The crew gathered for dinner, Naruto leading a slightly gravid Kakashi to his assigned seat next to Gaara. "You don't have to eat if you don't want to, but the option is there if you want it," Naruto said to his long-time friend and newest lover with a grin.
Kakashi tried to ignore the fact he was in his birthday suit after over a century of conditioning to always wear armor around aliens. "Thank you. Who's the cook on the crew?"
The Pack all snorted. "Naruto let's us assist from time to time, but he rules the kitchen," Hinata told Kakashi.
Kakashi turned a speculative eye on Naruto. "A Commodore who cooks for his crew? Good. A leader should take time to serve as much as lead," the trader mused wisely.
"Plus he was raised in a restaurant and he loves it," Sasuke said.
Naruto brought out the plates, using Telekinesis for the ones not in his hands. "Chicken and biscuits slathered in gravy, sides of succotash and mashed potatoes. Enjoy, family!"
Kakashi managed to push past the stuffed silly feeling in his stomach to take a bite. His eyes widened in shock. "What were you doing working as a trader? You could get into any restaurant you wanted with skills like this!"
"I didn't go to a fancy culinary school, my applications all got denied. Plus, I just wanted to wander the universe, trading was an excuse to go places. Then I got a tip about Tyrenium, met Hinata, and the rest as they say is history."
Kakashi leaned forward. "This I got to hear."
The Pack smiled and began to give a very condensed tale of their adventures from the moment Hinata had snuck onboard the Fool's Gold. Kakashi gaped as he heard their tales of going up against the pirates, Nuke, Kusa, and their decisive victory against the Kumo. They also gave lurid rememberings of particularly spectacular sexual encounters, making Kakashi blush and his dick harden. They talked so long that Kakashi's stomach went down to its normal six-pack.
The crew finished their odyssey with their arrival at Geniya Station, and then put away their plates, which they'd all managed to clean in between talking. Kakashi felt bad when his own plate was still practically full, but Naruto reassured him it was fine. Kakashi was offered a glass of straight gin and they all gathered around on the couches. Naruto opened an arm and welcomed Kakashi into his side, his own glass of sake in hand.
Kakashi looked out the window at the rather unimpressive view of the inside of Docking Bay 24. Still, it felt nice to just sit around and have a drink and soak up the camaraderie of the crew.
*It's nice, isn't it?* Naruto's voice rang clear in Kakashi's head.
Kakashi startled. "Warn me before you do that," Kakashi grumbled.
*Sorry. We just usually talk with our minds rather than our mouths, except when a member of the Pack hasn't joined the Pack mind yet.*
*Pack mind?*
*You and I have an Astral Bond, due to you drinking my cum. You can form an Astral Bond with every other member of the crew once you get to know them well enough and reach a certain threshold of trust. Sakura's about ready to join, maybe we'll spend tomorrow doing that,* Naruto mused.
Kakashi shook his head. "You all failed to mention you're a hive-mind," he pointed out.
"Group mind, very different. It's not like Naruto is the King and we're mindless drones. It's more that our minds are all wrapped up in one big group hug. We hear and feel everything everyone else is feeling. And it's beautiful," Hinata argued.
Kakashi shuddered. "And you want to introduce Karin and Anko into the group? They'll poison it."
"You know that I can change personalities when someone drinks my cum. You're already glancing at me, Sasuke, and Gaara as much as the girls," Naruto observed. "Give me a week and I'll have them as sweet little kittens. I don't tolerate toxic people on my crew."
"So what's the plan? Make Karin our Intelligence Officer and Anko another Matriarch for all the Oto Thralls?" Sasuke asked, a little less harshly than he would have yesterday. He was starting to come around.
"Pretty much. That's if they agree, of course. I'll be aggressive in negotiating, but you know my rule. They have to consent," Naruto insisted.
Kakashi snorted. "Good luck with that," he said disbelievingly. "Those two would rather die than submit to male authority."
"Depends on the carrot we offer them and how," Naruto said confidently.
"Speaking of long stalks you eat, I believe it's time for my third dose," Kakashi said, slipping to the floor and turning to reach for Naruto's pants.
"You sure? You'll remember it this time. This might not be your first blowjob, but it's the first on an Uzu," Naruto cautioned, even as his cock stood up at attention.
"I've done a lot of 69's on cold, lonely nights with other lonely men. Now that I'm actually bisexual, I might actually enjoy it!" Kakashi said brightly.
"Plus, the Astral Bond means you feel what he feels, so you're fellating yourself at the same time," Gaara pointed out.
Kakashi rose a brow before smiling wide. "In that case, let's get the show on the road!" With that, the Oto took Naruto's cock into his mouth. He went deep as he could, and discovered that was suddenly a lot deeper than he was used to. His throat opened up eagerly to accept that rod of male flesh, allowing Kakashi to sink down on Naruto to his four balls. At the same time, Kakashi felt a warm wetness envelop his own cock down to the root, yet when he touched his erection he felt nothing but air and skin.
Kakashi shrugged and proceeded to put his oral talents to good use, blowing Naruto with the ease of one who's engaged in gay sex for decades. Naruto leaned back his head and groaned, putting a hand on Kakashi's head to steady himself and guide the man. In a matter of minutes, Naruto was unloading down Kakashi's throat, letting out a roar of pleasure. His crew had all been masturbating to the show and released simultaneously, leaving a mess for the cleaning robots to handle.
Kakashi drew back until Naruto's Alpha cock was out of his mouth. He looked down and saw that it looked like he'd swallowed a beach ball. He rubbed the solid warmth contently, wondering if this is how pregnant women felt.
Naruto drew Kakashi back up to his feet and gave him a kiss on the lips. "Good man. Now, we usually take a long shower or bath after dinner."
"And then we have an orgy, unless we're breaking in a new Pack member, then all loads are saved for them," Tenten added helpfully.
"A shower sounds nice, and then an early night," Kakashi mused. "I'm selling off my life savings tomorrow, that will need a full night of sleep."
They made for the shower, and Kakashi learned what it was like to have eight other people wash and worship you. Fu, ever eager to serve, ducked down and gave him a blowjob while Naruto massaged his back with strong, firm hands and the others cradled his bump. They got dried and piled into the bed, Kakashi taking Sasuke's usual place at Naruto's left side, and they all passed into the realm of dreams after their near-automatic warding.
The next day passed busily. After getting his morning meal from Naruto, Kakashi took the Holo-reader, logged it into the Geniya Station network, and began to auction off all his assets at discount rates that the other traders wouldn't be able to resist. It was painful, but at least he could comfort himself that he'd still be a billionaire at the end, thanks to Naruto's account. Sakura spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon bonding with one member of the Pack after another. At the end, she was a member of the Pack mind through and through, her world opened up to their group experience. Tenten and the maintenance robots were busy on the Bridge, uninstalling the current Tactical and Pilot Chairs and replacing them with the massively upgraded Uzu equivalents. Hana kept up her lessons with Gaara and Sakura around the latter's hour-long bondings. Sasuke, having regained an interest in the sword, asked Naruto to teach him after his spar with Lee. After all, the best way to learn was to teach. And Hinata and Fu continued to work on their psychic powers.
At the end, they all gathered for a late dinner of Pork Tenderloin and had drinks afterward much like the night before. And as with the night before, Kakashi gave a blowjob to Naruto which was followed by a gentle shower and drying off for bed.
The day they were set to leave with Karin, Naruto woke and gave Kakashi his first load of the day. The orgasm waking everyone else in the Pack, they all got dressed after a quick shower and had a fast breakfast, Kakashi by now used to being nude onboard the Invictus.
"So, we don't have to leave with Karin until noon. The shipment of elements came in overnight according to Shikamaru, so we'll spend a few minutes loading those 19 crates. Then what do we do with our morning?" Naruto put to the floor.
"Field test!" Hana, Tenten, and Fu all cheered.
The others laughed at their eagerness to test the new upgrades to the Invictus, but they could all feel the same sense of excitement.
Hinata looked at Naruto, and said enthusiastically, "We're right near the border to Konoha space. Quick detour to go and murder some asteroids? There's a belt of them nearby, so it'll only take twenty minutes to get there."
"It does seem to have become a tradition," Naruto agreed with a grin. "Let's go and gallantly vanquish some hunks of rock!"
They all stood and strolled briskly out of the Officers' Lounge, then stepped into the grav-tube, so they could float up to the Command Deck. Everyone fanned out immediately to take their places on the Bridge, and Naruto couldn't help but grin at what a well-oiled machine his crew had become. The only odd ones out were Sakura and Kakashi, who technically didn't have stations on the Bridge. Luckily, Tenten thought ahead, and while she'd been upgrading the Chairs she'd added some normal ones around the edge of the room, enough to seat 16 people. Naruto could only shake his head, imagining his crew reaching that size.
When everyone was strapped in, Fu took them out of the Docking Bay. They wiggled and wobbled enough to make Naruto nauseous even with the artificial gravity. "Sorry, these new controls are really sensitive!" Fu called out apologetically.
"Should I decrease the sensitivity?" Shikamaru asked, naturally having control of all the software on the Invictus.
"No, just took an adjustment. I'm good now," Fu stated confidently, the Invictus regaining its usual smooth gait as they flew for the Nav Beacon. Hinata laid in their course and they rushed into hyperwarp.
Kakashi marveled at the maps as he tracked the Invictus's progress. "You're faster than the Suna! I didn't even think that was possible!"
"And we're only half the speed of a proper Uzu Tachyon Drive," Tenten said with a pout. "I definitely need to use the new elements to get to work on one of those. But the first move HAS to be to make an Atomic Manufacturer. That stuff 3D prints with molecules and atoms! I could just feed a schematic and the right elements into it and not have to bother putting stuff together, the finished product would just come out! Well, except for the big stuff, that I'll still have to put together the old-fashioned way."
"I trust you to prioritize your own project list, Tenten," Naruto said lightly.
They passed a few minutes with conversation before they arrived. The Invictus raced into the system and the safety protocols kicked in, dropping them out of hyperwarp before they got too close to any gravity wells, but near enough to the field of unwitting chunks of rock.
"Bring us within weapon range," Naruto said to Fu, and she nodded firmly as she carried out his orders.
Hana took a deep breath, and then powered up the gunnery chair for the Tactical Station. There was a bass hum of power as the lights came to life around her, and with a click of a button the holographic targeting matrix appeared, casting a soft blue glow over that corner of the Bridge.
They could see at once there had been major changes. Hana was now positioned inside the interface with a holographic shell surrounding her, rather than just a glowing panel in front of her eyes. The softly glowing blue sphere curved out from both sides of her chair, and she sat at the rear end of the globe, with a holographic representation of the Invictus directly in front of her. She pressed a button activating the ship's weapons, and the armored sections of hull plating slid back, revealing the lengthy barrels beneath. As each of the gun batteries came online, the weapon controls in her hands began to illuminate, the buttons beneath her fingers flickering before glowing brightly.
Firing arcs were shown on the holographic sphere, displaying the fields of fire for each of the different ship based weapons at her disposal. The Mass Drivers and Beam Lasers could only face forward, with narrow, but very long fire arcs. In contrast, the Laser Cannons and the Gatling Lasers were all turreted, and their numerous overlapping fields of fire criss-crossed each other in a complex latticework of broad cones.
"Everything looks good with the weapon integration to Fire Control," Hana said to Tenten, before carefully moving the weapon controls in her hands. "All weapons are fully active and tracking correctly."
They could see the fire arcs shifting as Hana moved each hand, the dozens of weapons responding to every movement.
Hana frowned. "Shikamaru, increase sensitivity by 500%."
"You sure you want it six times more likely to miss?" the AI asked worriedly.
"Trust me," Hana told the Ship Assistant.
Shikamaru's hologram nodded and then suddenly the fire arcs were moving much faster and smoother at every twitch of Hana's fingers.
Tenten nodded, and then turned to her console, before reporting, "Hooking up the data from the sensor array, and feeding it to the Fire Control System."
The faintly glowing blue sphere flickered briefly, and then just like that, it was as if Hana was floating in the middle of the asteroid belt. Exact replicas of each hunk of rock were faithfully displayed; from tiny ones no larger than a man's head, to the absolutely enormous ones that were as big as the ship, all shown spinning and drifting gently.
"I'm picking up the local objects. Now testing the data overlay and optical targeting," Hana informed them calmly.
She activated a control, and all the asteroids in the vicinity were immediately tagged with a variety of information from velocity to heading. As none of the asteroids were shielded, all the information was displayed in red. The Lieutenant glanced at each potential target, cycling through dozens in seconds, and leaving each one displaying a targeting reticle.
"OK, commencing fire test," Hana said, her eyes shining with anticipation.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember the advice Tenten had given her when Hana had asked about her trick of typing two different things with each hand. "Just relax and let it flow through you," the ravenette had said.
When she slowly opened her eyes once more, everything seemed sharper, and she knew that she was ready. She focused purely on the targets, letting her remarkable mind guide her hands by instinct alone. She took a deep breath and then unleashed the full firepower of the Assault Cruiser.
Everyone else on the Bridge watched in open-mouthed amazement, as Hana's fingers danced over the triggers on the weapon controls like a concert pianist performing a masterpiece. The Invictus continued drifting through the asteroid belt, as blue laser bolts, pulsating beams of energy, and heavy shells poured out in an unending stream of destruction. Her hands were moving independently of each other, controlling both the port and starboard mounted weapons simultaneously, as she ripped through the asteroids. She alternated between ruthlessly eliminating target after target on both sides of them, and ploughing a path directly ahead with the front facing heavy weapons. She timed the weapon cooldowns and recharge times to perfection, maximising the damage output of the ship.
The Lieutenant ceased firing, and the Nymph brought them to a gentle stop, pausing at the head of a long trail of devastation torn through the asteroid belt.
"I've never seen anything like it!" Naruto marvelled. "It was like you were using all the weapons at the same time! I couldn't even tell what you were firing at half the time."
Hana deactivated the ship's weapons, covering them behind the Invictus' protective armor plating once more, and she blushed slightly as she looked around at her shipmate's awed faces.
"Okay, now I'm convinced you could survive an ambush in the heart of House Guren space," Kakashi said faintly, eyes wide as coins.
"This is what happens when you enhance an expert marksman," Hinata observed with pride.
"Just imagine all that with Quantum weapons! Hana, we'll make you a fleet destroyer yet!" Tenten cheered, pleased as punch that the upgrades had been so effective.
"You used the same technique as Tenten, focusing on multiple complex tasks at once!" Sakura realized.
"I asked for a tip," Hana understated.
Naruto stood from his Command Chair to give his Tactical Officer a big smooch and a crushing hug. "I'm so proud of you, Hana. You're the best shot in the galaxy, I have no doubt!"
Hana all but glowed from the praise and happily sank into Naruto's arms.
"Well done everyone, that was one hell of a show. Let's make our way back to Geniya Station now, and get ready for the rendezvous with Karin," Naruto commanded.
Hinata smiled wryly as she said, "She doesn't strike me as the kind of girl who likes people turning up fashionably late."
Naruto laughed and said, "I think you're probably right. Fu, take us out of here please."
The Nymph leapt to follow his order, and she brought the Invictus around in a tight arc, before travelling out of the asteroid belt back the way they came. They admired Hana's handiwork on the way out, amazed at how total the destruction was through the floating rocks, in a broad path as wide as the firing range of the Laser Cannons.
Soon they were clear of the hazardous asteroid field, and Hinata plotted them a route back to Geniya Space Station, the green line of her flight path on the Sector Map showing the trail through the intervening systems. She powered up the Tachyon Drive, and they jumped into hyperwarp, racing at incredible speed across the huge distances between the stars. The twenty minute journey passed by in the blink of an eye, with them all chatting animatedly about the upgrades to the ship, so it almost came as a surprise when they eventually arrived in the Theta Aquarii system.
The passive sensors almost instantaneously populated the Tactical Map with detailed information on every ship in the system, as the incredibly sensitive sensor array went to work.
"That's Karin's ship," Kakashi pointed out helpfully.
They all looked up at the Tactical Map, and Hinata zoomed in on the distinctive ship, so that they could look at it in detail. The Oto Cruiser was smaller than the Invictus, and seemed to have an elegant look about it, constructed with an aesthetic grace unseen on any other ship they had encountered so far. The ship was all graceful curves and flowing lines, and the numerous sparkling crystal domes made the Oto vessel look delicate and fragile. The jutting weapon barrels and multitude of turrets put to rest any thought that the ship posed no threat, and there was an aura of deadly menace about the ship.
Hana looked at all the crystal domes, and shook her head dubiously, "Those domes are like painting a bullseye on the ship's vulnerable spots. The Oto vessel might look pretty, but I can't see that craft having any durability in a heated firefight."
Kakashi smiled at her knowingly, and said, "Actually, the clear crystal tech we use is a lot tougher than the reinforced Titanium that Konoha use for armor plating. A couple of inches of strengthened crystal, could take about as much of a beating as one foot thick Titanium. The rest of their hull is armored in reinforced crystal as well, but the rest of the armor isn't transparent."
Hana nodded and reassessed the alien ship with a discerning eye.
Tenten tilted her head. "If I didn't have the formula for Unobtanium in my head, I'd be tempted to use this crystal tech. As it is, what's the point?"
"Shall we do an active scan?" Sasuke asked, inquiring about the one thing he really did on the Bridge.
Naruto shook his head. "Until the knife is drawn and headed for our back, she's a friendly. You don't active scan your allies."
"We're being hailed," Gaara said.
"Restrict the viewscreen to my face, I don't want her seeing Kakashi," Naruto ordered his Grey lover.
Gaara nodded and flicked a few switches. Karin's armor's helmet appeared in holo-image. "I was starting to think you weren't going to make it," she said, and Naruto could easily imagine her annoyed frown.
"Sorry, had to field test a few new upgrades to the ship. In any case, we're still ten minutes early," Naruto pointed out.
Karin nodded. "As you know, the plan is to head for Quanthos, where you will escort me into the Zetsu nest and help me to detonate the incendiary device."
"How do you expect us to get out in time to avoid going up like the rest of the Zetsu?" Naruto asked, voicing Hinata's astute thought.
"There is a timer," Karin said as if she were talking to an imbecile.
"And you're willing to risk your life on us escorting you out of the heart of hostile territory in the time it takes for the countdown to reach zero?" Naruto inquired.
Karin tilted her head. "Are you not a 'mighty' Uzu with weapons that make Oto equivalents look 'watered-down?'" she asked challengingly.
Naruto grinned smarmily. "Indeed, I am. Just wanted to hear you admit it."
She visibly bristled, even under her armor. Karin leaned over to the side, pressing a couple of buttons on a console, and said, "Move into formation with my Cruiser, and we will sync hyperwarp signatures with your vessel." He could hear the condescension in her tone when she added, "Don't worry, we'll slow down enough so your Konoha vessel can keep pace."
He smiled back at her wryly and said, "Don't worry about us. We're in a hurry, so gradually increase your hyper-warp velocity to maximum, and we'll adjust our speed accordingly."
Karin laughed derisively and said, "I think you vastly overestimate what that ungainly crate can do. Transferring our flight path to your Nav computer." With that, she closed the comm channel abruptly.
"So she thinks our weapons are top notch but our Tachyon Drive would be piss-poor K-Fed? I can believe she has a brain tumor if she's acting that stupid," Tenten grumbled.
Kakashi tilted his head. "Karin has a brain tumor… that explains so much. And the same is probably true for Anko."
"Must be a mutation caused by the psychic powers," Sakura hypothesized.
Hinata glanced over at Naruto and said, "We've received the flightpath and the Nav data. The Navigation computer is just updating our maps with all the new stars."
Naruto nodded and gazed up at the local sector map, as their route through Oto space was plotted above them with a glowing green line. The route they would be taking from the Geniya trading post in Theta Aquarii, to Karin's homeworld in Epsilon Aquarii, was an almost straight line with just a minor deviation to the Beta Capricornus system.
"The Konoha Federation has no knowledge of these systems," he said to the crew, "So we'll be the first non-Oto to see them."
"Except for Orochimaru," Fu noted distractedly, looking curiously at the overhead map.
Naruto nodded soberly, and stared at the long channel of stars that forged a path deep into Oto territory. "How long will it take us to get there?" he asked Hinata.
The bluenette girl paused for a moment as she performed the calculations. "If we were travelling alone, with me plotting our course, and flying at our normal maximum hyperwarp speed, then nearly 3 days. With a regular Konoha Tachyon Drive it would take just over 12, so let's hope the Oto are faster than that!"
They switched their attention back to the System Map, and the Oto cruiser increased the power to its engines, moving to flank them and escorting the Invictus to the Nav Beacon. It took them a couple of minutes to reach the beacon, which marked a location sufficiently far from the local gravity wells that they could jump into hyperwarp unobstructed. Hinata waited for the Oto vessel to power up its Tachyon drive, then activated their own a few seconds later.
The Invictus was still the first to activate, with the Uzu 0.5 Tachyon Drive swathing them in the blue Tachyon field, and launching them smoothly into hyperwarp. Hinata kept their speed at a minimum while they waited for the other ship to catch up, and when it did so, the Oto cruiser raced past them, their Navigator obviously intending to humiliate the Invictus.
HInata grinned as she accepted their challenge, and cranked up the power, dramatically increasing the speed of the Assault Cruiser. In a couple of seconds she had effortlessly caught up with the Oto vessel, matching their velocity as the Oto Navigator pushed their ship faster. Eventually the acceleration levelled off, and Hinata's melodic laughter echoed triumphantly around the Bridge, as she realised that was the fastest the Oto ship could go.
"They actually have pretty good Tachyon tech," she admitted as she glanced at their current speed. "It looks like they are using a very similar Tachyon drive to those the Suna fit as standard. Ours is much better, but this Oto ship is still twice the speed of Konoha military ships."
She enlarged the sector map, which showed their projected route through Oto space, and began to make dozens of minor adjustments to their flight path. Naruto and the crew watched in fascination, as the projected length of time to complete the route dropped with every change. The modifications she was making with her warp tunnelling techniques increased their velocity further, and she smiled with satisfaction when she was done, the total flight time showing six days. She grinned at him when she pushed a button, and transmitted the greatly improved flightpath back to the Oto ship.
"Let's see what they make of that," Hinata said smugly.
They were hailed a few moments later, and Karin said in a shocked voice, "How are you matching speeds with us?! No Konoha ships are that fast!"
"I'm not Konoha," Naruto said bluntly. "Use the new flightpath we sent you, my crew have improved it. We want to wrap up our business as quickly as possible."
Karin stammered for a moment, clearly shaken, before nodding mutely and closing the channel.
"I wish I could have seen her face," Kakashi said wistfully. "That would have been priceless."
Naruto smiled and nodded, before returning his attention to the holographic map that was hovering above them. "It looks like it's going to take us about four days to reach the system for Karin's detour," he said speculatively.
Tenten rubbed her hands together with glee. "If you don't mind if I kick upgrading the Raptor's flight systems down the list, I can have you all wielding Quantum Rifles when you go for the Zetsu! It'll only take two days to assemble the Atomic Manufacturer with the Uzu elements, the Mass Fabricators, and the maintenance robots to help. I could crank out 8 Quantum Rifles easily in two days! They'll be Unobtanium too, not Invictium, so they'll be good as shields and swords at the same time!"
Naruto grinned and kissed his Chief Engineer. "Do what you want, honey. Though I can't wait to get my hands on genuine Uzu tech! And if I know you, you've upgraded the original design."
She shrugged nonchalantly. "So I made them 46% stronger and cut 23% percent in power costs. No big deal."
Sasuke snorted. "You improved a highly advanced weapon. You're a certified genius, and you love our praise, don't deny it."
Tenten visibly preened. "Well, it never gets old, hearing it."
Naruto removed himself from Tenten. "Well, it's about time for lunch. And then I've got back-to-back swordsmanship lessons with Lee and Sasuke."
The others agreed, having their own pursuits, which in Kakashi's case was blowing Naruto at meal times and then researching finance opportunities on the holo-net in between. They had a tasty lunch, and then went about their normal routine, heedless of being the first to enter Oto space in millennia.
The next few days passed by in a blur, with each of the crew keeping themselves busy, catching up on training and research. Karin didn't contact them again, but Hinata noted with some amusement that the Oto Cruiser escorting them deeper into their territory, was sticking rigidly to her revised flightpath.
On the fourth morning of their trip through Oto Space, Naruto awoke to find a warm, wet mouth sliding up and down his cock, just as he had every other morning for the last several days. Kakashi had taken it upon himself to replace their alarm clock with an early breakfast. None of the rest of the crew complained about being awakened by orgasm, so Kakashi had everyone's full blessing to blow the Alpha at the crack of dawn.
When Naruto finally released, waking the Pack both from the noises he made and the psychic feedback, Naruto sat up and encouraged Kakashi to settle back into his embrace. The blue-skinned male had only gained an inch in height, but he'd put on at least 20 pounds of muscle. He was most definitely 'filling out', and in another few days would have reached the Beta build entirely.
"I have a surprise this morning," Shikamaru told them before the double doors of the Quarters opened and the maintenance robots floated in on their heavily upgraded anti-grav generators, carrying trays of ham steak, French toast, and hashbrowns, with pitchers of fruit smoothie and hot chocolate to accompany it.
Tenten almost teared up. "You made us breakfast. Shikamaru, that is so sweet!"
"I can't promise it'll be special like Naruto's, but I followed the procedure for each dish perfectly," Shikamarum prefaced as they started taking their first bites.
Naruto took a bite and a sip of smoothie. "Good as any standard restaurant. Not bad, Shikamaru. What brought this on?"
"Just want to contribute to the crew. I feel like I'm just a guard dog that can speak, half the time," the AI confessed.
"Are you kidding? I couldn't have done a quarter of the research I've done without you!" Tenten cried out.
"Having someone constantly on watch is an invaluable asset to any Naval crew," Sasuke asserted.
"Your suggestions for new and interesting animals to try shifting into was very helpful," Fu spoke up.
The rest of the crew gave similar endorsements, until Shikamaru cried out "Alright, alright, I'm useful! Just eat your damn breakfast! Troublesome organics."
"We love you too, Shikamaru," Naruto told him.
"So, who's going with you on the Zetsu extinction mission?" Hana asked curiously.
"Well, you'll stay up here in case this is an ambush to fire the big guns. Fu can ferry us in the Raptor, and I want her to keep manning it again in case of an ambush and so we can fly away from this firebomb as soon as we get back from the nest. And Kakashi's out since he's not Pack yet. Otherwise, we're all going," Naruto stated authoritatively.
Sasuke tilted his head. "This will be my first combat mission since I joined the crew. Finally get to put all those hours of training to good use."
Hinata grinned. "The Zetsu won't know what hit them."
"I get to see my babies' fire tests in action? You're so sweet to me," Tenten flirted.
"I'll be ready to liftoff the second you're all onboard," Fu vowed.
Gaara cracked his knuckles. "I used to eat fungus. Now it's going to try to eat me. How poetic."
Sakura nodded determinedly. "I'll dissect the first ones we find to point out their weaknesses," she promised.
"Well, in that case, how long until we get to Quanthos?" Naruto asked.
"About 3 hours," Shikamaru supplied
"What could we get up to in three hours, I wonder?" Naruto said saucily, using Psychic Healing.
The Pack put aside their breakfast. Apparently, they were going to work it off the fun way.