Chapter 3 is up and out.
An explosion rocked the ground as the electric attack struck. Dust and debris were thrown into the air as Hikari and Hibiki placed their hands back at their sides. They could practically feel their Ashikabi staring at them from behind. Judging them. They could sense his disapproval, "Better, much better." he said after a moment, but before they could breathe their sighs of relief, he continued, "But still, you need to work on accuracy and subtlety in your moves. You can't always win by trying to simply blow your target up." he told them with a snort. He looked around at the numerous wooden targets that had been blown to bits, taking special care to avoid the smoldering, burning pieces, which his twin Sekirei were quick to notice.
"Uh, Naruto, I don't know if you noticed, but lightning tends to make things, you know...explode..." Hibiki deadpanned, causing her Ashikabi to sigh and rub his temples in frustration. He had been trying to get these two to grasp his concept for the last three days, and got nothing.
"And yet you can shock me without blowing me to bits." he replied, causing them both to blush and attempt to avoid meeting his gaze, "Lightning is wild, and it is strong, but you need to focus not on frying your target. Instead try to focus on piercing it." he told the twins while sliding a senbon needle out of his sleeve. With surprising ease to the twins, he casually tossed it over his opposite shoulder. It flew through the air and sank into the wooden cutout, directly in the target area painted to represent the human heart. "When you can do that with your lightning, then we will move on." he said smirking.
Hikari took a step back in shock while her sister's reaction was a jaw drop. Accuracy like what he had shown had to have taken decades to master, yet their Ashikabi couldn't have been older than his late twenties. Naruto, however was more concerned with his Sekirei's lack of progress. They had only ever practiced making their lightning attacks larger and stronger. Now that they were being made to go the other way, it was as if everything that they had learned about their powers had suddenly been erased from their minds. Call him impatient, but he had expected a little more after three days of work. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. Was it his Sekirei?
Was it him? Or some combination of the two? Perhaps he needed to change his tactics. He had been trying to distance himself from the two, going so far as to dangle them out his thirty-story window by their ankles that morning when he found them in his bed...again. Maybe he was being too harsh, he thought. Eyes widened as he realized what thought had just crossed his mind and shook it from his head. Despite his best efforts, he was already becoming attached. And that was bad. Very bad. But why was he doing so? How? His mind flashed back to the moment the two emerged, and the flair of chakra. His eyes narrowed as he played through the memory and watched the twins blow another target to smithereens.
There was only one way to test his new theory, much as he prayed he was wrong. Setting up two more targets, he turned to his Sekirei. He walked toward them, and as they set themselves up for another attack, he held up his hand, "Hold on, I have something I want to try." he said calmly. The twins looked confused, until he wrapped his arms around them, pulling the very surprised pair in for two, very passionate kisses. They felt the warmth of their Ashikabi flow through them and their power surged. Naruto on the other hand, felt something far different.
It was as if their chakra latched onto his own, flowing from their bodies and into his, and vice versa. And despite his alarmed confirmation of his theory, that the Sekirei's abilities may be linked to how close they were with their Ashikabi, a strange calm washed over him. Pulling away, he looked at the almost dazed look on each of his Sekirei's faces. Moving himself out of the way, he pointed to the small target area over the cut-out's heart. "Hit the target," he said, and instantly, he watched the twins acted in synchronization, their pupils dilating as they viewed the wooden stand-in. This time, they did not destroy the cut-out completely, instead punching a hole through it, the size of a human head, right over the heart. They still had a long way to go, but it was a very impressive development from mere moments ago.
Despite the pride his Sekirei were feeling, which oddly enough he felt as well, he was concerned. If the Sekirei's power and skill increased based on the bond between them and their Ashikabi, which he had essentially just confirmed, that meant ordinary training would do little for them. It also meant that to win this game, he would have to actually let himself get close to the two of them, and even then, there was no guarantee that MBI could do what Minaka said, or if he would even follow through on his word anyway. Could he take that risk, only to have Hikari and Hibiki grow old and die before his eyes, while he stayed the same. Was it really worth it. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself, and his eyes softened.
"The more important question...could I resist if I needed to..." he thought as he looked at the girls. Hikari was almost high off the rush of both his kiss and the act of controlling their powers to a greater extent than before. Hibiki, who was usually more subdued than her sister, seemed equally pleased with the events of that morning's training. Before he could ponder more on these thought, his cellphone rang. Grabbing it he accepted the call, "You have thirty seconds." he said into the phone.
"Naruto-kun, it's nice to speak with you again." Minaka's voice spoke in his ear. Naruto of course wanted to growl in annoyance, but let Minaka continue speaking, "Listen, we have a small problem here. Someone just sabotaged our security and made away with something very important. However we can control that part easily. It's the second thing that happened that we need your help with." Minaka spoke calmly.
"Well what is it?" he asked.
"A single digit Sekirei was somehow tampered with and for some reason she emerged on her own. We wish to help her try and emerge normally, but to do that we need to find her. Our trackers have said she is fleeing towards the park near the eastern outer edges of the city. Find her and bring her back to us unharmed. You'll be payed of course for doing so, but she must be alive and in healthy condition in order for us to help her reclaim her ability to emerge like any other Sekirei." Minaka told Naruto.
"Name? Describe." Naruto told Minaka.
"Her name is Akitsu, she's the seventh Sekirei and her ability is the absolute control over Ice. She has silver hair and hazel eyes. That should be enough for you to find her as there are only three others in the city with those exact descriptions. And two of them are at the southern part of the city while the other is somewhere in the northern sector. While I don't mind things happening all willy dilly I do not like the fact that one of my workers tried to sabotage a key player in my game. I'll pay you double the fee for finding her early. Best hurry, you only have thirty minutes to get her." and with that the line went dead.
"Ladies, I believe training is finished for the day. I have business to attend to, but you are free to have a day on the town while I'm gone. My wallet is in the kitchen on the counter. You'll be sitting pretty where money is concerned so go out and get some furniture for the house and get some things or yourselves." he told them as he prepare to leave. He turned to get moving, but after a moment's thought about what Minaka said, and what his own Sekirei had almost had to go through, his face marred to a frown as he looked over his shoulder, "...And if you happen to find any Sekirei in danger of being forcibly winged...fry the offending Ashikabi." Lightning began to arc between the sisters at his demand and they nodded in confirmation. Naruto turned, before leaping off the edge of the roof they were on, seeming to disappear into the shadows of the alley below.
All three were so wrapped up in their own thoughts, they never noticed the masked figure watching them intently. Her initial thoughts on this Ashikabi may have been off, Homura noted, turning and beginning to walk away. She had to admit, it would be nice to have some help watching out for the unwinged Sekirei though.(1)
XxX
Climbing out the taxi after telling the driver to wait, he walked into the park where his target was said to currently be. He was currently wearing a black shirt and loose black pants with his shinobi tools pouch on his hip, 'According to the tracking chip's information on Akitsu, her last known whereabouts was in this general area, and should be right around...there she is!' thought Naruto, as he saw the Sekirei in question on a bench, her head down, and wearing nothing except a lab coat with a blood stain on it.
Her eyes were empty. They were of a person that had given up hope. Given up on life. Naruto guessed she was possibly a day or two from ending her life in the belief that death would be merciful. For a moment, Haku's form appeared in his mind, and Naruto fought back the memories of the past failure of not being able to save his first true friend. Shaking his thoughts of that place in time, Naruto walked over to Akitsu, and knelt down on one knee to get a good look at her. She in turn raised her head to look at him, a sense of curiosity showing in the lifeless eyes of one wishing what could not be obtained that others had, and yearned for deeply.
"Who...Who are you?" asked Akitsu with Naruto staying silent while cupping her cheek and looking at the seal on her forehead.
She must have noticed because Akitsu looked down again and looked like she wanted to die again. Naruto looked at her with sorrow in his eyes, something she couldn't see due to her not looking back up at him, and Akitsu clearly thought he would say to Hell with her before leaving.
"Oh Akitsu, what did that dumb doctor do to you?" asked Naruto though the question was more to himself then her while looking at the marking on the woman's forehead.
Akitsu gained a look of surprise on her face that someone outside of M.B.I. knew her name, and had yet to leave upon seeing the mark that she was forever declared a broken Sekirei. A "scrapped number" as it were and could never be winged because of what her Adjuster did that prevented any potential Ashikabi from winging the broken Sekirei. And yet...here was this man, kneeling in front of her, speaking her name softly, sadly, like he cared, and wanted to know what the Adjuster did that cause the emptiness she felt since being broken.
"How...How do you know my name? Are you from the...M.B.I. lab? Are you here to take me back?" asked Akitsu while Naruto stared at the symbol that personified her despair.
Naruto shook his head, "No. I'm not from M.B.I. or loyal to them in anyway Akitsu." he told her softly as he looked her in the eyes, "But Minaka did ask me to take you back to see if he could help you. If he can you could find yourself a good home." he told her.
"I have no home... I am... broken... I'm... a failure..." she said in a voice that was so broken that without himself even realizing it water began to gather in Naruto's eyes, no matter how long he walked this earth, he was a sucker for sob stories of any kind. If anything his inability to listen to someone as they poured out there pain and soul had only gotten worse with time. Which really sucked for him because there were a lot of people who had it bad in this day and age. He generally hid that side of him by keeping his distance from everyone, but it had always been there, waiting for an opportunity to come out.
It seemed that moment had finally come.
He cupped the woman's face and lifted it so she was forced to make eye contact, "You are not a failure," he said, watching as the woman blinked at his proclamation. Naruto had the feeling that was the most emotion she had ever shown since whatever had happened to leave her in this state. He could tell she was not only surprised by his words, but more then likely by the conviction in his voice. Hopefully, it would help her snap out of this stupor, "I don't know what idiot told you that, but you are most definitely no failure."
"But I can't be winged," she said, as if that answered everything, "A failure like me will never be able to find an Ashikabi. I'm useless... a discarded tool..."
"My purpose is now gone, Zabuza-sama has no need for a broken tool. I need you to do me a favor, and kill me."
He could hear the words of Haku, the person who had first started him on the path to true strength ring through his head at the light haired Sekirei's words. It had been Haku that told him about true strength, how it only came from protecting the things that were most important to you, those things that you held dear to your heart. Hearing those words, so similar yet so different from the person that told him what it meant to be strong caused a sharp pain to enter his chest. It was an almost physical pain that Naruto forcefully shunted to the side so he could focus on the woman before him.
'I may not have been able to save you, Haku,' he thought to himself with gritted teeth. 'But I'll be damned if I let her end up in your position.' he thought to himself bitterly. He would not let this girl become like Haku, working for a person treated her as nothing more then a tool – even if Zabuza had not truly thought that he still acted as though he had until the end – that could easily be disposed of when it's purpose was finished. He would get this girl to understand that she was not broken, she was not a discarded tool. "Just because you can't be winged doesn't mean you don't have worth." Naruto said adamantly, the conviction in his words once more making the woman blink. "A persons worth is not determined by something so menial. You have something that is special only to you, something no one else has but you, something that makes you unique. That is what makes you special, and is what gives you worth."
"But I -"
"Come with me." Naruto said, once more surprising the woman whose opened mouth quickly snapped closed, "Come with me and I'll prove that you are worth something. I'll prove that you can shine just as well as any other Sekirei."
The woman looked at him for several seconds before speaking. "Ok..."
"Ah... I didn't get your name." Akitsu said.
"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto is my name." Naruto told her softly.
"Naruto-sama..." Akitsu whispered to herself.
"Pleasure to meet you, Akitsu-chan." Naruto told her.
As he went to help her stand up a voice drew his attention as three signatures entered his sensing range, "There she is Yomi, let's grab her and get the hell out of here." a female voice said in a excited tone.
"Bring her to Master Mikogami." a male tone commanded.
"Of course Mutsu, but first there's someone we need to deal with." Yomi said.
Naruto heard Mutsu sigh before he addressed him personally, "Please move away from this woman sir. Our master wishes to speak with her in a private location and I would rather avoid removing you myself if it can be avoided," said Mutsu with a laziness in his tone that sounded not unlike Shikamaru and holding his sheathed sword in hand ready to be used.
Naruto sighed and looked at Akitsu, "Wait here." he told her silently as he stood, "I see your manners and somewhat lazy nature haven't improved since we last met Mutsu. I hope your still prepared for the upcoming ass-kicking I'm about to deal you." replied Naruto with Mutsu going stiff for a moment before getting into his sword stance.
"So you know about Sekirei and most likely the Sekirei Plan in general. Meaning you are an Ashikabi," declared Mutsu while slowly drawing his sword, the sound of it meant to intimidate the unknown blonde, and make him reconsider grabbing Akitsu away from being Mikogami newest Sekirei among the collection.
"Of course I'm a Ashikabi. I'm also the one that stopped you from forcibly winging a set of twin Sekirei a few days ago." Naruto said as he turned around to face them.
"So, this was the human that denied our Ashikabi-sama his prize." a young woman with a scythe, he assumed this was Yomi, growled out.
"Have the lot of you even learnt your lessons?" he asked them.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you." Yomi said gleefully.
"Extremely bad timing." Naruto drawled out, "Just try to run when you realize how much you just fucked up." Naruto said to her before he held his hands together and summoned Kubikiribōcho in a puff of smoke confusing the aliens. The large head cleaving blade appeared within a burst of smoke. He looked at the weapon for a few seconds, before putting it on his back, positioning at an angle for easy access. It was a bit cumbersome, part of the reason Naruto usually kept it inside of a storage seal was because of how large it was, which made it difficult to carry. Another reason was because normal people simply did not walk around with a large blade as tall as they were.
He then reached into one of his back pouches and withdrew three, small black balls. They were very unassuming, but Naruto knew better. While smoke bombs were not dangerous in and of themselves, they were dead useful, as he was about to tossed the balls down onto the floor directly in front of the confused Mutsu, "What the –"
The smoke bombs exploded, expelling large layers of thick, black, smog that swept over the area. It covered every corner of the large park causing the Sekirei to begin coughing. With their vision hampered, Naruto knew it was time to act as he jumped into the smoke. The black smoke enclosed on him from all sides, cloying and thick. Were it not for the fact that he was using chakra to filter his lungs of the acrid smoke, he would have no doubt started hacking up a lung. As thing were, he could hear the others who had been caught within the smoke coughing as well. One, two, three...
Three?
Naruto frowned. There were only three people coughing, two of them could be heard off to his left. They were close together, Mitsuha and Yomi, he was sure. The other one was directly in front of him, and judging from the feminine tone it could only be Akitsu. That meant the one who was missing was Mutsu. His frown deepened. Mutsu was the most dangerous of the Sekirei after Akitsu. He couldn't afford to have the number zero five after him as he made his escape, not with the limited amount of power he could bring out without alerting MBI to his own unique status.
That meant he had to trap the man another way.
It was time to use one of his more passive abilities.
Carefully as he could, Naruto let a small crack open up within his chakra coils. Before the chakra could become a maelstrom, he began expelling it out of every tenketsu on his body in mass quantities as he released it in a familiar fashion known only to him, sharpening the element to its finest point. Wind. It was the very first element Naruto had ever gained mastery, true mastery, not that shitty excuse for mastery that most ninja considered mastering an element. Naruto had trained quite extensively with his wind chakra during the course of the Fourth Great War.
He had, in time, become so in tune with his own element that at the height of his power he had been able to create elemental attacks without the need for jutsu. One might be able to say he was capable of using ninjutsu without handseals, but that phrase didn't really do what he was capable of justice. Naruto did not need to use ninjutsu. With the wind at his every beck and call, all he had been required to do was use his chakra and reach out to it.
Now he was no longer at the height of mastery anymore. Disuse had led to his abilities degrading greatly over time. But he still had the ability to use some of his less intensive abilities, one of them being the passive sensory abilities he had created near the beginning of the war. It was relatively simple to use, by expelling wind chakra from every tenketsu in his body and expanding the wind outwards into a hemisphere shaped dome, Naruto could gain an image of everything within that dome no matter how small. Even the most minute of movements did not escape his notice while the jutsu was active, the twitch of a finger, the scuffle of a boot, the flick of a wrist or tilt of a head; he could 'see' all of it.
Of course the passive wind sonar had its limitations. He could only extend it a certain distance. When he was at the peak of his powers, Naruto was capable of extending the ability up to a radius of five kilometers. Since he was so out of practice, that ability had been reduced to a little less than five hundred meters. It was just another reminder that the once great power he had was now gone, due in no small part to his own machinations. Still, it was enough for what he needed to do here. Mutsu couldn't have gone far.
And he was right. Naruto found him quite easily standing atop a building above the smokescreen. He was close. Just a few meters away. But how to keep the man from chasing after him and Akitsu. He needed something that would either hold him off long enough to escape, or distract him long enough that he didn't even notice them escaping. Reaching into one of his pouches, Naruto rummaged around, before eventually finding something that he felt would work.
Shuriken and ninja wire, a ninja's two best friends. With a quickness that should not be possible, and a surety of movement that anyone capable of watching would find enviable, Naruto attached a long strand of ninja wire to each shuriken. Then with a flick of his wrist, he launched them at Mutsu with speeds that were far faster than anything a Sekirei was capable of.
With his passive wind sonar still active, Naruto could watch as the six shuriken burst out of the smoke screen. They traveled through the air, creating a whistling sound as they cut through the wind. Mutsu saw them coming, Naruto could see his head snap up from staring into the smoke screen to look at the weapons. As predicted, the Sekirei tried to evade the projectiles at first, jumping to the left in order to dodge them. With a minor application of chakra and a few gentle tugs, the shuriken shifted direction and were once more soaring towards the male Sekirei. He could see Mutsu grimace, no doubt coming to the conclusion that he would have to deflect the projectiles instead of dodge them.
Good. Everything was going exactly like Naruto had hoped.
Mutsu slid the sword at his side from its sheath, the movement smooth and nary making a sound. As the six pointed ninja stars closed in on the Sekirei's position, his sword lashed out to deflect them.
That was when Naruto made his next move. Channeling more chakra up the ninja wire, Naruto changed its nature to wind and allowed it to surround the shuriken. However, this was not a cutting wind like most elemental jutsu are, no, instead Naruto was simply using the wind to create air currents, which he then used to guide the shuriken on the path he wanted them to take.
The look on Mutsu's face was almost priceless when all six shuriken suddenly veered off course. Two them of split to the left and right respectively, while the other three went over his head at various angles. The three that went over head then arced back around and tried to impale themselves into the back of Mutsu's head. It didn't work; the male Sekirei had spun on a dime, his sword flashing out with expert precision to knock the shuriken from the sky. But that was alright, those three were just a distraction. The last shuriken Naruto had thrown had gone low, and this was the first shuriken that reached Mutsu.
It wove between the number zero fives legs, spinning and arcing in an intricate figure eight pattern several times over. Because it was so low to the ground, Mutsu didn't even notice until he could feel the cold steel tightening around his legs. When he finally did notice, it was already too late. Naruto yanked on the wire that particular shuriken was attached to, tightening it to the point that Mutsu's legs snapped into place. Like a tree that no longer had its roots supporting it, Mutsu began to topple over, but not before the two shuriken that had moved around his left and right swooped in and wrapped around him several times, pinning his arms to his torso.
The entire process only took five seconds. By the time Mutsu was tied up in ninja wire, Naruto had covered the distance between him and Akitsu. Without hesitation he grabbed her hand and began running out of the smokescreen. Naruto charged out of the smokescreen with Akitsu stumbling behind him trying to catch her breath. However, they weren't able to get to far as a slash of wind ripped his back open causing Naruto to fall with a cry of surprise. As if to mock his thoughts, Mutsu and the other Sekirei belonging to Mikogami came running out of the smoke.
"Ashikabi-sama!" Akitsu cried out and tried to run over to him, only to cry out when some wires managed to wrap themselves around her, "Ah, let me go!" the ice Sekirei cried out, "Ashikabi-sama!" she pleaded.
"Now, now," Yomi chided with an almost manacle grin, "We can't have you acting out anymore. You've already given us enough trouble as it is. Just be a good little Sekirei and let us take you to our master. You'll make a wonderful addition to his collection." she sneered.
Mutsu sighed, "We've wasted enough time here."
Naruto wondered what he should do. He needed a plan if he wanted to get out of this without revealing too much of his power.
"Keep her bound so she can't get away. It's bothersome, but we don't want her trying to escape again." Mitsuha snorted.
Unfortunately Naruto couldn't think of anything. So long as Akitsu remained bound and Mutsu remained near, the amount of limiters Naruto was able to place on himself diminished. But that didn't mean he was helpless.
"You jerks, let me go, my Ashikabi-sama needs me!" Akitsu cried.
Hearing her pleading cries, Naruto's fingers clenched around the hilt of his blade, which had miraculously remained in his grasp while he was experiencing the cut. The muscles in his arms flexed as he pushed himself into a crouch, legs bunched under him, fingers splayed. He looked like some kind of jungle predator preparing to pounce. It was a surprisingly accurate analogy.
Mutsu nodded, satisfied. Neither he nor the others saw Naruto as the blond immortal prepared to attack.
Chakra once more flowed through his body like a tidal wave. Naruto grabbed the energy and forced it into submission. He took hold of it, directed it, the energy flowed down his legs and to the bottom of his feet, where he directed untold amounts of the mystical energy to in what would be a move that was equal parts brilliant as it was stupid.
One of the most basic chakra control techniques that ninja are taught when they first became genin is the tree climbing exercise. It's called tree climbing, but in truth it would be more accurate to say that it was tree walking. By adding chakra to the bottom of the feet, one could stick themselves to any vertical surface and walk up it as if they were walking on the ground, thereby defying gravity. The trick was getting the right amount of chakra to the bottom of the feet, which was the hardest place to direct ones chakra to. Too little chakra and you risked falling off. Too much chakra and you risk blasting yourself off the surface, which is exactly what happened to Naruto.
With the utterly ridiculous amount of chakra Naruto was channeling to the bottom of his feet, which was far more chakra than most ninja ever gained in their lifetimes, what happened next was only natural. Newton's third law of motion insured that. With the amount of kinetic energy the chakra was creating under his foot, Naruto was blasted forward with enough speed that his body was a complete blur, the ground where he had blasted off cracked under the pressure from the amount of force he put on it.
Mutsu heard the sound, so did the others, but he was the only one quick enough to react. Even then the only thing he could do was turn his head as Naruto's blurred form past him and continued on unimpeded.
Mutsu wasn't the target.
Grabbing his sword with both hands, Naruto lifted the blade above his head, and swiftly brought it down on the strings that were holding Akitsu in place. There was a loud screech, almost like that of metal on metal. For a moment Naruto wondered if the strings were made of some kind of metal, but discarded that notion. They were too flexible to be made out of metal that thick. Some kind of synthetic material then? MBI had the technology. Well, whatever, he could ponder over the Sekirei's weapons later. Maybe he could even take a sample home with him and study it.
Despite the strength of the strings, they snapped under Naruto's attack. Mitsuha, who had been holding onto the strings tightly and had even placed her body weight into keeping Akitsu bound, stumbled backwards with a surprised look on her face. Naruto wondered if it was because the steaming 'corpse' from earlier had suddenly risen up and broke her weapon, or simply because he had broken her weapon; perhaps a little of both. Looking up Mitsuha looked to the blond in confusion and shock, "What the hell!?" Mitsuha shouted in shock. "I thought he was dead!"
Her surprised shouting went largely ignored. Yomi and Akitsu were both in the same boat as she was, but they seemed to have lost their voices, though Naruto was sure if they had them they would have agreed with the Sekirei's assessment. The only one who wasn't affected to the point of not being able to move was Mutsu, who had launched himself at Naruto the moment he sliced through the strings that had bound Akitsu.
The soft 'hiss' of his blade sliding out of its sheath was accompanied by the whistling sound as it cut through the air. Naruto spun on a dime, the Kubikiribōcho coming up to block the attack. He channeled chakra into his arms, legs, and the bottom of his feet before his blade clashed with that of Mutsu's.
There was a loud 'clang!' as steel cashed against steel. Naruto let out a slight grunt of exertion as the combined strength and momentum hit him, but other than that he gave no indication of having felt the attack. Indeed, he remained planted firmly on the ground, neither stumbling nor sliding backwards as the smaller katana was bashed against his head cleaving blade.
And then it was his turn. Channeling a bit more chakra to his arms, Naruto shoved his sword against Mutsu's using both his own chakra enhanced strength, and the inertia that had been created when he blocked Mutsu's attack. The male Sekirei was sent stumbling backwards, his eyes widening in surprise. He hesitated. Naruto could have used that moment to attack, but there was no guarantee that Mutsu would fall with his next move. Would he be able to attack quickly enough to land a decisive blow? How fast was Mutsu's reaction time? Without knowing those answers, attacking someone of number zero five's caliber was foolish given the situation he was in.
Naruto couldn't afford to be drawn into a large scale battle when there were two other Sekirei waiting to pounce on the one he was trying to protect. Speaking off...
"Ashikabi-sama, you're alright!" Akitsu said happily.
"Not now, we have other things to worry about." said Naruto as he burst forward to cross blades with Mutsu as Mitsuha and Yomi attacked the ice Sekirei with their scythe and strings respectively. She managed to jump back, dodging the whip and several strings, but a few managed to catch her unawares and managed to make small nicks in her flesh. She hissed, but despite how tired she must be from everything that had happened, managed to pull enough strength from somewhere to raise her hand and point it at them. Slivers of ice grew out of nothing and shot forward with incredible speed and power.
As he went for a vertical strike at the fifth Sekirei, Mutsu jumped backwards, allowing Naruto's blade to crash into the ground. It was good thing for him that he did, for when the giant butcher knife struck the ground, large chunks of grass and dirt sprung out of the ground, and cracks spread along its surface as the Kubikiribōcho sunk into deep into the earth. It seemed this was the moment Mutsu was waiting for. The gray-haired sword user launched himself forward, and was on Naruto in less than a second. He came at the immortal with a horizontal swipe of his blade. In most circumstances, the battle probably would have ended there.
With how deeply the Kubikiribōcho had sunk into the ground, not even Naruto would be able to yank it out in time to block. Fortunately for Naruto and unfortunately for Mutsu, the shinobi in question was not a swordsman by nature. The lavender eyed shinobi let go of the large blade, and ducked. The sword swipe from Mutsu whistled over his head, cutting off several strands of hair that blew away from the force of the swing. Naruto planted both hands on the ground behind him, and kicked his feet into the air, before proceeding to smash them both against Mutsu's chest. The move was so quick that the Sekirei in question didn't have time to mount of proper defense, and with his body still moving with the swing he couldn't bring his sword back to block in time.
The double attack connected with the sound of thunder. Mutsu was launched backwards, into the air, flipping end over end. He wondered for a moment if he would be sent out of the city limits due to the strength used. It was a hope that was dashed when the member of the first disciplinary squad sunk his blade into the ground and used it to slow his momentum, and use the remaining force to swing his body around so that his feet planted themselves firmly on the ground. He knelt down, both hands on his blade, which remained impaled into the hard concrete of the roof. Then he stood up, looking only a little worse for wear as he rubbed the two spots Naruto had kicked.
"You, what are you?" asked Mutsu, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the blond. "You're far too strong to be human, yet I can sense that you're not a Sekirei."
"Me, I'm just a regular everyday bad-ass." Naruto said with a projected air of indifference. Taking his right hand off Kubikiribōcho's hilt, he reached into his shuriken pouch and pulled several of the pointed ninja stars, which he let fly towards his opponent. Mutsu was quick to react. He made several blurring swipes with his katana, batting each shuriken away with ease. Naruto had expected that, and truthfully didn't care if his projectiles hit the Sekirei or not. It would have been nice, but not necessary.
In the time it took Mutsu to deflect the launched ninja stars, Naruto had already moved. Not towards the sword wielding Sekirei, but towards the nearest female Sekirei attacking Akitsu. Yomi. Moving so fast that it almost appeared as if he had simply phased into existence in front of her, the blond could see the scythe user's eyes widening as he swung his giant head cleaver at her. She tried to jump back and avoid the swing, but was too slow. The blade sliced into her flesh. Blood spurted out of the large gash that had opened up from her left hip to her right shoulder. Number forty-three's eyes widened in horror, her mouth opened to scream out in pain, but all that managed to come out was a gurgling sound. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her body fell backwards, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
A profound silence rang throughout the clearing as the three remaining Sekirei stared wide eyed at the blond who had just defeated and possibly killed a member of their race. Mitsuha's face turned green as she stared at the blond like he was some kind of demon. With his face covered in his victim's blood, and his hair matted down with the same red substance as he stared down at the now terminated Sekirei without a hint of emotion in his eyes, it wasn't hard to see why. He really did look like some kind of demon.
Mutsu was the first of the group to recover. He looked over at Mitsuha, who looked like she might vomit at any moment. "Mitsuha!" he shouted, forcing her to look away from the gruesome scene before her, "This battle's lost, we're leaving." he commanded. The user of the strange string-like weapons didn't need to be told twice. Shuddering from head to toe at what could have been her fate had she been closest to the blond; she jumped up and over the wall followed by Mutsu, ignoring the fallen comrade they left behind.
Naruto watched them go. He could have gone after them, but really, all he wanted to do now was get home. Then he looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw Akitsu staring at him with a strange expression, a mixture of abject horror and arousal that would have looked out of place on anyone. He turned to face her, noticing how she flinched. Sighing, he wiped the blood off his face with the sleeves of shirt, discreetly using what concentration he could to gather the moisture in the air to help wash his face off. When he was sufficiently clean, he looked back up at his new Sekirei, "Are you alright?" he asked into the silence.
Akitsu seemed to shake herself out of whatever funk she was in, and gingerly stood up, wincing a bit as the aches and pains of the day, as well as the way her body was reacting to Naruto, descended upon her, "I'm fine Ashikabi-sama." she told him.
"Then let's get you home." he said walking her out of the park and climbing into the taxi.
XxX
Hikari and Hibiki walked down the street, bags in hand, wearing brand new clothing, each with designer sunglasses, "So where do you think he ran off to in such a hurry?" The conversation had been veering in this general direction for the last hour, since their Ashikabi had vanished.
"Who knows. We should have probably made it a point to ask the jerk what he does for a living..." Hikari grumbled.
"Didn't the CEO say something when he contacted Naruto? I thought he said he was an author or something..." Hibiki replied.
Hikari snapped to attention, "Hey, you're right!" she said, "He said he was the author to some series called...Icha-Icha I think. Ever heard of it?" Her sister shook her head.
"No, I haven't...but didn't Minaka say something else...I think he mentioned something else Naruto does on the side..." Hibiki stated in thought, but couldn't recall what it had been said as, "I know Minaka said something, but I can't really recall..." she muttered. Both woman adopted thoughtful looks, trying to remember what it was that the game-master had said, but both drew a blank.
"Anyway, why don't we go check out what this 'Icha-Icha' series is. Maybe we can find out where Naruto got all this money." As they made their way down the side-walk, each managed to glance at one of the cars driving by, and both pairs of eyes narrowed. Mutsu was inside, and the person who was obviously his Ashikabi.
"Well, well, look what we have here, Sis." Hikari announced.
"If those two are out and about, it means they have their eyes on someone. Which means we get to follow through with Naruto's orders," Hibiki replied. Lightning arced from their feet as they leapt to the rooftops, "I know we've emerged, but do you think we'll be able to take these guys?"
"We don't have to take them, just stall them," her sister replied, receiving a nod in confirmation. Keeping tabs on the car as they nimbly leapt from rooftop to rooftop, they didn't quite realize that they were being tailed by Homura, the Guardian Sekirei keeping both his pace and his distance. He had been keeping tabs on this Ashikabi as well and it was again time to do his duty. Perhaps these girls could help.
XxX
Fifteen minutes later, Naruto entered the house which he stopped to admire the new furniture that had been brought in and set up. He was surprised, it had only been a couple hours since he left, but sheesh the twins worked fast. Akitsu had fallen asleep on the drive over and so he had no choice but to carry her inside like a new bride, but he wasn't going to complain. Most of the furniture was the expensive kind that lasted for years and would remain comfortable regardless if you jumped on it like a trampoline or not. Laying her on the couch, he watched as Akitsu began to stir from the loss of heat provided by Naruto before she awoke.
Her eyes landed on the blond, making her relax as she saw his ocean blue eyes looking at her in concern. "So... it wasn't a dream..."
"Did you want it to be?" asked Naruto, giving her a wink. When she shook her head 'no' he grinned. "Don't worry, this is no dream. From now on, you'll be with us, a new addition to our..." he paused, wondering about what the appropriate term for them was. After a second he decided to go with, "Family."
Akitsu looked at him in confusion. "You have a family?"
"Something like that." Naruto said, the impulsive nature of his youth coming out to play after several thousands years of inaction. He cleared his throat, "Akitsu, I haven't been entirely honest with you and would like for you to know that I am in fact a Ashikabi, to twin Sekirei at that. I already told them that if any other Sekirei reacted to me I would bring them into the fold as my own Sekirei. So before I decide to see if I can help you before resorting to running to MBI, I just want you to know you can always back out." he told her.
"So... you'll take care of me?" she asked
"That's right."
"You won't... abandon me?"
In response to her question Naruto leaned down until their noses were touching. Looking into her eyes he said, "I promise to never abandon you. No matter what happens I will always look after you, and cherish you as someone as beautiful as you deserves to be cherished. I swear this on my life as a shinobi."
'Shinobi?' wondered Akitsu before her mind was swept away when Naruto kissed her. The woman's mind blanked completely, she had never expected to have someone want her like this, she was broken after all. Yet this man was kissing her, she could almost feel the emotions he was pouring into the act. Slowly, almost tentatively, she began to kiss back. Her arms came up and wrapped around the blond's neck and she could feel her entire body becoming almost unbearably hot.
Much like the last time Naruto kissed a Sekirei, he could feel his chakra being drained. However, where the twins seemed to continue sucking his chakra out until they gained their wings, with Akitsu it felt almost like something was blocking her from gaining the necessary chakra to do the same. Concentrating on his chakra, Naruto followed it's path as it flowed through the woman's body, tracing it. He had not been able to do this when he had winged the twins, being as startled as he was. But this time, the blond made sure to follow the path it took to it's conclusion.
When he did, a frown marred his face. While Naruto could not be certain due to how shocked he was by the situation last time, he would have bet his entire fortune on his chakra going to the twins' back. That was, after all, where the Sekirei crest was located. With Akitsu he could still feel his chakra flowing through her, but instead of stopping at her back where her crest would be and gathering there until she had enough to gain her wings, it stopped at her forehead and pushed against... something.
A need for air soon became relevant and Naruto pulled back with a gasp, greedily sucking in the much needed oxygen. He looked down at Akitsu and saw tears beginning to gather in her eyes, "Hey now..." he whispered, using his left hand to gently wipe the tears away. "What's with the tears?"
"Ah," Akitsu started, her despondent eyes dropping away from Naruto's questioning ones. "I was really hoping that I could truly be your Sekirei."
Naruto frowned. Placing the hand that was wiping tears under her chin, he pulled her face back towards his. "Let's not give up yet," he said, causing her eyes to turn to him, "I still have one more thing I want to try." And with that he pressed his lips back down against hers. This time, he did not just follow the flow of it as it traveled through the woman's pathways. He prepared, and waited, and when he felt his chakra hit that strange block that had been keeping his chakra from going any further, Naruto began actively channeling his chakra through her via the kiss. He sent a surge of his potent and powerful chakra into her, pushing it against the block. For a moment, nothing happened, and then, without warning, Naruto felt something give before the block broke and his chakra surged through Akitsu like his namesake.
There was an explosion of light where Akitsu's mark was, followed by an even more brilliant light from behind her. A large pair of angel wings burst from her back, great ethereal wings the same shade as ice. They conformed to the room as if they were a physical object, following the path of the floor as they moved around her back and curved upwards to wrap around the two of them in a protective embrace. The room began to fog over, frost formed on the window and a layer of ice began creeping along the floor, walls, and ceiling. Naruto and Akitsu came back up for air, their released breaths coming out as large puffs of fog.
Naruto looked at Akitsu's flushed face, his gaze traveling from her moist, pink lips to her forehead,"Hey, your mark is gone," Naruto commented with a grin. "Looks like my theory was right."
Akitsu's eyes widened and her hand went to her forehead. "It's gone?" she whispered.
"Yep, and you've got your wings." he told her her and winked, "I guess your not so broken after all, eh?"
It was impossible for Akitsu to keep the tears from her eyes as she looked at Naruto. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." she said in a repeating mantra over and over again.
Naruto smiled, kissed her on the forehead and said, "You're very welcome, now get some rest, tomorrow you'll begin a new life with the twins and I."
"Yes, my Ashikabi-Sama," Akitsu said, closing her eyes as she let sleep take her. A small smile making it's way onto her face. Her last thoughts before sleep claimed her were on her Ashikabi and her hope that they would share a bright future together.
XxX
Within M.B.I. headquarters alarms were going off and several workers were running around like headless chickens. The alarms were blaring and panic had set in. Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on, and of course, all of their actions were counteracting the actions of each other, making it impossible for them to get any of the answers they sought.
Fortunately for them, the cavalry had arrived.
Unfortunately for them, she was a hard ass that they all feared even more the Hiroto Minaka.
Takami walked into the room with a scowl in her eyes, "Everybody calm down before I shove my foot so far up your asses that you won't be sitting for months!" she shouted as several workers typed away frantically on their computers in an attempt to gather as much data as possible about the current event that was causing the sirens to go off. She walked over to one of the work stations and looked at the data flowing, ignoring the way the man stiffened from her mere presence alone. "What have you found out?"
"It's Akitsu ma'am!" One of the workers shouted. "S-she's just been winged!"
"Impossible!" the woman said as she walked over to the computer and watched the feedback. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "This shouldn't be possible. I want all information you have on Akitsu and the Ashikabi who winged her, and I want it yesterday! Get to work!"
"Ma'am!" the scientist responded and returning to what they were doing.
Up on the top of the M.B.I headquarters, Hiroto Minaka watched the proceedings inside of the lab on his portable monitor with a grin, "Uzumaki Naruto, such an interesting and mysterious character you are. I wonder what other surprises you'll bring to the table." he told himself.
-Earlier that same day-
Mikogami was rubbing his hands together eagerly. The veiled Sekirei, a incredible prize for him to gain now that she had been subdued, "And you're all mine." he said eagerly.
"Back off ya little creep!" Uzume yelled out at him.
"Now why would I do that?" he asked her with a snort, "You're about to become a part of my collection." he said eagerly.
"I'm not some action figure you can collect from a store. I'm a living breathing person, the only difference between me and you is that I have abilities that make me different from you. Other than that I'm basically human!" Uzume shouted.
Suddenly the two Sekirei holding her down were blasted away by bolts of purple lightning, "We're aren't late to this shindig are we?" a feminine voice asked as Mikogami swung himself around and felt his eyes sparkle in excitement, the twin lightning Sekirei, this day just keeps better and better.
"More pieces for my collection!" he shouted eagerly.
Hibiki snorted, "Oh get over yourself." she said crossing her arms, "Besides, we're already taken." she told him.
"Yea, and our Ashikabi is way better looking than you that's for sure." Hikari agreed with her sister.
"Mitsuki, Juusa, destroy them!" he cried out in anger, "If I can't have them for my collection than their master won't either!"
Hibiki and Hikari looked at each other and then clasped their hands together, "We're the pledged thunderclap. No disaster will hit our Ashikabi." they chanted as a powerful bolt of lightning shot off and struck the two Sekirei in question which caused the two to cry out in pain from the lightning where they both collapsed while the lightning exploded behind them both and threatened to throw the others off their feet. Surprisingly they didn't feel as drained as they normally did when using their Norito. Was it because of Naruto's training? If so then this was amazing.
Not exactly girls.
"No, my Sekirei, what did you do to them?" Mikogami cried out as he got up and ran over to them.
"The same thing we're about to do to you you little twerp!" Hikari growled as she walked over and threw a bolt of lightning where she sent a large shock through the boys system, "Now get this through that empty skull of yours." she said as the boy cried out, "We Sekirei aren't toys, and we never will be. So grow up and treat the ones you have with respect, or the next time we meet this will be twice as worse as this!" she shouted as she surged a new bolt of lightning through the teen who passed out from the pain.
Hibiki sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I'm so sorry about Hikari, she's usually much better than this, but I guess seeing this happen to you set her off." she said helping the veiled Sekirei up to her feet.
"No problem. I'm Uzume by the way." Uzume said to the calm twin.
"I'm Hibiki, and this is of course my twin sister Hikari." she introduced herself.
"Yea, you're the lightning twins if I'm not mistaken. Congratulations on finding a Ashikabi. I just started to react to one a few couple days ago. I've been looking through the city but haven't been able to find him anywhere." she told her.
"Well I wish you the best of luck in finding him. We need to get back to our own home before our Ashikabi does." Hikari said politely to Uzume.
"Yea, I gotta get going to. My landlady must be worried sick about me." Uzume said before she jumped away.
"Well let's get going too sis, might as well see if Naruto's come back yet." Hibiki said.
"Yea, let's get out of here." Hikari sighed.
And that is a wrap. Please don't forget to LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW to show me that you do in fact love this story and also leave a nice lengthy COMMENT/REVIEW that shows me that you were here reading this chapter.