Well, shit. Sorry I'm late; I had a busy week. To make matters worse, I forgot that Valentine's Day was on Friday and overslept the next day, which took away most of my free time so a last minute save was simply not on the table this time around, lol.

But, here it is... I also am in the process of editing and preparing the next chapter for editing far more in advance, so this won't happen for the usual upload I have planned for this upcoming Friday. At the very latest, it'll be out on Saturday... or Sunday, depending on your timezone, but I digress!

Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Troubling Discoveries

A few days later, back in Staff, the Elder of the Organization hummed thoughtfully. "This is a troubling development, indeed," he commented. He looked at Jakob and gave his orders after a moment of consideration. "Send word to Scarlet and have her investigate the area."

"It will be done," Jakob replied with a bow.

Meanwhile, back in Neo Konoha, Naruto and Kurako were at the shop of a tailor who'd agreed to help them out with the vulpine loli's unusual clothing needs. It took Naruto a while to convince Kurako that she needed something to make her look presentable, but he managed, and now, here they were and Dianne's Tailor Hut. (1)

"I must say, these tails present a surprising challenge," the woman in question said, toiling away on her spinning wheel. She looked to be in her thirties with brown hair and chestnut eyes. "A fun challenge mind you; I just didn't expect it to be this difficult."

While their mother was doing that, two of her three daughters were getting the measurements they needed and taking notes while the last one was mixing up the dyes. Another reason this took so long was that the shop didn't have the components on hand to meet Kurako's demands, but Naruto was more than happy to pay for them himself, much to their delight.

"She's also surprisingly shapely for her size and body type," one of them pointed out. "I admittedly thought she was like nine or so when I first saw her dragging that Claymore to your castle. Now that she's not in those weird robes, though… I must say, she's got a nice pair of hips on her. I'm actually kinda jealous." (2)

"How do you think I seduced him?" Kurako teased, drawing many a blush from the girls.

"Oh, behave, you," Naruto chuckled. Then, he turned his attention back to the tailor. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"The first dress should only take a day or so to put together," Dianne answered. "Once we get the hang of it, the rest will come together fairly quickly. The dyes will take a bit to soak in, because of the colors she wants, though. That part will take several days for the more vibrant ones in particular. I'd say maybe a week or so in total."

Two weeks later, back where Kurako raided the caravan, a woman with slightly red-tinted, hay-colored locks and silver eyes surveyed the area. She looked to be in her early teens; petite, but strong with a modest bust, wide hips, and powerful legs. Her name was Scarlet the Swift. Upon the most recent fluctuation in their ranks, she was now the current Warrior Number 22 of the Organization.

Of course, Naruto and Kurako made sure not to let the horses, wagon, and armor go to waste, having long-since looted the little battlefield. Much to the girl's chagrin, she didn't have much to go by as a result.

There were definitely signs of a struggle. Scorch marks and splintered wood littered the newfound clearing, as well as many a gash in the earth and spikes of rock, resembling daggers, jutted out in all directions. Though she hadn't been down this road before, Scarlet could tell that those weren't here before. The loose dirt around them suggested that they were… pushed out from beneath the ground?! What the absolute fuck were they dealing with, here?!

Sniffing the ground to see if she could catch someone's scent, she nodded. Yup, that was definitely female. She also knew it wasn't a familiar one. There was also a distinctly male scent in the area that didn't belong to Simon or his escorts. It had a strange tint to it, too—smelling… foreign, for lack of a better word, like no other she'd ever come across. That had to be his!

The female scent smelled much like his… and of semen spent, drawing a blush from Scarlet.

Heading closer to the center of the clearing, where the remnants of an apparent fire pit lay, another scent caught her attention—that of grilled vegetables and… barbecued human flesh.

"Yup," she chirped, plastering a haunted grin upon her face. "I'm done here." And with that, she literally vanished in a burst of inhuman speed, even by the standards of her peers, returning to base to report her findings. (3)

Meanwhile, Dianne and her daughters got Kurako's order done, and now, back in their shop, the fox girl in question was garbed in a burnt orange dress with a deep, blood red tunic and golden sash to hide the belt and her new purse. The tunic was sleeveless, allowing for the bell sleeves of the dress to show through without issue and her hair was done up in a cute, little bun—held in place with two long, decorative pins. Her tails also slipped through a little hole in the back of her dress rather comfortably while her tunic split in the back to accommodate them. (4)

She wore nothing beyond that, though… absolutely nothing... and the little vixen made a distinct point to tease Naruto about that, much to the collective embarrassment of Dianne and her daughters.

SMACK!

Kurako let out a yelp and started purring when Naruto gave his concubine a firm swat on the rear for her troubles. Her cheeks then turned red and she leered at him naughtily.

"Behave," he grunted, doing well to hide his amusement. Her hormones were already acting up, holy shit!

That aside, Naruto eyeballed the remaining dresses with a satisfied nod. Aside from the two additional copies of her garb, one was an elegant royal ball gown. Red and gold in color and shoulderless with bell-style sleeves, it accentuated those 'nice hips' mentioned a while ago rather nicely.

Granted, like Sakura had been back in the day, Kurako was flat as a board… which was why none of the dresses were low-cut. There was simply nothing to flaunt up there. But, she still managed to be sexy as all hell in Naruto's opinion and the gown looked damn good on her… as did the little bright red, woolen nightgown. That was quite the interesting order; he was very pleasantly surprised when a thoroughly-flustered Dianne agreed to make that one.

Said gown was utterly scandalous by the standards of the continent, reaching down to just above her little mound and showed off her back and shoulders off rather nicely like the skimpiest halter dress ever conceived. (5)

Naruto smiled at the memories of the little fox-loli trying them on. All of the new outfits looked absolutely sexy on her. He would definitely be coming back for more! He might get Sylvia down here to get her outfitted with some new clothes. And since Miranda and Cassandra are now his mistresses, as well as Roxanne, it would be a good idea to get them something nice to wear for when they're in the mood.

With that in mind and after placing his payment on the table, he thanked Dianne and her daughters for their service, took Kurako's hand, and was out the door with her new wardrobe.

Just shy of another two weeks later, back in Staff, Scarlet bowed, her report having already been given. As her name and reputation would imply, her inhuman speed made it possible to cover such distances in a laughably short amount of time in comparison to any of her peers. Many speculated that she could even outpace the Abyssal Ones, though Scarlet herself was understandably reluctant to test such claims.

The Elder and Council of the Organization were silent for some time, considering her words carefully. Then, the leader waved her off.

"You are dismissed, Number 22," the Elder said. "You've done well; return to your post."

"As you wish," she replied, bowing once more. Then, she was literally gone in a blink, naught but a gust of wind left in her wake.

"This is a troubling discovery," one of the Handlers commented. "To think that we face a being who can control the very earth itself." Such a thing was virtually unheard of! Just what are they up against?!

"Controlling the earth or not, this nuisance will be dealt with like all others who have opposed us," the elder said dispassionately. "We cannot allow everything we have achieved here to come undone."

One of the Handlers spoke up in response. "Shall we have a 'mishap' befall Konoha and wipe out its occupants? Or cause as much damage as possible while gauging the abilities of Naruto?" It seemed like a good idea in his mind. It's not uncommon for towns to suddenly get attacked by a large number of youma and Awakened Ones; it also happens to be how they receive their recruits. Little girls who survived are brought here and are turned to warriors and the boys that survived are brought to one of their many secret facilities that are hidden away from the public, where they are then turned into the very thing that destroyed their home.

It's an effective way to remind other towns and cities on this testing ground they need them to keep youma at bay.

The elder frowned thoughtfully for a moment as he weighed the pros and cons of such a decision. It didn't take long for him to come up with his answer. "Have them on standby. Once an opportunity arises, send them out."

As fate would have it, though, the Organization would soon be provided additional incentive to try something. The next day, Elenda soared towards Neo Konoha.

Her awakened form was pitch black and ashen gray in color, with glowing red eyes and resembling a humanoid bat. She was entirely nude, standing a good ten feet tall, with a twenty-foot wingspan replacing her arms.

She had nary a single hair on her body in this form, her black locks having been replaced by a mass of thorny vines with two red roses above her now-pointed ears.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, Naruto had the equivalent of an Eye in his harem, so they knew she was coming, days ago… and Naruto was waiting for her at the center of town.

As she got closer, Elenda took note of the many youki signatures she sensed in the area. She frowned thoughtfully. There were… two Narutos…? No, now that she was closer, the Awakened Eye could tell that one of them was female… a twin sister, perhaps? It… seemed like that was the case, but their signatures were just too similar, even for identical twins!

There were also several warriors present and two Awakened Ones, Dauf being among them. The other was likely to be Riful… no, that was definitely her… But, why did her signature feel like there was something off about it? Come to think of it, many of the warriors felt the same way. Also… there were three others…? They were faint, but… growing? How strange, indeed...

Well, she was able to fly and Riful wasn't so it shouldn't be too much of an issue for her to get in for a closer look. That thought in mind, Elenda did so. If memory served, Riful was titan-sized and comprised of extendable ribbons, so the former Eye figured an altitude of 5,000 feet should do the trick.

As Elenda passed over a ridge, Konoha was in her line of sight, now. She saw that Zakol Castle had definitely been rebuilt, too. It was also bigger and a proper rampart surrounded the castle and village in a concentric fashion, providing for two lines of defense with quite the zwinger between them and a total of six gatehouses. It was rather impressive, she had to admit.

Elenda focused her senses upon the castle, where she knew most of them were and tried to gauge how many of them were lurking within those walls. There were a total of eight confirmed warriors in the castle, plus the two Awakened Ones, and the 'female Naruto' she sensed earlier. The Awakened Ones seemed to be chilling in the great hall, one of the warriors and the 'female Naruto were in the don jon, several others were spread out in other rooms, and two of the warriors were tending to the three faint signatures.

Another frown marred Elenda's features as she noticed that the two in the don jon seemed to be keeping an eye on her? Was that warrior and Eye, too? Well, that's inconvenient. Perhaps that was why Naruto's in the center of town?

Still… she needed to get in closer. Seeing how Riful and Dauf were so deep within the castle and not likely to destroy it by transforming to meet her, Elenda felt more confident in swooping down for a swift look. So, she did just that, completely ignoring the panic she caused in the process.

As she did and got a better reading on the youki signatures inside, Elenda's eyes widened in shock. She could feel something going on in the abdomens of Riful and five of the warriors. Something was growing inside them… a second youki signature in each one. Meanwhile. the 'female Naruto' had two. Were they… were they pregnant?! How?!

Those three signatures also felt very similar… each one seeming more natural than those of the warriors and Awakened Beings. There was no doubt about it; they were his offspring… Holy shit, they were his offspring! Elenda couldn't keep the flabbergasted look off her face if she tried; just... how was this possible?! How could warriors and Riful be pregnant?! That shouldn't be possible. It can't be possible! Warriors are made barren after they had the flesh and blood of a youma implanted!

But, she can sense their offspring! She can literally feel them growing!

Then, just as that thought crossed her mind, a pillar of black and red flames filled her field of vision and she let out a startled, undignified yelp upon finding herself face to nose with an utterly colossal fox… rabbit… thing with nine tails. Holy fucking shit, it was ten times as big as Isley! (6)

"WHAT THE HELL!?" She cried out in genuine panic. Where the hell did that thing come from?!

The answer to her questions came in the form of Naruto taking a snap at her, which she narrowly evaded. "Waaaaah!" she cried out, and three more snaps, with three equally narrow dodges later, she was well on her way the fuck out of here, before that thing killed her. Then, a sense of dread like none other she'd felt before washed over Elenda as Naruto's youki spiked and her back was singed by a line of what she could only describe as black fire shooting from his gaping maw. Had she been so much as a foot closer, the Awakened intruder knew she would have been incinerated!

"I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRY!" She babbled, trying her damnedest to get the hell out of there as fast as inhumanly possible.

"YOU WILL BE IF YOU CAUSE ANY MORE TROUBLE AROUND HERE!"

Oh, she had no intention of coming back in the foreseeable future, of that Elenda was certain.

Back on the ground, Naruto transformed back in another burst of black and red fire and sighed. Such a shame… that girl was sexy as all hell in that form of hers, he had to admit. One hell of a rack, too… he couldn't help but wonder what she looked like in her human form.

Oh, well… something told him he'd see her again and he hoped it would be on much friendlier terms. She may not have been doing anything aside from scaring the villagers shitless, but Naruto couldn't take any chances.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he turned to those still in the area and bowed apologetically. "Sorry for the scare."

One of Garruk's travel companions, Lady Elizabeth, came running; the woman looked concerned. "Milord," she called out. "What was that?"

"It was a demon of some kid," he replied. It wasn't a lie. "I'll have Dauf stationed here for a while in case she returns. He should be able to shoot her down if that happens. Even if he's not, Kurako will be in contact with him and let me know immediately."

"Understood," the redhead muttered. She didn't like the sound of that, but fighting fire with fire seemed to be his thing, so Lady Elizabeth kept those feelings so herself.

Off in the distance, Aya's jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide with disbelief. She… she couldn't believe what just happened! Did Naruto just… oh, that's bad. That's really, really bad! She literally saw that fox spitting black fire from here! She never knew Awakened Ones could even do such a thing! Or get that big!

"This… just got a whole lot scarier," she muttered to herself.

Ten days later, back in Alphonse, a thoroughly-winded Elenda was before Isley once more and had given her report. Rigald, ever by Isley's side, was there as well.

"I swear it upon my life," she sputtered in disbelief. "That's what I saw! I can't believe it myself, but that's what I saw!"

"How troubling," the silver-eyed man commented.

Taking a moment to absorb the information, Isley came to his decision. "It would be foolish to assume that the Organization has not drawn this Naruto's ire by now," he said. "Therefore, he must be creating an army to combat them, using these females as breeding stock to that end. That's the only rational possibility." (7)

"So, what should we do?" Rigald asked.

"It's only a matter of time before they come to blows," Isley reasoned. "We should prepare for that. Keep assembling the army - as many youma and Awakened as possible. When that day comes, we let them fight... and eliminate the victor, thus claiming this world for ourselves."

"As you wish, milord," the dark-haired man replied with a bow.

Isley nodded at him in satisfaction, before turning his attention to Elenda. "You are to head to Yorkka and use that as a headquarters while keeping an eye on Konoha. Report everything to Rigald when I send him there every two weeks."

"Y-yes, milord," Elenda replied hesitantly. She knew that place rather well, a port town on the western edge of Alphonse. In fact, she could probably fly to Konoha from there in four or five days, possibly less if she was well-fed. Yes, that was the best place for her to camp out and rest. (8)

"Do well to keep your appetite in check," Isley warned. "The last thing we need is a hunting party being sent after you."

"Of course, milord," Elenda replied, bowing respectfully. She didn't look forward to being shot at again, but if she kept her distance, the former Eye should be able to evade anything Naruto had to throw at her. She was a relatively small target, after all.

If only she knew…

That evening, now that they had fully recovered and settled into their new rooms, Elizabeth and Evianna exchanged a glance as they sat upon the latter's bed. They looked nervous as Uranus sat patiently in a chair before them.

"So…" Elizabeth began, blushing madly. She and Evianna had wanted to get their stigmas healed for now, but were too nervous to ask after coming to the same and very wrong conclusion. "Um… is there anything we must do while Naruto's healing us…? Like, is there any… preferences he has?"

Uranus stared at her in confusion for a moment, before giving her reply. "I… have no idea what you mean by that. All you have to do is remove your clothes so he can see what he's doing. It feels uncomfortable when he's pumping his youki into your stigma, but that's the worst of it."

"Pumping his youki…" Evianna repeated. "So… wait, we don't need to have sex with him to have it healed?!"

"W-what? No!" Uranus blushed hard and stared at them in utter shock. What made them come to that conclusion?!

"Oh, thank the gods!" Evianna sighed.

"Who told you that?!" Uranus demanded, still shocked as she looked between the two with wide eyes.

"N-no one," Elizabeth sputtered in embarrassment. "It's just... out of everyone here, you're the only one who's not pregnant. We thought you used a condom or something." (9)

"I will have you know that I am still a virgin," Uranus deadpanned. Not that she'd particularly mind having some fun with Naruto, but still… "I just… haven't gotten around to asking him yet." She then awkwardly cleared her throat and continued. "But no, Naruto does not need to have sex with you to heal your stigmas. He just pushes his youki against your stigma and it would do the rest. You just have to be naked so he can see what he's doing." Then she gave them a slightly unsettling smile. "Don't be surprised if he compliments your looks, though. Naruto tends to speak before he thinks and has a bit of a weakness for strong women."

"Noted," Evianna replied, blushing madly at the thought.

"So… what's he like? Personality wise, I mean," Elizabeth asked; she was genuinely curious about the infamous Lord of Neo Konoha. To say the Organization had painted him in a bad light would be an understatement, and while she was—and still is—angry at him for ordering the deaths of ten innocent girls, the woman had to admit he was not acting the way she… expected of him.

"He's really kind, actually," Uranus replied. "Naruto is… not what the Organization painted him as. He was really reluctant in ordering the deaths of those girls and told Kurako to only do it if there was no way to deter them from trying to kill him."

"What we saw begs to differ." Evianna flatly answered. "She didn't hesitate in killing those girls the moment she laid eyes on them."

"Kurako can read minds and sense negative intent," Uranus told them. "It's kind of hard to hideyour intentions from her… or anything for that matter." Uranus blushed. "Including things like your spanking fetish."

Evianna sputtered indignantly at that. She never told anyone about such a thing!

Uranus then looked to Elizabeth and added, "And she also knows about your fantasy of dressing up like a maid and getting ravished from behind by your master. Oh, and she told Naruto and his main harem all about that, too."

Poor Elizabeth looked about ready to die from embarrassment upon hearing that.

"Given how surprisingly kinky Kurako and Sylvia are, it's almost a certainty they'll goad Naruto to try and bed you two. They've done the same thing with me, to be honest."

"So…" Elizabeth began. "Why hasn't he tried claiming you?"

"EXCUSE ME?!" Evianna yelled, her sisterly instincts kicking in right there as she protectively hugged 'Nissie' and glared at Elizabeth for asking such a thing.

"Hey! It's a perfectly reasonable question; your sister's been here for years; he's bound to have made a move on her by now!"

"To be fair, I'm also surprised that he hasn't yet," Uranus answered with a sheepish chuckle. "He won't pursue anyone who does not show any interest in him, though... even if he is interested in them. He's waiting for me to make the first move… I can tell." It was a good thing too… had he not, Evianna would have undoubtedly gotten herself killed by trying to castrate him.

"I… I see," Evianna muttered, taking a deep breath to calm herself. That actually made her feel better about their situation, if nothing else.

"I will warn you, however, that Naruto likes to flirt. You might wanna get used to feeling like your cheeks have been lit ablaze; some of the things he says never fail to make me blush to this day."

"Duly noted," Elizabeth muttered.

1: I kinda pictured Diane from Seven Deadly Sins in my head when coming up with the tailor and said "fuck it" when I wrote the scene, lol.

2: I mean, tits are nice, but I'm not picky about 'em; it's them birthing hips that matter, after all. If a girl has those and looks healthy, I'm happy.

3: I kinda like the idea of a warrior with Scarlet's abilities – those being a sense of smell that is powerful even for a warrior of the Organization and the ability to maintain an inhumanly-high foot speed for long periods of time.

4: I've been trying to draw Kurako for the longest time. It's irritating that I simply cannot get it down for some reason, but this is such a nice mental image.

5: Yes, that is indeed a virgin killer, lol.

6: Yeah, not gonna lie, Kurama looks more like a rabbit than a fox... and it's not just he ears, either! His entire facial structure doesn't at all look very foxy. At least not like any fox I've ever seen. O.o

7: I can't help but imagine that he'd project like that.

8: Yorkka is a fictional port town I created for this fanfic since there aren't any cities or towns in Alphonse that I could remember the names of. Its name is derived from from New York.

9: I mean, it's not hard to see why they'd come to that conclusion. XD

And that is that! Stayed up way later than I should have, but it's done... and now, I'm heading to bed. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter the last update for this month will be out this weekend, so I'll see you then!