Author's Note: Alright, I've gotta say this story's coming out pretty nicely, but an arc Spy and I have been writing in advance is starting to get a little troublesome, partially because real life getting in the way, partially because the muses keep getting sidetracked and latching onto other things. As such, we've decided to split the story up like I have with Vulpine Overlord. That way, there's a little less pressure on us.

Updates will continue as scheduled, of course, and we're still a few months away from the last chapters of this arc, but it never hurts to be safe.

With that outta the way, I hope y'all enjoy! :)

Chapter Fifteen: Am I a Bad Person?

Three days later, Haruno Sakura roared in exertion, sweat dripping from her chin as she did squats with a barbell over her shoulders. Kakashi then instructed her to stop, much to the pinkette's relief. The man was quite pleased to note that she could do fifty squats with a 100lb bell, now! Given that she was a twelve-year-old girl who weighed less than 90, that was damn impressive!

After being given a strict diet and training regimen from hell over the past four days, she was already showing some mighty fine progress.

"Good job, Sakura-chan," he chirped. "Go ahead and take a break."

The barbell hit the ground with a clang as she unceremoniously dropped it, then, with an unlady-like grunt, the pinkette in question plopped down flat on her back in the dirt. She swore that even her hair was sore! She didn't quite know how that was even possible, but it apparently found a way!

Haruno Sakura realized what kind of slave-driver her instructor truly was when it came to training. While everything did hurt, though, the pinkette was thankful for being put through this, because it meant her endurance and stamina were getting better. (1)

It also took her mind off of more… depressing matters.

Even now, she simply couldn't bring herself to look Naruto in the eye. Knowing who his father was, remembering the punches she gave him after being asked out on a date, recalling how she berated him for the littlest of things, she felt guilty. Very guilty. Unfortunately, the fact that she only felt guilty about mistreating him after learning about his parentage made the pinkette realize just how shallow she really was and that only made her feel even worse!

"Hmm? What has you down?" Sakura heard Kakashi ask.

"Just… thinking is all." The pinkette answered his question with a heavy sigh.

"Well… don't think too hard now," the man joked, "If you keep that up you might cause an incident." Sakura just sent him a dull look and Kakashi shrugged, "Everyone's a critic."

"...Kakashi-Sensei, can I ask you something?"

"Whether or not I'll answer depends on the question, but sure; lay it on me,"

Sakura paused to gather her thoughts. "Why is Naruto more comfortable living with those people?"

"...Ah… that is a tough question to answer…" Kakashi couldn't help but sigh. "Naruto… isn't well treated… you, of course, know that."

"Hard not to notice it," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes. Indeed it was... at least, now it was... It was just one more reason for the pinkette to be ashamed of herself. "It's just… they're so different; you'd think he'd feel lonely."

"You would think that, indeed... But Naruto was always alone." Kakashi pointed out to her. "He's been an outcast since the day he was born; but when they showed up all those months ago, the Mirran treated him as one of their own. One of his guards... Bela, I believe she's called, was there from the very beginning. Even took him to their leader, who has also taken a liking to him. So, taking all of that into account, I suppose he simply doesn't pay the differences any mind."

"That's…" Sakura trailed off, unable to think of a word to express how she feels.

"Depressing?" Kakashi man offered. It was also adorable, but in a very sad way.

"...Very depressing."

The man hummed thoughtfully as he looked up towards the sky, "I suppose it is. Am I upset Naruto is no longer living in Konoha proper? I am. But, I'm also happy for him. Naruto is no longer alone. He is constantly being looked after, and he's safer with them. I fully believe that he is far better off than he was before."

Sakura laid there on the ground as she took in his words. Those were… admittedly good points. If she was in Naruto's place, she might have gone crazy by now. There was another question on her mind right now, though… one that has been bugging her for days on end.

"I got another question," she said, after a moment of contemplation. "...am I a bad person?" (2)

Kakashi stared at her for a moment, "I'm... going to need some context here..."

Sakura closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled, "I've hit Naruto for asking me out on dates. I've called him a clueless idiot for years. I called him a talentless loser. I even joined in on mocking him with others. Am I… am I a bad person?" Her eyes started to burn as the pinkette started getting riled up.

"So that's what's bothering you," Kakashi muttered. He gave her a long, thoughtful look before nodding. "After hearing all of that… Yes, I would say you are."

Sakura flinched at that.

"Told you so," her inner voice chimed in.

"But do bear in mind that the first step to self-betterment is realizing that you have a problem," the man continued after letting his words sink in for a moment. He approached and looked her in the eye while saying that. "It means that you know what needs to be fixed and can take steps to make it happen. I noticed that you already apologized to him, so you're at least off to a good start. Keep it up and soon enough, you'll have no reason to be so depressed."

"If you say so," she muttered halfheartedly.

"I do say so," Kakashi chirped. "After all, it's only a matter of time before you find yourself in a life or death situation. Being a three-man team, you will have to rely on your teammates… and if you're not in a good relationship with them when that happens…" he trailed off, his tone being cheerful at the beginning before it became ominous at the end.

"Duly noted," Sakura muttered. For some reason, she suspected that Sasuke would be the hard part as he demonstrably wanted nothing to do with either of them… but having one teammate to rely on was better than none. If nothing else, it was even more incentive than she already had to focus on redeeming herself.

She just… needed to muster up the will to do so…

Ino, meanwhile, was busy doing her own thing. The revelation on who Naruto's father was the day before made her reflect upon her actions towards him. Ultimately the blonde came to the conclusion that, while she didn't physically abuse him, she was just as harmful towards him.

She did avoid him, after all. Granted, she was just doing as Tou-chan said like a good girl, but still...

The Yamanaka heiress already wanted to apologize to him, even before this discovery, though—to start treating him better and maybe get to know the guy... in the end, this just provided further incentive for her to do so.

Of course, she had to actually find him first... But, she did know where Taj Nar was; maybe she could intercept him when he was off-duty? She just had to find out when that was…

Nevertheless, she had an objective and location. Hopefully, by going to Taj Nar she would be able to ask the… part-metal people there what Naruto's schedule is like and when he is free, stuff like that.

She honestly hoped they wouldn't shoot her on sight, like she heard the rumors of them doing. Because that would make things just a little harder.

As it turned out, lady luck was on her side today; while she was making her way to what was once the Training Ground 44, the blonde found the young man she sought and his merry band of… pointy-eared, green-skinned women making their way towards the same destination.

She didn't know what these women called themselves, but to be fair, that was mostly because she'd been too busy juggling her job as a ninja with helping out in her family's flower shop. Just another thing she needed to remedy in the near future...

Putting those thoughts aside for later, Ino approached Naruto with a polite wave.

Naruto looked surprised to see her greeting him and waved back, assuming she was looking for Sakura. "Uh… hi, Ino-chan," he said. "If you're wondering where Sakura-chan is, she's doing some overtime training, with Kakashi-sensei."

"I was gonna talk to her later, but thanks for letting me know," she chirped. Then, she gave him an awkward smile. "Can we… talk?"

"You might want to be careful with her," one of Naruto's guards warned, taking a step towards the blond protectively. The suspicious look the elven woman sent the girl made Ino shrink. "Her father's on the blacklist."

"Explains a lot," Naruto replied, waving her off politely. "She always avoided me in the academy, but I couldn't help but notice that she looked kinda guilty while doing so."

"Tou-chan doesn't like you for some reason," Ino told him with a helpless shrug. "He always refused to tell me why, though… But, I'm an adult now, so I don't have to listen to him anymore. That said, I wanted to apologize." She sighed, looking rather sheepish. "Woulda done so sooner, but juggling two jobs is hell."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that. "Uh… alright? I don't see why you need to apologize to me, though." She avoided him but didn't hit him or mock him or anything. He couldn't see a reason why she would want him to forgive her.

Ino shrugged again. "You said it yourself," she told him. "I felt guilty… mostly, because you looked so lonely." (3)

"Ah… so that's how it is," Naruto said in realization, grinning sheepishly. "It's fine, really. You have nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm sure your dad would've tanned your hide for trying to make friends with me."

Ino gave him a dry smile at that. "Well, it's better late than never," she suggested. "I'm free tomorrow if you wanna hang out, by the way. I notice that your team doesn't start work until almost noon."

"Yeah, I'm mostly free in the mornings," Naruto replied, giving her a friendly smile. "I'll see about meeting you at the southern gates around nine, since I'll wanna give Glissa-chan and Kemba-chan some attention before leaving."

"That's fine." It was to be expected, in fact...

The next day, Yamanaka Ino was awkwardly staring at the guards of Taj Nar's outer wall… who were awkwardly staring right back at her. An uncomfortable silence was shared between them, though to be fair, the blonde couldn't blame them for being so distrusting of her. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as the old saying goes, but at the same time, the child shouldn't be punished for the sins of the father and Ino was eager to prove that she could be trusted.

Thankfully, Naruto emerged from the gates eventually, with six guards in tow this time around, as per Lyese's insistence. Naruto understood her worry; if Ino's father heard they were "dating", the man might… retaliate.

Given he was on their blacklist, Naruto had a pretty good idea on what kind of retaliation it would be.

Long story short, it probably won't be pretty. Lyese, Glissa, and Kemba would blow a gasket if they find out he was attacked, too... So would his guards for that matter… That said, he was planning to just hang out with her for a while, and if all goes well, he would be up for another outing if she was willing.

"Sorry for the wait," Naruto chuckled, giving Ino a once over.

The girl in question was garbed in her usual purple two-piece dress with sarashi bindings and open-toe boots. The Konoha headband she usually wore around her waist like a belt was conspicuously absent, as were her tool pouches in favor of a simple, matching purse.

The blonde had to keep herself from staring at the elven women, thanks to their revealing attire and alien appearance.

"I had to let Lyese know that we were hanging out today, and as a result, she had me take an extra two Chosen with me. Just in case... something were to happen," the blond explained, and even though it wasn't said, Ino understood what he was implying.

The "Khanha" had two more of these "Chosen" assigned as his bodyguards in case her father tried something stupid.

"My clan has a number of secret techniques involving mind control," she cautioned. "I'll let you know if anyone starts showing the signs."

"Much appreciated," Tuka said with a nod and smile. That would make things easier on them.

With that said and done, Naruto left Taj Nar with Ino and the Chosen in tow.

Naruto and Ino soon after found themselves chatting it up at a cafe that was known to be neutral towards the blond. The Chosen were stationed close by, keeping an eye on everyone and everything while keeping to themselves. Of course, their choice of attire had gotten many a hormone driven teen and young adult to ogle them, but the elven women paid them no mind since there was only one human they were interested in.

"So, that's how it is, then," Naruto said with an understanding tone.

"Yeah," Ino muttered, staring into her tea. She continued in a hushed tone. "When I learned who your father was, that just made it worse. It made the way mine treated you feel… disgraceful."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he took in a mouthful of tea. "Well, not to offend you or anything, but… your old man's a dick." There was no better way to get your point across than to be blunt about it.

Ino let out an unladylike snort. "It's fine." Then she went and took a sip of her tea. "I gotta say, though, I'm impressed by that iron will of yours… I'd have gone crazy if I were in your place." She then flashed him a flirty grin. "It's also very attractive... no wonder you're so popular with the ladies." She giggled at the sight of Naruto rolling his eyes in amused exasperation.

It seemed like he was getting irritated from being told he's such a ladykiller, but in truth, he didn't mind too much. It just got tiring hearing it over and over again.

"I'm glad I was finally able to talk to you like this," she added after a short, comfortable silence.

"Yeah, it is nice to be able to talk with no one trying anything." Parents pulling their sons and daughters away. Adults whispering about him when they thought he wasn't listening. To be able to talk to one of the 'popular' girls of the academy without anyone trying to butt in and drag her away from the so-called troublemaker, was nice.

"Y'know," Ino said, an impish grin spreading across her face. "I can't help but notice that you're supposed to have at least three wives… and that you have a slot open~!"

Naruto immediately started sputtering up a storm, his face beet red.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Ino giggled looking genuinely amused. "Though it would definitely serve Tou-chan right… and you are kinda cute." Her grin became flirty, once again. "Sooo, what do you say to going on an actual date, later today? Testing the waters and seeing if we'd make a good couple, if only outta curiosity?"

She still found Sasuke to be dreamy and all, but there was no way she'd be getting her hands on him before someone else does at this rate… and she legitimately found Naruto to have potential if nothing else, even before founding the unofficial Sasuke Fanclub. (4)

Truth be told, Hinata was the only reason she'd never thought about pursuing him before, as it was clear that the Hyuuga girl had a massive crush on Naruto and Ino didn't want to get in the way of that. But now that he had his sights on reviving the Uzumaki Clan… Well, three was just the minimum.

"Uh… S-sure," Naruto sputtered, looking genuinely taken aback. "I'll need to get cleaned up after work, but maybe 9:30?"

"Sounds like a plan!"

Later that day, deep in the seal, Kurako was not looking very pleased. Over the past five days, she'd been toiling away at the seal, trying to find a way around it. Given that it was applied with the help of a literal god, that was not an easy task, but she was managing.

Of course, she tried to invade his dreams immediately, but couldn't quite manage at first.

She did prod enough to give him a teasing giggle and some fleeting, blurry mental images of an orange-haired girl in a field, though.

Slowly but surely, she chipped away at his mental defenses and now, she was confident in her ability to put the first phase of those plans into motion. And not a moment too soon, either… The prolific bastard was already eyeballing one of his classmates and had a date scheduled for that evening!

Ladykiller, indeed…

Pushing those thoughts aside, Kurako waited for Naruto to start meditating and decided to… disrupt his concentration. She'd wait until tonight for the main course, since he'd be much easier to pull into the seal when he was asleep, but giving him some pleasant daydreams would make for a lovely appetizer~!

Back outside with Naruto, he sat in a lotus position, concentrating while one half of his clones started practicing the "tree-walking" exercise and the other half got cracking on that Sword of Wind. Since he had been learning the Sword of Wind for the better part of 27 days, with the clone technique helping speed up the process, Naruto was fairly confident in his ability to use it effectively. But, practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.

He still needed to use three hand seals to cast it, too, so eliminating that would make him far more effective of a fighter. Unfortunately, those hand seals were what made up for his lack of chakra control, which was why he still needed to practice it alongside tree-walking; he wanted to be sure the Sword of Wind technique can be used without hand seals or something going wrong in the process—

"Fuuuck!"

Poof!

—like the technique blowing up in his hand, for instance... (5)

Seeing the clones getting back to work prompted the real Naruto to sigh in exasperation. Okay, maybe he needed to work on the Sword of Wind a little more than he initially thought. That would clearly take a while to master, but with him being able to make clones of himself, it wouldn't be too much of a problem even if he had two pregnant wives and a third slot to fill; he still had plenty of time to both train and find that third wife, though.

Speaking of… Naruto's mind started drifting off, wondering who that wife would be.

Ino? Ayame? Melira, perhaps? One of his guards, maybe?

He couldn't help but picture a rather petite girl for some reason… one who still had all of the right curves despite her small chest and stature. Naruto shifted in place, doing his best to hide the boner he got from thinking about it as he started daydreaming about a cute, orange-haired hottie giggling in a field of flowers. She looked a bit like... Sakura, for some reason, but more attractive...

Several hours later, after Naruto had finished with the day's D-rank missions and training regimen, the blond got himself cleaned up and with his bodyguards by his side went to see Ino. Still wary of the father, Shandris advised the blond to keep away from the Clan Compound.

Since Ino's father was on their blacklist, Naruto took the advice gracefully and waited just outside of Taj Nar. As the old saying goes: it's better to be safe than sorry.

Thankfully, there were no issues, as Ino popped up rather quickly. Though, before she did, Naruto's guards were amused to note that a girl about the same age as the one who made his wedding garb was shyly eyeballing their charge from behind a nearby tree.

The girl in question was a blonde with purple eyes, her golden locks bundled up in a pair of pigtails draped over her shoulders. While they couldn't make out what she was wearing, the girl was garbed in purple, which seemed to be a rather popular color among ladies of the Yamanaka Clan from what they'd seen so far. (6)

"Sorry that took so long," Ino lamented. "I had to take the scenic route, if you catch my meaning, because I wanted to avoid Tou-chan."

"Understandable," Naruto chuckled and he genuinely could understand why she wanted to avoid the man. Pushing those thoughts aside, the blond gave his fellow blonde a smile and asked, "So, what do you want to do today?"

"I did a bit of searching and found a few places nearby," Ino chirped. "Mostly controlled by the Inuzuka, if you're not allergic to dogs or something."

"I'm not," chuckled Naruto, then he gestured for her to take a point, "since you know the way, I'll let you take the lead."

Ino nodded enthusiastically, and the two of them were off to a nearby grill she'd heard many good things about.

Naruto tilted his head as he looked up at the establishment. He recognized this place but never set foot in it. Unlike Ino, he didn't hear anything good about it… though that was mainly because he never interacted with anyone from the clan who owned this grill outside of one guy.

And he acted like a dick some of the time.

"This is an… Inuzuka owned building?" It wasn't too surprising that she'd bring him to one, given that she mentioned the clan in question earlier, but still… "I didn't expect them to own this place."

"Not many people do," Ino shrugged, "But because they're known for their dogs, it does make sense… all that leftover meat has to go somewhere."

"I guess," Naruto said with a shrug, then he looked at the building and took a deep breath, and exhaled before looking to Ino, "Well, let's hope they don't kick me out."

They shouldn't if Kiba's mother was anything to go by. The woman saw him in a good light, so if all goes well, this place should be friendly. If not… well… he can probably go to Tsume herself.

"No one in that clan is on the blacklist," one of his guards assured, "so it should be fine."

"Well, one can never be too careful. If someone was dumb enough to try anything with you ladies around, I know you'll sort them out."

"That's our job~!" Vela Trix chirped.

Naruto then looked to Ino and gestured for her to take the lead. She did so gladly and they entered the establishment. A rather fetching brunette about two years their senior turned out to be their waitress, an Inuzuka girl named Kishu.

She was a rather petite one, standing only an inch above Naruto in height despite the age difference, half of her locks done up in pigtails resembling floppy ears with straight bangs, while the rest of her shoulder-length tresses hung freely in the back. The uniform also looked rather cute on her, being in the form of a short, black dress; long, white stockings; black mary-janes; and a small apron. As per the old traditions of her clan, a pair of red, fang-like tattoos on her cheekbones finished the look. (7)

Kishu seated them quickly, they made their orders with the Chosen keeping watch at nearby tables, and Naruto and Ino's date truly got started from there as she scampered off.

"Eyes on the prize, mister," Ino joked once she realized where he was looking at. "You can get yourself some Inuzuka tail when we're done here."

Naruto blushed hard and tried to sputter some semblance of denial, but quickly realized that it was a lost cause. So he just settled for crossing his arms with a pout, befitting someone of his age.

The blonde giggled at his antics before changing the subject… for now.

"So… what's your team like so far?" Ino asked, having to pause momentarily to think of a subject to talk about. His team was a good start.

"Honestly?" Naruto asked and when Ino nodded, he let out an exasperated sigh and said honestly, "It could be better. A lot better. But it could be a whole lot worse, too."

"Oh? It can't be that bad..." She hoped, at least. The girl frowned slightly, looking a little concerned.

Naruto gave the blonde a dull look and asked in an equally dull tone, "Is your sensei nearly five hours late, every day?"

"Well… no?"

"Are any of your teammates a grumpy edgelord who prefers to do their own thing despite having to work together, and sees as his teammates as useless obstacles or dead weight?"

"Uh… no?" Granted, one as a lazy bastard and the other is always eating, but they got the job done. Chouji was the muscle of their group, Shikamaru was the brains, and she's more along the lines of… an infiltrator. And despite their differences, they all worked well together.

"Are any of your teammates lacking stamina to the point it's affecting team dynamics? Granted, Sakura is improving by leaps and bounds, but she's still got a long way to go."

Ino was quick to notice that Naruto never added the 'chan' honorific to Sakura's name… was it really that bad?

Then again, with having two wives, and many a mistress, she'd be surprised if Naruto's crush on Sakura hadn't been grown out of at this point. The blond didn't seem to notice the absent honorific, but Ino did and she came to the conclusion that her old friend's treatment of Naruto had left deeper scars than she thought. Alas, she had no idea Naruto had forgiven the pinkette.

"Um… no," Ino answered, sounding more subdued than she was moments ago.

"Well, there you have it," Naruto concluded with a gruff sigh. "Our team could be better, but it can be a lot worse as well. At least Sakura's improving, though… and she's willing to listen to advice from me and Kakashi-sensei. If she keeps it up and starts eating more, then she'll probably make for a good Kunoichi. It's really impressive, all things considered." He had personal first-hand experience with her punches, too, so he knew what he was talking about. Naruto leaned up against the table with a small chuckle, "I can only imagine how hard she would hit if she had some more muscle on her. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather have her watching my back than Sasuke anytime."

Ino felt rather conflicted to hear that; on one hand, she still liked Sasuke-kun, but on the other, the young blonde knew that his lone wolf attitude was not conducive to being a good team player, which was a death sentence for most rookies' careers. It was nice to learn that Naruto at least had some positive things to say about her friend, though.

"Well, at least your view on Team 7 isn't all bad," she muttered.

Naruto nodded and went into a little more detail on his teammates. "You're right, it's not all bad. I mean Sakura was a little difficult to work with at first since she'd rather follow Sasuke around like a lost puppy and take his side nearly all the time. But now she is more than willing to work with me." The D-rank where they had to do someone's garden came to mind. "Right now, it's just Sasuke who's the problem. He does work together with us if he's told to by Kakashi-sensei… but outside of that, he'd rather go off and do his own thing if given the chance."

Ino felt a change in subject was in order. "I see, and what did you learn together as a team?"

Naruto noted the change in subject but didn't comment on it. Instead, he shrugged and answered with, "Well… we've mostly been training and doing D-rank missions. We've learned tree-walking and I'm in the process of ironing out an Elemental Technique. I'm still doing some chakra control exercises on the side, and Glissa-chan is teaching me a few things when she and I have free time."

"Really? You're doing Elemental Training?!" That was surprising; that was an advanced training regimen for chuunin and jounin! She's never heard of anyone learning such advanced techniques when they're still genin! Of course, that was purely due to her not even being two months into her career, but still!

"Yeah. It's actually pretty tough, but worth it. It gives me more options to use in a fight, y'know?" Naruto said with a sheepish grin.

"I do," Ino said with a nod and a smile of her own. Then she looked at his guards… and a more playful question came to mind. "So… Naruto, what's this rumor and reputation of you being 'The Ladykiller of Taj Nar' about? Hmm~?"

Off to the side, their waitress perked up with interest upon overhearing the question.

Naruto let out a heavy sigh, "To be fair," he began, raising a finger as if to make a point, "a lot of it is them coming onto me, rather than the other way around."

"More or less," Vela Trix chimed in. "But there's a reason they tend to come back for more."

"Ooh~!" So he was good at pleasing the ladies… Ino liked the sound of that. And their waitress was listening in with even more interest now. "And what reason would that be?"

"Someone's wife made sure he knew what he was doing before they tied the knot," Tuka answered with a giggle.

"...I had a very good teacher," Naruto added with a heavy blush and a sheepish chuckle. "Ferrel-chan and Kemba-chan deserve all the credit there."

"Oh, now you're just selling yourself short," Vela Trix cooed. "No need to be shy, now~! I mean you showed us how good you were."

"He really did…" Shandris added. If she didn't have a good reign on her hormones, the woman would have been drooling at those memories.

"Very interesting," Ino purred. Then, she let out a warm chuckle as Naruto started squirming and decided to cut him some slack once more. "So, Naruto, what are you planning on getting?"

The blond in question took a calming breath, happy for the small mercy Ino showed him, and shrugged. "The pulled pork and chips sounds pretty good," he said. They sadly didn't have any ramen here, but it was a nice alternative. "How 'bout you?"

"Same thing, actually," Ino chirped, happy to note that they had similar taste. It was a small thing, but still something… and there could be more that they had in common. (8)

Unbeknownst to either, Kishu had an identical train of thought, but said nothing.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Ino's waitress took their orders as well as those of the guards, and the dating couple started chatting it up some more.

With Ino and Naruto having a pleasant conversation with one another, time went by quickly and before they knew it their meals were delivered. The guards had their meals delivered next and they dug in.

One in particular, however, was feeling hungry for something else while she was at it and quickly faded away as she turned invisible.

Naruto, of course, did his damnedest not to give away what was happening when said guard slipped under the table and spread his legs as she got in-between them; she undid his trousers, and immediately started sucking him off once his dick was fished out of its cloth confines. He briefly looked down and saw the impish gaze of his youngest guard bobbing her head up and down on his dick.

The girl had her copper locks cropped in a cute, little bob and she had a scar across her nose, much like Iruka's. It somehow added to her cuteness in the elf's case, though. This one's name was Merrill. (9)

Literally, all of her peers noticed what she was doing but paid her no mind while everyone else in the restaurant was none the wiser…until Kishu caught a whiff of something… lewd going down at Naruto's table. She, too, said nothing, but flashed the blond a knowing grin upon noticing that he was one guard short of the original six.

She definitely needed to see if this young man truly lived up to his reputation later on, though… perhaps tomorrow, when he was returning home from work…? Regardless, Kishu continued to say nothing and let the blond have his fun. That clan wasn't going to revive itself, after all.

"So, how is it?" Ino asked, nibbling at her pulled pork sandwich.

"Pretty good, I gotta admit," the blond replied and he reached down and thread his fingers through Merrill's copper-like hair to show his appreciation. Naruto was careful to make sure that it looked as if he was scratching himself. "I love the flavor."

His date smiled, though the grin turned impish when she noticed one guard missing… and that Naruto was showing signs of hiding something. Being a member of the Yamanaka Clan, she had received training at a young age on how to read people for a number of reasons—the most notable one being that their family techniques were far more potent on weak-willed targets. That being said, it didn't take long for her to notice something was amiss. (10)

"If anyone asks," she told him, spotting an opportunity to see what he was packing, "I went to the ladies' room." Then, before Naruto could react, she ducked under the table.

The first thing the blonde saw upon ducking beneath the table was Merrill sitting on her knees with in front of Naruto. She could see the back of the elf's head bobbing back and forth and the soft, moist slurps of her mouth sucking against the cock reached her ears.

Ino grinned and crawled her way towards them, and gently nudged her way into the range of Naruto's dick, and placed a hand on Merrill's back. The elf gave her an impish look from the corner of her eye and pulled back, sucking all the way and let Naruto's massive dick slide out of her mouth with a lewd 'pop!' and licking her chops.

At the sight of Naruto's massive pecker in all its glory, Ino's jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide. Then her lips spread into a massive, if not perverse grin. Oh, she was definitely going to have a piece of that when they were done here! Her lady bits quivered in anticipation at the thought. Putting that aside for later, Ino dove in and started licking and sucking against one side of his shaft, while Merrill got to work on the other, working in tandem with the blonde.

Naruto continued to act as if nothing was happening to him and kept on eating his pulled pork sandwich and chips. He would let out near unheard grunts and his dick would throb against their mouths and tongues. Then he inhaled sharply when he felt one of them gently pull out his ballsack and started to carefully knead the testes inside. It wasn't hard to find out just who was the one responsible for that; the warm metal on his balls made it easy for Naruto to pick Merrill out as the one responsible for the gentle kneading and squeezing of his balls. That in addition with their exploring mouths made for one hell of a double blowjob!

Then the two girls started to get a little more enthusiastic and focused on specific parts of his dick. The pleasure nodes that would get the most reaction out of him that is.

Merrill grinned knowingly when Naruto started to throb. He was close… and so to throw him clear over the edge Merrill moved her mouth to the glans-penis and took it between her lips where she formed a tight seal with her mouth and started to enthusiastically suckle and flick her tongue against the very tip.

Naruto's eyes fluttered shut and he let out a strained groan as the pressure began to build up more and more. Ino kept moving her mouth up and down along his dick, Merrill continued to fondle his scrotum; add all of that with her sucking, licking, and slurping mouth and tongue, it didn't take Naruto long to blow his load. With another grunt, his dick expanded as his jizz raced through the organ and dispensed itself into Merrill's mouth. She moaned around the dick and swallowed as the young man's hot seed shot into her mouth.

Then, when the flow finally abated, Merrill kept a nice large glob of it on her tongue before pulling Ino close and mashed her lips against the blonde's, forcing her tongue into the younger woman's mouth and moaning lewdly while looking up at Naruto. Ino's eyes went wide before rolling back at the taste. She too looked up at the blond before enthusiastically swapping spit and jizz with his bodyguard, moaning and grunting softly into her lips.

Poor Naruto went painfully hard at the sight, barely able to contain himself. Oh, this girl was in for it now…

Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!

Later that evening, in a dark alley, the slapping of skin on skin echoed off the walls and poor Ino wailed in near animalistic bliss at the sensations washing over her. Bent over in this dingy shithole, behind a dumpster, with the sarashi bindings that once covered her lady bits now binding her wrists and gagging the blonde, all she could do was take it and she liked it… no, she loved it!

Naruto was more than happy to exploit the absence of anything underneath those bindings, too, plowing Ino from behind like a rabid beast while holding her close so she could not escape. Not that she wanted to, anyway. He nibbled and sucked at her neck, already leaving no less than five hickies in his wake. His mighty cock stretched the poor blonde to capacity and he pounded the ever-loving fuck out of her. Then, with a throaty growl, he unloaded right into the kunoichi's snatch. His orgasm triggered yet another of her own and she milked him for his seed a seventh time. Neither one gave a damn about what might happen as a result in that moment; they just wanted to mate with each other. Yes, that was the only word for it; this was not sex, this was not making love, this was something more primal, more basic in nature.

Bucking against her with every single discharge, Naruto made damn sure each and every last spurt was pumped as deep into her snatch as humanly possible. He grabbed her ponytail with one hand, hooked the other over her shoulder and pulled her towards him with every thrust. Then, when the orgasm faded and Naruto came back down from cloud nine, he kept at it; he wasn't going to be done until his balls were empty.

One could literally see the hearts in Ino's eyes when he started thrusting anew. And her mouth spread into a slutty grin as best it could around the cloth straps muffling her wails. Then, her eyes rolled back as she came almost immediately. Her folds clamped down around his thrusting cock like a vice, as it tried to coax more semen out of him.

Naruto powered through it like a champ, though, and kept at it, his pace savage but even. Each and every thrust sent shockwaves of pleasure through the blonde and shivers up her spine; he nuzzled the crook of her neck and pounded her deep and hard; he fucked her like a wild beast and drove her insane; Yamanaka Ino was his complete and utter bitch in that moment and she regretted nothing. Then, when she came again, and only then, he slammed into her one last time and poured another batch of hot seed deep within her honey pot.

Ino wailed into the bindings in her mouth and her knees buckled, her world started to spin, shifting into and out of focus. Naruto came down with her, gently letting the blonde kneel face-down in the dirt while he pushed as deep as he could with each and every spurt.

She was now his and no one else's; all thoughts and feelings towards her previous crush were cast aside in favor of this stud who shattered her expectations; her cunny would accept no other cock for as long as Ino lived... and deep down, even if only subconsciously, she knew it.

Thankfully, there were healers among Naruto's bodyguards, and they made sure Ino could walk home without an incriminating limp. Once Tuka, in particular, was done patching her up and the blonde made herself presentable once more, she sent Naruto off with a heated kiss before heading back home.

Unfortunately, it was just past 11:30pm when she got there and her father was waiting right in front of her apartment complex with a deep scowl.

Yamanaka Inoichi was not a happy person to say the least. It was near midnight and he had been worried sick when his daughter had not come back when she usually does. To make matters worse, it didn't take long for him to catch wind of her being on a date with a certain someone he'd explicitly instructed her to avoid.

So, when Ino came into sight and their gazes met, the two shared an uneasy silence.

"I thought I told you not to associate yourself with him," Inoichi hissed.

"And I avoided him like a good girl," Ino chirped. "All the way up until I no longer had to." She then cut in and continued before he could offer his retort. "I'm a grown woman who lives in her own apartment and no longer works at the flower shop, Tou-chan; as long as it's not illegal, what I do in my free time and who I do it with, is frankly my business."

"Do you not realize my position in the clan?" Inoichi growled. "What do you think people will assume after they hear that you went off gallivanting with that womanizer?!"

Ino gave him a flat look, "Hmmm… y'know, that's probably the nicest thing you've ever called him," she said, making a show of tapping her chin thoughtfully. Then her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned as she put her hands on her hips. "Also, do you not realize your responsibilities in the clan?! As the representative, you have an image to uphold; by showing such blatant malice towards a young man who is in the process of reviving one of the founding clans of Konoha and has done nothing wrong, you're making us as a whole look bad!"

Inoichi recoiled as if he had been struck. He recovered quickly however and gave his daughter a stern glare, "It doesn't matter if he's from a founding clan! He is a bad influence!"

Ino let out an unladylike snort at that, "Oh, sure, a 'bad influence' you say. And just who is responsible for that? Oh, that's right, it's you and the rest of your generation." She was not at all amused by that halfassed counterpoint to say the least. "Naruto wouldn't be a 'bad influence' if he… oh, I don't know… wasn't ignored and mistreated by the whole damn village? If he was allowed to have friends? And who was responsible for him ending up the way he is? It's your generation, telling us to stay away and ignore him for no reason other than 'because I said so'. All I wanted to do was get to know him and see if he really was as bad as you said... and guess what? He's not."

"According to whom?!"

"The entirety of the Mirran Council, several members and representatives of other clans, a friend of mine who used to hate his guts until she got to know him, Naruto's sensei, and the Hokage, just to name a few," Ino listed, ticking them off with her digits as she did so, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work tomorrow; my team and I are due for a C-rank soon and we need to train some more in preparation." With that and a dismissive huff, she marched off, ignoring her father's attempt at making a retort and returning to her little studio apartment.

Unbeknownst to Ino, the man would have a real reason to be mad at her and Naruto soon enough. As it turned out, the contraceptive technique she'd haphazardly cast that night had failed spectacularly and the little white army a certain stud... deployed earlier had long since "penetrated her inner sanctum," as it were. (11)

And, as if on cue, Naruto's genes were truly planted within Ino the moment she walked away from her father…

DMS Notes and Trivia:

1: In my headcanon, ANBU Kakashi and the slouch Kakashi who waited until Nami to teach his students tree-walking and nothing the fuck else are two completely different characters, canon be damned. Needless to say, this version is the former.

2: That line was totally not stolen from Hellsing Abridged, lol. Jokes aside, it served as inspiration for Sakura's character arc in this fic. The whole thing is done, too; I like it, even if it feels like it was written by a novice. To be fair, it was as I was predominantly responsible for this character arc in particular.

Can't thank Spy enough for his input, though; it was very helpful.

3: That's my personal headcanon on the matter; Inoichi was established to greatly dislike Naruto, but at the same time, Ino strikes me as the friendly type for obvious reasons, lol. That said, in my fanfiction, Ino avoided Naruto because Daddy told her to like a good girl, but wanted to be friends with him despite that because she saw how lonely he was... and she took a while to apologize for it because she was still juggling two jobs at the same time.

4: The saying "behind every great man is a great woman" exists for a reason; it doesn't always hold true, of course, but when it does, it makes one hell of a difference. Just a little food for thought.

5: Right... strap in, bitches, time for another rant.

Badass as that scene was where Kakashi and Zabuza blazed through like twenty handseals to cast Suiryuudan, a technique with that kinda requirement has no place in that situation. I mean, Kakashi was what? Twenty feet away? When Zabuza started going through those handseals, he should have just charged the dumbass with a hail of shuriken.

And simply making those handseals faster like in canon would simply not be the answer as there would realistically be a limit to how quickly one can make X hand gestures. Even if you're superhuman enough to make those twenty gestures in the blink of an eye, that just means there's someone out there who is superhuman enough to close that gap and stab you in the throat in a fraction of that time. As such, "superhuman, herp-a-derp" is simply not a sufficient counterpoint.

That said, in my fanfiction, this is addressed with the notion that hand seals are there to make up for poor chakra control. It's theoretically possible to cast a technique with zero hand gestures, but it is usually quite difficult, requiring an absurd amount of mastery over said technique in order to achieve. As such, most ninja typically need one or two for their more advanced techniques, even the veterans, though said ninja also have a number of techniques they can perform without them.

That just makes more sense to me as every second counts in a life or death situation and these are soldiers we're talking about.

6: I have no idea if that's true or not, but purple being a commonly favored color in the Yamanaka Clan is my official headcanon... Also, yes, if you've read Naruto's Quest, that girl was Inonon.

Yet another of my contributions to that collab, Yamanaka Inonon is a child prodigy loli OC who is very likely to make reappearances in my fanfiction, similarly to Kemushi. Her name is a corruption of Nonon (as in Jakuzure Nonon from Kill la Kill) and Ino.

7: Kishu is named after kishu inu, a Japanese dog breed.

8: Magic: the Gathering and Naruto are not the only series with horribly wasted potential that I like by a long shot. Another on my list of future fanfic IPs to explore is RWBY.

Seeing Weiss ask Ruby how she likes her coffee and then ducking down for a split second before giving her a fresh cup legitimately should have been a bonding moment between them. That said, this part of the date was inspired by a review by FatManFalling where he pointed this out.

9: Merrill is named after the best girl in Dragon Age II and why that game is my favorite of the three. Yes, I'm weird, I know.

10: That seems like it would make sense, to it's my personal headcanon on the matter; the Yamanaka Clan's tenchiques being mind control, it would be reasonable to assume that their techniques work better on those who lack mental fortitude. It would help explain what the hell happened inside Sakura's head during the Chuunin Exam prelims, if nothing else.

11: Given everything else chakra can do in universe, it'd be kinda silly to assume that contraceptive techniques don't exist. Of course, they'd just be one of many methods of birth control, unless one was powerful and widespread enough to render the others obsolete, but I personally find that harder to believe. Not by much, mind you, but it's still easier to picture condoms and pill-based birth control existing alongside these techniques. So, Spy and I went with that.

Parting Notes: And that is that... Kinda like how this turned out. I hope y'all did, too!

That being said, the next updates for The Mirran and Vulpine Overlord will be released on the 19th of this month. After that, the next two updates for both fanfics will be on the 5th and 19th. See y'all then and I hope yall have a good one, eh? :)