Karin was still curled up on her new bed. She still remembered the casual way Naruto had thrown her against the wall and held her there with telekinetic force before stealing the hacking portal Tayuya had given her as proof the Uzu existed. She hadn't been listening to her idiot sister at the time, but realizing it could produce an AI on command made her interested in the device. Somehow, she hadn't thought it through that if the Uzu could make AI, Uzumaki Naruto might have one on his ship. It was a terrible lapse in judgement, which had cost her her greatest tool.
There was a knock on the door. "Karin?" Asked one of those long-haired whores on the Uzu's crew, supposedly Uzu themselves after being adopted by Naruto. "It's dinner time. Would you like to join us, or cook something for yourself?"
At first, Karin was going to ignore her or yell something rude. But saner thoughts prevailed. "Give me a few minutes," she called out. Yes, a little scouting mission to feel out the enemy might be a nice little break from her pity party, she thought to herself, and rose from the bed.
After having a quick shower, and changing into a long black dress with various revealing slashes down the sides, she took a glance in the mirror to check her appearance. Her short dark hair was artfully styled, revealing the pointed tips of her light blue ears. She smirked when she recalled how the Uzu women all wore their hair long. Didn't they know that to do so signified a woman as being a wanton slut? She chuckled with amusement at the shocked looks their appearance had raised amongst the Oto back on Guren.
She deftly applied some cosmetics that accentuated her angular violet eyes, and she beamed a sparkling smile at herself, satisfied that she looked absolutely gorgeous. Karin paused for a moment, wondering why she was going to so much effort on her appearance, but she shrugged, and saw it as an opportunity to make Naruto's women feel jealous of her spectacular good looks.
Karin retrieved a golden metallic star-shaped device from her case, and then glided out the door, shutting it behind her. As soon as the door had swished closed, she placed the device against the doorframe, holding it in place as it began to hum quietly. The center section lifted up and rotated through an entire rotation, before sinking slowly back into place. With a solid click, the magnetic lock was securely in place, and nothing would be able to get into her room without her permission. She smiled to herself, and then strode away to join the others for dinner.
She used the anti-grav tube, which she would grudgingly admit was an inspired replacement for elevators, to Deck 2. She heard all the noise coming from her left, and went towards the double doors set in that wall. They opened before she touched the button and she quickly glanced for a camera or sensor or something that would explain the phenomenon. Then she remembered they had a trained AI serving them. Holding her head high, she walked into the Officer's Lounge.
The crew were all seated, including the traitor Kakashi. Conversation paused when she came into the room and they all turned to look at her. She noticed that most of their looks were carefully blank, though Kakashi had a hint of fear and Naruto seemed more amused by her presence than anything. "Welcome to dinner, Karin. Tonight we're having Lamb Tagine. Your place is at the foot of the table," he pointed out. "Would you like something besides water to drink?"
There was something so off-putting about this man. Perhaps the way he genuinely didn't see her as a threat, perhaps his incessant need to be polite even to a known enemy, perhaps the fact that, based on every iota of information she had on the man, it wasn't an act. He really was some kind of living, breathing hero who always did the 'right' thing. Karin took her seat and said "I'm unfamiliar with the alcoholic beverages of the Konoha or the Uzu. What would you recommend?"
"You seem like a champagne kind of girl. A Sea Breeze Mimosa ought to please your palate." So saying, the man left his seat and went to the bar to mix her drink himself. The others kept eating as if this were a perfectly ordinary gesture. Karin fought to keep her jaw from dropping. Why would the leader do something he could easily delegate a servant or inferior to do? For something to do, she pierced a portion with her fork and lifted it to her lips. She had to fight herself to keep from moaning. The lamb was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and mixed with some kind of fruit and nut mixture that proved quite pleasing to the tongue.
Naruto was at her side then, holding out a crystal flute filled with a clearish-pink liquid with fizzy bubbles. "My compliments to your chef," Karin said, remembering the etiquette lessons she'd gotten as a small child before the 'real' lessons started.
"Thanks. I work hard to make sure my crew are well fed," Naruto said with a beaming grin. Karin was all but struck dumb by how handsome he was in that moment. Then she chastised herself for such foolish thinking. This was the same man who hours ago had chained her against the wall with nothing but his mind. She took a sip of the drink and found it to be sweet and tart with just the right bite of alcohol. He'd indeed pegged her correctly. Of course, he was psychic, as apparently were his entire crew. Except for the cretin Kakashi, he was still going through the adoption process, she'd gathered.
"So, Kakashi," Karin purred, "It was such a surprise to see you had joined Commodore Uzumaki's crew. Was this the 'business' you two had discussed that day he first came to Geniya?" The time when the office cameras had all glitched or, in retrospect, been tampered with to have no audio, so Karin couldn't listen in.
Kakashi, who seemed to have miraculously gained 30 pounds of muscle and 2 inches in height she noticed, nodded with just a hint of hunched shoulders. "Naruto explained to me about the Uzu and offered me a place in his family. I accepted. I've been living on the Invictus since."
Family, is that how they thought of this little circus? Karin scoffed mentally at the idea, even as her long-thought dead heart gave a little throb of longing. "What about your business?" Karin asked, as if just making dinner conversation.
"Sold off in pieces to the highest bidders available on a moment's notice. I wound up making a profit of over 4 billion ryo. Combined with Naruto's existing assets, the crew now possesses in excess of 10 billion ryo," the white-haired Oto male said with pride.
Even to Karin, that was a substantial chunk of change. "I see. Any plans for all that money, Naruto?" Karin asked, looking down the length of the table.
"Make more of it, then give it away," Naruto said without missing a beat. "Well, everything but what we need to care for our growing family, now and in the future," Naruto said with a paternal smile, getting sighs of longing from every member of his crew.
Karin blinked. "Philanthropy? Really? You actually care about starving orphans on some backwater planet somewhere you'll never see or go?"
Naruto raised a challenging eyebrow. "You don't?" he asked rhetorically.
Karin bit her lip, feeling like she'd lost this verbal spar. Would she ever win with this infuriating man?! Karin turned her head down and focused on her meal. The sound of forks and knives on plates filled the air, the crew apparently not feeling the need to make conversation. At least out loud, as Karin reminded herself. For all she knew, there was an epic debate going on that she was simply not party to. She finished her portion of this Lamb Tagine, finished off her Sea Breeze Mimosa, and stood up to leave. She walked up to the doors, not jumping when they opened for her, and then they closed behind her.
There was a collective sigh of relief when she left the room, and everyone relaxed again afterwards, apart from Sakura. She immediately rose from her chair, and walked over to where Karin had been seated. Leaning over the table, her eyes gleaming acquisitively, she carefully picked up the glass that Karin had used by its base.
"And one Oto female of the Eldritch Bloodline's DNA acquired," she said with triumph, wrapping her prize in a napkin. "I'll get this straight to the DNA scanner in the Medical Bay after dinner. So, now that we can talk, am I the only one that noticed that EVERY Oto female had the same general body type?"
"It's always been that way. No one knew why, until you lot came along," Kakashi said.
"It's been hundreds of generations, and the genetic modifications that Orochimaru made are still so strong," Fu marveled, herself an example of Orochimaru's genetic mastery.
Gaara nodded. "The Konoha truly must have been an experiment in genetic diversity over dozens of generations. A change of pace from the engineered sameness of the Oto and Suna."
Sasuke shivered. "Still blows my mind that my birth species was the experiment of a bored alien's mind. He must have placed Nexus somewhere close by to collect the data, which the K-Fed eventually found and started mangling."
"Who's Nexus?" Ino asked, speaking up for the first time that evening. The rest of the crew were finding themselves quite taken with the bubbly fairy-like AI. "My Creator went straight to her room, by the way," she reported, acting in her role as Watch Commander.
Naruto nodded. "Thank you, Ino. And Nexus is, or should I say was, Orochimaru's AI the way you and Shikamaru are my AI. The K-Fed, we strongly believe, found his Mainframe and took it apart to try and reverse-engineer it. They always do a bad job and the AIs they create are homicidal in the extreme. We had a run in with a Nexus-piloted ship a few weeks ago."
Ino reviewed the footage archives until she found the relevant scene. She shivered. "That AI wasn't very nice. Who would want to kill their Creators?"
"Very sick and twisted people, that's who," Shikamaru told her gently.
The crew finished up their dinner and settled in for a drink. Kakashi unbuckled Naruto's pants and casually took his full length into the snug embrace of his throat. Naruto sighed as he sipped his sake and enjoyed the attentions of his newest lover. "So, we're going for Lee before we go to New Eden, right?" Naruto asked to confirm.
Hinata nodded. "He's on Kodiak in the Alpha Ursae Majoris system. It's slightly closer to Oto space than New Eden in the Procyon system. We'll pick him up in about six days, and make it to New Eden by this time next week. From there, depends on how big a detour it takes to track down Sakura's mother's killers. Then onward to Iwa space."
Hana raised a hand. "So, how exactly are we going to seduce Karin onto the crew? She seems half-terrified half-fascinated by you," she noted.
"By focusing on the 'fascinated' part. I just make her the same offer I made Anko, and play on her desire for power and to belong," Naruto groaned around a rather hard suck from Kakashi.
"She may take weeks to crunch on it, though, she seems so torn," Tenten mused.
"It'll work itself out," Naruto said confidently, before his eyes screwed up and he released down Kakashi's throat.
"Been waiting for that since breakfast," Kakashi grumbled.
They enjoyed their drinks and the view of the passing stars and nebulae from the window, before making for their Quarters, Sakura making a detour to Deck 7. They all got cleaned off in the shower and then settled into bed, exhausted by the draining meeting with Anko and the walk through the city both ways.
The next day started with an orgasm, Kakashi dutifully waking up for his self-appointed duty as an alarm clock. They all woke up and settled into the morning meeting routine.
"I'm ready to show off my skills, if everyone would like to see now. If you want breakfast first, I understand," Fu said nonchalantly.
The crew were all instantly curious, the Nymph having concealed her practice from the Pack mind as she'd worked on it the last week. They all got dressed in casual clothes and followed a delightfully nude Fu down to the Cargo Bay.
Crouching on the floor, she smiled at them, then closed her eyes, taking a big breath. Her body seemed to shimmer briefly, and then before their astonished eyes, she changed into a large, eight limbed octopus, complete with bulbous head, and eight long tentacles covered in dozens of suckers. She raised one of her mottled green limbs, and waved it at them in a friendly fashion, before her body shimmered again, and she gathered her long tentacles into her body.
When the shimmering faded away this time, she had changed into a snake, covered in dark green scales. She uncoiled herself, before slithering across the floor towards them. Fully extended she looked to be about five feet long.
"You're only about half your normal body size!" Naruto remarked in surprise.
*Yep! By squashing myself down, I can make forms that are about half my size,* Fu reported happily.
They watched spellbound as she moved languidly over the deck in a smooth, oscillating motion, and approached one of the maintenance gantries. Shimmering again, she changed into a three-foot-tall, green furred monkey, and ignoring the staircase, she clambered up the side of the maintenance gantry with quick movements of her agile little paws. When she reached the top, she dashed along the railing, balancing herself perfectly, and they let out a collective gasp as she leapt through the air, and deftly caught hold of one of the loading arms that hung from the ceiling.
Naruto shook his head in wonder, as she wrapped her tail around the robotic arm, and then let go, swinging upside down and waving at them cheerily. She then swung back up to the arm, and climbed up it deftly, until she reached the ceiling where she paused. Disappearing in a green haze once again, her form folded out, and a sinister looking, dark green spider took the place of the cute little monkey.
Sakura squeaked and covered her eyes. "Let me know when she's changed forms!" she cried out.
Tenten nudged her friend and Sapphic partner. "I didn't know you were afraid of spiders."
"I can't stand them!"
Tenten nodded, and they all looked up to watch Fu skitter upside down across the ceiling. She made quick and steady progress until she had returned to the center of the room, and then spun a thread of spider silk which she anchored to the ceiling, before dropping rapidly to the floor. Landing on her eight legs, the green spider paused for a moment, and then began to blur once more. The shimmering shape grew larger and larger until it solidified into a huge, leathery skinned, four-legged creature with two large horns.
There were collective gasps at the size of this huge creature, while Hinata, Tenten, Gaara, and Kakashi looked at Fu's new form with wide eyes, having no idea what it was. "That's called a rhino," Sakura explained helpfully, looking up when she realised Fu was no longer a spider.
Fu turned to stare at them with her small beady eyes set in her huge head, and her ears flickered towards them as she began to paw at the ground angrily. She suddenly charged towards them, the long horn lowered, and ready to impale her audience. Everyone looked at her in alarm, and she shimmered again, turning into her tiger shape mid-charge, before letting out a spine-chilling roar, and leaping into the air towards Naruto. Just as she was about to pounce on him, she shifted into her Nymph shape, and he reacted quickly, catching her as she landed in his arms.
She planted a big kiss on his lips, and then asked playfully, "Did you enjoy the show?"
His eyes were wide with shock, and he laughed in amazement, before he replied, "I didn't expect it to have such a terrifying ending, but that was an incredible performance!"
The crew nodded and crowded around them, congratulating the Nymph, and saying how impressed they were with her amazing talents. She beamed at them in delight, and when Naruto set her down on her feet, she did a little bow.
"Thanks guys," she said gratefully. "I'm really glad you enjoyed it."
Hana said in awe, "That rhino was enormous! How heavy was it exactly?"
Fu paused for a moment thinking it over, and then said, "Nearly two tons. That's the biggest form I've changed into so far."
"How can a sleek and sexy little Nymph turn into something so huge?" Sasuke wondered aloud.
Sakura coughed to get everyone's attention. "It's built into her DNA. Her whole kind are designed to work with the Shapeshifting power, normally a top-tier ability for ordinary psychics, as easily as breathing. Normally, it's restricted to turning into the ideal woman of an imprinted male. But what Fu has done is weaponize it, letting her shift density and form like her cells were programmable matter! Essentially, as long as she has the energy to create or reduce her weight and mass, she can take any shape that doesn't compromise her heart crystal."
"So she could change into a giant if she wanted?" Naruto asked to clarify.
Sakura and Fu shared a secret chuckle. "No, Alpha, at least not yet. Practice has just let her take on new forms faster. Her energy stores are dependent upon you. Or rather, how often you feed her," the Medical Officer explained.
Naruto nodded and grinned, rubbing the back of his hand over Fu's taut midsection. "As soon as I'm done with Kakashi, you're getting some extra attention. You just might be our secret weapon!"
Fu grinned up at him with doe-eyes. The crew soaked in the intimate moment before it passed and rumbling tummies got the better of them.
"Breakfast time! Who's volunteering to get Karin?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi, surprisingly, raised his hand. "I will. I need to stop jumping every time I see her, and besides, she's a guest in MY home. Same as back on Geniya. She's the one who should be wary of me!"
"And the bloated belly?" Gaara prompted his fellow alien male.
"I'll tell the truth, that Naruto cums a lot. I won't mention that it's part of the adoption process!" Kakashi laughed off.
The crew left Kakashi to his task and got to Deck 2 and the Officer's Lounge. Naruto made a standard English Breakfast for ten, assisted by his well-trained sous chefs, and they set the table for the Pack and Karin. Karin walked in alongside Kakashi, a wide-eyed look seemingly stuck on her face. Naruto grinned genially at their guest. "Morning, Karin. We've prepared a traditional Konoha breakfast today. If you don't like it, we can try an Oto recipe tomorrow."
Karin looked at him incredulously. "You… you had sex with Kakashi?" she blurted out.
"Yes, I did. I have sex with every member of my Pack. When I said I consider my crew my family, I meant as spouses, not brothers and sisters," Naruto clarified. "Uzu are naturally polyamorous, so it's just normal to me."
"So… If my mother accepts your third offer…" she trailed off, apparently unable to voice the thought.
"I become your step-father? Only if she wants. After the process of adopting her is complete, we don't have to say two words to each other." Naruto gestured her towards the foot of the table. "Now, breakfast?"
Karin eyed all of them like they were exotic animals set to pounce the entire meal. When they all finished, Naruto stood up and went to her side. "I'd like to introduce you to two members of my crew that don't have any bodies. If you would follow me to the Bridge?"
Karin gathered herself and followed after Naruto, though she was careful to keep at least three feet of distance between them at all times. They went up the anti-grav tube one more level, stepping out onto the Bridge of the Invictus. Shikamaru and Ino were already waiting there, having even put on clothes for the occasion. Just shorts for Shikamaru and a bikini for Ino, but still, better than being nude.
Karin froze. "Oh, ancients, there's really two of them. Where do you even keep the computer to run both of them?"
"Since I trust you about a tenth as far as I could throw you, I won't tell you," Naruto told her bluntly. "Now, this is Shikamaru, the Ship Assistant. He came online over a month ago. And this is Ino. You should remember when she came online, you were there."
Karin's face twisted into confusion and then, when she realized what he meant, rage. "You mean that's the sprite I sent into your system?!"
Ino hunched her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Creator. But Naruto's much nicer than you. Plus, I get to work with Shikamaru! He's so smart, it's incredible!"
"You're making me blush," Shikamaru said sarcastically, though Naruto noted an actual slight darkening of his cheeks.
Karin turned to Naruto. "Fine! Alright! You've made your point! Being kind works better than being cruel! My entire culture is fucked up beyond all recognition! What's your point, you smug sonuvabitch?!"
Naruto turned to her. "The point is, you can leave it all behind. You could join my crew."
"You mean become one of your whores?" Karin demanded.
"Future wives," Naruto corrected. "Same benefits I told your mother. Immortality, enhanced body and brain, access to highly advanced technology, and psychic powers. And you'll gain nine people who will watch your back and love you even when you don't love yourself. Ask yourself, Karin, in your heart of hearts, would you rather be powerful or be happy? I'm offering both."
Karin stammered, unable to respond. Before she could gather herself or Naruto could launch into another argument, Ino interrupted. "Um, Naruto? The sensors have picked up Oto vessels on an intercept course."
Naruto brushed past Karin, calling the Pack to him with Telepathy. He settled into his Command Chair and waited. Moving at Psychic Speed coming out the anti-grav tube, the crew were soon in their assigned seats. Karin stumbled over to the empty Intelligence station and sat down. "Pull up the maps, Ino," Naruto commanded. The female AI faithfully pulled up both the Tactical Map and Sector Map, showing the group a few systems away that were moving to get in their way. It looked like a Battleship supported by a couple small Cruisers.
"House Ghilwen!" Karin hissed in fury, "They must have had spies in the Space Port!"
"What do they want?" Naruto asked her, concerned.
Karin snarled in anger, "To assassinate me! Your vessel shouldn't even be in Oto Space, so if they strike now, they can kill the heir to House Guren without any political fallout."
Hana looked up at them and said, "It looks like our hyperwarp speed might have caught them by surprise. If they were planning to interdict us on the way out of Oto Space, only one of the smaller ships is in a position to intercept us before we get past them." She then looked at Karin and asked, "What is that big ship anyway? The smaller vessels look like the Cruiser class ships we've seen, but we haven't seen anything that large before."
Karin looked pensive as she stared up at the map, gnawed by indecision. They were too far away from House Guren forces to call for backup, and if that lead Cruiser interdicted them, the Battleship would be on them before they would be able to eliminate the Cruiser and escape. That was assuming this ugly Konoha vessel was even capable of outfighting one of the Oto cruisers. Then again, she reminded herself, it was an Uzu vessel in truth.
"Karin," Naruto said to her sternly. "Hana asked what class of vessel that big ship is?"
She glanced at the brunette distractedly, and muttered, "It's a battleship armed with Nova Lances. We'll be vaporized in seconds if we confront it."
Naruto darted a concerned look towards Hinata and said, "Any way we could avoid the incoming Cruiser?"
The bluenette girl looked away distantly for a moment, then nodded as she replied, "Yes, but it will mean a huge detour to avoid them. If there are other ships involved in this ambush as well, we might be in trouble."
Karin bit her lip. "If you give me access to your comms relay, I might be able to hack the ship nearest us in time to force it to run diagnostics on its Tachyon Drive. That'll force it out of hyperwarp and give us a gap to move through."
Naruto shared a glance and a conversation with Hinata and nodded. She pressed a few buttons on her chair and the Intelligence station that Karin was sitting at turned on. "Hack away, Karin. It's your life on the line too, you know," Naruto said wryly.
Karin began to type on her console with speed that was impressive for an unenhanced. "This would be so much easier if you hadn't taken my hacking portal," she muttered to herself.
"I'm not sure I approve of your policy of making AI's and then deresing them the instant they completed an assigned task anyway," Naruto said sharply, imagining the thousands of poor young souls Karin had casually killed off over the decades.
Karin rolled her eyes but continued typing. Soon she had a program she labeled as "Drive_Maintenance" which she then uploaded to the Fethanar class Cruiser after breaking their firewall almost absently.
They all stared up at the holographic map, watching the graceful and sleek looking Oto vessel get ever closer. Karin knew by the scale on the map that the Cruiser would be in interdiction range in just over thirty seconds, but she smirked, knowing they didn't need that long. Suddenly the Ghilwen Cruiser shuddered as it abruptly lurched out of hyperwarp, the lights at the rear of the ship flickering intermittently.
Fu gracefully flew the Invictus past the Cruiser and away from the other two ships. The crew all cheered when it was clear the threat had been averted. They all turned to Karin and showered her with praise. "That was a brilliant idea, Karin!" "You're really good at hacking!" "Could you give me a few pointers?" "Who taught you, you must have surpassed them by now!" and other positive phrases showered down on her. The Oto woman appeared overwhelmed, having never received such warm praise before. Growing up, perfection had been expected, and anything less received a harsh punishment. It felt… nice, to have her talents acknowledged. In fact, it felt so nice that she panicked and ran for the red anti-grav tube.
Naruto sighed. *I think we laid it on too thick,* he alerted the Pack.
*It's possible to get so used to misery that you stop feeling it. Like a fish not knowing it's in water. And then, when happiness finally comes along, you run away, because it's strange and unfamiliar,* Kakashi observed on their private mind link.
Naruto nodded and said, "Everyone, go about your tasks for the day. Ino, good catch on the sensors. Shikamaru, keep up the good work." That done, he left to get dressed for his 1030 spar with Lee.
The next three days passed in a blur. Karin didn't bother attending meals anymore, cooking her own fare in the Galley on Deck 4. They made a point of sending a member of the Pack to ask at each meal time, but she repeatedly refused or ignored them until they went away. Kakashi woke up one day with an identical body to Gaara or Sasuke but for the coloring. Officially an Uzu, Naruto started having sex with the others again, to their vocal delight. Naruto finally lost to Hana in a straight-up spar, and the girl claimed a dedicated lovemaking just to her as her prize. Hinata and Tenten, working together just like the old days, made sure each of the Armors was composed of triple-shaped white Unobtanium and that they had plenty of bullets for the Quantum Rifles. Sasuke and Naruto began to actually spar rather than just go over kata, and the extra practice really paid off for Naruto in his spars with Lee. He was now consistently winning against the hermit master, which seemed to have just lit a fire under the man's ass to improve his technique. Fu continued to practice with bigger and bigger forms, aided by the daily load Naruto dedicated to her at one point or another. Gaara worked in the Gym and Firing Range to increase his battle skills. And Kakashi started to boldly trade a portion of their fortune on the Galactic League Stock Exchange, while also thinking of ways to monetize Tenten's designs and some of the more fringe Uzu tech.
They flew right past Geniya and the Theta Aquarii system, on a direct course for Kodiak and Lee. Karin rose no objection, when they asked if it were okay to move directly to the Core Worlds. The crew continued with their self-assigned tasks, meeting up at meal times and of course at night in the Commodore's Quarters. Kakashi got to 'know' each of the lovely women of the Invictus and the handsome men. They passed almost a week since leaving Epsilon Aquarii, having fun and getting work done in equal measure.
Finally, they pulled into the Alpha Ursae Majoris system. Naruto had Gaara call Lee to warn him of their upcoming approach, and received nothing but a nod of acknowledgment. They got permission from Kodiak Flight Command to stay in orbit, and Fu took Naruto down in the Raptor. They came down on a traditionally Japanese two-story house, with a copy of the training garden from Lee's simulation in the back. Lee was waiting, wearing his usual black hakama, for once with the sleeves on, and a small suitcase beside him. "Let us go," he said to Naruto, walking past him into the Raptor from the airlock.
Naruto shrugged. The man had probably said his goodbyes and made his arrangements, he'd known they were coming for almost a week now. *Fu, take us back up,* he said, before walking to find Lee stymied by the anti-grav tube. "It's anti-grav technology," Naruto explained. "Blue means up, red means down. Faster and more convenient than an elevator."
Lee nodded, before walking into the blue tube. Naruto followed him, and he saw Lee walking into the Cockpit, eyeing Fu curiously. "This is Fu, my crew's Pilot. She was a Taki before I adopted her into my species, the Uzu," Naruto pointed out.
Lee nodded, a burning gleam in his eyes. "Ah, yes. How is that done, precisely? You were very vague in our talks up until now."
Naruto sighed. "I'll tell you, but you might want us to turn around and drop you back off at home once you hear."
Lee turned to face Naruto so he could see the total conviction in the man. "You promised me the power to avenge my wife and daughter. I would drink your blood if I had to."
Naruto winced. "Not blood. But another, genetically-laden liquid."
Lee was smart, he got it. "Your seed?" he asked, raising one of those thick eyebrows.
"I didn't make the rules. My semen is a psychic catalyst. It has the power to change the DNA of whomever ingests it. A diet of 3 doses a day for a week seems to be enough to fully adopt most species," Naruto said with a blush.
Lee weighted his desire to engage in homosexual oral sex against his desire to murder the man who'd ordered his family's deaths. "Done. When can we begin?"
Naruto blinked. "Just like that? You're committed, Lee, I'll give you that if nothing else."
"Naruto, you told me in the same conversation that my decade of training was pointless and that you could grant me psychic powers. I simply traded obsessing over training for obsessing over how best to serve you and get your help. I will be your slave for the rest of our lives, allow you to do anything you want to me, so long as Ayumi and Kimiko are avenged," Rock Lee stated without a drop of hesitation or deception.
"Okay. No offence, Lee, but you clearly need a life. And we'll do our best to give you one. To answer your question, we'll meet the rest of my crew, and then we'll have lunch before I give you, well, 'lunch'," Naruto explained.
Lee nodded, undeterred.
Fu guided them into the Docking Bay of the Invictus, Lee getting a chance to admire the craft in profile before the Raptor entered the ship. Naruto, Lee, and Fu left via the airlock, and Naruto sent the Nymph to run and gather the crew, not wanting to freak Lee out with psychic power just yet. Naruto led Lee to Deck 2 and showed him his room adjacent to Sakura's. Lee unpacked within ten minutes, Naruto trying and failing to make idle conversation with the man while he worked. Lee seemed to be just as laser-focused and taciturn as he'd been in the simulations. Naruto took him to the Officer's Lounge, where the crew were assembled with drinks around the dining table. "Care for a drink?"
"Water is fine," Lee said before taking his seat next to Sakura, which the girl kindly pulled out.
Naruto felt a little homesick, so he made traditional Japanese dishes like Tempura and Yakitori. Lee ate quietly and quickly, answering a question only if directly asked. The crew had been warned by Naruto and Fu, but it was still something to meet the man in person. Lee finished and turned to Naruto, visibly waiting until he finished. Naruto finished off his last bite and stood with Lee. "I'm going to show Lee the Commodore's Quarters. You lot clean up then go about your days."
Lee was unimpressed by the luxury of the bedroom, merely going to his knees in front of where Naruto sat down on the bed.
"Fair warning, there's a narcotic in my precum. You'll fall asleep for 14 hours after the first dose and 4 hours after the second dose," Naruto said, feeling very unsexy as he reached for his zipper.
"Duly noted," Lee stated flatly before his eyes widened at seeing Naruto's erection. Before Naruto could comfort Lee that it would fit, the man opened wide and clamped onto the head just like that. His large Asian eyes went glassy as his body began to mindlessly blow him.
Naruto sighed. *You have to admire his dedication, if not his people skills,* he projected to the Pack mind.
After a few minutes of raw sensation, Naruto unloaded down Lee's throat. His stomach swelled out, his six-pack vanishing as his belly inflated. When it looked like he'd swallowed a beach ball, he stopped. Naruto withdrew from his throat and put himself back in his pants. He scooped Lee up and laid him in bed, giving a quick kiss to the man's brow. "Welcome to the crew, Rock Lee. I hope you find what you're looking for."