocute you, you try to get some alone time. You get nearly sliced into threads." Kiba shook his head. "Man I am so glad I am not you right now."

XoX

Uzume was still snickering as she jumped across the jungle of buildings. Watching Homura act like, well, like that had to be one of the most entertaining things she had ever seen. It was even more funny than watching Naruto and Miya bicker and trade barbs like an old married couple.

A soft smile works it's way to her face as she thought about all Naruto had done for her. He had not only rescued her Ashikabi from that jerk Higa, but had also cured her of the disease that everyone had been adamant was terminal. By the time Naruto had come along, all the doctors had said that her Chiho only had a few more years left to live, and that was with the treatments they had been giving her.

Of course, they could have been lying to her. She wouldn't put it past that bastard to make the doctors of his clinic lie to make her more easy to manipulate. But that was neither here nor there.

"They were lying." Tsunade said. "They had a cure already. But they purposely made it almost useless." the sekirei all gasped in shock and terror." Sakura answered for them, seeing as Tsunade was pissed, "They weakened the cure to the point it was only a treatment, which as given time for the disease to evolve beyond that. They only wanted her to lase a little while longer, before they were going to stop altogether, saying the treatments stopped being effective. Make sure you kill him in the most painful way possible when you get back." Sakura put her head on Kiba's shoulders, almost crying at what that young girl was being put though.

She couldn't help but feel grateful to the strange blond man who had come into the lives of those who lived in Maison Izumo, despite his occasional bouts of extreme moodiness, crazy ass mood swings and moments of depression. It was thanks to him that the boarding house was so lively now, at least indirectly. Really, it was his harem that was so damn funny. He almost had, like, one of every type of female that you generally found in those harem mangas she read.

Really, all he needed now was the mature, busty woman and the mother hen and he would be set.

"Well, there is still Kazehana as the mature busty woman." Kakashi said. Anko picked up with a smirk. "And the mother hen type would be Miya." Kakashi thought of it, but felt it was better of it came from Anko then himself. That way he couldn't get in trouble. Miya just beaned her with another dango, which landed on the floor, causing her to act out theatrically again with waterfall tears.

Maybe he should add a yandere in there as well. Now that would be funny.

An explosion from some distance away caused Uzume to snap out of her thoughts and turn her head. Even from what had to be several kilometers away she could easily make out the large gout of flames coming from a rooftop before it was snuffed out.

"Looks like Homura's already found his target," Uzume's expression became a bit more serious. Just a bit. "Looks like I'd better step up my game. Don't wanna be left behind after all."

Her target was proving to be rather elusive. She had been searching for a while now, long enough that she had nearly encircled the entire area in her search but had yet to find a trace of the Sekirei she was supposed to take out of the game, or at least keep occupied long enough for Akitsu to do her job without interference. It was almost as if they knew she was searching for them and had made an effort to hide.

Which was preposterous of course. It wasn't like she was wearing glaringly bright clothes that anyone could see coming a mile away.

No, wait. She was. Dammit.

Leaping to the side as her own battle instincts blared out a warning, Uzume was just in time to dodge a foot that had tried crushing her skull in from above with a heel drop. Since it missed, the heel of the appendage ended up embedding itself into the cement, kicking up several fragments and creating a decent sized crater in the roof.

"Why does no one ever seem to look up?" Naruto said. "99% of all ambushes happen from either above or below."

"Well, well, look who the cat dragged in," Ichiya taunted Uzume as she withdrew her foot from the crater she made and grinned. "A little bird that managed to escape my master's net. So you've thrown your lot in with another Ashikabi, have you? How lovely. That means I get to finally take you down for good. Please be sure to give me a good battle."

"Ichiya," Uzume rolled her eyes. "You're as bloodthirsty as ever. I guess that beating Naruto gave you didn't help knock any common sense in you."

Ichiya scoffed.

"Che, I'll admit that man was good for a human, but he hardly beat me."

"It was two on one and he held his own against both you and Toyotama." Uzume had heard about how Naruto had been able to fight off both Sekirei from the lightning twins, or the bondage twins, depending on who you asked. Apparently, the blond male had managed to hold his own against both Ichiya and Toyotama without sustaining serious injury, according to Hikari and Hibiki. They were actually pretty afraid of him now that they knew what he could do.

She would be too, if she didn't like him so damn much.

"Whatever," Ichiya looked slightly annoyed at her words being turned on her. "He got by on luck the last time. Next time we run into him, he won't be so lucky."

"There won't be a next time," Uzume stated confidently. "I'm gonna take your saggy ass out of the game."

Ever since Naruto had rescued her Chiho for her, Uzume had felt a bit protective towards the blond, even if he didn't really need protecting. He had become important to her. Certainly nowhere near as important than her Chiho, but definitely important enough that so long as it didn't interfere with her duties to her Ashikabi, she would gladly do anything he asked.

Well, almost anything he asked. There were some lines she just wasn't willing to cross.

Unless Chiho was crossing those lines with her.

"That is so unfair!" Kiba said. "Now he is practically getting offers for a threesome?" Hinata was too busy having a small daydream of herself with Naruto and his clones to notice what Kiba said.

Thinking about it, maybe she should see if she could talk to her Ashikabi about crossing those lines. Uzume was sure her Chiho wouldn't be hard to convince (though she might die of embarrassment). She practically worshiped the guy.

A foot nearly kicking her face in snapped her out of her daydreaming and had her jumping back several feet. Whoops. Looks like she got a little lost in her own world there. Focus Uzume, focus. Battle now, daydream later.

"You don't really think you can beat me, do you?" asked Ichiya, her voice and the expression on her face betraying her amusement. "You may be a higher number, but you're not a single digit. And when it comes to battle and combat, I have far more experience than you."

The thick, white cloths hovering behind Uzume began to waver in an unseen breeze as the Sekirei designated with the number ten prepared for battle.

"There's only one way to find out."

XoX

It was just an average day for those working at the main corporate office of Higa Izumi's pharmaceutical company. Most of those employees were sitting in their office, typing away on their computers as they cataloged various sets of data. A few others were rushing around the building, grabbing and giving files to those who were working the computers. It was a busy day, as always, and everyone was working hard to complete the work their boss had given them.

The main lobby was one of the few areas that did not have that many people right now. It was about what one would expect from a lobby belonging to a powerful pharmaceutical corporation. It was very spartan, with little in the way of furniture and décor. On either side of the twin doors were a pair of indoor palm trees and that was about it as far as color went.

Much of the room was made of glass, meaning pretty much the entire entrance was one large window. The exception to this rule was the back wall, which contained three elevators doors and a front desk. At the front desk there was a cute female who acted as a human directory for those newcomers who were coming in to do business for the first time.

There was also a small cafe through a door off to the side where several workers were sitting and eating sandwiches while drinking coffee and talking as they relaxed during their lunch break. They didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything other than their food and coworkers as the enjoyed the small amount of time they had off before they would be forced to get back to the daily grind.

"It honestly looks like a legit company from that point of view." Kiba said. He was subconsciously rubbing circles on Sakura's back calming her down.

(Un?) fortunately, that daily grind would soon come to a halt. Happening so quickly no one within the room stood even a small chance of understanding what was going on, a large stream of water that looked like it was ten times more powerful than that of a fire hydrant and looked eerily reminiscent to a geyser smashed into the doors, blowing them away like they weren't even there.

As the doors smacked into the far wall with a sound not dissimilar to thunder, two figures stepped in.

The first was a beautiful woman with long blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a black dress and a white under-dress that exposed her cleavage, brown boots and a black choker around her neck.

She was standing in a pose that anyone who had intimate knowledge of her knew was one of several signature poses that she possessed. This particular pose had her standing with her feet spread exactly shoulder width apart, her arms crossed under her impressive bust, back straight and head held high as she gave everyone in the vicinity a haughty smirk of superiority.

The other girl was just as beautiful as the blond. A brown haired cutey with a body that most super models would kill to have and a face that was far too innocent for someone her age to possess. Large breasts, lean waist, wide hips and killer legs that possessed both the muscles of an athlete and all the softness of a woman. This girl had it all.

Had the staff workers not been so shocked by the entrance, they probably would have made comments (or at least had thoughts of) on what a crime it was that such a cute face could belong on such a killer body.

Some of the sekirei were laughing at the thoughts, while almost all of the ninja were.

This particular female was wearing what looked like heavily modified Miko clothing that was designed with sexy cosplay in mind, which really did not help add to the people's imagery.

Or maybe it did. It probably would have at least, had their minds not shut down due to the shock of seeing the doors to their workplace being blown away with the force of a semi truck going several hundred kilometers per hour by, of all things, water.

Tsukiumi smirked as she looked at all the monkeys gaping at her in awe, as they should be. It was only natural for those far inferior to herself to gaze upon her majestic and regal looks (as well as her totally awesome entrance) with awestruck gazes.

She opened her mouth to speak, having every intention to announce herself and give out a challenge –

"Who wants to battle!?"

– only to be interrupted by Musubi, who spoke first.

Tsukiumi scowled, a vein popping out on her forehead as she looked over at her partner in combat. The Shrine Maiden with a serious battle fetish was bouncing on the balls of her feet, hands clenched into fists under her chin and her eyes scanning the area as she no doubt looked for a strong opponent. She looked so similar to a hyperactive puppy that Tsukiumi could almost imagine a tail wagging behind her.

That made quite a few mental pictures to go with the actual picture of said sekirei with a tail wagging like an excited puppy on the screen. Everyone was laughing at this picture now.

"Musubi," Tsukiumi ground out, causing the fist fighter to turn her attention away from searching for an opponent and towards the water user, a curious look plastered on her face.

"Yes?"

"Didn't I tell you to let me do all the talking after we made our entrance?"

Musubi blinked several times, her head tilting upwards as a single finger poked cutely against her lower lip. The girl looked like she was deep in thought, or at least as deeply in thought as someone like Musubi could get. Gods only knows what was going on through that air headed head of hers.

Battle. Love. Battle. Battle. Love. Love. Naruto-sama.

Yeah, something like that.

"Um, I don't know, maybe," Musubi blinked again. Her nose scrunched up cutely for several seconds before her eyes lit up in remembrance and she smashed the butt of her left fist into the palm of her right hand. "Now I remember. You did say that just before we came in!"

"Yes, and what did you just do."

"Ah! Auu..." Musubi moaned piteously as she realized what Tsukiumi was getting at. The girls head turned down and she looked at her blond sister Sekirei with large, dewy eyes and quivering lips. "I'm sorry, Tsukiumi. I didn't mean to talk, I was just so excited about getting to fight strong opponents."

Oh great. Now Tsukiumi felt guilty, like she had killed someone's puppy or something. That look was just too much.

"For being so innocent, she is damn good at giving others guilt trips." Kakashi said.

"It's fine, Musubi," Tsukiumi reached up and began rubbing Musubi's head, making the much more naïve Sekirei perk up almost instantly and lean into her hand. She really was like a puppy, the blond mused. "What's done is done. Now, let us see if we can find anyone capable of doing battle."

"Okay!"

With deliberately sure and purposeful steps, Tsukiumi marched right up to the front desk, Musubi trailing behind her. Many eyes followed the pair. The co-workers were still very much in shock and were doing everything in their power to try and get some semblance of brain processing power to figure out what was going on whilst their jaws hung from the floor.

Unfortunately, the only thing coming up in their minds was the term 'couldn't compute' because their rational brains just could not come up with a plausible theory to properly explain what was happening.

"You!" Tsukiumi growled as she reached over the desk and grabbed two fist fulls of the shocked woman manning the front desk's shirt. She then proceeded to hall the girl into the air, lifting her up and over the desk so she could bring the woman's now petrified face close to hers.

Nose to nose, Tsukiumi gave the woman a glare that nearly had her crapping her pants. This lady was terrifying!

"Tell me where Higa's Sekirei are hiding!"

"Wha... wha..." the woman looked like she was trying to speak, but between feeling terrified for her life in the face of this volatile blond and confusion towards said blond's words, she could not even begin answering the question.

Of course, all this did was serve to irritate Tsukiumi further.

"Well!?"

"You two actually have a good combination going with that." Naruto said. "it is like watching a good puppy, bad cop kind of thing." Naruto couldn't finish that with a straight face as he started laughing more.

When the frightened for her life female refused to answer, Tsukiumi dropped the woman in disgust. Damn monkeys! Couldn't they at least have the decency to answer her questions? Whatever happened to common courtesy?

"Come, Musubi," Tsukiumi said as she whirled around, her dress billowing out behind her like some kind of long trench coat a lot of characters in shounen manga often wore, and began marching towards the elevator. "It appears as though we will have to search the building ourselves."

"Right!" Musubi quickly caught up and began walking at Tsukiumi's side. She punched her fisted right hand into the open palm of her left, already feeling pumped up. She was ready to face anything throat at them! "I wonder which Sekirei are in here. I really want to fight a strong opponent."

"Hmph! It does not matter who we fight," Tsukiumi tossed her hair over her shoulder. "They shall fall before my power. After all, I am the strongest."

"The strongest?" Musubi looked confused by her sister Sekirei's words, as if something didn't add up. As they walked towards the elevator her confusion only became more pronounced as she tilted her head.

"Of course," Tsukiumi answered decisively. There was no doubts in her mind that she was the strongest Sekirei in the plan. And now that she had a husband she was even stronger. She would show these monkeys and her fellow Sekirei not to underestimate her strength.

As they neared the closed doors to the elevator, a ding sounded out, marking the arrival of one of the elevators. Both Musubi and Tsukiumi stopped as they looked at the door that had the small fixture that informed them of which floor the elevator was on telling them this particular elevator was on the first floor.

"Could that have been timed any better?" Kakashi asked.

The doors soon opened, revealing four women inside. Each one of them looking vastly different from the business suit wearing men and women that had been seen inside of the building thus far.

The girl in front was wearing a white dress with what looked very reminiscent of a corset wrapped around her waist and tied in the back with a bow tie. The only reason Tsukiumi felt it wasn't a corset was because once it reached her hips, it split, flowing down and behind her backside to flare out behind her as an added layer to her dress. She also had a purple bow tie wrapped around her neck and a ribbon of the same color keeping her short, dark purple hair out of her face. Her general outfit sort of looked like some kind of strange maid uniform.

She was also carrying weapons. Within her hands were two bladed discs. Tsukiumi did not know what they were, but considering there were several more of the bladed discs hovering around the girl, spinning and whizzing like a buzz saw, she could determine they were meant to be thrown from a distance.

Second in line on Tsukiumi's sight was a very petite girl with small breasts and wide hips. She was wearing a mostly yellow jumpsuit. Only the very upper half of her clothing; the shoulders, neck and arms were a different color, black with a white stripe running up their length. On her feet were a pair of very large boots that traveled all the way up to mid thigh. This girl's hair was orange and she had wine colored eyes. Her expression was strangely melancholic, as if she were eternally depressed.

She had no weapons to speak of. A fist fighter then.

As the two walked into the lobby, the other two Sekirei, for that was all they could be, became visible.

One of them, the one that got Tsukiumi's attention first, had to be the strangest Sekirei she had ever seen. The first thing the blond water user noticed were the two tufts of light brown hair sticking up from the girl's short messy style hime cut like a pair of cat ears. The hair did not do much to frame her face, but the bangs she had managed to bring attention to the woman's steel gray eyes as they hovered over her face.

The outfit she was wearing was equally odd, in Tsukiumi's opinion. A bright red choker was attached around her throat. It looked more like a dog collar than anything else. Moving around her shoulders were a pair of white straps that held up what had to be the most unusual one piece outfit she had ever seen. It looked like a shirt, bathing suit combo, except for the fact that it had one legging similar to tights that went down her right leg all the way to her booted foot. The left leg was complete bare from the hip up. And on her arms were a pair of long, black armbands that went down to her hands with shorter white armbands that hid the higher end of the black bands when they stopped above her biceps.

In her hands were several whips made from some kind of black leather. They looked durable and obviously had something to do with whatever power she possessed.

Last in the line up was another unusual looking girl, a tomboy with short, messy black hair and green eyes. She was wearing what looked like it had once been the undershirt of a business suit until it had the sleeves cut off and the lower hem cut off until it went above her belly button. Wrapped around her neck was a black tie, and going around her torso Tsukiumi could make out two black straps that formed an 'X' across her stomach and attached to a pair of skin tight booty shorts. Her hands had a pair of gloves on that went up her forearm and stopped in the middle of her biceps, and her legs were covered by thigh high tights that disappeared into a pair of black shoes. She had no discernible weapon that Tsukiumi could see.

All four of them appeared on the screen. Only Musubi was bouncing in excitement to the soon to be battles.

"Look at this," the one in front with the bladed discs said. She was obviously the leader. "Intruders. And they're so bold too, coming in straight through the front door like that."

"You!" Tsukiumi was instantly in one of her signature poses, the one where she planted her feet wide, placed a hand on her hip while the other pointed at whoever she was antagonizing. Naruto had taken to referring to it as Tsun-Tsun pose number five. "I, number zero-nine, Tsukiumi, demand my right of honorable combat! Come at me so that I may defeat you and prove myself to be the strongest!"

"Oh my," the one Tsukiumi had marked as the leader hid her mouth behind her hand as if to disguise her surprise. Of course, the insincerity of the gesture let everyone know that was not the case. She was likely trying to hide her smile.

The two blades that had previously been in her hand were now in the air with the other two, spinning around like a pair of buzz saws that were waiting to slice into something.

"You want a fight, do you? Very well." Grabbing the ends of her dress, the Sekirei curtsied to the blond water user. "I, number one hundred and one, Oriha, will oblige you."

"I wanna fight too! I wanna fight too!" Musubi, unable to contain herself, was now bouncing around life a hyperactive kid on a sugar high. Her eyes were bright and vibrant, and Tsukiumi thought she could actually see stars in her battle companions eyes. The shrine maiden looked like she might explode at any second. "Which one do I get to fight!? Ooh~ I hope it's a strong opponent!"

"Don't worry," Oriha sounded amused. "You'll get your opponent. Katsuragi! Why don't you indulge the big breasted Shrine Maiden."

The one in the yellow jumpsuit stepped forward, looking at Musubi who was now standing in a traditional boxing pose with an eager look on her face.

"I'm number eighty eight, Musubi! I'm a fist type!"

Katsuragi squirmed a bit, the melancholic look on her face never changing.

"Number eighty six, Katruragi. I'm a fighting type, I guess."

"Now, since we have a single digit among us, why don't we make the battle a little more interesting," Oriha smirked. "Kaie! Oshino! Help me give our guest a warm reception!"

"What!?"

"I knew that was going to happen." Naruto said. Looking to the surprise on some of the sekirei's faces he realized they expected it to be one on one all the time. They need to be broken of that, or they will be beaten at some point.

XoX

High above the hustle and bustle of Shinto Teito, one woman found herself sitting on one of the many roofs that made up the city's skyline, enjoying a good bottle of sake. This particular female was a woman who could probably define the term 'busty', though calling her that would truly be an insult and understatement of just how busty she was.

Sitting down against the small wall that blocked the ledge of the roof, her back resting against the ninety degree rise as it climbed higher to create an eventual wall that went around several electric boxes and her left leg laying straight across the wall while her right dangled off the edge, the mature looking beauty raised the cup of sake in her left hand as if saluting to some unseen deity before partaking in her drink.

"That sounds way too much like Kazehana." Homura said.

"Ah!"

A strangely sensual sigh escaped her lips as she finished off all the alcohol in her saucer. As if having already sensed her eventual need for more drink, the hand containing the bottle of sake had started rising before she had even finished. By the time the mature beauty had removed the saucer from her luscious pink lips, the sake bottle was ready to refill it.

"Nothing beats a good bottle of sake," the woman said with a small smile on her flushed cheeks. It was clear from the red staining her face that she had already partaken in quite a bit of alcohol. Despite this, she showed no other signs of being intoxicated. She didn't even have slurred speech.

Those who knew her well knew just how high she had built up her tolerance for alcohol.

"Still," she mused to herself as she watched more of her favorite liquid being poured into her saucer. "It would be nice to share a drink with someone on occasion. Maybe I should visit Izumo again and see if Uzume wants to get a drink with me."

"Yes, definitely Kazehana." Miya added.

The gorgeous woman with the ginormous breasts raised the saucer of sake to her lips, about to down the drink once more, when she stopped as something a few buildings away caught her attention.

"Ho? What's this?"

Wanting to get a better look, she stood up and squinted her eyes. With her excellent vision she was more than capable of seeing the blond figure running up the side of the wall.

Yes, running up the side of the wall.

She blinked once. Then she looked at the bottle of sake in her hand, before looking back at the male running vertically up the wall without any form of visible aid whatsoever, then back to the bottle of sake. When she had determined that, no, she was not hallucinating due to having instilled to much alcohol in her, the busty woman turned to look back up at the blond to see he was already nearing the top of the building.

"Well, this is interesting. I wonder how he's doing that?" A pause. "And why does he look so familiar?"

"Familiar?" Naruto asked. "I don't think you have even been mentioned in the story yet." Kazehana shook her head. She figured this was still during the time she as still hung up over Minaka. "Unless Minaka looks like you, Naruto, I am as stumped as you are."

XoX

Naruto had thought long and hard about how he would infiltrate the building while his two Sekirei were causing a ruckus on the ground floor. There were many avenues open to him, but only a few that he would truly consider.

His first thought was actually going in before hand henged as an employee.

The idea had only lasted a second before he had discarded it. For one, he didn't know anyone who worked for Higa other than Kakizaki. Unfortunately, MBI's database only listed the names of those who were involved in the Sekirei Plan, aka, Ashikabis. More unfortunately, Higa seemed to have enough common sense to make his own database impossible to access remotely. It seemed the only way to get any information from his network was to access it at the source, aka, Higa's corporate office, which meant infiltrating the building through henging into an employee would have been pointless anyways.

The second option he had thought up was henging himself or one of his clones as some kind of bug or rodent. It was a slightly better choice than his first one, but only by so much.

While Naruto's henge was still flawless, whenever he used the jutsu, he released a lot of chakra, a lot of chakra. And while none of the information he had Matsu acquire on enemy Sekirei suggested they had talent in sensing chakra, there was nothing to suggest they did not either. For all he knew, it could be a passive skill they attained with enough experience and practice like some of the shinobi in his time could. He didn't want to risk blowing his cover because he unleashed a kage's worth of chakra just to complete a simple henge.

Yes, Naruto was that paranoid.

"It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you." Naruto said.

That really only left option three: enter through the exit on the roof, find a vent to crawl into, and figure out which office belonged to Higa one at a time. It wouldn't be that hard, but it would be time consuming.

Still, he was a patient man, and there really weren't many other option that would guarantee he accomplished everything he wanted with minimal hassle. So, down the vents he would go.

Getting in from the top floor was ridiculously easy. The only problem he had was the locked door, but that was something a little wind manipulation could fix up. Even after all this time of having never used a single jutsu beyond henge, shadow clones and Fūinjutsu, Naruto's affinity for wind was so strong his ability to manipulate it was second to none. Sending the wind into the lock, Naruto quickly and efficiently used the wind to open all the bolts keeping the door shut. After that it was just a matter of finding a vent to crawl into that he could fit in.

As Naruto finished undoing all the screws in the nearest vent and began to crawl in, he sighed. He forgot how much he hated enclosed spaces.

"Please don't remind me." Naruto said, with a slight shiver. He to hated closed spaces. Which was why he had worked with the kyubi and changed his mindscape to be a much larger field instead of a small sewer. The fox was much more pleasant to talk to after that. He also gave really good prank ideas.

XoX

Tsukiumi barely had time to squawk in indignation as one of the Sekirei, the one without weapons, charged her, while the one with whips stayed behind to lash out at her and Oriha sent one of her bladed discs at her. She almost didn't have time to dodge the attempt the short haired one made at punching her face in because she was so busy trying not to get hit by one of the many whips arrayed against her or those bladed discs.

As it was, she just barely dodged by creating a wall of water that blocked the whips from hitting her and shooting several condensed spheres at the blades as they soared towards her, allowing her to jump back and avoid the punch intended for her by a few inches.

"Undignified brutes!" she screeched in anger. "What is this meaning of this! Attacking me all together like a pack of cowards instead of one on one in honorable combat!"

Oriha smirked.

"Weren't you just telling us how you were the strongest Sekirei? Surely one as strong as you wouldn't mind having a bit more of a challenge than a simple one on one battle."

Tsukiumi growled in anger as her words were turned back on her. How she hated this strumpet for using her words against her. She would be sure to make the bitch pay for this insult.

"Fine! If you want to see how powerful than come at me, you dogs!"

"You really need to cool it with that kind of attitude Tsukiumi." Kakashi said. "It can and will get you killed." Tsukiumi was about to retort when Anko decided to have her say. "So, you are telling me you are more powerful than Miya, who is sekirei 01?" That shut up Tsukiumi before he could say anything. She was too scared to refute that, even though she knew it would be a bold faced lie. She just looked towards the ground, face turning more and more red. Naruto had decided to speak up and try to keep her from passing out in shame. "We are not trying to humiliate you or belittle your true strength, but if you continue to brag about being the strongest, it will only get you killed, think about how Minato would feel if that happened. You must be confident in your strength, without bragging about it. Let them tell others about your strength, after you give them a watery hell, of course." Tsukiumi smiled at her fellow blonde. She really liked the sound of that.

"Hmph!" Oriha snorted at the woman's arrogance. This woman didn't think she would be able to take on all three of them just because she was a single digit, did she? "Let's show this girl whose in charge around here. Kaie!"

The one with the whips, who Tsukiumi could now identify as Kaie, lashed out with her many whips.

"Wind Slashing Whip!"

There were several powerful burst of wind from the many whips Kaie wielded. The wind bursts were shaped in crescent blades that followed the arc of the whips themselves. They moved towards Tsukiumi at an incredible pace.

But they were not enough to defeat the water user, who conjured a powerful wall of hardened water that managed to block the wind blades.

Much like Akitsu's ice was special, so too was Tsukiumi's water. Her ability did not just lay in the gathering of water from the atmosphere. She could also change it's density, making it lighter than a feather and just as fragile, or harder than diamonds. Not even lightning could pierce her water unless more power was put into the attack than her defense.

Tsukiumi huffed, "As it should."

It was a gift all elemental type Sekirei had, the ability to manipulate their element to an extreme degree.

Unfortunately, while the water wall managed to block the wind blades, they also managed to conceal Oriha's bladed discs that came at her from behind. As it was, only instinct saved Tsukiumi from getting bisected. Even then, she still managed to get a cut on her clothing as she dodged the attacks.

Growling angrily, Tsukiumi pointed a finger at the disc blades, preparing to destroy them...

Only for Oshina to appear in front of her again. The fist fighter quickly lashed out with several fast, straight forward jabs.

Tsukiumi quickly wove through the attack combination. While she was not a fist fighter, she was still a single digit. As such, even though she did not specialize in close combat, she was still stronger physically than the girl before her. Had this battle been between just them, the water user was sure it would have already ended in her victory.

"Power does not determine battle either." Kakashi said. "Weaker opponents can still win due to better strategies."

"Moon Chakram!"

A curse escaped Tsukiumi's lips as she was forced to once more dodge two of the bladed discs that damn woman sent after her. She swore even more when several whips attacked her out of nowhere and tried to force her into the direction of Oshino who was once more preparing to launch her bladed discs.

This was not how she envisioned this battle going. Not at all.

XoX

Homura scowled as the fireball he had launched at Toyotama was batted away from the girl by her over six foot naginata. With a loud 'woosh!' the fireball was launched into the air where it slowly dissipated harmlessly several dozen meters above them.

While he would not say the battle had been going poorly for him, it was not going very well either. He had yet to actually receive any damage, having done an excellent job at forcing the weapon user to keep her distance. However, neither had he given damage to the number sixteen either. Every time he would send his flames at her, she would either swat it away like she had with his fire ball, or disperse them with an intense wave of her naginata that generated a very powerful gust of wind.

Clearly the woman had been training.

"You need to start thinking outside the box." Naruto said. You are way too predictable.

"I hope this isn't all you have, Homura," Toyotama taunted her foe. Homura grit his teeth. The way she was acting, with that cocky little smirk on her face as she deflected or cut through his flames was really beginning to bother him.

"Don't worry," Homura was quick to send six more compressed balls of intensely burning flame towards the weapon user. "It isn't."

He watched as Toyotama dodged his assault with the ease and grace of an acrobatic, twisting and twirling around the small spheres of fire as she made her way towards him. The few fireballs she couldn't escape from were smacked away with her naginata, sending them spiraling out of control to either disperse in the atmosphere or explode in a decent sized conflagration as they hit a wall.

Suddenly, just as she was about to reach him, flames burst up from the ground in front of her, forcing the weapon using Sekirei to leap backwards. Like all the times she had done so, Toyotama's version of dodging was incredibly flashy, using a series of aerial flips and twists instead of simply jumping back like most normal people would have done.

"That can be used against them." Sakura said. "Doing things like that is wasted movement, can will do nothing but tire them out faster."

Well, most normal Sekirei at least.

Homura narrowed his eyes. A possible weakness, perhaps?

Deciding to test this theory, the young man very quickly conjured several dozen fireballs. The compressed spheres of white hot fire hovered around him for but a moment before they were launched towards Toyotama with extreme prejudice.

Each time one fireball was launched, a new one would take it's place while Homura watched Toyotama's movements carefully, taking note of the way she moved and dodged in order to see if he couldn't find a pattern he could exploit.

The ninjas cheered on Homura. "Learn their movement, and use it against them." Kakashi said.

The young woman really was quite graceful. She seemed to have a six sense for battle. It was like everything within a certain distance from her was visible even when she was not looking. The staff in her hand was a never ending blur of motion as she spun it in a complex series of patterns while dodging what attacks she could and liberally bashing away or slicing through what flames she could not.

Her movements were definitely flashy though. All that jumping and twirling when she could have just woven her way through with minute movements designed to dodge with as little effort as possible. Yes, her dodging contained a lot of unnecessary movement that wasted both time and energy.

And that was not even going into when she jumped. That was just plain stupid, especially when Homura was primarily geared for long range attacks. People were always vulnerable when they jumped. There was no possible way for them to avoid an attack that came their way, all they could do was either take it and hope for the best, or use their weapons to try and deflect, which is what Toyotama did.

Deciding to use a more widespread attack, Homura made a wide swiping gesture with his hand. Instantly, the air in front of him combusted into flames, which created a literal wave as they raced towards Toyotama with every intention of burning her to a crisp.

"You must really not like her." Kakashi mentions. Homura looks at him and says, "She has essentially kidnapped sekirei to be raped at her ashikabi's pleasure. What do you think?" Kakashi tells her that he thinks her flames are not hot enough.

Showing just how skilled she had gotten within the past few months since they had last fought when he had protected Kaho from her, Toyotama jumped into the air to avoid the main attack and lashed out with a powerful slash attack with her naginata. From the weapon a large gust of wind created by the sonic vibrations of her incredibly fast attack emerged, cutting the flames with ease and causing them to disperse as if they had never been there.

Just before she landed on the ground, Homura sent another blast of intense flames at her. Toyotama's eyes widened in surprise, but even though she had clearly not been expecting this new assault so soon, her body was able to instinctively dodge it by ducking low and shoulder rolling across the roof the moment her feet hit the ground.

She could not, however, dodge the next attack, which came in the form of a giant flame erupting from underneath her.

Reacting quickly, the naginata wielder leapt into the air again, avoiding the gout of flames as it shot out from the roof. Even in the air where she was, the heat from the fire could still be felt and it caused her clothes to cake themselves to her body as she started to truly sweat.

"Hot enough for you?" Anko mumbled with glee.

While she was in the air, Homura launched another fireball at her. A much bigger one than normal.

Toyotama's eyes widened as she readied her naginata and swung at the flames. She managed to cut them in half, but that did little good this time. The ball of fire split in half, forming two smaller balls that quickly split up around her. They arced in from the side, creating a pincer movement that would force her to choose between protecting herself from one while getting hit with the other. It was a no-win situation for most people.

Most people. Not Sekireis.

"Nor ninja." Kiba said.

Gritting her teeth, Toyotama swung her naginata again, this time using the force from her swing to rotate her body a full three hundred and sixty degrees. As her naginata sailed through the twin balls of fire, another small sonic vibration cut through both fireballs and forced them to evaporate.

Because she was so focused on fending off the first two fireballs, she completely missed the other one coming for her that Homura had launched a few seconds after she began her spin until it was right in her face.

Toyotama released a shrill scream of pain as the explosion of fire burnt the left side of her body and sent her sailing through the air. She landed with a loud crash several dozen feet from where she had been, then proceeded to roll along the roof like a rag doll until she was stopped by an electric box.

The ninja all cheered.

As she began to struggle to push herself to her feet, Homura began walking over to the woman with calm, decisive steps. He was certain this battle was now his.

Getting a good look at Toyotama, he could see that a good portion of her clothing was now gone, having been burnt away from his fire. The entire left side of her torso had a large second degree burn on it that looked red and nasty and swollen, but probably wouldn't even leave a mark once it was healed.

Of course, had that attack been done on a human, it would have done more than just lave a mark.

"Do you... think this is over..." Toyotama struggled to her knees. Her left hand managed to find her naginata, which she then impaled into the ground and used to pull herself to her feet. It was clear from the way her legs shook and wobbled that she was on the verge of collapsing. "I'm... not beaten yet..."

Homura shook his head.

"You can barely stand up, you've got a nasty burn on you, and you looked like death warmed over." Pun not intended. "This fight is over."

"The fight is never over until it is over. Remember that." Kakashi said. "Even a beaten opponent can turn it around on you when you lease expect it. Never play around in battle, and never hesitate to finish off your opponent."

Toyotama's lips drew themselves into a thin line as she forced herself to stand. Despite her legs buckling and almost sending her back to the ground, she managed to hold herself up right even if it was just barely. Not even bothering to regain a combat stance, the number sixteen charged with an almost feral cry.

XoX

While Tsukiumi was left with nothing to do but dodge and hope she did not get hit, Musubi and Katsuragi were trading blows of their own. And while Katsuragi was looking just as depressed and despondent as ever, Musubi had the largest smile on her face that anyone would ever see.

She was having a blast! It had been so long since she fought that sword using girl, and while her spars with Miya were nice, they didn't quite have that extra something that fighting someone for real gave.

They also didn't come with the many lumps that fighting with Miya gave.

You could hear a few snorts / snickers around the room. As well as seeing Miya's shoulders shaking like she is trying to not laugh, but failing.

Stepping in past her opponent's guard, Musubi sent a straight jab towards the much less busty girl's face. The attack was avoided when Katsuragi sidestepped and leapt back. She then came in with a high kick towards Musubi's face that was blocked when the Shrine Maiden raised her left forearm. The attack sent her skidding back some, but she quickly got back on track and charged the other girl.

A quick one-two combination was met with Katsuragi blocking the attack with her forearms. In turn, Musubi was met with retaliation when the more kicking oriented fighting type went in for a front kick. Taking a single step forward, Katsuragi raised her left leg, then thrust it forward with the intent of hitting Musubi in the stomach with the ball of her foot.

Remembering her lessons with Miya, Musubi quickly dodged to the side, her forearm coming up and blocking the attack. She then twisted her arm, bringing Katsuragi's leg around her arm until it was being held between her arm and torso in a right grip. With her opponent's leg now captured, the fist type Sekirei moved in towards Katsuragi's face with a right hook.

Before Musubi's attack could hit, Katsuragi hopped into the air using her one grounded foot, then quickly twisted her hips so that she spun on an axis. The foot not trapped by Musubi came up with every intention of hitting the battle maniac in the temple before the fist reached her.

Forced to let go, Musubi jumped back several times to gain some distance, then set herself up in her combat stance again while Katsuragi did the same. The lull only lasted for a second before the two charged each other.

"Both of then have really good fighter's instinct." Hinata noted.

Musubi came in with a very quick one-two combination. A right cross straight aimed at Katsuragi's face and a left chambered punch that started in a cocked position from her torso and launched itself at the other girl's stomach at extreme speeds.

The first attack was blocked, the second was dodged when Katsuragi leapt to the side at the last second.

If she wasn't having so much fun, Musubi would have pouted at missing.

During their next engagement, Katsuragi was the one leading the assault. The yellow jumpsuit wearing Sekirei came in with a quick straight that Musubi dodged much like she would when Miya was thrusting her sword out, then launched a kick aimed at taking out Musubi's legs.

Unlike Musubi, who used only her fists, Katsuragi used her fists and feet. It was a bit dizzying for Musubi, who was simply not used to having people actually try to kick her. The only person who had used their feet when she fought was Naruto-sama, and they had only had the one spar.

"You need more experience with fighting people that use not only swords, but any other weapon they can get a hold of, including their feet." Kiba said. "If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail."

Muu~ she needed to get Naruto-sama to spar with her more often.

Thinking about her spar with Naruto-sama reminded her of how easily he had defeated her. she had never been able to hit him, not once. Her Ashikabi had turned her own attacks against her somehow. It had been so~ amazing!

Could she do that here?

As Katsuragi came in again for another bout of hand to hand combat, Musubi decided she would attempt to copy the way Naruto-sama had fought her. It was incredibly stupid, but then, no one had ever claimed that Musubi was the brightest Sekirei around.

Katsuragi closed the distance soon enough. She took one step, two, then her body twisted until she was leading with her left foot. This was done so she could launch a side kick towards Musubi's ribs.

After taking her last step, Katsuragi chambered her leg diagonally across her body, then launched it very quickly towards the busty fist fighter. The attack was so fast Musubi barely had any time to think. So she didn't.

Kakashi and most of the sekirei snorted and started laughing. 'Let her trust her instinct fully. If she can do that more often, it will serve her very well. It still sounds funny when they worded it like that though.' the copycat ninja thought.

Having already tried putting her mind on what she had seen Naruto-sama doing during their spar, Musubi took a single step forward and then ducked. The foot, which would have connected with her floating ribs, sailed over her shoulder by a couple of inches. Close enough that she could feel the breeze it created rustle her hair, but far enough that she did not have to be concerned.

At this point there were many avenues for attack open to her. Musubi could have continued moving forward, lifting her body up and grabbing hold of the girl's leg so she could move as she came in with a devastating punch to one of the girl's vitals. She could have also used a leg sweep to knock Katuragi to the ground and finish her off there. There were a number of possible attack options, each one possessing there own advantage and disadvantage that would be dependent on how skilled her opponent was.

Musubi did none of these things, because Naruto-sama did none of those things when they sparred. Instead, she took a step back and got out of Katsuragi's attack range, just like Naruto-sama had done during their spar.

All the ninja face-faulted, while the sekirei face palmed.

Katsuragi still had her leg up in the same position it had been when she launched her kick as she stared at Musubi, blinking. The fist fighting Shrine Maiden was now back in her traditional combat pose, brimming with confidence and happiness that very few would be able to have during such an intense bout of combat.

Slowly, as if confused about what had just happened, Katsuragi set her foot back on the ground.

"Why didn't you attack me?"

It was a simple question, but one that seemed to confuse Musubi, who tilted her head as she looked at Katsuragi.

"Was I supposed to?" She pressed her index finger to her lower lip, looking honestly curious. "I thought that was it. Though now that I think about it, I'm not sure how I'm going to beat you if I do that." Musubi moaned piteously as she realized she had a bit of a problem. "Mou, this is almost as hard as understanding modesty!"

Had this been an anime, Katsuragi would have surely sweat dropped. Since it wasn't, the girl just blinked several times.

"Yes, I think Musubi needs to have a better training session than what you are giving her Naruto." Tsunade said.

XoX

Naruto almost growled in frustration as he began backtracking through the ventilation system as he continued his search for Higa's office. Really, how hard could it be to find the office of the boss of a corporation in a building with around five or six hundred other offices?

Really hard, apparently.

How long had he been searching for that stupid office anyways? Nearly ten minutes at least. While that might not seem like a long time to some, Naruto understood that most battles didn't last over five unless the two opponents were very evenly matched. His Sekirei were still fighting, he could feel it through the bond. All of them except for Homura, who he could only get a small sense of accomplishment from at least. That meant their opponent's were strong, at least strong enough to keep up with his Sekirei. And if they were that strong, then the battles could go either way.

In short, he needed to hurry up, find Higa's office, do what he came to do, find Yukari, then leave.

"This is why you get intelligence on a place before you attack it." Sakura sighed. "You should have been infiltrating his office with clones long before that day happened."

Thankfully, a pair of voices up ahead alerted him to the fact that he was getting close to another room. The fact that he recognized at least one of those voices let him know he was on the right track.

Stopping in front of one of the vent's exits, Naruto peered inside the room and could immediately tell this was the right one. First off, because it was much more extravagant than any of the other offices he had seen so far. It was also much larger, as in, three or four times larger. The last reason was most definitely because of the man sitting behind the ridiculously expensive looking desk.

Izumi Higa was sitting in a chair behind the desk with a computer on it, the index finger of his right hand was tapping incessantly on the wood top while the elbow of his left was sitting on it while he used the butt of his hand to hold his head. He looked very irritated.

"You mean to tell me three of my Sekirei can't take out even one of his?"

Tsukiumi smirked at the book.

Naruto's head swiveled across the room to see who he was talking to, and immediately recognized the woman in question. She was kind of a nerdy looking woman (if nerdy looking women had incredibly large breasts) wearing glasses with square frames. Her mess gray hair was cut short with two bangs trailing down either side of her face and there was a strange dot on her forehead that reminded him of those Hindu guys he had seen before.

Or were they Buddhists? He couldn't remember.

Her outfit was a little unusual as well, though not as bad as some of the other Sekirei he had seen. She was wearing what looked like some kind of gi-dress. The top half was unmistakably that of a purple gi. It was sleeveless, however, and there were an untold amount of ruffles sticking out from underneath the dress to make it look like she was wearing one of the strangest high collars he had ever laid eyes on. Wrapped around the middle to keep the gi-dress from opening up was a large obi in a dark shade of purple that had the same lighter purple ruffles that her collar had. The last article of clothing he saw her wearing were the armbands that started just below her shoulders, then flowed out into slightly ruffled sleeves that stopped just above her hands.

Naruto knew who this Sekirei was. Number twenty two, Kochou, a brain type Sekirei like Matsu. This was Kakizaki's Sekirei.

"That woman they are fighting is the number zero-nine," Kochou told Higa in a monotone voice. "A powerful Sekirei with control over water. The single digits have always been more powerful than the other Sekirei, barring the two members of the disciplinary squad. Even one single digit is enough to defeat or hold off two double digit Sekirei. There is also a good chance Uzumaki Naruto activated her norito and she is just using the stored power as a boost to her abilities."

"I will have to remember that." both Naruto and Minato said at the same time, only to start chuckling after.

Naruto found himself slightly impressed with the woman's ability to think up possible scenarios to explain why Tsukiumi was apparently giving Higa's Sekirei a hard time.

On a side note, Naruto would have to remember that activating a Sekirei's norito apparently gave them a power boost that did more than just allow them to use their strongest attack.

Who knows how strong Tsukiumi and Musubi would have been if he had given them their noritos before the start of this mission.

"Are single digits really that much more powerful?" Despite being apparently very agitated, Higa's face had a look of mild annoyance at best, like this was just a minor problem he found himself facing every day. It was probably a skill he picked up from having to deal with a large scale corporation.

As the conversation began going into the mechanics behind the first nine Sekirei's adjustments in order to explain why they were more powerful than the average double digit Sekirei, Naruto tuned them out and moved into his own thoughts. He already knew everything Kochou was going to tell the man anyways.

What should he do now? Naruto had been hoping to accomplish two things on this trip aside from rescuing Shiina's Ashikabi; hack into Higa's database, and gain a mole on the inside through the use of the Sennō Sōsa no Jutsu (Memory Concealing Manipulative Sand Technique), a sealing jutsu that would allow him to make a person a literal slave to his will by helping him create a false memory and than erasing it until such a time came that he needed to use them again. That was how he kept a majority of his... employees in line.

"I think Gaara would want a jutsu like that." Anko said. "I know I do."

He had been hoping to use the technique on Kakizaki, because he was Kochou's Ashikabi, which meant he could use the number twenty two to feed Higa falsified information, or information that was highly selective and would benefit Naruto in the long run. The blond had thought about using the technique on Kochou, but since he still didn't know everything about a Sekirei's physiology or their link to their Ashikabi didn't want to risk it.

Though Naruto supposed he could use it on Higa. Having a company head under his direct control would be nice, but there was a chance Kochou or one of his Sekirei would get suspicious that something was going on with their boss when he made a decision that he would not normally make.

Well, he supposed that wouldn't matter. They would probably still follow his orders to the letter.

The problem was he couldn't do that since Kochou was in the room with his potential new slave.

Not that she could stop him if she tried. Kochou, as a brain type, was not very strong. He could easily kill her, but then Higa's effectiveness as a potential pawn was downgraded. It might not matter in the long run, but until Naruto had a clear idea of what the end goal for the Sekirei Plan was, having as many eyes and ears in the city was important.

Well, he supposed he could just leave that for another time. That was only a secondary goal anyways. Right now he really just wanted access to their network and to find Sahashi Yukari.

"Yes please." Minato said.

Now if only his... ah, there it goes.

"What the –?" the sound of wheels sliding across the ground came from inside of the now darkened room. "What's going on?"

"It seems someone has cut the power to the building."

"I know that!" This time, Higa's irritation could not be masked by anything. "I meant how long will it take before the back up generator is running?"

"Approximately fifteen seconds."

Fifteen seconds on the dot later, the power was restored and Higa could see again.

By that point in time, Naruto was already gone, wondering how long it would take for one of his clones had to find Yukari's location.

"Should have already learned the location before this operation." Tsunade said.

XoX

Akitsu had a plan.

Well, not really a plan so much as an idea on how to capture Shiina without hurting and/or deactivating him.

Shiina's power was the power of decay. In a way, you could almost say his Sekirei power was the ability to age whatever he targeted. When using this ability, Shiina would often use it to create shields or short bursts that would make whatever was in front of him age and decay. That was why her water melted when it got to close. Shiina was using a burst of his power and sending it out to her ice shards before they came near him in order to make the ice 'age' so to speak. He was essentially accelerating the melting process by making the amount of time the ice could survive less.

However, in order to properly use this power, he had to consciously activate it. It wasn't a passive skill of any kind. Like all Sekirei his mind needed to be focused on the act of bringing his power forth and using it in the manner he wanted.

If she could disrupt his ability to think, he would be unable to call up his power.

"She is very cunning when using her powers." Kiba said. "She uses the least amount possible to achieve the best results." he then smirked and told Naruto that he could learn something from her.

This was what led her to her current action. While she kept as far away from the number one hundred and seven as possible, sending blunted shards of ice, creating slippery frost all over the ground and making large walls of ice shoot up in front of him to help impede his progress towards her, Akitsu used her power over ice in a far more subtle way than she had ever done before.

While Tsukiumi had the ability to pull water from the very atmosphere by gathering moisture, Akitsu had the ability to turn that moisture into ice by changing the temperature of the moisture around her to subzero levels. But that wasn't the only thing her ability could do. While she could not, say, make the moisture in the atmosphere hotter, she could make the moisture in the air colder.

For example, she could change the very moisture around Shiina's to be mildly colder than the standard temperature right now, to below freezing within seconds.

Which, by the way, she was doing.

"Ingenious." Sakura said. "This could not only distract him, but tire him out by forcing him to use a lot more power than she was to keep himself warm."

Throughout the battle Akitsu had been slowly lowering the temperature around Shiina's head. To be more specific she had been lowering the temperature around his temples, causing an imbalance of hot and cold that would undoubtedly create a serious headache eventually. It was her hope that this would disrupt his ability to concentrate and make it so he could not use his powers to melt her ice.

For the first few minutes of the engagement after coming up with this plan, nothing had really happened. But as more and more time progressed, Akitsu began to notice a remarkable difference in the number one hundred and seven's ability to use his powers. Where before, he could call upon his decaying abilities on a whim, now he was incapable of doing it more than half the time.

Akitsu figured that when he could no longer activate his powers ten out of ten times, she would be able to capture him safely.

The ninja are listening intently as the battle unfolds.

Watching carefully, Akitsu sent several shards of blunted ice hurtling towards Shiina. She observed as the young Sekirei tried to activate his powers and create those bursts that would melt her ice. Nothing happened, forcing him to roll along the ground in order to avoid the attack.

One.

This time, Akitsu created a sheet of icy frost along that ground that had her opponent slipping across his surface. His face was screwed up in concentration as he tried to use his powers.

Again, nothing happened. He continued to slide along the ground until it naturally turned back into concrete.

Two.

Rubbing his temples at the obvious headache he was getting from her powers, Shiina decided he would need to get in close. He began running at her, which caused her to raise her hand towards him, palm pointed his way, and send several dozen ice balls in his direction.

From the way his eyes widened, it was clear to Akitsu that he had not been able to use his powers that time either. She watched as he tried to dodge the attacks, though one ball struck him particularly hard in the chest, making him gasp in pain as he held a hand to what would no doubt be a large bruise later.

Shaking his head, Shiina tried to clear the ringing in his ears, before putting his hands on the ground just as Akitsu sent more ice his way.

"Death Wall!"

Nothing. Whatever he had been expecting to happen when he called out the name of his attack did not happen.

The energy of the room, especially on the ninja side, were ratcheting up with intensity.

Three.

Shiina's eyes widened even more as he desperately rolled across the floor to dodge the pelts of ice the snow woman had sent his way. He managed, but just barely, and all it did was ensure he ran into Akitsu's next attack, a large wall of ice.

Over and over again Akitsu sent a number of attacks Shiina's way, watching as each and every time the boy failed to produce the desired effect. Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, by the time the tenth attack failed to be produced, Akitsu knew she had him and acted with a speed that would have shocked everyone else due to how slow she usually was when not in combat.

Before Shiina even had time to contemplate what was going on, Akitsu created a set of ice manacles around his wrists and legs, and even encased his hands in ice for good measure.

Shiina fell to the ground as his feet became shackled together. Likewise, his hands became completely bound together in front of him as the ice forced them close. He began struggling to escape, but as more and more time passed with nothing happening, he seemed to realize his chances of getting free were practically zero.

Seconds later his body went limp as defeat settled in.

Cheers broke out again in the room.

Akitsu walked up to him slowly. She made sure to keep her ice powers centered around his head to keep his headache there so he wouldn't be able to regain the use of his powers. Stopping in front of him, she looked down at the boy who was eyeing her curiously.

"If you're going to deactivate me then please do it quickly," he said in a defeated tone. "I have no desire to be used as a pawn against my Ashikabi again."

"Ah..."

A pause.

"Deactivate?"

There was another pause, this one by Shiina who was staring up at Akitsu like she had two heads and didn't have a lick of clothing on.

"You mean you're not here to deactivate me?"

"No," Akitsu replied succinctly as she looked around the city block she was standing in. Both the number ninety five and her Ashikabi had disappeared. They must have vanished sometime during her battle. Shiina looked at her with a little confusion and a little timidness.

"If-if you aren't here to deactivate me, then why are you here?"

Akitsu looked back down at him, her head tilting. After a second or two of her unnerving stare, she answered him.

"Orders."

Shiina blinked. That didn't tell him anything at all.

Most chuckled at how confusing she is with others. Naruto wants to try to imitate that as a prank.

XoX

Six separate tendrils of cloth shot out from behind Uzume. Using her ability to control where they went, the cloth user sent them racing for Ichiya. The first one was dodged when the woman jumped to the left, but that really only forced her into the path of the next tendril of clothing Uzume had sent out.

One by one, Uzume tried to attack Ichiya with her clothing, only for the woman to dodge each and ever time. It was beginning to frustrate her. Seriously, how hard could it really be to hit this woman?

Apparently much harder than she thought. Uzume was throwing quite a bit of effort into defeating the fighting type to no avail. This woman really did have a lot of experience.

Ichiya quickly rushed towards Uzume. She was fast, Uzume had to admit that much. It was hard to actually track her because her body seemed to blur. Uzume just couldn't get a good bead on her.

"I wonder if she will realize that their number really doesn't denote their power." Anko said. "It seems to me that their number is jut the order they were activated."

Of course, while her speed was impressive, such an advantage came with a number of disadvantages. For one thing, moving so fast meant she was pretty much confined to a straight line. She wouldn't be able to do much more than make minute adjustments while moving forward. There would be no sharp turns, or abrupt about facing. If she wanted to change the direction she was moving, she would have to slow down.

Another disadvantage was that she was dealing with someone who was not limited to fighting with just her fists and feet.

Sending out all of the cloth tendrils that were normally drifting lazily behind her back when she was wearing her Sekirei outfit, Uzume did her level best to impede Ichiya's progress. She even went so far as to use her telekinetic ability to harden the cloth she was using to the same density and toughness as steel.

Ichiya jumped over the first one, managed to roll under the second one, the third and fourth were dodged by her rotating her body as she used her hands to push herself into an acrobatic flip. The fifth one she wove around with a unique corkscrew maneuver, and the seventh one was avoided by her using the steel on her boots to slide across the ground while she ducked low.

"Now I've got you – Woah!"

She never noticed the eighth one snaking it's way around her ankle from behind until it was too late.

"Nice, hehe." Kiba said. "They never notice the one that is never used, until they get captured by it."

The eighth cloth Uzume had sent out wrapped itself tightly around Ichiya's left ankle before hardening to the point that it was just as strong as steel.

Because Ichiya's left leg was no longer capable of movement but the rest of her body was, the close combat fighter's body was forced to follow Newton's first law. While her leg remained stationary, every other part of her flew forward, descending in an almost graceful looking arc before her face met the cement flooring of the roof with a loud and sickening crunch.

There were very few things Uzume had seen that were as satisfying as Ichiya lying face first on the ground with a small pool of blood coming out from under her body from an obviously broken nose.

Most of those things involved Chiho wearing a lot less clothing than she usually did.

Anko started chuckling. She was really liking Uzume.

Using her telekinetic abilities once more, Uzume lifted Ichiya with the cloth and flung her across the roof. She had to give the bloodthirsty bitch credit. While still completely dazed, the woman had enough sense to twist her body so that when she landed on the adjacent roof, she landed feet first.

Of course, immediately after landing she went down to a knee and held a hand to her bleeding nose, which pleased Uzume to no end.

Ichiya grimaced as she cracked her nose back in place, then had to spit out all the blood she had gotten in her mouth when she opened it. Standing to her feet, she looked out across the roof at Uzume, her face set in a bloodthirsty leer.

"It looks like this will be more fun than I thought."

She took a step forward, then another, and another. Just as she was about to start flat out running, the sound of 'Hit me Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears began playing, forcing her to stop and grumble.

"Kill it with fire!" Matsu yelled. "That song is terrible."

Uzume raised her eyebrow when she heard the music coming from Ichiya. Aside from the fact that it was god awful and made her want to kick a puppy just to make it stop, it was also unexpected. And not just because she had not expected the hardcore bitch, number eighteen Ichiya had it as her ringtone.

Just where was that noise coming from anyways?

Then Ichiya pulled a cellphone out from between her breasts and Uzume felt a drop of sweat form on the side of her head. She quickly shook any strange thoughts off and began running towards the woman who now had the cellphone pressed tightly against her ear and was listening to whoever was on the other end with a growing frown. Now that she was focused on something else, Ichiya was completely open for her to attack.

While most people would consider attacking someone who was distracted by a phone call dishonorable, Uzume liked to think of it as an opportunity.

"Ok now I am really liking Uzume." Anko said.

She soared through the air just as Ichiya was finishing her conversation. Uzume did not know what it was about, but she didn't particularly care either. The only thing that mattered was sticking it to this bitch for all the taunts she had given Uzume when Higa had been forcing her to do his dirty work.

Lashing out with a hand motion, Uzume sent a literal wall of cloth towards the fighter type Sekirei. The 'wall' was so densely packed with bleached white fabric that it actually blocked out the sun from where Ichiya was standing, casting the entire area in shadow. It would be more accurate to say that she was being confronted with a wave instead of a wall.

Ichiya began hopping back quickly in order to get out of range of the attack. The wave of cloth crashed into the roof she had been standing on with a loud bang, crushing much of the cement underneath it and creating an innumerable amount of cracks. Given how much strength Uzume put into her attack the force combined with gravity doing it's work, it was a wonder there still was a roof at all.

"Tch!"

Uzume tsked as she saw her attack missed. Ichiya was standing some meters away on another roof now, grinning at the cloth user with barely concealed blood-lust.

"As much as I would love to continue this, I've been recalled. It seems my work here is done." Ichiya waved. "But don't worry, I'll be back eventually and we can pick up where we left off." With nothing left for her to say, Sekirei number eighteen, Ichiya, disappeared as she jumped down from the roof.

Uzume frowned as she watched the other Sekirei retreat. She thought about going after her, but decided not to. There would be other occasions.

"I can't wait."

"Wasn't she supposed to take her out to keep her from reinforcing Higa?" Sakura asked. "Or does that mean Naruto has Yukari already?"

XoX

Everything had gone down the drain. Yukari couldn't understand how something so right could have gone so wrong so quickly. It was like every good moment she'd had in the past few days had come back to haunt her as some kind of reverse karma, or like Murphy had decided to fuck with her for shits and giggles because she had too many good things going on in her life.

She was almost beginning to wonder if she might be cursed.

It had all started when her onii-chan met that woman, that utterly gorgeous woman with the long raven hair and elegant poise. Even to this day, Yukari was not sure what to think about her. On the one hand, she was drop dead gorgeous and had a very nice rack, on the other hand, she was madly in love with her onii-chan. It was a lose-lose situation as far as she was concerned.

How could she compete with that!?

"Ok I am confused." Kiba said. "Is she a bro-con, or a lesbian, or what?" Minato blushed. "I honestly do not know myself. She was always open when it comes to that. I just think she is a pervert."

And speaking of, just where was her onii-chan anyways? She hadn't seen or heard from him in days, he was no longer living in that apartment she had first found him in when he had called her up asking for her clothes (for his new girl to wear, of course). It was like he had disappeared from the face of Shinto Teito!

"Ok, some of that happened to me when I first winged Musubi. Does that mean I am still an ashikabi in this story?"

Despite her not being too pleased with her onii-chan's new girl and his disappearance, things had eventually gotten better for her when she ran into her Sekirei, Shiina, the absolutely gorgeous bishounen who had quite literally fallen into her lap.

Ok, so maybe he hadn't fallen into her lap so much as she smacked into him and knocked him to the ground when he had been running from that blond bimbo who had been out to capture him for her sick master, but that was besides the point.

Yukari had never been one to believe in fate, but she could not help but agree with Shiina when he had said they were fated to be together and that their accidental meeting had indeed been a meeting of fate.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the delicious shivers those words caused to run down her spine. Or the way they made her loins feel like a furnace. Absolutely nothing at all.

Yeah right.

"Ok I am starting to agree with you, Minato." Naruto said. "She really is a pervert. Why do all the good guys have to be surrounded by perverts!?"

Anyways... After giving Shiina his 'wings' she had received a call from Hiroto Minaka, who had informed her of the Sekirei Plan and all it entailed. To learn that there was a secret tournament going on where super powered aliens who had crash landed in a space ship some several hundred years ago but were put into a form of stasis because their ships was damaged was taking place underneath the very nose of the normal, everyday citizens had been shocking. This was like something from one of her mangas!

Which would probably explain why she had used her shounen jump collection as a guideline for her to follow during this tournament. It was very fortunate she had decided to bring those with her from home. They were a godsend in helping her get ready for this tournament. All the information she and her Sekirei would need were contained within those pages, including proper dialogue and the actions she needed to take when in the face of overwhelming odds.

She and Shiina had even practiced sentai poses! It was awesome!

"I wish I could have un-heard that." Minato said. "I really didn't want to know."

Once she had her collection ready to be used at a moments notice for when she needed reference (complete with footnotes and amendments written by yours truly), Yukari and Shiina had begun their search for her Sekirei's sister. Though, she wasn't his actual sister per se, just the girl he had received his adjustments with. Apparently, they were so close this Kusano girl was like a sister to him.

Which was fine with Yukari, really. So long as the girl didn't try to make a move on her Sekirei, everything would be just dandy between the two of them when they met.

So yeah, they started searching for Shiina's Imouto.

It had not been a very fruitful search. Yukari could not begin to guess how many miles they had walked, but she and her new Sekirei had done quite a bit of it. Walking that is. They had also interrogated a number of other Ashikabi to see if they knew where Kusano was. Of course, this was done after she and Shiina had thoroughly kicked their ass.

"Yeah that had just started to happen not long before I winged Homura." Minato said. "She had even started to earn a name for herself among the other ashikabi. It was not a flattering one. Mainly because she keeps kicking the other ashikabi in the balls if they insult her in any way."

Some of those people she had questioned had been very belligerent, calling her names like flat chest and skank. The jerks. Those people received a solid kick in the nuts from her halter top boots. See how they like that!

Despite the number of people they had questioned, no one seemed to know where Kusano was. No one seemed to even know who she was. In short, they had hit a dead end.

Then he came. That dazzling, beautiful man with the light brown hair and piercing eyes, Izumi Higa. A bishounen amongst bishounen if there ever was one.

Too bad he was the biggest jerk wad she had ever met.

Considering just how many people whose gonads had a meeting with her boot due to them being jerks consisted of, that was saying something.

Higa had practically demanded she come with him, and when she had refused he had two of his Sekirei beat up her Shiina! The prick! How dare he hurt a bishounen! How dare he hurt her bishounen! She should have kicked him the balls just for that!

"I wonder how she will fare when Naruto reaches her." Miya said. This caused Anko if she wishes she was being rescued by him instead, to which Miya replies, "I simply wish to know how funny it will be if she kicks him there. Just so I can tease him later, of course."

In the end, she had had no choice but to go with the jerk.

Which had led to her situation now. That Higa prick had taken her to his corporate office building and locked her in one of the unused rooms, which in turn was being guarded by at least two Sekirei at all times. Even if she wanted to, there was no way she would be able to escape from the room.

Well, not unless she was willing to risk a seven story drop. While she wanted to escape, she wasn't willing to commit suicide to do it.

Yukari had no clue what was going on outside of this room. No one visited her except one of the Sekirei guarding her and that was only to give her food or take her to the restroom. They wouldn't talk at all, no matter how many questions she asked.

"Mental torture," Anko said. "Not my forte. While it is effective, I prefer to bleed them until they talk, then bleed them more afterwards."

Worse still, she had yet to hear about how Shiina was doing. Was he ok? Were they hurting him? What was that Higa doing to him?

That particular thought had briefly incurred images that were much better left unheard, X-rated didn't even begin to cover the images invoked with that question.

Shaking her head and the decidedly naughty images her last few thoughts invoked, Yukari stood up and marched over to the door. Without pause or hesitation, she immediately began banging on the door with her fist.

"Hey! I need to go to the bathroom, so open up already!"

A pause.

Nothing.

"Hey! Are you people listening to me!? I need to use the bathroom!"

Yukari frowned when, after nearly two minutes of banging, no one came to the door. Normally it would only take a few seconds, if only because the noise was annoying them. It was the one thing she could take perverse pleasure in because she knew they wanted to hurt her, but couldn't due to their orders that she remain unharmed.

"Annoying them like that only works until you become unneeded." Anko mentions. "Once they have no need of you, they pay you back and them some for all the annoying you did to them by at least ten fold. It really is to your benefit to cooperate."

"OI! What the hell are you people doing out there! I said! Let! Me! OU – eep!"

The door to the room swung open fast, startling Yukari and causing her to stumble backwards where she proceeded to trip over her own feet and land on her butt.

"Ouch!"

Yukari rubbed her now sore bum. That had really hurt. She wondered if those idiots had done that had purpose because she was annoying them. Maybe they would claim it was some kind of accident and they hadn't realized she was standing so close to the door. Bitches.

"What the hell was that about, you bitch!" Yukari's head shot up so she could give whichever Sekirei was in charge of guarding her today a fierce glare.

And suddenly found herself short of breath.

The person standing before her was not a Sekirei, but a man. No. Not a man. A man would imply imperfection. This man was perfect.

Naruto smirks. "Perfection, thy name is Uzumaki." Only to have a ton of pillows flying at him from all directions.

His golden blond hair shone and sparkled as it stuck up in a messy bed of spikes like some kind of rock star. Two jaw length bangs framed a face that seemed a perfect mix between rugged good looks and bishounen pretty boy status. He had a straight nose and thin lips. His strong jaw gave him his rugged looks while his face held a boyishness that seemed to define the word bishounen.

And then there were his whisker marks. Three lines running horizontally across each cheek. They were, in a word, the cutest things she had ever seen. Which was more than one word, but Yukari wasn't one for semantics. Those whiskers added a strange sense of adorableness to his face that made her want to squeal 'kawaii!' and nuzzle her cheeks against his.

His cerulean blue eyes were bright and vibrant. They seemed to hold a strange luminescence that Yukari couldn't help but think was otherworldly. Or maybe that was a reflection of the light. Either way, she had never seen a more incredible pair of eyes.

"Everyone always lives the eyes." Naruto mentions. They were his dad's eye color. He just wish he had his mom's hair color. He liked that too.

The rest of his body was nothing to scoff at either. She couldn't see much do to the clothing he was wearing; a pair of dark blue pants and a long black sleeve shirt with orange accents that hid much of his body. Still, there were a few things she could make out that had to be taken into consideration.

He was tall for one thing. Easily towering a good two or so heads over her. He was much taller than any Japanese man she had ever seen. Though that was probably because he wasn't Japanese. He didn't have the look, and that blond hair was natural, she could tell because it was blond all the way to the roots.

If she had to give him a nationality of any kind, she would say he was probably American. His lightly bronzed skin was just another key feature that led her towards this conclusion. He had that California tan that made it look like his skin had been kissed by a thousand suns yet he had never gotten a sunburn in his life.

Truly, this man was a god amongst men.

"You know, it's not nice to call the person here to rescue you a bitch."

Kami, even his voice sounded like pure sex.

Hinata was agreeing with everything Yukari was saying about the blonde. She had almost started drooling again.

Then she realized what he had just said.

"Urk!" Yukari flushed in embarrassment as her blunder was thrown in her face. Think fast! Say something quick, Yukari! You need to save face! "Ah, ah ha! I'm... I'm really sorry about that. I thought you were, well..."

"You thought I was one of those Sekirei who had been guarding you, right?"

"Ah, well, yes," Yukari rubbed the back of her head from where she was sitting, a sheepish grin crossing her face.

Speaking of, just where were those Sekirei anyways? Yukari couldn't help but wonder why they had not stopped this living sex god from entering her room.

Oh well, not like she cared. If they weren't going to stop him from entering, who was she to question that?

"Well, you don't need to worry about them," the handsome blond made a dismissive hand gesture. "They're currently fighting my Sekirei at the moment."

"Ah, so you're an Ashikabi?" asked Yukari curiously. She knew there were other Ashikabis out there. She had met quite a few. She had fought most of them, and kicked a large number of those she fought in the nuts. This was the first time she had ever had a civil conversation with one.

She did not count her 'conversation' with Higa as civil.

"Yes," the blond answered, somewhat distractedly. "Now come on, we've got to get out of here."

He held out his hand for her to take. Yukari stared at the hand like it was something foreign. Then a blush lit her face like somewhat had set off fireworks on it. Almost shyly, she grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her up. When they let go, the handsome blond pressed a hand to his ear and began speaking into what looked like some kind of communication device. Blue tooth, maybe?

"I'd be happy to see her leave that place no matter what." Minato said. "Too bad for you, Naruto, she will most likely try to jump your bones now."

"Matsu, I've secured Sahashi Yukari. Please inform Tsukiumi and Musubi that they are to retreat now, regardless of whether or not they've finished their battles."

Yukari blinked. Then narrowed her eyes.

"How do you know my name?"

"I have a profile on all Sekirei and their Ashikabis," the blond stated almost distractedly. He didn't even seem to realize what he was saying at the moment.

Yukari to blink again. Wow. That must come in handy. If she had a list of every Sekirei and Ashikabi in Shinto Teito she would have been able to find Kusano much... more... easily...?

Wait a minute.

"Hey!" Yukari grabbed the blond's attention. He looked back over her, and Yukari flushed under the intensity of his gaze, but quickly worked her courage back up. "You said... you said you have a list of every Sekirei and Ashikabi, right?"

The blond raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Then could you... I mean, do you think you could..." Dammit! What was wrong with her? Asking a question shouldn't be this hard! Damn those gorgeous blue eyes of his! "What I mean is, I was just wondering. You see, me and Shiina are looking for a Sekirei. Her name's Kusano, and she's Shiina's little sister."

"I already know that."

A pause.

"Yeah, I am definitely seeing a high chance of getting jumped by her too." Matsu sad, giggling.

What did he just say?

"You do?"

Naruto grinned at her, causing Yukari to flush once more. Trying to hide her reaction, she pressed her thighs and began to squirm a little. That smile, it should be illegal.

And was it just her, or was it getting unbearably hot in here?

"Of course, why else do you think I came here to rescue you?"

….

….

"Eh?"

"I wonder if this means I will be back in the story soon myself." Minato said. "I know Yukari had all but confirmed I am still an ashikabi in this story." they all got up and went for dinner before splitting into small groups taking about the previous mission. The elder ninja were berating Naruto about his lack of planning, so were going to be giving him more training when they got back. He didn't look too happy with it.