The Contract

Chapter 33

Aura.

The ability to utilize one's body language and sheer chakra reserves to impose one's intent upon another as a method of psychological warfare, Jiraiya had called it.

Naruto had faced a number of Auras in his life: Orochimaru's disgustingly terrifying aura that simply paralyzed one with fear; Itachi's simplistic yet utterly effective apathetic aura that made one want to simply curl up and die on one side while Kisame's overwhelming aura threatened to simply drown him on the other.

None of them, not even Erza's unleashed might or Jiraiya's Sage aura could compete with what he was faced with now: an aura that left his very core feeling cold and desolate as it crushed his breath right out of him.

Only Kyubi had a more powerful aura.

And it was for that very reason that he was able to shrug off the intensity of this overwhelming aura and struggle to his feet.

Well, that and his sheer, stubborn determination.

"I suggest that… whoever the hell you are…" The words came out short and tight, his heart pounding a frenzied staccato against his ribs as he tapped into Kyubi's reserves. "Get. Out!"

It was a showing that, in any other situation, would have granted him respect in the eyes of the new arrival.

In this case, it just turned her against him all the more.

"You dare use my Hime's power against me?!" Her silvery gray eyes -her most visible feature through the chilling mists- flashed icy blue as she raised a hand with a finger pointed at him. "Die!"

The world flashed white and, in the next second, Naruto was racing through a most exotic looking throne room, ducking, dodging and weaving his way past the barrage of human-sized icicles that hounded his every step.

It was probably a difficult task for some; learning the lay of the new environment as they cheated death multiple times per second but the blond shinobi was only too used to such and was already analyzing his steps to see if he could find a pattern to take advantage of and turn the battle in his favor.

The break he needed came not much later when he sent an icicle flying back at its caster thanks to an excellently timed spin-kick.

The sight of her own attack racing toward her drew just the barest flicker of attention away from him as she forced the projectile to disappear but Naruto capitalized on that instant, summoning a trio of clones that quickly scattered into various corners of the room before launching their counter-offensive.

"Doton: Chikyū no Sokubaku!"

"Fūton: Renkudan!"

"Katon: Endan!"

The effects were immediate: the Shackles of the Earth technique liquefied the ground beneath the woman's feet and sucked her in until it hardened around her knees, leaving her wide open to the fire-wind combination technique.

"Clypeus!"

The room shook violently and a wave of heat upended just about everything in sight as the synergistic Flame Bomb detonated.

"Suiton: Suidanha!" The quartet of blonds weren't certain whether or not the technique had connected but they weren't taking any chances and a pair of powerful water jets punched into the heart of the conflagration. At the same time, Naruto unsealed a daishō set from the back of his glove, the expertly crafted blades gleaming as he channeled wind into the shōto and lightning into its larger counterpart.

"Fool!"

Faster than they could blink, the jets of water crystallized and the newly formed ice poles lanced through the offenders before shattering into even more jagged weapons that hounded the remaining two.

"Tesca Arctica!" The ground froze over so suddenly that Naruto was barely able to leap onto the wall to remain safe. His clone was not so lucky, however and a cry of "Sepulchrum!" marked its swift demise, crushed in a literal icy grave.

Fury suffused Naruto's features as he drew upon even more of Kyubi's energy, funneling the extra energy into his blades before blasting toward the icy mist that even now enshrouded his enemy.

For the first time since the battle had begun, the mists vanished, revealing that his opponent had the same thought as he did.

"Ensiculus!" A long, thin ice blade* appeared in her left hand mere seconds before they clashed.

Naruto instantly regretted getting up close.

This woman, for all her almost angelic beauty, was an absolute devil at close quarters.

In the thirty seconds or so that they had exchanged blows, she had attacked him nearly a thousand times where he had barely managed to retaliate a tenth of the time. At the same time, less than a tenth of his attacks had landed where she only missed two times out of every hundred.

Enhancing his swords with elemental chakra did nothing to slow her down: she parried the lightning enhanced daitō like it was a mere glow stick and she blocked the variable length of the wind-enhanced shotō as though the invisible length of wind he added was a brightly shining star in her vision.

That he was still alive was in no small part thanks to the insane training Erza had put him through and Kyubi's chakra that surged through him as he fought yet, in a dark parallel of his actions earlier on, a single misstep was all the opening one needed.

That opening came the instant they set foot on the ground again.

So focused was he on keeping his head attached to his neck that he never noticed the slight bump on the icy floor where her Tundra technique had glazed over an overturned lamppost. His heel caught the top of the bump and he lost his balance, leaving him glaringly open for her to run her blade through his heart.

Clang!

The resounding tingle of metal striking metal rang through his ears as he stabilized himself and he looked up to see Erza in her Kureha no Yoroi straining to hold the thin blade away from piercing her neck.

He was about to dive back into the fray when a sudden weight held him back and it was only the scent of her familiar perfume that kept him from stabbing Mira through her belly.

"Stay here!" Her tone was urgent, pleading and her appearance had shifted into what he recognized as her Halphas form. "Just trust us and stay here, Naruto-sama!"

"Naruto?" Her questioning tone belied the cold fury that was obvious in her eyes as she kept the pressure on Erza. "Is that the name of this dog you seem so attached to?"

"There is more… to this situation… than lies on the surface… Grayfia… sama!" Erza's every grunt lit a fire in Naruto's gut: he wanted to get back in there and fight, to show this Grayfia bitch why no one crossed his precious people.

Yet Mira's words held him back.

The very same Mira who was, right now, appealing to the silver-haired woman. "Grayfia-sama, please listen to us. We have never once done anything to undermine our Queen and we will not start now. Please believe that we are, even now, operating according to her commands."

Grayfia narrowed her eyes as she studied the two young women before her; two women that she knew and, most of all, that she trusted.

She backed away slowly, keeping up her intense glare at all three of them while maintaining a guarded stance.

Mira half-turned to Naruto. "Show her the seal, Naruto-sama." When she noted the slight hesitance of the one she had come to see as her chosen and the barely noticeable tightening of Grayfia's hand around the hilt of her rapier, her voice cracked. "Please."

Naruto sighed and -after sealing away the daitō- he slowly lifted his shirt up.

A sudden gasp right in front of him had him preparing his singular blade for combat as Grayfia, Erza and Mira tensed.

Then, a blue haired girl materialized right before his eyes with a stunned expression on her beautiful face. "You're the one Erza-sama told me about!" She spun to face Grayfia. "Kyubi-sama is in him!"

Grayfia blinked twice, cocked her head to the side and uttered a single word.

"What?"

‹‹‡››

"I truly do apologize for my actions earlier, Uzumaki-san." Grayfia bowed humbly to the bare-chested blond who lay prostrate on a table as the blue haired girl -Levy McGarden, she had introduced herself as- peered, poked and prodded at his seal. "I was needlessly brash in my choice of how to deal with my fellow, wayward Guardians and that affected my dealings with you."

"It's no problem, really." Naruto smiled to show that there were no hard feelings. "Where are we anyway? There was a flash just before we… threw down."

Grayfia smiled wryly at his attempt to crack a joke. "That was Mira's work, likely to spare you the destruction of your home. Right now, we're in Makai."

"To be specific, you were transported into Lady Mirajane's throne room -which you wrecked by the way-"

Grayfia arched an eyebrow at the blue haired runes mistress. "Levy, the entire reason Uzumaki-san 'wrecked' Mira's throne room was that I attacked him first. Or have you forgotten?"

While Levy blushed furiously at her faux pas, Naruto shifted till he caught Grayfia's eye. "I was hoping to ask you about that…"

"Please, go on."

"Why were you so upset at them? I mean, now that we've calmed down and all, I can definitely tell that you trust Erza and Mira to a great degree."

Grayfia's cheeks colored slightly but she showed no other expression when she answered: "You are correct that I trust both Erza and Mira; in fact, save one other, those two, along with the final Guardian, are the ones I trust the most.

"However, they have been absent from their duties here for months now and the few times I have caught up with them, they offered truly appalling excuses that seemed more insulting than anything else. Upon finding out that Erza had requested Levy's presence via a summoning -and the knowledge that the Kitsune clan even had a summoner was shocking in and of itself- I simply took the opportunity to show up and teach them why poorly constructed lies are never condoned."

Naruto thought over it and, after choosing to see it as a big prank, agreed that it was a good reason to show up and terrify the pants off his lovers. "That doesn't explain why you tried to kill me, though."

The Regina Glacies winced. "That… that was an act of uncontrolled emotion." She admitted slowly. "You see, when I felt you radiate Hime's energy, I thought the worst: that you had somehow taken her power for your own and… and I feared that you had killed her."

Her words had a chilling effect on him yet explained her actions perfectly. "She must have been a great queen to inspire such emotions in her closest allies."

A tender smile blossomed on Grayfia's face and -for the first time since he had seen her- she looked truly stunning. "Of that we are in agreement. However, she isn't just my Queen. She is my Hime-sama."

A confused frown knotted Naruto's forehead. "Hime-sama? But…"

"You are not wrong to be confused. After all, she is a Queen." Her smile gained a hint of nostalgia as she stared at a vision he couldn't see. Were it not for his stunted growth as an orphan, he would have recognized her smile as that of a proud mother's. Memories of a more peaceful time flashed through her mind, memories of a tubby little redheaded princess whose smile brightened up any room, chasing darkness out of people's hearts."I have been at her side much longer than any of the other Guardians, Uzumaki-san, serving the very same purpose. I took care of her from the moment she was born until she reached her majority and, when she kept me close, I did all I could to keep her safe." The silver-haired woman stood with a regal air that perfectly earned her title. "Before becoming the Regina Glacies, I served a different purpose; a simpler, purer, perhaps even a nobler one if you will."

"Yukiba! I'm hungry!"

"Yukiba! Take me to the fair!"

"Yukiba! Let's play a prank on Tou-san!"

Some of the best days of her life were back then.

"I was her Caretaker."

‹‹‡››

FLASHBACK

Day of Naruto's Return…

There wasn't a word to describe Shizune's mental state as she stared at the innocuous looking report lying on her table.

Six sheets of plain white paper rested within the equally plain brown file jacket, a simple black stamp at the top right corner spelled out the nature of its contents.

Important.

The dark haired jōnin disagreed with that simple label. War-Starter would have been a better choice, as would Critically Shattering or even World Ending.

Even now, having studied the contents more than a dozen times, she simply couldn't figure out what to feel.

-Senju clan were often drafted to the areas of the most intense fighting while even certain S-class Uchiha were passed off to handle grossly over-ranked missions that mere genin could have completed.-

-statistical evidence proves that the Uchiha -and, to a lesser extent, the Yamanaka- clan experienced upswings in their population during the First and Second Shinobi wars. In contrast, both the Hyūga and the Senju experienced heavy losses within the same period.-

-found missives that imply that the destruction of Uzushiogakure, if not entirely engineered by sources within the Village, the situation was exacerbated by in-house sources.-

-still searching for evidence but we suspect that Tsunade-sama's crippling losses were engineered to prevent a rebirth of the Senju.-

A lot of the details within the file were simply statistical records that, on their own, wouldn't have raised any eyebrows. However, when taken together and coupled with a cautious eye, the picture they painted…

She didn't know what to do.

She, of course, knew that she ought to table this before the Hokage and leave the decision to the leader of the Village yet she wasn't sure that was the right step.

For all the fact that she had been an exceptional leader, Shizune knew that, deep down inside, the woman she had come to see as a big sister still harbored a great deal of resentment toward the Village Hidden in the Leaves and bore the scars of the deaths of her loved ones. A revelation like this could very well break her and the results could be devastating. As for the Village itself, the revelation that one of the Founding Clans had orchestrated the annihilation of the other with aid from a major Clan would set inter-clan relations back to the Warring Clans Era and the resulting civil war would wipe Konoha off the map more surely than if all other shinobi villages allied themselves and waged war against them.

To say that the situation was delicate was a gross understatement…

FLASHBACK ENDS

‹‹‡››

"I didn't expect to see you here, Erza."

Erza snapped out of her daze as she spun around before hastily bowing when she noted who had just walked in. "Grayfia-san"

"Relax." Grayfia smiled as she joined the Knightwalker at the window that allowed them to see into observe Levy as she bustled around a still-prone Naruto, a lightly glowing holographic projection of the seal hovering overhead. "We are equals in service are we not?"

The former Caretaker's words were the truth: while she may have held seniority over the other three Guardians thanks to her prolonged time in the service of their Queen, the woman had never taken her counterparts as less than equals. She occasionally got upset at their conduct (with herself and Mira often the culprits, Erza thought with a smile) and tried correcting them (as had happened earlier) but it was more as a big sister than a bossy superior.

They stood in companionable silence, watching the blue haired runes mistress meticulously taking note after endless note.

"Whoever designed this containment must have god-like intellect." The silver haired woman commented. "I cannot remember the last time Levy worked so hard to merely decode the extent of a seal."

The comment brought a slight smile to Erza's face. "Naruto-sama's parents created it. According to his godfather, they worked on it for close to a year before deeming it ready."

Grayfia's lips thinned in disapproval. "Typical humans."

"Perhaps, Grayfia-san, but not in Naruto-sama's case." The conviction in the Knightwalker's tone drew the full attention of the Regina Glacies. "Things have changed since we were cut off from the human world: from what Kyubi-sama told me, every last member of the High Court has been sealed away much like she was."

"And?"

"The landscape has changed. Rather than singular clans ruling and warring with each other, they have grown to form Villages; political entities where allied clans push together to achieve a common goal."

Grayfia scoffed in disgust. "It certainly took them long enough. How many lives did they lose before realizing the benefits of such alliances, I wonder?"

"Regardless; the most powerful of these Villages each hold at least one member of the Court imprisoned within people such as Naruto-sama." Erza explained. "They have been led to believe that the members of the Court are nothing less than mindless beasts and they act accordingly."

"You're not doing them any favors, Erza."

"Very few of them have done anything to make me see them as more than apes." The Knightwalker shrugged. "I was simply explaining the current state of things to you."

"Perhaps…" Grayfia agreed before staring questioningly at her. "Yet you would have me believe that this young man has done enough to elevate himself beyond being an ape?"

The red haired Guardian sighed as she rested a palm on the glass, her eyes locked on the form of her love. "His life has been hell, Grayfia-san; on the day of his birth, a great catastrophe befell his home, costing him parents and his standing within his home. By the time he was an adolescent, he had experienced a level of rejection and hatred very few ever would and all because of an event he was unfortunate to be associated with. That he hasn't sworn himself to a life of vengeance and sold his soul to the darkness is simply because he cares too much about the few people he has in his life to do so." Grayfia arched an eyebrow at the Knightwalker's words, wondering if the poor girl wasn't simply drunk on love only to be left gaping as the redhead continued. "I don't know if she realizes it but I believe Kyubi-sama is in love with him. She claims that she has been pushing for him to break ties with his Village so she can exact her vengeance on them but 'm beginning to think that it isn't only her goals that she seeks in destroying the Village."

"You think she wants to give him closure of some sort?"

"It isn't impossible." Erza hedged. "I may be wrong, of course, but I don't think I am."

Grayfia leaned back and closed her eyes in deep thought. "And this Village; do they deserve what's coming to them? Besides their imprisonment of our Queen."

Erza's brown eyes darkened in hatred as she recalled some of the worst details Yuki had uncovered about the Merchants Guild and the Civilian Council's actions within the Village.

Greed. Overambitious desires that spurred them to create a stranglehold over the Village's economy. Corruption from the highest echelons to the lowest slums.

"They deserve worse."

‹‹‡››

"Well, your friend's certainly thorough, I'll give her that." Naruto groaned as he sat up, feeling his stiff muscles voice their disagreement. "That was the longest check-up I've ever had to sit through and I've had Baa-chan give me the full works."

"Levy takes anything to do with runes very seriously." Mira smiled as she moved to help him up. "And that little tattoo on your belly has got to be one of the -if not the- most complex matrices she has ever had to deal with."

"I could tell; she seemed equal parts frustrated and impressed." He gently ran his hands up and down her side as they moved to her room. "I'm just glad it's over."

"Aw, so you didn't like her rubbing your pecs and studying you?" She teased, prompting a laugh from the blond who pulled her even closer and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"You know I've only got eyes for you." He whispered huskily before pausing and sporting a mild blush. "And Erza. And Tenten. Plus Yuki. And now Ino, I suppose."

Mira just snorted at him. "Nice going Casanova."

"Whatever." They walked along in silence for a while before he spoke up again. "I hope I'm not intruding or anything but… Levy and Grayfia… they're not like you and Erza, are they?"

"Hmm? How do you mean?"

"I mean… I got a pretty good feel of Grayfia's energy signature while we fought and, with how often she injected little amounts of her energy into me to map out the seal, I'd say I got a decent feel of Levy as well." He paused, then: "They're not like you or Erza; they feel like different beings."

Mira smiled at him. "You're pretty spot on there, lover boy." She paused to greet a pair of maids as they walked by. "Levy comes from Magnolia, a beautiful forest to the east and the home of the fairies."

"Woah… She's an actual fairy?"

"Yep."

"But… she doesn't have wings… or is she just hiding them?"

"No… she really doesn't." Mira's tone grew sad as she recalled the cripplingly shy blue-nette Levy had once been. "She doesn't like talking about it but… she was born without wings." Naruto's eyes instantly gained a look of sympathy for the young girl. After all, he knew what it was like to have been born different. "The older Fairies didn't see anything wrong with her not having wings and they did their best to support Levy but… let's just say that kids can sometimes be worse than adults. She became an introvert, started to hate herself for being different."

It was a jarring thought, trying to reconcile the intelligent, easygoing runes mistress to the image Mira had created. "What happened?"

"Kyubi-sama happened." Mira smiled softly. "She was on a diplomatic tour three years after gaining her majority and a year to her ascension to the throne. When she got to Magnolia, she saw Levy, standing apart from all the other kids, working on a what most thought were just basic runes. Imagine our shock when we saw what she was really doing: she was creating a runic script that would give her wings."

Naruto's mind recoiled at that thought: fuinjutsu, the human form of runes, was incredibly complex; heck, to make a single-trigger exploding tag required a series of calculations to ensure that the whole thing didn't devolve into a cascading mess of nuclear proportions*.

A seal that would enable true flight (and not controlled falling or some other flawed attempt) would be an incredibly complex project.

"Well, she was quite a ways off but Kyubi-sama decided right then and there that little Levy McGarden would be groomed to be her runes mistress." Mira glanced at him. "And that, as they say, was that."

"Now I know why I felt so at ease around her." Naruto smiled at the tale of the blue-nette. "And Grayfia?"

"Ah… well, I won't really go into her story; that's her tale to tell, after all…"

"Sure you're not just scared of her?" He teased only to gasp in pain when she jabbed her elbow into his ribs. "I'm sorry!" He wheezed tightly.

"No. I was thinking about telling you about her before but since I'm so scared of her, maybe you should do it." She sniffed. "It's not like you've got great hulking balls of brass or anything."

"Aw come on Mira…" He tried his best to catch her eye but she resolutely looked away. "Please?"

She just ignored him as she reached out to open the door to the room. "You're on your own here lover boy."

"Hmph. Fine. I'll do it myself." He huffed as they walked in and he took a moment to glance around the tastefully furnished room, noting the high-end decor. "Well damn; I didn't know I warranted Gold room."

The Succubus glanced at him before scoffing dismissively. "Of course you don't." Then, she leaned up to give him a soft kiss on his cheek. "You deserve my room, lover boy."

The blond's eyes grew wide in astonishment as he took in the contents of the room a second time, wondering how he had missed it: from the purple, blue and white color scheme to the tastefully lavish furniture… even the little knickknacks strewn around the jasmine-scented room…

It all pointed to the white-haired beauty that was still nestled in the crook of his arm.

"I'm an idiot." He buried his face into her hair and groaned as she dragged him onto the bed. "I am such an idiot."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it." Mira giggled as she moved to straddle him. "After all, not too many even know about this room."

He frowned in confusion. "But… isn't this yours?"

She nodded, amused by his befuddled look. "It is. However, as the queen of a race of sexually dependent women, I've had a few 'envoys' try to bed me. The 'Queen's Chambers' are for dealing with such. This room, on the other hand, is my personal bedroom; my safe room, so to speak." She smiled nostalgically as her eyes rested on a few, more memorable knickknacks. "It's been mine since I was a little girl."

"Ah… Much clearer thank you." He moved his hands to her sides and gently ran them up and down. "So, between the four Guardians you run Makai in Kyubi's place?"

"Sort of." She shrugged. "I mean, it's not just the four of us; each member of the High Court has their own council whose political might, within their own lands, equals ours. We don't fuck with them, they don't fuck with us and we all do our damned best to ensure that we're working for the benefit of Makai."

"You guys seem to have figured the path to peace out pretty quickly." He said, prompting her to scoff.

"Hardly. We've just got a neutral party whose scary enough to keep us in line." Mira shuddered at the thought of a certain lavender-haired she-demon. "She's a good motivational force."

"Do I even want to know about this person?"

"Not if I can help it." She growled as she leaned over and pecked him on the nose. "I prefer you when you aren't a drooling, fear-addled mess."

"Alright…"

They stayed like that for an indeterminable period, simply enjoying the others presence until Mira pushed herself up again. "I have a question."

"Fire away."

"Why…" She trailed off and looked away, as if trying to summon up her courage. "Why haven't you asked for Kyubi-sama's name? I mean, it's quite obvious that Erza, Yuki and I are going out of our way to not say anything about it and, with Grayfia and Levy doing the same today, I'd have thought you'd go crazy about wanting to know."

She watched as his collapsed, letting out all the air in them, before slowly inflating again.

"You're not wrong, you know." He said, staring into her eyes. "About my going crazy not knowing her name; you're not wrong about that. It's weird having to refer to her as 'Kyubi' all the time; makes me feel like one of the more moronic villagers.

" The thing is, as much as I want to know about her… I want to hear it from her." He sucked in air through his teeth before continuing. "I don't know if it makes any sense to you but I want to see her; I want to watch her sit in a chair as we talk; I want to hear her story from her mouth in this physical world and not inside my head.

"Does that make any sense to you?"

It did. And it struck her just how profound his feelings for her Queen were.

He was denying himself of something he truly wanted, using it as a reward for him to accomplish a goal.

Mira didn't even know when it happened but the next thing she knew was that she had locked lips with him in a fervent, emotional kiss that had them panting when she finally broke it off. "Don't ever change."

"I don't plan on."

The moment was ruined when a magic circle simply popped into existence in front of her.

"Damn it." She stared at the magic clock that had been synchronized with Naruto's bedside clock. "We've got four hours till your alarm goes off."

"So?"

"So, nice as it was to make an unscheduled visit here and all, its time to get going."

"Don't wanna."

The Succubus arched an eyebrow at the pouting shinobi beneath her. "You want to add a court martial to that slew of D-ranks you've got on your plate lover boy?"

"Aw come on! I'm pretty sure Yuki will tell Erza if we're needed back in the Village and you can just tell me when the alarm goes off." He turned the charm way past eleven. "I really want to spend the night with you."

Mira did her very best to hold out against the powerful 'Aura of Cute' he was beaming at her but, in the end, she caved. "Ugh, fine!" She dropped back onto his chest. "You are such a baby!"

"Can I nurse on mama?"

"Shut up. Sleep."

‹‹‡››

Unknown Location

The once vibrant, verdant field was nothing more than a wasteland now; transformed by the volatile cocktail of skilled combatants, chakra usage and no restraints.

Smoke curled off blackened bodies, limbs jerked about spasmodically as run-off electrical currents danced through them and the air was filled with the death rattles of maimed, bleeding out monsters and men.

"You really did learn something these past few year didn't you, you limp-dicked fucker."

Onyx tomoe swirled hypnotically in a sea of crimson as the bearer of the infamous Copy Wheel Eyes stared apathetically at his 'overseer'. "You don't look too good. Kabuto's been experimenting on you again?"

"Would you care if he was?"

"Not particularly, no."

The young lady glared at him. "You're just a bag of fucking laughs aren't you?"

"With how much you antagonize me, the alternative is to kill you." Sasuke stared at her for half a second before sheathing his sword. "Unfortunately, killing you will hamper Orochimaru's plans and, for all his resources, people of your caliber are a rare resource in Oto."

"You are correct, Sasuke-kun." The young woman's body locked up at the sound of that sibilant voice that seemed to echo all around them. "It certainly doesn't help matters now that you've just wiped out a large number of my jōnin."

"You ordered them to fight me. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were cleaning house. Besides, they were weak." Was the blunt reply he got, prompting Orochimaru to laugh as he sidled out of the ground to stand by the Uchiha.

"It's good to see that you are ready to take on your mission, Sasuke-kun."

"Hmph. There is no way to know my true state of readiness until I face real threats."

"Then you'll be glad I came around." The Snake Sannin chuckled. "You see, your old teammate returned to Konoha a few months ago."

Sasuke fixed Orochimaru with an utterly dispassionate stare. "So?"

"Well, a little bird told me that your old friend has been quite busy." The Snake drawled lazily. "A number of high-end assassinations, top of the line escort missions; he even stopped a coup in Fumoto-Cho."

"So he gets around a lot." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he turned to leave. "He always had more energy than he knew what to do with."

"Yeah well your old fucker teammate took on the bloody Akatsuki and saved the fucking Kazekage." The young lady stated, relishing the way the Uchiha froze. By the time he turned around to glare at her, she was sporting a wide, cocky smirk. "I don't see you taking on the bogeymen of the shinobi world."

"The loser would have had help."

"While he did have help, Sasuke-kun, I can tell you that the members whom his team fought were not push-overs." Orochimaru continued, knowing that the raven haired boy was now adequately riled up. "My sources say that he almost single-handedly took out Deidara, while he was involved in the fights against the two other members that were present: Hoshigaki Kisame and…"

"Itachi…" The drawn-out way he pronounced the hated name was the only sign of the rage that boiled within him as he swiftly formulated a plan. "Tell Kabuto to activate one of his spies in Konoha: it's time Team Seven had a reunion."

"Hey fuckhead! You don't really think that's a wise decision do you? If that fucking tree-hugging bastard of a teammate took out a member of the bloody Akatsuki then don't you think there's a chance that he might be stronger than your limp-dicked-"

"Never suggest that again."

The young lady had to force herself not to swallow lest she graze her skin against the furiously humming blade that was held against her throat, her eyes pinned by the violently spinning tomoe in his crimson eyes.

Then, he disappeared, along with the blade at her neck and she was finally able to breathe again.

"Very well done, 359." Orochimaru clapped mockingly. "As I expected, your foulmouthed nature was the exact push Sasuke-kun needed." He ignored her almost frenzied gasps as he walked away. "Prepare yourself: should Konoha take up his offer, you will shadow him and ensure that my… investment returns to me."

Though it tasted like bile in her mouth, she knew what he expected of her and she forced herself to bow to the retreating Sannin. "Understood, Orochimaru-sama."

"Return to the base, 359. Kabuto has a few add-ons to equip you with in preparation for the coming mission."

She shuddered at the idea that the glasses-wearing fuck-face would have to 'work' on her again but she knew what her options were having failed such a crucial mission.

A life of slavery where she was still human versus a life of slavery as little more than one of the grotesque monsters the Uchiha had cleaved through during this 'training' exercise.

She'd take the option that retained her sanity, however little of it she could truly lay claim to.

"Hurry up 359. Your advancements await."

She gritted her teeth as she once more paid obeisance to him.

She was not a mere number; a log in their daily fucking logs.

'My name is Tayuya you reptilian bastard!'

‹‹‡››

*- I've seen people suggest that making exploding tags is 'easy' but I feel making the equivalent of a paper grenade should not be, in anyway, seen as 'easy'.

I seriously considered using Esdeath as the third guardian but I'd have had to severely alter her character to fit my story so I decided to stick with Grayfia [whose attacks will be written in Latin just because]. As a concession, I've given Grayfia Esdeath's expert swordplay skill [and the Rapier] as well as the absolute control over ice (I looked up her powers and saw nothing on either swordplay or ice magic so… {I'm not a DxD fanatic tho…}).

So, we have the Third Guardian, Grayfia Lucifuge: the Regina Glacies and Kyubi's former Caretaker (babysitter if you didn't catch on). She will NOT be shacking it up with Naruto, though. Much like I intend to leave Tsunade as Naruto's mother figure, Grayfia will be the same for Kyubi. [PS: Having young Kyubi call Grayfia Yukiba (condensed form of Yuki-baa meaning: snow hag) was hilarious and a play on how Naruto refers to Tsunade.]

Levy as a Fairy. Pretty on the nose, that. On the plus side, she gets Freed's wings script and retains her solid script (the hologram of the seal was her solid script literally mapping the thing out, there was just nowhere to put that without going on a hugely expositional tangent).

Meanwhile, more light has been shed on the Senju extermination plot and Shizune has to decide whether or not to take this to Tsunade and Sasuke is actively making the decision to seek out his old rival.

Also: Tayuya.

Well, that's all for now.

Read and Review Please.

[Seriously people: Reviews really do help me figure out what to do and how you see this fic. Please review.]

Translations:

Clypeum: Shield

Tesca Arctica: Tundra

Sepulchrum: Grave

Ensiculus: Rapier

Chikyu no Sokubaku: Shackles of the Earth

Renkudan: Drilling Air Bullet

Endan: Flame Bullet

Suidanha: Water Severing Wave