A/N: I almost forgot how therapeutic writing could be even if pulling together a massive amount of story threads in one chapter (No More) is kicking my rear. I figured taking a break to update this fic would be a nice reprieve. A few thoughts before continuing with the story:
#AJGuardian, biginferno, and Hamburgboi: Thank you and don't worry - there is plenty more left in the tank.
#Ismenian, OreosAreYummy: This isn't a senseless bash-fic. There's more behind their behavior but it isn't time to focus on the Sharingan Twins... yet. A bit of that appears in this chapter as I pull more of the sequel into the story vice using flashbacks in a second fanfic. Note: Only one of the below scenes with Kakashi is new. Oddly enough, this is also about the time I received comments about senselessly bashing poor Sasuke-kun during the first release so I guess this chapter was more "good timing" than "blind luck," eh?
#Plums: Good catch on the Yondaime slip - corrected. As to Sakura's disrespect, go back and carefully read the interaction she is involved in; Sakura's focus is not on the Daimyo but the masked ninja that scoffed at Sasuke's outburst, the same one she tried to attack and got struck down by. Seeing as Kakashi deemed the outcome of her actions sufficient punishment, it doesn't come up again beyond the final report to the Hokage, who agrees (if she'd insulted or attacked a Daimyo or the Daimyo's actual retinue, she'd have been killed immediately). The Daimyo was not pleased but the disrespect was neither directed at her or her people (these are not her shinobi) and handled immediately by the person in question. Since they bear the symbol of Konohagakure, she is more than happy to let Hiruzen deal with any additional punishment. Kurenai is apologizing to the Daimyo in the hopes that she can contain the violence and prevent her "acting guard" from retaliating further against Team Seven.
#AinzNamikazeD: Never fear - I actually welcome constructive feedback, positive or negative. I really only take issue with folks that like to harass or denigrate without contributing to the conversation, be it through helpful criticism or their own works. I found your comments very helpful especially since I'm in the process of merging two stories into one composite. It's very likely that I overlooked something without intending to. That being said, I went back to look over all of your points and made corrections in the appropriate places, so thank you for helping me improve the story for everyone's enjoyment. We are all better than the sum of our parts. To some of your points:
1) It's not that Naruto's knowing prior to the Hokage's admission in his office is a mistake. It specifically began with Kyuubi's mentioning of his mother and her use of memories to (correctly) teach him the "Floating Leaf" taijutsu style taught in the academy. He knows long before Hiruzen admits it aloud, something Hiruzen expects when he doesn't get an obvious reaction. Naruto intentionally pretends not to know in order to find out what Hiruzen knows and how much he's willing to reveal. By the time they have that conversation in Hiruzen's office, Naruto knows a great deal more than Hiruzen up to and including how his parents died and why.
2) Ah, the Miko. During the original release, I was asked repeatedly for more scenes including the Miko - who was originally supposed to be a one-shot scene. Her shrine is located near a training area but not located within one as that would be dangerous obviously. No, she was meant as a method for showing that not every part of Naruto's life was filled with angst, drama, and violence; it was meant to show that some sections of his life were indeed filled with normal, healthy interactions, unlike his encounter with Hana.
3) Like you, I try not to write angst for the sake of angst and the angst in this story, per the intro, is supposed to share or highlight a purpose. The boat scene with Kurenai, the ramen stand with Hana, the worry with Hinata over the CRA all point to items of possible friction. Naruto's desire for revenge definitely isn't normal behavior for the "Chosen One" and there is a reason for that which will be brought to light later in the story, but it is a very real driving force in his life at the moment (and Inuzuka Pagu was, at the time, the next target in his crosshairs). The others point to stressors in his life that he'll have to face eventually, very real problems he has no one, at this point, acting as a male role model to guide him through. Hinata is trying her best to help him and was actually on her way to see him when she came upon the scene at Ichiraku's. It was the conversation that stopped her from stepping in early on as she, like everyone else listening, got a rare peek at the pain behind Naruto's ocean blue peepers. She is his number one stalker after all and sometimes she forgets to not move around in stalker mode, which she was at the time.
I believe that addresses this round of reviews. As always, thank you for taking the time to provide feedback as it helps catch things I overlook.
I will admit that this story is the most controversial one I've written despite being my first original work... and there is more to come yet. I imagine this chapter will cause some to fall away but that's okay; that's their choice.
Ye have been warned.
~III~
Caution-Caution-Caution: This chapter includes minor adult content involving the main protagonist. If this bothers you, you are encouraged to not read it. I include a BTS at the bottom discussing why the scene is left in the story as it plays to the overarching point of "Nature versus Nurture," which is the main focus of this fanfic. If you find yourself unable to bear through the admittedly brief section, again, you are encouraged to not read it and skip past the warning sections highlighted in BOLD TEXT referencing Green Citrus.
~Siva'a-tasi~
~III~
Chapter 21: Homecoming
~III~
What he expected was to find an angry or even partially-disturbed Ino railing in Samui's face while tiny Hinata tried to hold her back. He expected to find her rage turn on him the moment he arrived, demanding that the newcomer be turned out to the streets as he should be happy to be surrounded in the nubile flesh of the two women that loved him best, even if they couldn't marry yet or had decided to refrain from surrounding him in their actual nubile flesh for another four years.
Sounds fair, right?
What he found as he entered the door to his home, now opened by one of the new Kitsune servants, was the sound of Ino's wailing voice, her sobs pulling him to the back veranda overlooking the training yard. Looking for an explanation from the servant that opened the door only earned him an apologetic smile.
Apparently, this scene had been a recent development.
On the veranda was a very confused Samui sitting seiza with her hands resting on her knees as she faced the distraught Ino, whose arms were wrapped around the older woman's neck. Ino was wailing into her shoulder, soaking her shirt in salty tears. Hinata completed the triangle, gently rubbing Ino's back while the younger blonde let her pain out for the world to hear, oblivious to the miserable servants standing in the corner holding warm hand towels and tea, clearly torn between fleeing and trying to ease her suffering.
Those same servants bolted at Naruto's hand gesture, leaving the items on a nearby coffee table and a very grateful look on their faces at the chance to be anywhere else.
Samui's face immediately locked onto him, her eyes silently pleading for him to intervene. So, intervene he did.
"Um… Ino-chan?"
He had to call her name a few times before she recognized his arrival. Without regard to the few days of road grime, Ino unlatched from Samui, much to the latter's relief, and launched herself at the clan head, her arms wrapping around his neck only to resume her emotional distress. Between her gasps and sobs, he pieced together the rest.
He was also beginning to see Ino as the deeply-feeling and emotionally-free sunflower that she was. It was a tiring concept for the young man if he was being at all honest.
It seems that Hinata had been trying to explain why Samui was staying there to a very concerned, and suddenly territorial, Ino. When Hinata told her about how the kunoichi was kidnapped by Zabuza, under Gato's orders, later be ransomed back to her village only to be forsaken by her Raikage, and later raped by the despot Gato as a result, only to be heroically saved by Naruto before maybe being tragically sold into a life of sex slavery and then her subsequent pledging of her life in the service to her hero, the distraught Ino had gone from wariness to enthrallment, then to sorrow, then to abject misery all on Samui's behalf. And that was how Naruto came upon her with Hinata trying to console the wreck of a blonde who hadn't yet heard how the entire trip went.
Heck, he still had to tell the whole story to Hinata, but that would wait until he'd had a proper shower. He didn't smell at all proper to his own nose, Kitsune or not. First, however, he needed to extricate himself from Ino's grasp and work his way to the bath.
It took a few minutes to calm her enough to let him go with promises of returning after he'd had a shower. First, they needed to get Samui situated (he sorely wanted that shower), they'd all eat a good meal, then he'd share his side of the adventure (listening-while-not-listening in the kitchen, Mio-chan and her kitchen staff began frantically preparing lunch).
It didn't take Hinata long in Wave Country to figure out he'd subbed in a clone while he went off to do whatever it was he did, and now she was curious, very curious as to how he'd received a title for saving the entire nation, freeing scores of slaves, and wiping out an army of brigands all on his own.
With a gentle kiss to his two fiancés, Naruto motioned for Samui to come with him and, taking one of her hands into his, eliciting a light pinking of her cheeks in the process, he led her upstairs to the two wings of suites on either side of the master bedroom motioning for her to choose one. She chose the one closest to the master bedroom that would allow her access to sunrises (it took only a moment to drop off her meager belongings and emerge again).
"This is your home now, Samui. Welcome and I hope we grow to understand each other. I hope it leads to something better than the pain you have felt before today."
Naruto turned to his room congratulating himself on a sappy speech well-delivered and peeling off his grungy shirt, tossed said shirt into his hamper (servants meant his room stayed much cleaner than he kept it even if he wasn't as messy as he used to be) then turned around to close his door only to come chest-to-chest with Samui, who had chosen to follow him inside. Before he could ask his startled question or dissuade her by promising to come back after a quick shower, Samui placed both hands on his mesh-covered chest and gently pushed him further into the room enough so that she could close the door with an audible click of the lock and begin removing her own clothes.
Now Naruto knew that she was Kitsune both through Tatsua's help and the fact that it was the main reason why she slept naked; no kitsune could maintain their shape change while asleep without the use of special seals utilized right before going to bed. He got to see the results of a good night's sleep for Samui every morning she awoke either next to or on top of him in Nami. Which tribe she belonged to could come later, but, for now, he wasn't sure if she was in season or not.
His recently expanded Kitsune education through Tatsua still fresh in his mind was sending off warning signals that this behavior was not normal. Did he reject her only to cause more pain? Was she simply trying to work off the debt she felt she owed him, and would his refusal be seen as an insult? He didn't know and not knowing had frozen him in place. Taking his silence as consent, Samui continued with her plan and the immediate removal of her clothing.
So, he simply stood there while Samui slipped off her shirt and mesh, her large breasts heaving free and swinging forward as she added her sash and skirt to the growing pile, urging on his growing blush and bulging anatomy. She stepped forward out of her pile of garments and surgically removed his armor, greaves, shirt, and mesh, her heady scent, like warm desert sand in the morning, filling his nose. At this point, he was so much putty in her hands.
She had absolutely no difficulties as she led him to the bath and drew hot water in a tub big enough for a dozen people.
While she started filling the tub, Naruto slipped off his reinforced pants and boxers before wrapping a towel around his waist fast enough to resemble a henge. Samui chuckled but figured she could work with what she had. He didn't need to be completely naked to mark her.
Dropping him onto a wooden bench, she grabbed a showerhead and ran it over his aching muscles, the relief momentarily letting him forget the naked and well-endowed woman behind him rubbing his stiff shoulders. The next moan from his mouth had everything to do with a tired and sore young man enjoying her strong fingers kneading into sore and resistant muscles.
Her massaging fingers were shortly thereafter replaced by a soapy cloth, Samui's ministrations easing weeks of work from his body relaxing him enough that he released his transformation, his four tails splaying out behind him and around her legs. Samui leaned forward, her breasts pressing against his back, and inhaled deeply, her cheek pressed firmly to his neck. For a moment, the briefest of moments, Tatsua's warning about kunoichi using their charms to get close enough to assassinate targets flashed through his mind and he tensed.
Feeling him tense and misunderstanding his reluctance, Samui quickly stepped around him and wrapped her arms around his head pressing his face into her soapy chest. So positioned, she straddled his lap and met him stare for stare as he looked up from between her large mounds. Cupping the back of his head, she held him locked onto her eyes while her legs locked behind his waist.
"I will never hurt you, Taichou."
He blinked. Could she read minds?
"I need you to know this, to believe it. I need you to know that my loyalty, that my all, is yours." She squeezed her thighs just enough to drag out a grunt from his disloyal lips.
"But I also need you to understand that I am Kitsune, that I am a grown woman and that my love is not to be cast aside or passed off to another." She stared hard into his eyes making sure he understood or at least heard her.
"I need to be marked as yours. I will not suffer the sniffing of fools like that Uchiha brat." Her face grimaced as she remembered the pale-faced Genin and his lecherous sensei.
~III~
Kakashi sneezed very suddenly, his visible eye going wide as the eruption paused his report mid-sentence. With a quick shake of his head, he bobbed a quick bow of apology to the person he was conversing with.
"Apologies, Hokage-sama. Where was I?"
Hiruzen smiled warmly. "You were saying how confident you were in your deception."
The silver cyclops chuckled. "Hai-hai! So I was." Idly rubbing a finger under where his nose should be in his mask, the elite Jounin leaned back in the chair and resumed his report.
"Naruto suspects nothing that I can tell, even with his army of clones. To my eternal shame, they all see me as the unfairly biased Uchiha supporter and extreme pervert." The elite's eye scrunched up unhappily at the thought.
Hiruzen could plainly see that the idea was distasteful to the seasoned war veteran who suddenly threw his hands into the air with an exasperated sigh.
"Maa-maa Hokage-sama, how long must I keep this up? You know I hate this."
Hiruzen understood his concerns and sighed sadly. "I'm afraid, as long as it takes Kakashi. Why be bothered by this now? Before you realized who the child's father was?" Hiruzen's eyes took on a very shrewd gleam.
"In fact, you showed very little interest in him until his talents began to show in the academy, isn't that right?"
Kakashi grunted in displeasure even though he couldn't deny it outright. There was a lot to unravel beneath that mask and he doubted there would be a chance to explain it all. It probably wouldn't do him any good to point out that the very man he was speaking to was the chief cause of his lack of concern, something about Minato, his former sensei, being dead without surviving family.
"That's not fair, Hokage-sama. You know why I had very little reason to show interest in the boy."
Hiruzen nodded sagely. "And were that to change, the image of you in the company of two separate blonds of unique coloring would have been more than enough to draw unwanted attention to him risking his life further."
Kakashi grunted once more but this time in displeasure.
"It matters not, Kakashi-kun. We still have a job to do... and you have another meeting to get to, don't you?"
With a frustrated huff, the shinobi slapped his calloused hands to his knees and pushed off as he rose from his uncomfortable chair. "The counter seal is slipping again. It's getting harder and harder to feed the old bastard misleading information and this is a very dangerous game to be playing with young people as bait."
Hiruzen merely nodded once not being a stranger to his elite Jounin's concerns. "Once you discover his final move, we'll finish it."
Without a sound or hand seal, his body was engulfed in smoke and the dragon-faced ANBU emerged from the other side of the cloud with a short bow to his superior. Kakashi's voice completely changed to a higher pitch with a more slurred drawl as he wrapped up the final details.
"Hai, 'okage-sama. It will be done."
Without waiting for a dismissal, the now lankier and shorter form in nondescript grey robes body flickered away and Sarutobi turned to gaze out the reinforced glass of his office at the stoic stone faces looking out over Konoha. They were all sacrificing something to make this work, including their relationships with loved ones. As much as he wanted to end the undercover operation and salvage what he could with his adopted grandson, Konoha's safety had to come first.
As it currently stood, the young Uchiha was going to need a great deal of counseling to help undo the damage of his newly-acquired Sharingan when this was all over. Hiruzen only hoped they could turn him around in time.
Oh, the sacrifices made in the life of a shinobi and the village in which they live.
~III~
"Make me yours, Taichou."
Naruto blinked in surprise, his eyelashes tickling the soft skin of her cleavage.
One of her hands fisted the back of his head, her own tilting to the side and away, as she shifted her upper body to the side firmly pressed his lips to her left shoulder.
"Please."
Her voice was throaty even as a pair of sand-colored ears sprouted from the side of her head, her dark pupils elongating into slits as three silky tails fanned out behind her hourglass-shaped figure. On instinct, Naruto's mouth opened and his teeth clamped down, his canines sinking into her shoulder just enough for the tips to penetrate her flawless skin and he immediately had an odd sensation, almost like a tingly letting down of something through his canines into the meat of her shoulder.
Samui's body clenched once, then twice, her muscles locking and her abdomen constricting. Her entire body clenched and spasmed for several minutes before her lungs unlocked and her breath started coming in rapid gasping breaths. The biological reaction to his Reika-infused bite brought on her orgasm like a landslide, her pleas melting into incoherent moans and panting, her arms clutching at his back as her legs spasmed desperately in her continued release.
As her convulsions began to subside, Naruto realized his teeth were still clamped onto her, locking her shoulder painfully into his bite so he eased his canines from her flesh, the blood from the puncture marks trickling down her chest and onto his towel. Even with all of the soap suds, he could tell that her scent had changed subtly. She often smelled like a newly finished desert rainstorm, clean and fresh. Now there was something musky mixed in with it, something faint that he couldn't place his finger on, but it was there and she now smelled like the wooded forest of Konoha after a rain shower.
Gently, he used the showerhead to rinse the blood from their bodies, which she accepted with brief sucking of air through her teeth, heavy breathing and her periodically spasming thigh muscles, politely refusing his offer to heal the wound. She said that she wanted to keep the bite marks as it visibly marked her as "his" mate and that this would prove without question that she belonged to a house. It wouldn't prevent a determined Kitsune she could not overpower from doing what Gato did, but it did provide recourse before the Thirteen Tribes if they needed to petition for satisfaction.
Deep inside her sealed prison, Kyuubi giggled at the still uninformed vixen's forward-thinking.
Naruto knew of the thirteen Kitsune Tribes and the Tribunal that could be called should someone's mate be violated by another (usually male) Kitsune. His mind automatically went to the Twins below that had yet to be so marked never once thinking that other Kitsune could be spies in his village. It made perfect sense now though since Samui had been an active spy in Kumo for almost a decade.
"Is the process for marking the same regardless of who it is?"
Samui, still gasping with her head resting on his shoulder, nodded weakly. Her energy may have disappeared, but her pale yellow-and-white tails waved contently behind her, sometimes intertwining with his. Her muscles continued to twitch and spasm and she was beginning to understand why vixen sought another male to bond with if their original mate passed on to the shadow realm.
"It's the transfer from your sebaceous glands linked through your canines, a subtle difference from Kitsune and normal foxes and only in the males of our species." She lifted the index finger of her left hand, gently prodding open his lips and tracing a fingertip along the gentle slope of one of his canines.
"This is what it means to properly mark a vixen as your mate. This should also keep the other Kitsune from sniffing around me or your twin bodyguards."
She sat up to stare him in the eyes and smiled – she found his deep blues very attractive, especially with their golden slits for pupils. He was unique in soo many ways.
"I won't force this," she looked down for the briefest of moments and traced a finger along his lower abs making his muscles constrict and her body jiggle as he reflexively heaved, "… the issue again but, if I'm going to live in Konoha, know that other Kitsune males could be here, and I'd rather not get taken by force again. Kitsune or human it doesn't matter. I will give myself freely to you when you're ready, or no one else."
She took a deep breath, the recent pain at Gato's hands still in the back of her mind, but she felt like she had some control again, some measure of influence over her own life.
"You should stop delaying and mark your other vixens," she muttered almost drowsily.
He looked at her with concern.
"You've said nothing about them being here with me or the fact that two human females seem intent on marrying me as well."
She shrugged, her heavy breasts rubbing nicely along his chest and stomach.
"I can't speak to your customs here and it wouldn't matter to me as, once again, I get to be a Kitsune first and a shinobi second. They seem happy and that's cool. They don't seem to be abused and appear willing to share you, something unusual for Kitsune vixen but not unheard of." Her tiny smile hid the bitter fact that Kitsune skulks were more common in her almost extinct desert clan.
"These are all good things, but I am linked to you through blood now, so it doesn't matter to me. Besides, that Ino person seems to have accepted me after Hinata told her what happened back in Wave." Samui's growing smile was a small upturn of one side of her mouth but it seemed sincere.
"I don't think she'd let me leave now if I wanted to, so you're stuck with me." She squeezed his sides once with her thighs more before standing, his face disappearing briefly in her chest.
Naruto's response was one word. "Cool."
"Cool," retorted the busty blonde, her smile turning into a chuckling laugh that sounded mellow and sultry at the same time.
Naruto stood, cupped her cheeks (the ones on her face you pervs), and kissed her without warning. Her eyes shot open and she tensed taking several minutes of soft ministrations for her to relax and follow along.
What began as hesitant and unsure gradually built into a passionate embrace. As Naruto worried at her lips with his own, he began to draw out from the taciturn kunoichi the loneliness and rigid isolation she felt in Cloud and broke apart her locked in feelings of frustration and disgust at her objectification in the eyes of men that didn't deserve her love or want commitment past "that first night." Her being tied to the Raikage kept many away but did nothing to disguise their thinly-veiled lust or foul suggestions.
She felt none of that from this Kitsune, what should by all rights be a child unknown to the ways of women or romance. He was filled with warmth. He was passionate. He was tenderness, and she had for so long craved such tenderness. His kiss was patient, gentle, not the fevered desire to shred her clothes and ravage her body. She felt the heart beating beneath the kiss and it pulled her in.
~III~
It was early afternoon by the time the final civilian squeezed into the heavily reinforced conference room squirreled away on the upper level of an unnamed warehouse. Many in attendance grumbled over Danzo's overdeveloped sense of paranoia and often did so loudly but they couldn't deny his effectiveness as these types of meetings were going into their twenty-third year without being exposed by the overbearing Hokage. In a village where such clandestine meetings could and would cost them their heads on the headman's block, what was a little paranoia?
Speaking of a little paranoia, the single beady eye of one Shimura Danzo narrowed briefly as he identified his final attendee, his head nodding briefly to his ROOT tools guarding the non-shinobi entrance as it closed without a sound. With the signal given, Homura stood to begin the proceedings.
"All give heed." Once silence reigned, he turned his wrinkled brow to his first source. "Councilman Ogawa, what is the status of renovations to the Uchiha Compound?"
The so-named member of the Uchiha Restoration Movement responsible for the vast majority of construction work in Konoha rose to his feet, his thin shoulders stooped as he read from a single sheet holding several hastily scrawled lines of kanji. "Proceeding according to plan, however, I'd like to reiterate my objections to stringing out-"
"Your objections are once again noted, Ogawa-san." Homura's normally pinched face narrowed even more at the scrappy civilian's recurring complaints about trying to hide the ongoing string of sparse D-ranked missions, no more than four a year, spread out so as to hide them from the Hokage's scrutiny. Ogawa-san was of a firm mind that Konoha's rapid rise to supreme dominance lay in the path of a vibrant Uchiha Clan and, as there was no shame in supporting such a noble clan, there should be no shame in openly working to prepare for their return to power. He hated hiding and skulking about and complained about it with every opportunity.
It was becoming an old subject.
Ogawa-san scowled but took his seat following the rude dismissal of his prepared speech. Unfortunately, he would not be the only one summarily dismissed before Danzo took over the proceedings in his typically terse fashion as it happened to the remaining eight members directly supporting the esteemed Elders. The group of nine had been working diligently over the past several decades and were growing impatient as their perceived success gradually grew closer and closer with the surviving heir's public maturation.
Their goals weren't in complete alignment with Danzo's but they didn't necessarily know that fact either.
"Young Sasuke has returned from their extended A-Rank." He pointedly ignored the subsequent gasps of surprise and sycophantic pandering from over half of the attending civilians. As far as he was concerned, young Sasuke was a means to an end and no more.
"Control yourselves."
He intentionally waited for them to silence themselves before continuing; Danzo hated raising his voice any higher than he needed to.
"While his success is indeed a good thing for our purposes, he was not the primary cause for the mission's success." More mindless sounds from the peanut gallery but he pushed on.
"It would seem we will need to redouble our efforts to hinder the weapon." It was enough as he observed their very unhappy faces settle down. They'd all make good tools to further his plans.
"Of better import is the fact that young Sasuke has finally unlocked his Sharingan, which does bode well." Here Danzo paused as another Councilor rose hoping to be acknowledged.
"Yes, Councilman Sakamoto?"
"If he has just returned, how do we know this information - as important as the discovery could be - is in fact accurate?"
Most people mistook the head of the Agricultural Guild to be a bit dim-witted given his slow and methodical method of speaking but Danzo knew better. Farming was not for the weak of mind or faint of heart.
'Hnh, a valid question for once.' "How indeed?" He turned his bandaged head to his left side before speaking again. "Care to enlighten us?"
He needn't identify the person he was asking to speak as every civilian in the room gasped in recognition of the one-eyed Jounin stepping out from the shadows as if appearing from thin air.
"Sasuke did in fact activate his Sharingan as a result of a pitched battle with the former Kiri nin, Zabuza Momochi." The taller figure's body shivered violently for a second, his face contorting in near-pain before settling once again.
"It was a close thing, however. I was forced to allow Zabuza to capture me in a water prison Jutsu forcing Sasuke to engage the man's water clones directly." The Jounin ignored the indignant complaints from the suddenly worried civilian mob. "In the end, we were able to defeat the Swordsman and begin developing Sasuke's doujutsu."
The lanky Jounin seemed to shake once more before settling, almost as if he was in pain.
"And what of the eye's compulsion?" Danzo prodded.
This time the violent shuddering was visible enough to make the civilians in the room flinch. "Ngh... T-There are signs... that the 'God Complex' is taking hold in his psyche." Kakashi's body visibly relaxed once more. "His ongoing fixation on the captured Kunoichi is indication enough."
Kakashi cursed internally as he'd meant to withhold that bit of information.
Danzo had to brutally force down the urge to raise a hand to his covered right eye. Those... urges... were a constant affair and he only had a single eye connected to his optic nerves. The strain placed on the psyche by a pair must be enormous. Still, he brushed it aside as something that could be overcome once he had the Uchiha brat firmly in his training program.
"Were you able to compel her away from the weapon?"
"No," he shuddered violently as the seal beneath his hitai-ate pulsed enough for Danzo to sense the release from his seat, "but her resistance makes it easier for the compulsion to drive his behavior so I transitioned from active acquisition to making the situation worse." Mind control seal or no, Kakashi's lackadaisical shrug still oozed laziness and non-concern, which annoyed Danzo slightly. No matter. If they couldn't steal away the captured kunoichi, he'd have to make do with Councilwoman Haruno's daughter, as she seemed less resistant to her influencing seal.
The miserly ROOT leader had to hand it to Koharu. Her idea to buy out several of the local beauty salons was a fairly ingenious way to sway the real village power base to support him. 'Oh, the surprising use of the vain kunoichi.'
"It seemed the lesser of two almost equally less-than-desirable actions," the Scarecrow groused.
Danzo nodded in agreement before dismissing his unwilling informant and the questions began to fly the moment Kakashi vanished back into the shadows that spawned him. The taciturn Elder, Shinobi of Darkness, ignored their queries.
'It appears I will need to reinforce the seal again.' Danzo noted that the deadly shinobi was building up an undesirable tolerance to his [Slave Seal], one that would inevitably lead to his elimination.
He only hoped it would hold long enough to gain control of both the Uchiha and his weapon as that would lead to his undeniable victory over these worthless Ningen. Hatake Kakashi was a very valuable pawn even if he was an unwilling one.
"Any other questions?" Danzo's visible eye narrowed dangerously making several throats convulse as their owners swallowed reflexively.
"I did not think so. Do not fail in your assigned tasks."
Every civilian in the room recognized the dismissal for what it was.
~III~
In the Namikaze Estate...
When the two finally came downstairs it was to the knowing smiles of both Hinata and Ino. The twins were walking around in their human forms minus the Kitsune additions and their eyes both shown with hope after seeing the new Kitsune female. Apparently, her inclusion into the clan stemmed solely from Naruto's acceptance. Once done, the Twins pressed in on her, one in front and other against her back, as they leaned their faces in to sniff her shoulder.
It was purely ceremonial and Samui tensed, standing very still, until the two stood and took turns kissing her cheeks, a peck for each side. With a final hug for each twin, they parted company and the Twins approached Naruto with very silent and VERY expectant looks. He nodded and hugged them both whispering, "Tonight when we bathe. Promise."
Tamami almost broke down in tears. With Tatsua's recent experiences in Wave, she had held out hope the longest and her shuddering tears of anticipation were almost a release.
When Naruto broke the embrace, he was hit by a very daunting realization and he paled.
"Samui-chan, am I expected to… mark my servants in the same way? They're all Kitsune like you three." He seemed very green all of a sudden remembering the... urges that kept welling up with Samui pressed firmly against his chest.
Samui nodded, "Yeah, unless you want them raped by horny male Kitsune spies, or in rare cases human degenerates, in the village. Unmarked vixens produce a pheromonal scent that can lure humans to them when they are in season, which is why humans steal and sell them as slaves."
Hinata and Ino looked terrified, their eyes taking in the servants currently in the house, all of them their faces blushing and slowly lowering to the floor.
"I'm confused," Ino began drawing faces in her direction. "How does marking a servant with some seal prevent them from being attacked?"
"It doesn't," Tatsua answered bluntly. "First off, it's a chemical mark as a Kitsune's sense of smell is a better way to warn off male predators of our species but it's not a barrier."
"Then what good is it?" Ino's dislike of a secret was beginning to wear on her patience.
Samui's calm, "It serves as proof before the Tribunal when justice is needed," drove the hidden message in though.
"You are our Taichou and, while to us you are first among Kitsune, we must still follow tribal customs and we," Tatsua paused to indicate every female Kitsune in sight, "…are your tribe, the one special exception to the Rule of Thirteen. We are the Fourteenth tribe and, with you as our clan head, your responsibility."
Samui's left eyebrow rose into the air as she blinked in surprise at the shorter male chewing on his lower lip. She couldn't possibly mean...could she?
It was a lot to lay on someone about to turn thirteen himself in a few months, but Naruto bore it well, as well as could be expected anyway for a twelve-almost-thirteen-year-old boy just turned old enough to kill for his village.
"Will I have to… do… the marking the… same way… with everyone?" The emphatic way the Twins and Samui were shaking their heads no made him very happy and considerably less green.
"No, they need to be marked but it need not take any of the… extra steps of my marking." Every female in the room noticed the pinking of the Kumo kunoichi's cheeks.
Hinata and Ino (incorrectly) suspected that they knew what extra steps were not required but chose to remain quiet. Their kunoichi classes on seduction spoke in great detail about the differences between men and women, mainly those chemical and biological differences that made seduction work in their favor. While they didn't want ala carte access to Naruto as their future spouse, they realized they weren't doing him any favors with the agreement to wait until all three were of marrying age before engaging in more adult activities, not with a house full of willing women that didn't share the restrictions of human morals and mating rituals. Being in a house surrounded by nothing but gorgeous adult women, and all of the Kitsune they had met were walking eye candy, with a raging libido was a recipe for disaster and mistrust. Having select Kitsune close to him and able to satisfy those urges would go a long way to containing what could be a tragic situation.
"It is something you should do without delay," Samui pressed.
Naruto turned to see the six Kitsune assigned to the house slowly crowding around him, their shy demeanor conflicting with their unhesitant baring of shoulders. There was no shame, no turning away with rosy cheeks. Their shoulders were bared, the lips were parted slightly, and their eyes were partially lidded in wanting.
Ino rose to question what was about to happen, obviously shocked at the cult-like behavior when the Twins went over to both her and Hinata and began to explain Kitsune physiology, the effect of male pheromones on female Kitsune, and the bonding-slash-mating habits of Kitsune society. It was informative, to say the least, and left a very worried Ino with mental pictures of Naruto in bed surrounded by writhing piles of flesh and tails.
Hinata nearly passed out when Ino described her concerns, blood flowing from both nostrils.
Naruto set himself to nipping his staff, finding the act very intimate and, on many levels arousing. VERY arousing. Something about it caused a surge of hormones in the women baring their shoulders, a subliminal underwriting of their cultural DNA that bonded them to their marker, making them antagonistic to other males, and effectively meaning they'd bear no other Kitsune advances so long as he lived, and they remained under his mark. Naruto saw this as horribly unfair to the women he had no intentions of ever laying with yet understood, through the on-going education from his Kitsune companions, that this was part of his obligation in keeping his growing tribe safe and happy, such as they could be.
It was worse when he discovered its effect on his own level of hormones.
By the time he'd marked the last servant, the first victim had already retrieved the field hands. This meant that he had another six waiting with shoulders bared.
Steeling himself, the new clan head stepped forward to repeat his duty, trying his best to ignore the repeated "hisses-turned-to-throaty-moans" as he went from shoulder to shoulder to offered breast, um, no, up to the shoulder. Some of them nipped at his neck and clawed at his back, legs stroking his hip as they panted and ground against him. To say that it wasn't affecting the human women observing would have been an outright lie. Ino was clutching at her own body as the air filled with panting and heavy musk. Tatsua had to go elaborate that, however unlikely at this time of year, a few of them may be in the final throes of heat. It was either that or they were just really horny.
Hinata actually fainted and Ino flushed, her thighs rubbing painfully together.
It really sucked that each marking was accompanied by the female's body clenching as the chemical infusion made her orgasm, her body going weak in the knees forcing Naruto to catch them, thereby pressing their convulsing bodies against his own, until they could stand again. The entire time his enhanced Kitsune sense of smell noted what was going on forcing his body to respond biologically and driving him into a type of mating frenzy. The Twins had to open the shoji leading out to the veranda as the whole room reeked of sex despite there being no physical engagement in the act.
Once complete, Naruto was a hormonal wreck and Samui knew it.
Marking was an intimate thing and he would need a release after so much at one time. She looked to the Twins who had the same knowing expression. Hinata and Ino could see the tension in him and felt physical pain knowing they could not yet give him the relief he needed. As Naruto stood there with his chest heaving, the last of his servants curtsying before wobbly making her way off to whatever obligations she needed to attend to while trying to desperately reign in his hormones, the Twins found themselves being urged forward by the only humans in the home.
"Go to him." This from Ino, the one that had been the most vocal against sharing the blond clan head.
"Do for him what we cannot," Hinata chimed in.
Tatsua looked at Hinata with gratitude. Together they both approached the struggling shinobi, gently touching his face and shoulders until his lidded eyes focused just enough to recognize them. With sniffs along his neck and shoulders, they gradually coaxed the dazed Kitsune male upstairs where Tamami locked them into the master chamber and activated multiple privacy seals.
And deep inside her seal, Kyuubi's victorious smirk blossomed.
~III~
As soon as Naruto disappeared up the stairs, Hinata turned to Ino. "I need to go home and bathe, then perhaps let my father know that I'm not dead." She laughed weakly at the joke. "He may even wish to know how our mission went."
Hinata took a deep breath. "In case he comes down before I return, let him know that I'll come back to take him to our noon meeting with Kurenai. Eventually, I will hear how his secret mission went."
Ino nodded then dragged Samui over to the sunken couches in the living room so they could continue getting acquainted. She wanted to know about Cloud and she needed to take her mind off what was happening upstairs.
* Warning: Lime Follows *
(This is your opportunity to skip ahead to the next bolded section)
Once Tatsua had laid out several towels along the floor, they both undressed while Naruto watched from his haze of arousal. He was operating barely above animalistic urges.
The next half hour became a blur of motion, emotion, and scorching hot flesh.
Having been stripped down for the second time in the last few hours, Naruto found himself soon locked into Tatsua's embrace, his canines sinking into her left shoulder as their bodies clenched in release and his hips convulsively drove into her. Tatsua had gone first knowing how things would progress after that display below. With the softer Tamami not having had a release from long exposure to his pheromones, it was better that she go first and try to take some of the "edge" off. By the time the two had finished spasming, he was rigid again and pulsing eagerly for more.
Once his teeth disengaged, Tatsua gently pushed his head to the side so that he could see her sister and, hormonal Kitsune rage or not, his breath caught in his throat.
She was kneeling on the white towels laid out for them, her arms outstretched with palms down and her long hair fanned out to cover her face. Without her arms to support her waist, her chest rested firmly on her thighs flattening her full breasts and making them seem larger than they were, which was already considerable. Her waist narrowed only to flare out into extremely curvy, full-bodied hips, her tails laid out far to either side of her body.
Naruto rose from Tatsua's chest, his lower body disengaging with a slurping suction from her sex, his throat forming a growl that seemed inhuman… but not demonic. Sighing in contentment, her body still convulsing from her marking enhanced orgasm, Tatsua rolled onto her side to watch her sister's heated gasping for air.
On all fours he moved to Tamami as buried instinct took over, his nose stopping at her neck to nuzzle her. Tamami's whimper came out as a throaty plea at the light contact as she sought to nuzzle him in passing. He ran his nose from her neck along her spine, the sensation making Tamami's body shiver with delight.
Tatsua rolled onto her stomach and spun to face her sister head-on. Meeting Tamami's fevered gaze, she placed her palms over the other girl's hands and gripped them tight. The simple gesture seemed to calm her as Naruto moved to mount her. She didn't know why Tamami insisted on her first mating being done in the traditional Kitsune fashion, but she'd help her see this through.
As his nose reached her hips, Naruto pivoted around so that his chest rested on them, the warmth and proximity of his body making Tamami shudder in anticipation. Her tails twitched as he kissed first her lower back, then back up to her shoulder blades. One of her tails twitched again, her legs shuffled outwards opening her hips up to him, her body rising up onto her arms to support her upper half. As her lust began to build, Tamami's eyes locked onto her sisters and Tatsua smiled warmly, her happiness bringing tears to her eyes as her twin's long torment drew to an end.
In an abstract fashion, Tamami noticed her tails wrapping around Naruto's waist, her ankles locking behind his calves, as his tip slid between the lips of her drenched sex. As her mouth opened in a shuddering sigh, Naruto, still deep in his bonding-induced haze, thrust once driving to the hilt inside her canal. She yelped as pain shot through her core, their mingling running down her thighs in a bright, thin stream of red.
Her short cry gave him enough control to pause, his entire body waiting until her panting ebbed and she'd stopped hissing through clenched teeth. It took longer than with Tatsua, but she eventually looked over her shoulder, bucked her hips once, and squeezed him with her tails, a clear indication that she was ready. Her walls had been contracting and releasing on his shaft and the sensations were making her very excited as the pain dulled to pleasure. Once he began his rhythmic thrusting, things got very heated.
An hour and one passionate marking later, Tamami lay on her back, eyes shut, mouth open, and every appendage (all six) locked around Naruto. The three finished with a major case of fatigue and heavy gasping for air.
It was a good thing his vixens were not in heat or he might not survive many days like this.
Naruto broke away with a wet sound from between her thighs, thoroughly spent.
* Lime Ends *
After a second scrub and longer soak, where Naruto leaned back in the large onsen against Tatsua and held Tamami's back to his chest while he stroked her hair, he left the naked twins asleep on his bed and trudged downstairs to a smirking Ino.
Samui was apparently impressed that he was still awake and semi-functional.
"Feel better, Naruto?" Ino happily chirped.
In response to Ino's smirk, the sluggish blond wrapped his arms around her waist and nibbled at the nape of her neck, her eyes rolling up into her skull and her face flushing two shades darker. It was a brazen act for the naturally gun-shy boy and it electrified every cell in her body.
"Gah!... Hinata… mmmm… coming back!... Aaaaaaaaaah!... shower first!"
Naruto chuckled at her twitching leg and let Ino go.
Samui seemed almost… pleased that Ino had to take a full minute to cool down, her hands fanning her neck and cheeks. She LIKED this bolder version of Naruto.
Just then his stomach growled loud enough to make Mio-chan stick her head out of the kitchen and frown. She forcefully pointed to the table (meaning 'march over there and sit') before vanishing behind the adjoining door.
He by now knew better than to argue with the tiny kitchen matron.
"We need to make some decisions before you run off to meet your sensei," Samui offered up before he could become too distracted by food.
"Decisions about what?"
One of the Kitsune servants he vaguely remembered from earlier rose from a couch in the sitting room. Her long brown hair and silver-rimmed glasses struck a memory in the back of his mind and, when her face registered in his photographic memory, his reaction was not a welcoming one. Unfortunately, he'd just marked her as one of his own so here they sat at a crossroad.
She bowed and a strawberry blonde woman next to her did the same.
"I see that you recognize me, Taichou." She straightened her spine and tried not to flush with shame.
"You were part of the team that argued against the Hokage on behalf of my enemies." His voice was low and extremely cold.
The mousy Kitsune seemed to shrink in on herself.
"It was necessary to keep my cover for my tribe, Taichou. Now, you and the Namikaze are my tribe. As a trust law attorney supporting the clans, I did not know that you were the opposing party nor that Kyuubi would later choose me to join your clan. Once this was known, I removed myself from their service and approached Tamami-chan to offer my additional skills to your house." She bowed low to the floor, her forehead touching the back of her palms.
"I offer all that I am to your service, Taichou. I shall be your tireless servant and the laws of this land will be your weapon."
Samui stepped forward and rested a palm on his shoulder. "She is a trustee lawyer, that means she is skilled in areas of managing large clans, including the laws that let you marry three women at once. Her help would be invaluable."
Naruto realized her worth, but his eyes never strayed from the gauze taped to her shoulder. He knew she would give her life if he asked it, but the loss to those bastards still stung even if she wasn't the lawyer arguing to the council directly. No, he remembered the face of that person all too well.
"There is some business left undone there, none of it necessarily in accordance with village laws. You may want to reconsider this before pledging yourself to my affairs." He was giving her a way out, a chance not to lose honor but the Kitsune lawyer never batted an eye.
"The Taichou is the foundation of our strength, the pillar of justice in the violent tempest of the human world. I will not falter. I, Yukiamagaren Harikēn, shall not fail you."
His ears listened to the thumping of her panicked heart for several more minutes, his heart battling with his mind over which way to go. It was a short battle after weighing the pros and cons of having his own lawyer.
"Then rise and serve me, Harikēn-chan." He paused until she could look him in the eye again. "Do not fail our clan."
She promptly smiled as if he'd given her a new kitten... to eat. What? Foxes considered cats a delicacy.
"Then we should start with your clan's affairs." She offered him a portfolio and motioned to the single chair next to the couch, much to Mio-chan's clear disapproval.
Mio-chan, an Ocean Kitsune with pale blue hair and sea-green eyes, entered immediately noting his failure to comply with her earlier direction. Huffing with disdain she darted back to her chosen field of battle once again emerging carrying a tray with tea and cakes for seven, shrugged when she didn't see the Twins, then went back after depositing the snack to bring the Taichou's lunch.
"We need to officially appoint me as your clan lawyer." She handed him a sheet to sign, the redhead next to her unsealing a jar of ink and providing a quill.
"Decisions remain your purview, but my job will be to provide advice and to fight our battles before the tribunal."
He nodded for her to continue as she slid another sheet in front of him.
"This one appoints Kasumi," the redhead bowed until her modest chest flattened on her thighs, "as your accountant. We will need to establish an account for house finances that she can have limited access to. You will have to approve large purchases and sales, however, she will have sufficient access to provide for day-to-day expenses in support of the clan."
Naruto, from his seat directly across from them, seemed perplexed.
"Why not give her access to my personal bank account or to the Arashi company account in my family's name?"
Both women seemed alarmed if their hands frantically waving in front of their chests were any indication.
"While we appreciate your trust, it is better to control access and limit temptation. If either of us is ever… compromised by mind control or blackmail, limiting our access to money prevents enormous harm to the clan. Your mark provides some defense, but a strong opponent can overcome the bond's protection."
He nodded again in understanding.
"We will meet as often as you like, Taichou, however, I recommend weekly until things settle down and we all become more familiar with each other and what is the normal routine."
"Fine. Do you both have somewhere to stay?"
They both nodded but Harikēn spoke. "We have quarters in the servant's domicile with the others."
Naruto shook his head in response.
"Your roles are important to the day-to-day functioning of this family. I will need you both to take up rooms here in the main house." Their eyebrows shot up to their hairlines. "If I need to get hold of either of you, it's more convenient if you're nearby. The closer the better."
Ino and Samui both nodded, Samui sauntering behind his chair and leaning heavily on his shoulders with Ino plopping down into his lap sideways. His new assistants blushed and bowed in gratitude.
"We will share a room next to Samui-sama. We do not need so much space."
He looked at Kasumi. "What are our monthly obligations, Kasumi-chan?" With the arrival of servants to help him, Naruto honestly had no idea what it cost to care for him and his... growing clan?
She flushed red again, a strange reaction given their intimacy earlier when he marked her, and quickly slipped a specific tally sheet in front of him. He remembered, with an odd smile, her as the one that bared her left breast to be marked and smiled.
"Our current expenses are minimal, enough that our harvest of crops and animals you purchased earlier in the year will see us through winter easily. Emiko-chan, she maintains our herds with two helpers, one for the cattle and one for the sheep, estimates we will need another twenty head of cattle before we become truly self-sufficient with our new staffing levels. The bee colonies should also begin honey production next year."
She indicated the bottom lines with one painted nail stating confidently, "One thousand a month is enough to meet our daily needs until our house numbers increase another thirty percent."
Naruto nodded again noting that bank interest alone from the seal company accounts made twenty times that each month. Now that he'd introduced the house cleaning and maintenance lines to their production, he expected they could live like Royalty anywhere they chose.
He would introduce her to the old bastard running the seals office, so they could get the numbers included in Kasumi's budget. While the interest from their bank accounts was nearly half the Arashi income, it was reliant on interest rates which often can and did fluctuate.
"Set up an account for Kasumi-chan with ten-thousand Ryu initially, then draw up the papers allowing a recurring fifteen hundred transferred monthly from the Arashi account and I will sign those. I want the extra allocated for special events like feasts and celebrations. Be sure to maintain an emergency fund to ten percent." He handed the paper back to its owner.
"I will allocate more as you require."
"Hai, Taichou, and the extra nine-thousand?" She blinked as he waved it away.
"We will need upfront purchases with our new members. Samui-chan especially needs clothes and other personal items and you will need to arrange for Emiko-chan to purchase additional livestock."
Kasumi-bowed and filed her papers away.
"Also, Harikēn-chan you will want to introduce yourselves to the proprietor of the Arashi Seal Consortium. He runs the shop with his two daughters and there is little oversight into their actions. I want them folded in as soon as possible."
Both women nodded. "And what will we do with Samui-sama?" That particular question caught everyone by flat-footed.
"I don't see what you mean. She will become a Konoha nin and stay here with us when not on missions." Naruto's answer was matter-of-fact, Ino and Samui nodding in silent agreement.
"And is she ready to conduct missions against her former village? Against people that were once her friends or family?"
Now they could clearly see the point of Harikēn's line of questioning. She may have sworn allegiance to Naruto and his clan but being willing to spy on former family and friends inherently put them at risk and was considered the worst form of betrayal. Samui may be on the outs with her Kage, but to turn against her Cloud loved ones? That was a different matter entirely, but Harikēn wasn't finished.
"Even though she may pass her upcoming interrogation with flying colors, you can believe that one of her earliest missions will put her new Konoha loyalty to the test. What better deep cover agent than a ninja from the village in question? If she succeeds, Konoha gains valuable intel. And if she is found out and executed, Konoha suffers no loss. It's a rare situation with no downsides for Konohagakure."
Naruto had to admit that her points were valid. No, they were more than valid. "How do we avoid this, Harikēn-chan?" Samui tried to forestall the discussion.
"Naruto-kun, I have no issues with doing my duty for Konoha so long as I can stay with-," she paused before continuing, "as long as I can stay a member of your clan."
"I appreciate that Samui-chan, but I'll not put you at that crossroad if I can help it. Just like I'll not let them use you as fodder for a deep-cover mission that risks your… health."
He was trying very hard not to blush because he knew how other men ogled her, how they shamelessly stared and leered. New to physical love that he was, it didn't take much to figure out where those missions would end up.
"I will not let them just throw you away as Kumo did."
His voice was a low growl that made her stomach flutter. Samui suddenly felt giddy and lightheaded.
"Taichou, are you aware that clan matriarchs are not required to accept missions?" Harikēn's face seemed calculating.
Ino, Samui, and Naruto all blinked like people who'd spent a week locked in a dark room before someone else opened the door and flicked on a light switch. Ino was the first, however, to recover.
"I'm okay with that option if it comes to that, especially considering I can't marry you until I'm sixteen, but this conversation should include Hinata."
Naruto nodded his agreement, effectively tabling the discussion as Harikēn shifted focus back to business.
"We will need the money to start the clan account, Taichou, and I believe that provides us all we need for now."
Naruto unsealed one of the large chests from Gato's home, Ino going bug-eyed at the sight of all that cash, then rifled off the Ryu so they could get started right away. He tossed in the envelope the Hokage had given him earlier then closed and resealed the chest. Once the pair had dismissed themselves, Ino locked her arms around Naruto's neck and proceed to explore his mouth with her own. It was good to have him back and she intended to enjoy it while she could.
Samui meandered over to the newly vacated couch and leaned back with a sigh. 'Would being married to him be all that terrible?'
One look at the boy in question that stood eye-level with her throat and she blushed remembering what happened upstairs not less than a few hours ago. He clearly had a lot to learn about Kitsune (specifically) and women (in general) but he wasn't a bad person and right now he had gone out on a limb for her with nothing more than a free peek at her body and a verbal promise of loyalty. What's more, he'd sworn to take care of her even before things had gone that far. He had a good heart that was rare in shinobi and even rarer in the males of her kind. He was also very good with his hands from what she could see… bonus.
Time would tell.
Ino, still engrossed in exploring her boyfriend's mouth with her own, pouted as Mio-chan stood a few feet away holding a tray of steaming roast beef, vegetables fresh from the clan gardens, steaming rice balls, and hot tea. She was trying to be patient, but Naruto could see her growing concern at his very agitated stomach. The smaller woman's concern was making her whimper cutely.
Ino relented and climbed off his lap.
Mio's smile as she set the tray on the coffee table was blinding. Naruto thanked her with a hug, which made her 'eep' in response and sat back down to dig in.
Poor Mio-chan quietly stumbled away in a daze with a hand to her blushing cheek.
Samui merely shook her head at the effect he didn't even know he had on his Kitsune women. It would be a terrible shame to see him change over time into a cold-hearted assassin or worse a Kitsune Warlord.
~III~
Before long, Hinata returned in fresh clothes, her face grim. She brushed off questions saying that they didn't have time, but Naruto knew something was wrong. He kept glancing at her all the way to the meeting spot with Kurenai but didn't force the issue. Hopefully, she would open up in time.
Kurenai apologized for calling them together on their downtime but she needed their answers to an important question. Holding out three sheets of paper, she explained that the Chunin Exams were approaching and they needed to decide by the end of the week if they were to take the exam. If they felt they were ready, then she would support them.
To stir the pot, she did mention that Kakashi was planning to enter Team Seven.
The three of them filled out and signed those papers on the spot. Kurenai smiled and leaped off wishing them a good night and reminded Naruto he needed a standard psyche evaluation before he could return to duty. Shino wandered off soon after. With that grim expression still on Hinata's face, Naruto doubted what she had to share would be any kind of good.
It took a lot of cuddling and petting back home to coax out what was bothering Hinata. Her resistance finally broke when he started massaging her breasts and gently tweaking her nipples over her clothes (she didn't feel comfortable going much farther than that).
Apparently, her father considered her courtship to Naruto an engagement. This meant her change to the Namikaze clan was all but certain. Though legally she was still the heir and could not be placed in the branch family until she officially married outside of the clan or publicly renounced her claim, the elders were making plans to brand her with the Caged Bird Seal on the day of her marriage. What was worse, her father outwardly supported the idea.
Naruto guffawed so loudly several servants popped their heads around the corner.
"Let them try." He looked deep into her eyes. "The day we wed, you become Namikaze Hinata and are no longer subject to his rules. If they want to try and take you from me, he is welcome to try."
Naruto's eyes flashed red for a second, then eased back to their normal shade of blue. Hinata felt so at ease with his confidence that her face lit up right before she flushed red and locked lips with him. To ease the other two, who both frowned at Hinata's sudden attack, he popped two clones who promptly huggled and snuggled them both.
Furious kissing and fondling ensued for the next half hour.
Samui and Ino both marveled at how real the clones felt… and tasted. They couldn't tell the difference between the clones and the original. This prompted many questions needing further experimentation…
Naruto also decided his next question to Ienaga for later that night when they were discussing seals would address clan laws. He would learn how to break that damn caged bird seal if it was the last thing he did.
The conversation concerning Samui becoming the matriarch wasn't an issue for Hinata. She was older, outranked them both as a kunoichi (in Cloud anyway), and it would be needed to avoid unpleasantness in her village. Hinata saw no wrong in it as she was as fond of the quiet blonde as Ino was, if not more so.
Naruto caught her up on the remaining employment changes in the household then the discussion for the rest of the night centered on the upcoming exams and whether or not they should give it a shot.
~III~
A/N: Behind the Scenes - To Be or Not to Be More Adult-Like
Samui's scene is considerably less racy than the original. I also debated with myself extensively as to whether or not the bonding scene with the Twins should stay in this new story release. Chronologically Naruto, at this point, is almost 13 years old - he is very clearly a minor making the very intimate bonding scene very inappropriate. However, physiologically and mentally (as a Kitsune) he's closer to a much shorter 18-year-old (the Kyuubi continues to accelerate time in the Mindspace to mentally mature him and her physical changes to his anatomy are on par with this). Obviously, this made the entire event a big point of contention in the first release of the story yet I kept it in to highlight the differences in human and Kitsune culture.
Keep in mind, a 4-tailed Kitsune in this fanfic is/ would be over 400 years old; a Kitsune spends their first 100 years as a chibi fox, develops their bipedal form (if they successfully develop a Reika network), then earn another tail for every 100 years of additional life. As they can live to be over 1,500 years old (or more), that correlates to a 26-year old human.
Naruto is a 4-tailed Kitsune at this point in the story so the Kitsune do not see him as a child. Furthermore, the Kyuubi (for her future plans) does not want him seen or treated as a child because she wants him to defect to the Kitsune for good. I did not flesh this out point for point in the original story as it works in to the story over the entire fiction.
The amount of time Naruto spent in the mindscape mentally developing under Kyuubi's guidance both underscored and minimized exactly how much time dilation affected his development. The biological changes she made also kept pace with his growing mind. Unfortunately, this did little to nothing for his emotional development meaning that, while he was "older" by Kitsune standards, he (emotionally) is not prepared for the older life other Kitsune will see and hold him to.
It makes writing such scenes challenging if you want to keep it above the level of gratuitous smut, especially if you address the psychological ramifications of those decisions.
The Kitsune, as a society, do not hold to human values and culture. They don't age the same. They don't have the same type of societal standards. They don't view Kitsune development the same as humans view human development and therein lies the conflict as one group tries to hold on to Naruto's humanity while another attempts to completely subsume him mentally, physically, and emotionally as one of their own.
Snug in the middle of this conflict enters Samui who, in this story, is a Kitsune spy that has lived the last decade or so among humans (with her surviving brother) and is no stranger to the laws and values humans place on their young. Does she know upfront that Naruto is the no-kidding Taichou of the entire Kitsune world? No, not at this point where she has been introduced to the Namikaze estate.
She is aware that Konoha (the humans) will see the pubescent Naruto as a child regardless of the fact that this same society considers him a child soldier able to lie, cheat, steal, and kill on its behalf. Old enough to kill and all that...
Odd how people turn a blind eye to a child taking the lives of adults but poo-poo everything else that comes with such a violent and emotionally destabilizing life? Hmmm...
For that reason, I left the scene in. It's pivotal to his "indoctrination" into Kitsune life and Kyuubi's plans. It also highlights the fact that I've been reinforcing in a more mature sounding and acting Naruto for this story. He's being groomed to be a Kitsune leader. The bombardment of pheromones he is exposed to during the marking of his entire household is intentional as part of the bijuu's plans, despite Samui's unwitting participation in it. The final coup de gras by the Twins is intentional as part of Kyuubi's plan to win him over through sensory overload - the bonding binds the clan leader to his servants as much as it bonds the servants to their master/ mistress.
Remember, this is a story about a person's change in character and whether or not its influenced more by their internal character and personal fortitude over external factors in their environment and upbringing. For that purpose, the Kitsune will become my greatest external source of pressure in Naruto's growth.
~Ja Ne!
~III~