Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters written here. They are own by their respective owners. Nuff' said.

Warning: This is rated M for a reason (blood, gore, extreme violence, language, and possible adult themes/lemons, etc.) Some of the characters will be a little OC.

Now on with the second chapter.

The Black Leaves

Chapter 28

After having spent an hour or so visiting Hinata in the hospital, Naruto decided to head home. Annette had messaged the symbiotes within the village that she was returning to his apartment fifteen minutes ago. Naruto took to the rooftops and quickly leapt home.

Whatever Naruto was expecting to find when he opened his apartment door, seeing a small group of attractive women gorging themselves on the corpses of two very, very large tigers. And they were not eating the beasts in a refined manner; the women were violently tearing out chunks of flesh and would occasionally snarl and growl at each other whenever they would reach for the same meat. They did not even react when Naruto had walked in.

Not feeling hungry, Naruto calmly walked over to Nightmare and sat down next to her on his small couch. Nightmare sat straight up before slowly falling over towards Naruto so that her head landed on his shoulder. Seeing how the rest of the occupants did not appear to finishing any time soon, Naruto decided to continue with his promised task of helping Nightmare regain the mobility in her limbs.

So, Naruto got started slowly moving the joints in Nightmare's legs. He tried to be as gentle as he could possibly be since he could only imagine the pain Nightmare felt as he slowly forced her right knee to bend. He could see the pieces of burnt flesh fall off the girl's charred skin and hear her moans of pain. After nearly two hour of working on the crippled limb, Naruto was able to make Nightmare completely bend and straighten her right knee without any aid.

The other women were also finishing up their meal, with Ino being the first to leave the kitchen and plop herself down on Naruto's grungy armchair. She gave a satisfied sigh while patting her full stomach. "Man! We haven't eaten like that in a good long time." She said in satisfaction.

Naruto looked up at her with a questioning gaze. "It looks like you and Sister are getting along well."

Ino looked at Naruto with a scowl. "You know, if you had let us explain ourselves before tentacle raping us. Then you would have learned that all I had seen was you getting blown by Samus and your home feeding off that stupid drunk guy." Ino's scowl changed into a cute pout. "But, then again. If you hadn't jumped to conclusions, Sister and us wouldn't have bounded and we wouldn't be able to do what we can do."

"What can Sister and you do anyway, Ino-chan?" Naruto asked with true curiosity. He missed Ino quickly glance at Samus, who returned it with a knowing wink. Ino's face split into a large smile as she held her right arm at Naruto with her hand held into a fist. Naruto looked at her in confusion. That is, until Ino quickly opened her clinched hand and Naruto's clothes were suddenly torn clean off.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he tried to cover himself; only for Ino to widen her open hand and force Naruto's hands away from his crotch. Nightmare's single open eye widened as she gazed up and down Naruto's young body. Samus was staring hard and licking her lips while trailing her hands up and down her body. Marta was calmly sitting in her chair chewing on a bone and Annette was looking with an amused smile. Ino had a much more wicked smile donning her face. Baby simply sat on the table wondering what that thing was in-between her daddy's legs.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Naruto nearly screamed. The women of the apartment all simply chuckled at the boy's reaction except for Samus; who was currently running a hand in between her legs.

"Demonstrating our power, Lord Venom." Ino chuckled as she raised Naruto into the air and turned him around so that everyone had a clear view of Naruto's family jewels. Ino looked at her fellow female symbiotes and saw Annette give her a curt smile.

"Would you kindly put Lord Venom down, Sister?" Annette asked Ino in a firm voice. Ino did as she was commanded and gently set Naruto back down on his couch. Samus pouted and whined loudly as Naruto's yummy organ disappeared from sight. Nightmare on the other hand still had her single eye fixated on Naruto's flaccid cock.

Naruto glared at Ino before he leaned his head back and his cheeks bulged. Naruto looked down at himself and opened his mouth wide, allowing black symbiotic goo to drain out of his mouth and onto his stomach. The goo continued to flow from his mouth as it started to spread over his torso, arms and legs. Naruto stopped spitting out the mess after it had covered all he wanted. The goo then quickly took on the texture and design of Naruto's once orange jacket and pants before finally stop moving.

Naruto licked his lips with a sour expression on his face. "You have no idea how nasty that tastes." Naruto moaned. Ino just giggled and stuck her tongue out at Naruto is a playful fashion.

After a few minutes, Annette slowly rose from her seat and clapped her hands. "Well, we think that is enough fun for tonight. Time for bed. We have a long day of travel ahead of us tomorrow."

Naruto looked at Annette for a minute before shrugging his shoulders and having his clothing shift into a black set of sleepwear. He slowly rose to his feet and gave a loud, long groan as he stretched his arms high into the air. "Then we will be heading to bed." Naruto said with a yawn. He was about to leave when He felt a familiar sliminess wrap around his right wrist.

Naruto turned to see Nightmare with her intestine wrapped around his arm. Before Naruto could say anything, Samus had wrapped her arms around Naruto's left arm and press it firmly against her chest. Naruto opened his mouth again to speak only for another pair of arms to wrap around his neck from behind. He turned his head a little and saw Ino smiling wildly. Feeling something pressing against him, Naruto looked down to see Nightmare pressing up against him and looking up at him with her yellow eye.

Annette giggled before walking over to Naruto and scooting past him to get to his bedroom. "It appears that we will all be sleeping together." She turned to look at Marta who was calmly walking over to the couch. "Would you like to join us, Revenge?"

Marta looked at her leader for a moment; her facial features completely unreadable. "We would rather not our Lady. We feel that we might be able to control ourselves should we share a bed with Lord Venom. We would like to remain faithful to our husband." She responded while getting herself comfortable on the couch.

"Understood." Annette then turned back to the other people in the apartment. "Are we ready to go?" But before anybody could say anything, Baby let loose a loud screech and zoomed over to her papa and sat down on his head.

Naruto found himself being slowly pulled into his bedroom with a mesh of black tentacles covered the doorway. Marta simply stared at the doorway for a few moments before laying down on Naruto's couch and slowly falling asleep.

Next morning...

Every symbiote host, except for Ino, was standing at the large gates that marked the main entrance to Konohagakure. They were all wearing their respective robes except for Naruto; who was wearing his symbiotic jump suite. Ino had to go home so that her mother and father would not worry about where they're little princes was. Naruto was all amped up for his visit to his other's home village. Baby was feeling the joy irradiating from her father and could not help but zoom around and squeal in happiness.

"Let's get going already!" Naruto nearly shouted. Causing a giggle to escape all but the ever stoic Marta.

Annette nodded her head, "If we are all ready, then let us journey to our home." And with that being said, everyone started walking down the only path out of the village.

Now, Naruto was expecting an exciting trek through the most dangerous terrain ever seen on the planet. He was not expecting Annette to notice a small tea hut five miles away from Konohagakure's main gate and suggest a break. So, now the small group was sitting at a table, quietly sipping tea and eating small tea cookies. Naruto appeared to be the only one confused and frustrated by the lack of action. They sat quietly for another ten minutes before Naruto finally had to say something.

"Why are we just sitting around here sipping tea when we should be hurrying home?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth. He was completely ignored for about thirty seconds before the women gave him emotionless looks then returned to their tea. Naruto did not say another word for the remaining fifteen minutes the group was at the teahouse.

After the rest stop the group started once again on their trek to the symbiote village. They continued to walk for a while until the trees started to show more diversity then the normal firs and spruces that surrounded Konoha.

"We think we are far enough away now." Annette said as her symbiote slowly started to cover her. Naruto looked around to see that the rest of the group was transforming into their alien forms. Naruto's face split into a massive grin as he allowed Venom's tendrils to start spreading over him.

"Alright!" Naruto shouted. "Now this is gonna' be fun." Venom laughed loudly. Payback looked Venom up and down while licked her fangs hungrily. She was about to move towards Venom when her cousin firmly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If we wish to return home at the predicted time, then we do not have time for your slutty actions to Lord Venom."

Payback glared at Revenge while Venom chuckled loudly.

The group continued onward; traveling in their own desired way. Payback and Empress had taken to the trees and were leaping from branch to branch and trunk to trunk for maneuverability. Revenge had taken to the ground and was simply running at an incredible speed while Nightmare was riding the Prayer once again. Venom was surprised by the speed that blade-legged monster could produce. The symbiote lord himself was using his incredible jumping ability to leap from ground to tree and vice versa. Baby was simply riding in her loving mother's arms.

They symbiotic gang continued to travel in their own desired fashions until the sun had long past fallen beyond the tree line. Their symbiotic eyes easily adjusted to the limited amount of like the moon and stars provided. No words were needed to be said; everyone knew what it was time for. A hunt.

The symbiotes slowly parted ways and began to search the surrounding woodlands for a large enough form of sustenance. Venom had gone his own way in the search and was only just starting to look around when he heard a loud, animalistic howl. His symbiotic instincts instantly identified the sound as a "food is over here" alert.

Venom quickly followed where the sound had come from and was the first to arrive next to Revenge near the canopy of the trees. She made a few clicking sounds with her fangs while looked to her left. Venom forced a branch out of the way and looked down to see a rather large group of what appeared to be bandits of some sort in a large clearing.

Most of the bandits had on a mix of civilian class clothing and peasant clothes. A few wore what appeared to be old and damaged samurai armor with who Venom could see as the leader wearing a clean and undamaged suit of a shogun. Near the large group was an old and dilapidated feudal era style Buddhist temple, obviously the bandits were using the once holy building as a stronghold. Venom turned his head to the right of the partying bandits when he saw Revenge's clawed finger point in the direction.

Near the edge of the clearing were several large wooden and steel cages packed with women and small children. Without saying anything, Venom quietly made his way down to the very edge of the clearing and lowered down to all fours to hide in the bushes. Sniffing the air, Venom could smell the reek of booze, fear and the other symbiotes circling the area.

He heard another series of clicks and squeaks from both Revenge and Empress. Venom turned to see a drunken pair of the bandits laughing and stumbling over to another set of bushes that hid the aforementioned female symbiotes. Just as the two reached the bushes, a pair of symbiotic arms reached and grabbed one of the men and pulled him into the darkness before he could even yell. His buddy turned around at the sound of movement and felt one hand cover his mouth while another sawed his throat open before he too was pulled into the dark.

Venom slowly crawled his way over to where the spoils of war were being kept and hid behind the large cages. He pressed his body against the ground and slowly drew his tongue out of his mouth. Venom slowly trailed the appendage across the ground until it came up to the ankle of a bandit guarding the prisoners. Venom quickly wrapped his tongue around the man's ankle and gave a hard tug, forcing the man to fall to the group with a yelp. Before his comrades could even turn their head, the man was dragged under the wheeled cage and into the bushes, where he was quickly gutted and left to be gathered by Nightmare's minions.

Venom quickly returned to his position near the cages and watched as Baby zoomed over and smashed into the face of another bandit that was throwing up around the edge of the woods. A small gasp from above alerted Venom to several pairs of eyes looking down on him. He simply stared back at the frightened faces of the women and children before slowly slithering over to the gap between that cage and one of the other cages.

Venom quickly reached forward and grabbed the face of another bandit that had come over to investigate the yelping noise he had heard. A few seconds later, the man's face was completely unrecognizable and he was dragged into the darkness.

The male symbiote was about to ambush another wandering bandit when an ancient sound rang out from near the center of the partying bandits. A gun shot. The sound was followed by the quick screech of pain of a female symbiote in sudden pain. Venom snapped his head in the direction of the gun shot sound and saw a scrawny man with a long nose that made him look like he had some sort of bird face. His outfit stuck out with it's bright green color.

The man was standing right next to the samurai-clad leader with a dead serious expression painted on his face. The whole band of bandits instantly turned silent while they looked at the gunman and the direction of the pained scream.

The leader looked over to the man and gave an amused chuckle. "Somethin' got ya' spooked there Toomes?"

The man let out a puff of air but kept his weapon aimed. Venom could see that is was a far more ancient weapon then first thought. Hell, the rifle had a wick sticking out of it. The only thing of actual interest on the gun was a green feather that had a V cut into it attached to the tip of the muzzle.

Without another word, Toomes reloaded his rifle before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He continued to stare at the same spot while everyone else around him went back to their drunken partying. Or so they all thought.

Payback slowly poked her head and shoulders out from behind a tree and gave a low pained groan, which drew most everyone's attention to her. Revenge and the other symbiotes used the opportunity to send out a few tentacles and quickly snag several bandits each.

Just as Venom was dragging the last of his prey away, an aware bandit rushed over while brandishing a nasty looking axe and sung the weapon down onto the tentacle dragging his comrade. The severed limb bled purple-red blood while Venom let out a screech of pain.

The weapon-wielding bandit tore the severed tentacle from his ally and quickly pulled him back to his comrades who were now all brandishing their own weapons of choice.

Venom let loose an angry roar before pushing aside the two cages he was in between and rushing forward towards the bandit gang. His eyes were completely focused on the bandit leader as he plowed right through a large portion of the gang. He delivered a very nasty punch to the face of the bandit that had severed his tentacle before continuing to charge towards the leader.

The rest of the symbiotic group leapt out of their hiding spots and began to tear into the bandit gang with whatever they pleased. Before Venom could reach the ringleader of the gang however, a whole mess of bandit thought that it was a good idea to pile on top of the male symbiote in an effort to stop his charge. Venom did not even slow down as he tore the bandits off him and tossed them aside.

While most of the bandits were either trying to fight off the symbiotes or trying to flee. The bandit known as Toomes and the bandit leader appeared to be calm about the whole situation. Toomes held up his rifle and lit the wick before taking aim right for Venom's moving head. He closed one eye and took careful aim right at the very end of Venom's snout.

Just as Venom reached the pair, he raised his right arm high into the air with the intent on slamming it down upon either one of the men. But before he could make the motion to slam it down, Toomes fired his rifle at the symbiote. At point-blank range!

Just before the projectile could make contact with Venom; his perception of time drastically slowed down as his super spider and alien senses kicked in. Venom saw that it wasn't a normal pellet but was instead a small spear-like bullet with a tiny green metal arrow carved into the metal.

Venom was able to turn his head to the side just enough so that the projectile entered directly next to his left eye. The bullet went clean through his skull along with left side of his brain. Fortunately, Venom's instantly adapting body forced his brain to start working double shifts so that his still functional brain cells allowed the continued motor skills and bodily functions that the symbiote and his host were needing. All of that happened in the split second the bullet left Venom's brain case when at the very beginning of the bullet's penetration the symbiote's body started to heal.

Did you get all that readers?

The force of the impact did cause Venom's head to tilt back and thus when he slammed his hand down he just barely missed his targets and instead hit the ground hard enough to create a small dirt cloud. Toomes was fast enough to grab his leader and pull him out of the way of the danger.

"Get me out of here Toomes!" The leader shouted at his underling. Said green wearing man quickly threw his rifle over his back on a strap and swung his arms open in a similar method a hawk would before taking flight. In that swift motion, a flurry of green feathers filled Venom's vision and forced him to back up when he realized that said feathers were actually oddly shaped, knife-like weapons.

Out of the flurry burst out Toomes with his leader strapped to his chest like an ancient parachutist team. The clothing on his arms had their own massive amount of feathers and he was literally flapping his arms like a big green bird trying to get off the ground.

A flash of a similar but older man flashed into Venom's mind, but he quickly discarded that thought and charged into the still swarming flurry of metal feathers. The tiny weapons did cut into his black, alien flesh but it was nothing but a minor annoyance to the powerhouse. The only thing that actually caused Venom to stop was the lodging of one of the metal weapons into the still closing bullet wound in his face.

This caused Venom to let out a pained roar before his healing body forced the fake feather to fall harmlessly to the ground. With a few mighty swipes of his arms, Venom was able to cause the flurry of feathers to disperse and reveal that the man named Toomes and his boss were gone.

Venom quickly scanned the carnage filled scene around him before a honking growl from Payback caught his attention. He looked over to her to see her pointing up at the sky at an angle while continuously making the same honking growl. The male symbiote followed her clawed finger and saw that his two targets were already pretty high into the air and were quickly making their escape.

This was a fatal mistake on their part. Venom gave out a loud and angry roar before launching a thick tentacle out of his back, aimed right for Toomes green body. Hearing the whooshing of the incoming limb, Toomes was just able to turn so that the tentacle did not hit his torso; unfortunately it did make contact with his right arm. This caused the arm to break and for Toomes and his boss to start slowly plummeting to the hard Earth below. The slow fall was due to the birdman still trying flapping away with his one good arm.

The sudden change in motion caused the bald guy to drop his boss, who was quickly snatched out of the air by Venom's tentacle. He was met by Venom's fist before his head smacked into the hard, unforgiving Earth. The symbiote slammed his hand around the man's throat and slowly raised him high into the air before releasing a mighty, victorious roar. He was about to tear the man in half and devour him when something caught his attention out of the corner of his large white eye.

It was a red tattoo on the right arm of the armor that was all too familiar to Venom. It was a large circle with another circle inside it; the gap between the two circles was filled with a number of odd symbols and shapes. Inside the inner circle were three more red circles in a triangle pattern with several more symbols in-between the circles.

Venom's vision was suddenly filled with red as visions of human brutality and the sounds of human suffering flashed through his mind. "OOORRRDDDEEERRR!" Venom roared as loudly as possible. He dropped the man for just a moment before catching his head with one head and started squeezing the man's skull between his massive hands.

Out of complete and total terror, Nightmare's body began to shake uncontrollably. Her mother quickly crawled to her daughter and wrapped her in her arms in an effort to calm her daughter down.

He slowly drew the man closer to his face before speaking to the grunting in pain man before speaking again. "Where did you get this armor?" He growled lowly. "Are you with the Order?"

The man let out a choking gasp and continued to struggle against the crushing force around his skull. "TALK!" Venom roared before applying more pressure to the man's head.

"I-I-I don't remember!" The man shouted as his head was slowly crushed.

Venom had his tentacles wrap around the man's right arm and give a painful twist until a loud crack was heard, followed by the bandit leader screaming out in pain. "TALK!"

"I g-got it from some red robe wearing freaks in the mainland! I tr-traded them two villages worth of women and brats to get this!" Were his last words as his head was crushed in-between Venom's massive hands. The bandit's body slumped down to the ground.

Venom growled down at the corpse before making his way over to the massive pile of corpses his fellow symbiotes had been making. The others had already begun to eat, so Venom simply dug in as well and started to tear out large chunks of flesh to devour. While the group ate, the still trapped prisoners could only watch in horror as the monsters ripped apart the bodies and the pile grew smaller. The fear that they would soon be next on the menu filled them all as the pile grew smaller and smaller. All the while, Baby drained the energy out of several unconscious bodies.

All the prisoners could do was watch as the symbiotes began to finish their feast and clean each other. After a short while, the symbiotes had cleaned each other and Payback turned her head to look directly at the cowering prisoners. When Payback moved to get to her feet, the humans all flinched in terror. The female symbiote took a few steps closer to the cages before bending down at the waist and picking up a very small key.

She looked at the key she was holding in-between her sharp claws and slowly turned it back and forth as if she was inspecting it. She then looked at the cages once again before letting her already wide mouth split into a horrific looking grin. The smile only caused more whimpering to go through the caged humans and made them all press up as far away from the female monster as possible.

Payback gave a soft chuckle of amusement before flicking the key into one of the cages. The little piece of metal clicked against the hard surface and bounced twice before stopping near the foot of one of the women prisoners.

Without saying or doing anything else, Payback turned on her heels and strutted back to her group. Venom looked up at her with a questioning glance and gave a confused coo to his blue-silver ally.

Payback just gave him a smile before saying. "Future meals." Venom slowly nodded his head as he observed the humans free themselves and slowly make there way to hopefully civilization. He turned his head to see that Empress had already made a cocoon and was carrying her daughter inside for an evening's rest. Revenge was already hidden in her own cocoon and sleeping away.

Payback gently ran her right hand over Venom's shoulder's and neck as she passed him and started to create her own cocoon. As she made it, Payback turned her head slightly and gave a hot smile as she wiggled her butt at the male symbiote.

Venom stared at the display for a moment before letting air escape from in-between his fangs. "Hmm, ok. Enticing." Venom continued to stare at the jiggling, bouncing flesh as he slowly formed his own cocoon out of the tentacles sprouting from his back. He continued to watch Payback as she slowly wiggled her way into her cocoon even while he slowly walked backwards into his own.

Payback gave one final wink before Baby flew inside her mother's cocoon and silver-blue tendrils closed the organic pod and the two went to sleep. Venom made sure to scan his surrounding to check for any chance of danger before letting his cocoon close and following Payback's example.

The next day the symbiotes awoke and ate a small meal from the remaining corpses before absorbing their cocoons and returning to their travels. After several hours, the symbiotes came upon a large fishing village. The busy village was alive and well with the sounds of workers going about their jobs, people shopping at the open-air market and children playing outside.

Without even having to say anything, the symbiotes returned to their human forms and simply walked right through the human settlement. Nobody paid the group any attention as they calmly walked straight through the village and made only one stop to let Baby play around with a cat. And by play with cat, I mean chase it halfway around the village before latching onto its face and draining it dry of its life energy.

The group continued toward to the wharf and walked along the docks until they were on the other side of the village. The docks continued past the major buildings of the village and into the more rural section. At the very edge of the village was one final wooden boat that was large enough to carry about 10 people comfortably.

"This boat here will talk us to the mainland where we will travel for another day or so by foot until we reach our home." Annette explained as she and the others boarded the sea-going vessel. A young man came to greet them and to show them to their rooms, Naruto was not surprised to find out that this man and the caption were also hosts to symbiotes. And because of that, there was always a single room below deck for their leader to enjoy a very comfortable and luxurious trip.

Empress and her daughter made their way to said room while the rest were shown to their own sleeping quarters. Samus made it very clear to the deck hand that she and Naruto were to be in the same room. An hour later and the boat had pulled out of port and made it's way to this 'mainland' Naruto has heard so much about. His knowledge of the world was limited to only the elemental nations. He was not even aware that there was a world outside of said nations.

The boat traveled all through the day and into the night. Naruto was smart enough to stay out of his and Samus' room until he was too tired to even stand, and even then Naruto simply fell face-first onto the hard-wooden floor as sleep claimed him.

Naruto was rudely awoken by Baby, who was squealing rather loudly.

"Ugh," Naruto groaned as he ever so slowly sat up. He noticed that he was on the bed in the small cabin instead of the floor. Making a mental note to thank the female blond symbiote host for putting him in the bed and not molesting him, Naruto caught the zooming around Baby and held her still. "Where is your mamma anyway?" Naruto asked his child.

Baby gave out a squeak before wriggling free from Naruto's hands and floating out the door. Naruto went to bathroom to wash his face before following Baby on deck and saw that they had docked at another shipping village. Only, this village was a lot bigger than the village they had left from. Naruto saw Baby float down off the boat and slowly float over the crowd. Naruto was a little surprised that nobody took any notice to the flying alien lazily floating just a few feet above their heads.

Naruto was able to use a combination of his ninja training and symbiotic super-senses to maneuver through the large crowd without much trouble. He only bumped into about 3 people and only then he just had to simply give them a little shove.

Eventually, Naruto made his way out of the crowd and slowly made his way out of the large village; all the while following Baby's lazy floating form. At the very edge of the village, Naruto met up with the symbiotic gang. They were all sitting in a teahouse; calmly sipping away at whatever tea they had purchased.

Naruto quietly took a seat next to Marta and patiently waited for the group to finish their snack before standing up and following the women out onto the dirt road leading out of the fishing village.

The rest of the journey was calm and quiet, and in Naruto's case, boring. The scenery did not change from trees, trees, and more trees until Naruto heard Annette speak up and finally break the silence.

"We are approaching our home."

For a moment, Naruto did not have a clue as to how his leader could tell they were close. The thought that she had telepathy with all symbiotic life did not even come close to crossing his mind. Only after a minute more of walking, Naruto started to see that Annette was right.

It started small, just a few tiny symbiotic tendrils on the ground and trees. But, as they walked further, the size and number of tendrils grew until they were literally choking the ground and local flora. The sounds of the birds also started to change, from the random and noisy chirping to more coordinated tweets and caws. Naruto was able to understand this cries as information of the group's arrival. This meant that the birds he was hearing were hosts to symbiotes.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake as the sound of massive footsteps impacting the Earth grew louder and louder. Naruto was about to drop into a fighting pose when he saw that everyone else was completely ignoring the sounds and vibrations. A loud metallic roar echoed through the dense tentacle jungle.

"What the Hell is that!" Naruto shouted. Revenge ever so calmly turned her head to face her friend and spoke, "That is only Quadraxis, Lord Venom. He is one of the five main guards to the symbiote hive."

They did not have to walk further for Naruto to start seeing completely symbiotic life forms. Trees, dear, badgers, birds, bushes, almost everything either was the host to a symbiote or were fully consumed by one. Suddenly, the group stopped walking.

Empress turned to face Naruto with her already toothy maw split into a warm grin. She opened her mouth and spoke in a soft, warm, and kind voice.

"Welcome home."