Sealkeeper: He Who Binds
Chapter 113 "A Break"
Patron Release 2020.03.16
"Anko." His deep voice broke through the silence of the room. "The idea is to get information from them, not half-heartedly cut them until they fall unconscious." Finesse- like such things as subtlety- were not usually used to describe Anko or her personality but she was a member- and a prominent one, at that- of K.I.T.
Cutting people up properly was one of her specialties.
"...Sorry." Normally he'd expect a cheesy grin as she rubbed the back of her head but neither happened this time. A…..subdued Anko simply wasn't right. "I've had a lot on my mind recently."
Ibiki was not a fan of….feelings….nor did he particularly care for helping people but as she was both his subordinate and ruining some of the few interrogations they had been given lately he wanted to nip this in the bud now.
With a sigh he unlocked the poor bastard from Anko's special chair and unceremoniously kicked him off to land in a heap beside it. Turning to Anko he pointed at the chair and gave the single word command "Sit."
As if the situation was completely natural she complied, sinking into the seat as if it were some sort of plush armchair rather than the steel lovechild of a folding chair and an operating table.
"Alright, what's going on?"
"A lot." She shrugged. "I'm not even sure how much I should actually be telling you, either."
Well, that wasn't exactly something he wanted to hear. Of course his first assumption was that it had to do with the House of Wolves, he was well aware that she was in good standing with the group, but telling someone whose entire job was based on gathering information that you had information and were willingly withholding it? She was lucky he liked her, otherwise she wouldn't just be sitting in that chair.
"Well, he suggested as he grabbed a metal chair and with a spin straddled it comfortably. "Why don't you start with what you know you can and we can work from there."
"...'kay." She thought for a moment, her face scrunching up, and as she thought of something she seemed to return to her usual self. "Oh, yeah! So you know Naruto right? The one Inoichi and I interrogated a few years ago?"
"Who started a war with the Yamanaka right afterwards?" He asked dryly. "Yes, I think I'm familiar with Genin Naruto's existence."
"Yeah, him, well you might also know that we've been fucking pretty regularly for a while now and-" She paused to give Ibiki a curious look as he reached for his throat. It took a second to realize he was choking on something.
"Y-you, you what?" No, he had not known that the two of them were...sharing a bed, and just that sentence brought up a multitude of questions he didn't even know if he wanted answered.
Things like 'why were they sharing a bed?', 'why would he have known?', and- his personal favorite- 'Why the hell was she telling him this?'.
Next time he was just going to give her the rest of the day of to deal with her problems herself. The one time he tries to do something nice for someone and he's saddled with this shit.
Swallowing the spit that had nearly taken his life- perhaps a more pleasant fate, were he to be perfectly honest- he gave a grimace and prompted her to continue with more self-loathing than he had ever believed it possible to feel. "No, I had not been aware of that."
"Oh, well, yeah. We've been fucking. A lot. Whenever I can get my hands on him, really."
"Please get to the point, Anko."
"I've just been thinking about my relationship with him. It's really not anything official, you know, we're not dating or anything, and I keep wondering what we are and what I want us to be. I haven't been able to figure out either."
"...And that's why you've been botching my interrogations?"
"I guess, I just can't decide between fuck-buddies, lovers, or maybe just friends with benefits. If he gets married to someone I think I might want to make things more official, I'm leaning towards 'mistress'."
"...Anko?"
"Yeah?"
"Get the fuck out of my interrogation room."
She gave a pout but pulled herself up from the chair. "I thought you were going to listen?"
"I was and I did." He agreed with a nod. "I regret that now. Out."
"Fine, but I'm taking the chair."
"No, you're not."
Her pout deepened and her arms folded across her chest like a sulking toddler. "I want my chair."
"Out, Anko." He pointed to the door. "And don't Come back until Monday."
Her face brightened at that.
"Monday?" She confirmed.
"I want to give you enough time to figure this out." Ibiki found that answer ended up with a happy Anko clinging to his midsection. "...Because I don't want to deal with it."
She looked up at him with a frown. "We were having a moment, Ibiki. Why'd you have to go and ruin it?"
"Because I don't want to 'have a moment'. Ever."
"Oh, I know you're just a big softie inside Ibiki."
"Out."
Her frown quivered for a second before being overcome with a cheeky grin. Straightening up she planted a quick kiss to his scared cheek and released him to make a hasty retreat.
"Anko!"
"Bye, Ibiki! See you Monday!" With a wave she sprinted out of the interrogation room leaving a fuming Ibiki behind.
He continued to stare out the open door for several long seconds before turning to the unconscious man laying on the concrete floor with a grumble. "It's been years now and I still don't have the patience to deal with that woman."
"You, however." He threw them back into Anko's chair. "You I can deal with."
"He wanted what?" Ganju tilted his unmasked face to the side as if it would somehow improve his hearing. It wouldn't and he damn well knew that but when he was pretty sure he was currently delusional he figured it couldn't exactly hurt. After all, why would he ever expect Tsukuyomi to have a request for his next project?
Usually Ganju just did whatever felt right, checking in with Mai to make sure he wasn't going to fuck up any plans, or just took orders from Mai- like that time he changed all the flooring to a darker wood because Tsukuyomi kept staining the carpets with his blood- when she wanted something specific done.
A request from Tsukuyomi, though- that was special.
Well, not from Tsukuyomi, per-se.
"He was in the mood for a hotspring the other day," Katsuri explained. "He asked me if you had created one when he wasn't looking and seemed pretty hopeful."
"Oh." Well, that made him feel a bit bad. Here he was creating rooms and doors and such. Tsukuyomi had plenty of rooms already, more than he could use. Why hadn't he focused on things he didn't have readily available yet? "So….he had to go to a hotspring instead?"
He didn't really know what to ask but apparently that wasn't it either as a blush crept across Katsuri's face. He didn't think he had ever seen her even the slightest bit fazed by anything any of the Wolves had ever done, so the fact that one small question could elicit such a response was astounding.
"D-don't worry about it. Tsukuyomi-sama was taken care of." She brushed away his question hastily. "It's not important right now, what is important is whether or not you can manage to get one installed for him. Preferably near his chambers."
Ganju stroked his chin in thought for a second, staring off into the air. "Never done one of those, honestly, and I'm really better at breaking than building…." He continued to ponder it for a few more seconds. "But if it's for Tsukuyomi-sama…" The hand stroking his chin became a thumbs up as he shot her a confident grin. "I'll do my best."
"...I guess that's all I can really expect, isn't it?"
Ganju shrugged. "I'm not architect, not a builder- hell, I'm not even a handyman, really." He gave a deep laugh from his stomach. "But I'll get the boys and we'll figure something out."
"...The boys?" She was almost scared to ask.
"Yeah!" His grin widened. "Some of my brothers started helping me back when we had to redo all the flooring. I wouldn't have been able to do it all myself during the invasion."
…...He was multiplying, then. She'd try to keep this from Naruto's attention- for his own peace of mind, of course.
"...Just….try not to break anything, okay? He doesn't know I'm telling you this, I want to surprise him with something he can enjoy not another mess he needs to fix."
"Yeah, yeah," Ganju waved off her concerns. "It'll be fine, we've got this. He'll be able to unwind in a personal hotspring before you know it." He returned his hand to his chin as he stared off into nothing for a few seconds. "How….big...do you think he'd want it?"
"I don't kn-"
"No, no, no, like, how many people do you think he might have joining him at once? That's a better question." He decided.
Katsuri's cheeks darkened again as she contemplated the question. Mai, herself, probably Anko. Tayuya was likely to join while she was here and Katsuri knew Orochimaru would too. They weren't a slikely, however, to all be using it at the same time.
Oh, who was she kidding? They would probably try regardless of the size of the hotspring.
"Let's keep it to a modest five person, please. We should be able to fit that into one of the room without knocking down any more walls." It was probably a miracle the other floors hadn't collapsed down on them yet. Actually, thinking of upper floors, maybe they should start expanding upwards, too?
She'd save that suggestion for later, maybe after they had a chance to confir with an actual architect first.
And with Mai.
And probably Naruto too.
Knocking down walls was one thing, she was currently considering adding a whole additional floor. One he probably didn't even need, at that.
Still, it was worth bringing to Mai's attention, at least.
Because then if Naruto was angry it wasn't Katsuri's fault.
His pen tapped against the desk in a slow rhythm while unfocused eyes stared at nothing. There were two- well, three- approaches they could take to securing a place for themselves within Yu no Kuni and quite a few ways it might all play out.
Offering their services to the Daimyo of Yu no Kuni was nice and peaceful but relied on both the Daimyo agreeing it was a good idea and trusting the House of Wolves. As Naruto had been recently made aware, their reputation was not what he had previously believed.
The chances of that working, then, were quite low.
They could try taking the country by force- it wouldn't be the first time- but as Yu no Kuni often employed Shinobi of other villages for their defence it would run the risk of angering at least one major village.
They already had Konoha acting against them, the didn't need others or- worse- to give Konoha justification to bring their quarrel to the attention of the rest of the world. As long as things stayed in the shadows the Wolves had a chance, as soon as everything was brought out into the open they would be in more than a little trouble.
The last option he could think of was to use subtlety to either convince the Daimyo to allow it- you know, like kidnapping his family or something- or to remove the Daimyo and have someone pretend to be him for a while.
Of course, they could always try to start building up a base without anyone knowing. That was probably a much better idea, actually. He could even take a page from Danzo's book and keep the majority of it underground. Orochimaru would be a good recourse for that, considering how many she had created over the years, and she might already have a few bases they could expand from.
The more he thought about it the better it started to sound. The point was to be able to protect the Wolves, wasn't it? Patrially, at least. Something more hidden would definitely go a long way to help with that. From there they could decide how they wanted to legitimately- or illegitimately, he supposed- have a presence in Yu no Kuni.
In that case, he had a letter to write. As he grabbed a sheet of clean parchment and was about to begin a scowling Hanabi marched into his office and threw her hands on her hips in such a way that he momentarily wondered if Mai had somehow shrunk.
Raising a brow he slowly placed his pen on the desk and clasped his hands before him. "Yes, Hanabi?"
"I need more Wolves."
His second brow joined the first. "Care to explain?"
"I was trying to get Mai's Wolves to be more admin focused but because she's not the one telling them how paperwork should be handled they won't do it. I need Wolves who will listen to me."
Purple eyes stared into her for a few silent seconds. "You're trying to change how paperwork is handled?" He asked.
"Yes." It was accompanied by a firm nod. "Mai was getting reports from you and Tsukuyomi on her desk and told me the Wolves send paperwork to wherever they think it should go and that doesn't seem right. How can you make sure it goes where it needs to go if people are sending it where they think it should go."
"Is that the only thing that was...bothering you about our current admin setup?"
She crossed her arms with a huff, scowl deepening. "I took a look at the records, too." She admitted. "It looks like the important ones are organized and the rest are sort of boxed away. How do you find things when you need details from a report or something?"
He thought about it for a second before giving her a small smile. "I guess we've simply never needed to," He answered honestly. "But you bring up a very good point. Everything we do is still pretty small, so it hasn't been difficult to simply ask whoever was involved with something but as we continue to expand that's going to become a problem. Do what you can for now, I'll have Sai send a few more Wolves from Nami."
"I need at least three for my team." Declared the former Hyuuga heiress. "Four or five would be better but I don't really need them until we are expanding."
"At least three then." He nodded, jotting down a note on the back of what had once been a report. He supposed that really only proved her point further. "Was there anything else you needed?"
"My own office would be nice." She decided after a moment. "Something close to Mai's. But I can just share her's for now, I don't even have a team yet."
He dipped his head in agreement again. "I'll see what I can find." If she wanted to get things running more smoothly he wasn't going to stop her. In fact, he could have sworn he had promised Mai that he would put together an admin group to decrease their workloads some time ago. This would do nicely. "Anything else?"
Hanabi shook her head. "No, that was it." Her scowl had long since faded and was now replaced with a small smile. "Thanks, Nii-san."
"You're very welcome." He returned the smile. "Let me know if you end up needing anything else."
It looked like he had two letters to write now but he couldn't say he really minded. Despite recent setbacks, things were going pretty well.
"Is everything okay, Sunflower?" Kushina asked as Naruko stumbled into the kitchen. While she had technically been unmoving in her room for the last few hours she was absolutely exhausted.She thought she knew the definition of that word after a few D-ranked babysitting jobs but an excited Karura took way more energy than a couple of kids.
"Y-yeah, just a bit tired." She took a seat at the table and brightened slightly as she declared. "I figured out things with Mito, everything's fine now."
"Oh?" A single brow arched delicately as Kushina took in the haggard appearance of her daughter. "What was it?"
That…..Naruko had not come up with a response for yet. She blamed her current weariness, not that it would get her out of anything. She'd like to be able to tell her mother exactly what it was but on the other hand it didn't feel right to be giving away what could very well be some of her brother's secrets. Letting them out was in no way going to aid either of them in repairing their relationship with him.
A lie it was, then.
Well, no, not a lie. Truth, just..selective….truth. Whatever conclusions Kushina came to and how accurate they might be wasn't something Naruko could control.
It was a thought defeated by the knowledge that she was going to be intentionally leading Kushina towards conclusions that were inaccurate and she was doing it both knowingly and willingly.
She'd tell the truth later, either when Naruto gave her permission- she'd ask the next time he actually bothered to show up during team training- or after Kushina had managed to repair her relationship with him.
She was fully aware that was less likely than Naruko managing to repair her own relationship with Naruto and whole she felt a little guilty about it she chose that specifically because of it.
"Did you know that the inside of the seal can be changed?" Naruko answered with a question.
Kushina was silent for several long seconds, trying to make sure she was indeed hearing what her ears were telling her she was. "...No….."
"Well it can be. Naruto's set up a little home for Karura." She gave an exaggerated contemplative frown. "He set it up on my half of the seal, though, and I'm not sure how." She had forgotten to stop by Mito's part of it again before she left but after so much time with Karura she had her fill of Biju for the day.
"So you think that's what you were feeling, then?" Kushina thought she was following along, but that didn't mean she actually understood what was happening. She had never tried to change the Kyuubi's prison when she had visited it- admittedly she couldn't have stopped in more than three times over the years it had been contained within her.
"Nothing was wrong while I was there, Mito was surprised to see me." Both true, in her defence.
"Did she have any idea how he did it?"
She could be completely truthful with this one. "I didn't actually think to ask, I was more curious about what I was seeing and at one point Naruto stopped by."
That caught Kushina's attention like a charm. "He did?"
"Yeah, I get the feeling he checks in on the seal pretty regularly to make sure everything's in order." He'd have to with three Biju running around in it. "He was surprised to see me too." That might have been a stretch, honestly. He hadn't seemed to be surprised, but she couldn't remember a time he ever was. Just because he had managed to collect himself before stepping into the conversation doesn't mean there couldn't have been a half second he'd needed to process what he was seeing beforehand.
"Oh. That's...good." It was a sound idea, he must have gotten that sort of sense when it came to fuinjutsu from his father. Kushina tried not to consider the fact that the Kyuubi might somehow have a better relationship with her son than she did but considering the fact that if the Kyuubi had simply sat in it's cage it would have hurt him less than Kushina had didn't support her hopes very much. "Did you talk much?"
"No, he said he had some things he still needed to take care of and left." Again, true.
"That's unfortunate. Will the two of you be meeting with Jiraiya again soon?" It was obvious Kushina was still holding out hope that at the very least her children could restore their past relationship. Naruko had long since began to doubt that anything that did come about would ever be the same as it used to.
They were simply too different these days, they had spent too much time apart going down their own paths. She thought it was definitely possible for them to become friends but she knew there was little hope they'd ever have a sibling relationship ever again.
"I haven't heard anything but I'll check with Naruto at our next team meeting."
Kushina smiled at that and it took a lot of effort not to grimace. She couldn't bring herself to crush the hope her mother was clinging to so desperately but letting it continue was probably worse. It wasn't a bad hope, but Naruko didn't want to see the look in her mother's eyes on the day it did finally come crashing down.
Unfortunately that was going to be the day Kushina needed her the most.
Naruko wasn't looking forward to it.
A knock at his door drew Naruto's attention as he put the finishing touches on his letter to Orochimaru. Glancing up he was met by another young woman with long dark hair. This one, however was notably taller and a good few years older than the last.
She also didn't have her hands on her hips, which generally was a good sign when she came to visit him. He couldn't remember doing anything recently that might have earned him the hip-fists aside from the recent, erm, unfortunate timing of his Kage Bunshin.
"Good.." He spared a quick look over to his clock. "...Afternoon, Mai. I hope my interruption didn't hinder the two of you earlier."
There was a notable red that spread across her cheeks at that. "That's...uh...part of what I wanted to talk to you about."
Oh.
Oh.
This might actually be worse that starting with an irritated Mai. Gods knew he would be more than a little cross at someone interrupting time with one of the girls, he didn't think Mai had been given much of a chance for private time with Tsume lately.
He was, quite possibly, in some very deep shit.
Despite that, he remained as calm and collected as he usually appeared.
He could panic after Mai confirmed his suspicions.
"Of course, have a seat." He waved an open palm to one of the seats before his desk. So far only Kurenai had ever actually used them, and even that had just been until a more comfortable chair had been dragged into his office for her to read on.
Speaking of which, he hadn't really seen her lately. Maybe he should drop in for a visit soon when he found himself with some free time. It was likely to be a bit before he received a response from Orochimaru and for the additional Wolves he was requesting to arrive in Konoha anyway.
She sat down almost demurely, like a misbehaving student who had been called into the principal's office. He was immediately sure she wasn't angry at him- well, he was pretty sure, at least- but a Mai who wasn't confident was worse than a Mai whom he had interrupted her time with Tsume.
He assumed.
He hadn't made that mistake yet- before possibly today- but Mai without confidence wasn't Mai and he was damn sure that wasn't good.
She was silent for a bit, gathering her courage, before cutting to the question she really wanted the answer to.
"What is our relationship?"
It took a second for the words that left her lips to fully sink into his awareness, during which he sat completely still staring into her eyes. Even after he had realized what she was asking he continued to sit silently, mulling it over. Eventually- as Mai started to become visibly nervous- he settled on a response.
"I'd say that we have several relationships, Mai. Is there one in particular you wanted to discuss?"
"Ours, Naruto. What are the two of us?"
That actually made it quite clear and he'd reflect later on why just the use of his name told him what she meant.
"We're friends, first." He decided. "Very good friends. I'd also be so bold as to call us lovers, but if you disagree I have some less formal names I've picked up from Anko that I don't know any polite equivalents of."
That earned a small smile but she still looked troubled. "Is that all we are?"
"We're talking about our personal relationship, correct? Nothing to do with our professional relationship?" He thought it was probably for the best to verbally establish that now rather than run with an assumption and end up going about this the wrong way.
Not that knowing would help much, he had no idea what was even going on at the moment what hope did he have of consciously making a "correct" decision?
"Right." She gave a small nod and fell silent again, awaiting his response.
Naruto's fingers tapped steadily against his desk as he contemplated it but in the end- not knowing what she was looking for- he had to admit defeat. "That's what I would be confident describing our relationship as, yes. What is it to you?"
"I- I don't know." SHe admitted, turning away from his gaze. "I couldn't figure it out, that's why I asked." The room was silent for a generous handful of unending seconds, stretching on far longer than they should be allowed. "What you described, though...It's accurate, I think. Just…"
She tried to find the proper words. "..It just seems lacking, like we should be more. Friends...Lovers...it just seems so simple. Too simple."
"It's not that simple," He tried to help. "Because our personal lives and the relationships within are so closely tied to our professional lives. Neither of us, I think, is capable of fully separating the two for any considerable amount of time."
"Yeah...I suppose you're right."
"Is it really bothering you that much, Mai?"
He understood it- or he'd like to think he did- but she had never seemed upset by the..ambiguity… of their relationship before. What had brought this on? What was really troubling her?
"...No...yes…" She shook her head as if to clear it. "I don't know. Something just seems wrong."
"I want to help you Mai, I don't like seeing you struggling with something like this." His fingers folded together again before him and he gave his second in command a serious look. " I'll do what I can but you have to work with me here. What happened? Why are you suddenly doubting this?"
Though unintentional, his words immediately brought a flash of guilt surging through her heart. Doubting, huh? This wasn't the first time she had done so, either. Come to think of it, after the last time she had gone to Tsume, hadn't she? It seemed as if when those two were both involved Mai always seemed to...feel...guilt…..
That's what she was feeling now, wasn't it? Not just from his words but before she had entered his office. His choice of words might have made it slightly more intense but the feeling had already been there, she just wasn't able to put a name to it. The more she thought about it the more it made sense.
She wasn't worried about what their relationship was, she was guilty that the time she spent with Tsume- and the feelings she still held for the woman- was somehow a betrayal of it.
What was she looking for, then? Permission? For Naruto to tell her that they didn't have any sort of real relationship so she could do as she pleased? That he considered them to be something more but understood her feelings for the older woman and wasn't going to stand in her way if she chose to pursue them?
As far as she was aware he didn't actually know about her feelings. Relationship, sure. He probably had an idea that wasnt' completely inaccurate about what was between the two physically but considering how many people shared his bed that might not really register as anything more in his mind.
And why would he know?
She hadn't told him.
In fact, she hadn't actually told him anything about their relationship beyond the fact that Tsume had been her first. Had she been trying to keep it a secret? Did she need to?
Mai had a feeling that keeping everything quiet was probably half the reason she felt guilty about it. How could she not when she was the one acting like it was wrong in the first place?
"I guess...I guess the time I've spent with Tsume sometimes makes me question what my relationship with her is and what my relationship with you is."
That made sense to him, he supposed. He normally didn't contemplate the nature of his relationships- until just now- but he supposed if someone didn't have a good half-dozen ambiguous relationships you never actually sat down and determined what they were then they were probably a bit more aware of the relations you did have.
Or something.
He was sort of just taking things as they came though now he was starting to doubt if that was a wise decision on his part. He needed to set aside some time to consider hsi relationships and, even more importantly, some time with the people he was in those "relationships" with.
"I see. Is there something I can do to help?"
"I just don't know." Silence returned to the room.
"Perhaps having our personal and professional lives so intertwined is part of the problem." Naruto broke the silence some time later. It felt like close to an hour had passed but realistically it had been less than three minutes. "I would never suggest having you step down from your position within the Wolves." Of course he wouldn't, she was both one of it's founders and his heir. The Wolves, as far as he was concerned, were as much Mai's as they were his. There was more than one reason he had been tolerating her personal Wolves.
Mai realized where he was going before he continued and honestly couldn't decide how she felt about it.
"Perhaps…" He suggested. "It would help you figure things out if our personal relationship was put on hold for a while."
She answered him, she knew she did, but it didn't feel like she was there when it happened.
"Maybe….maybe it would."
Sealkeeper: He Who Binds
Chapter 113-B "Critique"
Patron Release 2020.03.23
Do you know what was worse than being run ragged trying to satisfy a gaggle of sexual frustrated women? Being run ragged and then having to deal with the gaggle of sexually frustrated women you couldn't satisfy.
Neji took that back, actually, the worst part was when the two groups would discuss their sex lives. He didn't really mind hearing that the future mothers of the new Uchiha clan were turning to each other but when they started evaluating the current performance of himself and Sasuke- whom he was reasonably certain was dead at the moment- he started to feel beyond uncomfortable.
It's not like he really had anywhere he could go to avoid it, either, considering they all lived together and he wasn't allowed to wander the base without and escort of at least three of the five in case he wanted to escape.
Beyond avoiding having his sexual prowess shredded before him - it's not like he had done anything like this before meeting them. His skill was directly related to what they were teaching him - he really didn't have a reason he would want to leave.
It was almost ironic, in a way. In keeping him from being able to leave he was being put in a position that made him want to leave - temporarily, of course. He quite liked it here when they weren't discussing that.
It would be worth it, though. Completely worth it.
After all, how many Hyuuga had been given the chance to escape their caged fate and start a family that would never be branded?
Well, he hadn't exactly been uncaged, just moved to a nicer one, but he was more than willing to waste away in it if it meant his children would never have to wear the Hyuuga's cursed seal. While he couldn't exactly trust Orochimaru in general, he could trust them to not want to lose their new Hyuuga back to Konoha so he could rest easy knowing they'd protect his children from his old clan.
Children, like the twins currently growing in Akira. He didn't know what he was going to have to do to convince Orochimaru to arrange it but he was going to marry that woman, the first mother of his children.
It was simply unfortunate that the pregnancy was making her a bit irritable- and insatiable- as of late. Her critique of his performance had been the most harsh by far.
After a few awkward minutes Mai had risen from her seat and excused herself, claiming she had work to finish.
That had been over an hour ago.
His letters, finished just before Mai's arrival, hadn't been touched since. It was...strange...to think that at this very moment they were simply Tsukuyomi and his second in command.
They were still friends, he assumed, but it was going to be difficult to stop thinking of her as more. If it would help her, however, he would do his damndest. She was his favorite, after all.
With a heavy sigh he swept the letters into his grasp and stood up from his desk. His work was finished for the moment which one could say was a good thing because progress wouldn't suffer due to these new thoughts distracting him but at the same time he could definitely use a distraction from those thoughts.
Getting more Wolves here to Konoha wasn't quite as important as securing their new home, so he'd ask one of Aū's children to take Orochimaru's letter to her and he'd send a Wolf out to Nami with the other.
He swung his door open quietly and paused at the sight that greeted him. Ganju- mask in its traditional place hanging on his waist, did he ever actually wear the damn thing?- had frozen in place in the hallway, lengths of timber over one shoulder, a can of something in his free hand, and staring straight forward with utter determination. Behind him three Wolves were slightly crouched, carrying various tools and materials, and they too did their best to avoid Naruto's suddenly questioning stare.
A few long seconds ticked by before Ganju's head creaked over to meet Naruto's eyes with a nervous chuckle. "Good afternoon, boss-man! Lovely day, isn't it?"
"What are-" Naruto paused, frowning slightly in thought. "You know what? No." He shook his head. "I don't really want to know." Still lightly shaking his head he turned down the hall and began walking away from the insanity that was his children.
He was going to need something to distract him from wondering what they were up to now, too.
Maybe now was a good time to make some visits to friends and allies?
Or to destroy a training ground.
He hadn't done that in a while.
"...And until I have a team that can do things well, you lot will at least be doing things passibly."
One of the Wolves in the room went to raise their hand and was shot down immediately.
"I don't care if this is how you've been doing it or if it's worked so far, it's not good enough. We're fixing this mess before it causes more damage, understood?"
"Has Mai approved this?"
Hanabi rested her fists on her hips in a way that reminded most of the Wolves of the young woman in question. "She approved me as her assistant so now I'm doing my job to make sure her's goes as smoothly as possible. You're not trying to keep things difficult for her, are you?"
That Wolf backed down immediately at that. Everyone there knew how hard Mai worked and none of them really wanted to be part of the problem.
Hanabi gave a nod as no one else spoke up. "Good, any other questions?"
The Wolves shook their heads. "Then get out of here, Mai won't be able to get into her office when she gets back with you lot filling it." They did as instructed without complaint, filing out of Mai's office and past a bemused Mai who had been watching from the doorway.
They looked thoroughly embarrassed as they passed her but took her silence on the matter as agreement with her new assistant. When the last one had left Mai continued into the room, shutting the door with a soft click.
"Already hard at work, I see." She managed a small smile towards the girl as a surprised Hanabi snapped her attention over to her.
"Ah, yes, just trying to get things more organized."
"Not a bad idea." Mai agreed as she took her seat behind the desk. "What was that about your own team?"
The former Hyuuga heiress hesitated slightly at that. "I, uh, I may have asked Naruto for some Wolve of my own." She admitted. "Your Wolves do things your way which makes things a bit easier for you but makes it really hard to reorganize them."
"And you didn't think to ask me about it?" Mai rose a brow. That was both for getting her Wolves and for convincing Mai's Wolves to change the way they did things.
"I figured it would be easier to start from scratch and then I wouldn't be taking away some of your Wolves for administrative tasks incase you ended up needing them."
Mai gave a hum of agreement. That made sense, she supposed. "You know you could have asked me to get you Wolves though, right?"
Hanabi's cheeks darkened. "...I hadn't thought about that."
Mai could understand that as well, better than Hanabi in fact. While the girl had been told that she and Naruto were both equal under Tsukuyomi, it only made sense that the girl went to the very top of the hierarchy when requesting her own team of Wolves. Not that she would find out anytime soon, of course. Possibly never.
"When did you make this request?" Mai reached for the less sensitive documents still on her desk, flipping through them to see if anything caught her eye. It didn't.
"A few hours ago." Hanabi answered. "While you were out." The young woman moved around the desk to take a seat on her stool, peering over Mai's shoulder as best she could. She'd already flipped through those documents herself and while she hadn't found them interesting it was always possible she had missed their actual importance.
"Then I suppose it may have been difficult to ask me about it," Mused Mai. "Though I don't think it was exactly urgent. She turned to meet Hanabi's eyes. "Do you?"
Hanabi frowned. Now that she thought about it there really was no rush to it. What difference would a few hours make? Admittedly part of it was screwing up her courage to go demand- quite literally- those Wolves from Naruto. If she had waited too long she would have lost her nerve. Or, you know, come to her senses. Force didn't work against him, as she knew from experience. She was probably lucky he didn't mind this time and happened to agree with her.
"No." She agreed. "I could have waited for you."
Mai gave a satisfied nod. "Yes, you could have. In the future I'd appreciate if you did. Naruto is often quite busy with his own work, I don't think he needs to be overseeing my assistant as well."
That made sense, Hanabi supposed, but it also brought up another question. "If you're Tsukuyomi's assistant and I'm your assistant, who's Naruto's assistant?"
Technically? Mai was, though that was sure to bring up more questions. Briefly Mai considered admitting that, saying that she acted as an assistant to Tsukuyomi and helped out Naruto which is why she was the one in need of an assistant but quickly discarded that. If that was the case, it would have made more sense for Hanabi to be Naruto's assistant.
"We're still looking for somebody who would fit with his personality and work attitude." Mai lied. "It's not easy to find someone trustworthy who can keep up with him and is forceful enough to keep him from working himself to death." Mainly because everyone who met the first two criteria would simply enable him rather than enforce the third.
"Oh, yeah. That makes sense." Naruto did seem to work quite a lot and his presence could be a bit...forceful. "How, exactly, do you find someone?"
Mai gave a wry smile. "When we figure that out it won't be a problem anymore."
Yeah, that made sense too.
Pale eyes stared down at the completed papers covering her desk, each and every one the bane of her existence. She was a goddess - if you believed her clan- so why did it feel like she was always losing the fight against paperwork?
Hinata released a frustrated sigh as she crossed her arms, her pen dropping carelessly onto her table.
Things might not have been quite so bad if Naruto hadn't vanished again. The last time her duties as clan head had her a bit stressed she had gone to visit him but he was apparently "unavailable" according to Mai and every Wolf she spoke to. It took a while- and several days of trying to reach him- to learn that he wasn't available because he wasn't currently in Konoha.
She couldn't fault him quite so much for that- though it would have been nice to both know and spend some time with him before he left- when compared to him being in Konoha and just not visiting her.
Hinata knew- very well- that he was beyond busy but surely they could set up regular time once a week or something. Now that she thought about it, there was a very good chance it might help to actually suggest that to him rather than just wonder why he didn't do it.
Like she said, he was busy. With so much on his plate and on his mind it didn't make sense to just sit around and hope he would end up having the same idea and setting something up. Part of her also said that she needed to be the one to bring it up to really show him that she wanted to spend time with him more regularly but the rest of her argued that showing up in his office had probably done that well enough the last time.
….Unless he just always expected her to burst into his office whenever she was in the mood for cuddles.
It was certainly a...tempting...idea, but she also knew that if it was the case she'd be in his office every other day at the least. Being perfectly honest, she'd probably never leave.
But a new plan in place for ensuring proper amounts of Naruto-time spread throughout her week- while helpful- didn't address the largest issue: all the work she had to put in as a clan head.
Why was she the clan head, anyway? Sure, they all followed- and worshipped- her, but did that really mean she had to be the one doing the work? The elders had held quite a lot of sway over the years and they weren't the one's working. Was it really as easy as assigning someone else to do it for her?
A sudden thought struck her. Previously it had been a single head with the final say but who was more or less directed for most things by the elders, what if she reversed that? A single person- herself- who directed them - but kept the final say, of course, so maybe not a perfect reversal- and a council working together to take care of the actual details of seeing her directions completed?
That could work quite well.
If she really thought about it, that was kind of how the Wolves were operating too, wasn't it? Tsukuyomi at the top giving instructions and people like Naruto and Mai making sure they were done properly.
She was probably going to be stealing that soon.
And if she didn't get her Naruto time, well, she might end up stealing him too.
"Is this accurate, Zetsu?"
"Of course it is," The plant-man scowled. "Why would I lie about progress we're not making?" He had spent decades trying to set things up properly, most recently finding someone who would serve as temporary replacement until the man could be brought back- and it was a miracle he'd managed to keep the cranky bastard alive for so long- who had decided she needed to go take care of something and left without notice.
If Kisame hadn't encountered her in the hall they'd have never known. It was..fortunate... that two of them had seen her, considering what befell Itachi not long after but Zetsu had his suspicions about that too.
Probably should have seen it coming, really. Mikoto was well aware that Itachi had slaughtered her clan and getting revenge was simply something humans did. Props to her for managing it, though- assuming he was correct, of course- Itachi was not someone to be taken lightly. He was quite curious how she actually managed it, none of the intel on her pointed to being more capable that the Uchiha prodigy but perhaps she had simply been better at stealth and subtlety than most Shinobi these days.
Wasn't terribly difficult, that, with the bar so damn low.
Whatever, the man was already starting to loose his vision and he wouldn't have been nearly as useful soon enough. What did irritate Zetsu is that despite having provided her with Mangekyō Sharingan- and eternal, at that- she had still taken her son's eyes with her. Well, he assumed she had kept them. It was equally possibly they had simply been destroyed in a bout of pettiness against her dead son- or even Zetsu and the late Madara- and there was nothing to be found. She could have destroyed those before killing him too, he supposed- Zetsu wouldn't be able to know for certain without asking her- and that would make for a much more satisfying revenge.
Again, he assumed. He'd never been in a position where he could get revenge because he was too careful to let himself be wronged. This, with Mikoto, was the closest he'd been so far.
It was interesting and he felt somewhat annoyed, but he couldn't say he felt any particular anger or hate. He was simply mildly inconvenienced.
No, that was wrong. Sort of. On one hand it was a Major inconvenience because you simply couldn't get Uchiha eyes anymore- not like you used to be able to, when squads of fresh gennin would go out and the mission just happened to escalate unexpectedly- but at the same time Zetsu really didn't need Uchiha eyes. Certainly didn't need more of the bastards running around, anyway.
He did, sometimes, contemplate taking a pair for himself but he wasn't completely confident he could handle the Chakra drain of a pair of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Zetsu found it easier to accomplish his goals stealthily and thus his chakra pool was kept small and his control high. The Sharingan would probably be more trouble than they were worth.
That did not decrease the value they held, however. There were Kage who would give up half their village- or more- for just one regular Sharingan. Zetsu thought that was pretty dumb but the eyes were known more as myth than reality so he supposed it was only natural that those myths had grown out of proportion, especially outside Konoha.
Those who had lived and worked with the Uchiha were bound to have a more grounded sense of the eyes' ability but even then with them all wiped out and the generations getting older each day it probably wouldn't be too long before it gained legendary status there as well.
That lack of logic was just one of the many reasons he hated humans. Their sentience- or what served as an equivalent- was horrid, though as food they were quite nice.
Kind of like how they viewed cows he mused. He likely would have spent more time contemplating the matter but now wasn't the time.
"As of yet we've only had one group to so much as see their target but as they've been ordered to hold off until we've captured the tails leading up to it the Yonbi was left alone. There's been no word from Deidara and Sasori about their progress on locating the Ichibi. In fact, we haven't heard from them at all."
"I see." Pein's ringed eyes closed in thought, the briefest of breaths exhaled from his nose in an effort to calm himself. How hard was it to find a single Gennin in Sunagakure? They didn't produce very many and this one happened to be a murderous Psychopath whom everyone avoided. That should be easy enough for them to spot.
Perhaps he was being to harsh on them, Konoha had recently moved in to secure Kaze no Kuni for the Fire Daimyo. If the Ichibi was within Sunagakure and Deidara and Sasori were trying to locate them he should probably just be grateful they'd yet to be discovered.
If the Ichibi hadn't returned to Kaze no Kuni, however, then the Akatsuki really didn't know where he'd go and so those two would be searching the entirety of the Elemental Nations in order to locate him. That was no small task.
Even so, there had to be some sort of report. Recent movements would be nice, but at the bare minimum he expected an expense report so they could be reimbursed for travel expenses. Searching the whole world wasn't cheap, even as S-ranked Shinobi. Sure, travel was cut down a good bit usually but food and lodging weren't cheap and paying for damages added up fast.
As it so happened S-ranked Shinobi tended to cause a lot of damage without intending to.
Kisame had once had to report no less than seven buildings along a street damaged by what was purely a bar fight. Samehada hadn't been involved and he hadn't released a single jutsu for the entire duration- which was actually remarkable restraint for the shark-man, Pein would have to give credit where it was due- and yet the claims had reached nearly ten million yen.
Sometimes Pein had to wonder why they had decided to be the good guys. Surely it would be much easier to be villains of some sort and then just destroy whatever they pleased without consequences.
It would definitely stop Kakuzu from complaining about the Akatsuki wasting so much money.
That alone was almost worth it.
"I'll attempt to summon them to see what's been going on. If they don't answer I'll be expecting you to go out and find them yourself. We don't need more Akatsuki members going rogue." Kisame and Tobi wandering off- presumably because they had been bored- was bad enough.
It was also kind of Ironic, considering Akatsuki mainly consisted of Missing Ninja who had already betrayed their villages. Maybe not the most trustworthy people to gather for his organization.
Could one become a Missing Ninja more than once? What would you even call that, Double-Nuke?
He supposed if he couldn't reach them and Zetsu couldn't find them he might have to actually come up with something.
Or, if he was really lucky, Konan would have an answer for him.
He had indeed ended up in one of Konoha's training grounds in the end but he was still undecided on whether or not he would be using it for its intended purposes. Unfortunately his office didn't always receive suitable sunlight through his window and he wasn't about to summon a Child of Aū in the streets of Konoha. That was just asking for trouble, mainly accusations about affiliating with Orochimaru.
Which, to be fair, were perfectly true.
He could probably saysay Anko taught him, but he wasn't willing to bank on that working.
So here in training ground…..actually, he didn't know which one this was. It was empty and had no lack of sunlight which made it good enough for him- he held a letter to Orochimaru in one hand and Aū's amulet in the other, allowing the light to catch along the coils of golden metal. Tucking the letter under one arm he used a chain to hold a Kunai that he quickly cut himself with.
His blood was rubbed across the amulet and after a few seconds of moving his bloodied thumb around it there was a muted flash of red light and the blood that had coated it vanished.
In exchange for that now missing blood a golden snake appeared among the grass of the training ground. Naruto didn't have perfect memory, but he was fairly certain that while he had only called for the aid of one of Aū's children perhaps three times each time he had called for one it had been the same one.
This was not that snake.
"Greeting, Honored Child." He addressed them with a soft incline of his head. "I thank you for answering the call."
The snake remained silent, staring up at him with measuring red eyes.
"You are quite different from your brother, aren't you?"
The snake tilted its head at that, a small amount of surprise flashing through it's eyes only to be replaced by wry impressment.
"Noticed, did you? As should be expected of father's High-Priest." If he hadn't before he did the second she started to speak. He was completely confident the last snake had been male, after all.
Naruto leaned down and offered an arm which the serpent wrapped herself around without hesitation, her head resting near his palm as he stood back up. He held his arm up, hand near his face, and admired the way the light played off her golden scales. Serpent children of the sun, indeed.
"Forgive my questioning, but this is the first time my call had been answered by a Child of Aū I had not yet met. Is there any reason for this now?"
She rolled her eyes slightly, a whisper escaping her that she nearly managed to disguise as a hiss.
"Ashun was getting irritable that his naps were being interrupted and that you would not let him attack for you. He's traded his position as your personal summon to me."
"Ashun? Is that his name?"
She gave him a blank look for a few seconds before she seemed to slouch- as much as a snake could do so, anyway- around his arm. "He didn't even give you his name, did he?" A sigh escaped her. "That idiot." Her red eyes meeting him she introduced herself. "I'm Aya, High-Priest. It is both an honor and a pleasure to meet you."
"They are mine, I assure you." He inclined hies head again. "I have several names, depending on the situation. Times like this you may call me Naruto."
She gave him a contemplative look for a few moments. "More than one name, hmm? You don't strike me as the subtile type," Her eyes flickered over to his red hair. "But I suppose that's to your credit, High-Priest."
"Thank you, Aya.I have a favor I'd ask of you, should you be willing to hear it."
"Of course, Naruto. Ask of us and we will do our best to serve our father's favored."
He filed that away for later.
With Aū's amulet back against his chest his free hand retrieved his letter to Orochimaru.
"I need this to reach the snake sage, I believe Orochimaru may be able to aid me with something important."
She took a few seconds to observe the letter before returning her attention to him. "Is that all?" She seemed skeptical, as if she was imagining something more difficult, glamorous, or perhaps both.
"For now, yes. Should I assume you are not willing?" He kept his voice even and calm, he didn't want to somehow insult Aū by saying the wrong thing to one of his children, even if it was just misinterpretation of his tone.
Aya- quite literally- recoiled at his words, tightening around his arm and nearly hiding behind his hand. "No, no, i don't mind at all, High-Priest." She assured him. "I most humbly beg your forgiveness for my doubt, I was simply expecting a greater demand to be fulfilled. From what Ashun has spoken of his time with you he was run ragged by your summons and accomplished many great deeds in your name."
One delicate brow rose and Aya shrunk slightly under neutral purple eyes.
"I suppose we should have known better than to take his word," Aya admitted. "Many of us were quite excited to hear his tales from the physical plane, I didn't even think to question his tales."
"That's not what I would have expected from serpents, I'm surprised you accepted a single word from his forked tongue at face value." He was no expert on the facial expressions of snakes- if they actually had them- but he was fairly certain she was currently glowing with shame. "I asked of him no more than I have asked of you and called upon him perhaps three times since I ascended to this calling."
"The others will want to hear of this." She commented. "Though they'll probably deny believing him in the first place."
"Then do not tell them of his deception, speak only the truth and allow others to question him." Was Naruto's recommendation.
Her eye narrowed at him as she looked at him as if just realizing what he was. "There was a reason you were accepted to act as father's agent." She declared. "You speak much older than you look."
"Perhaps." He paused for a second. "Do you see your father regularly?"
She was caught off guard by the question. "He's always near, yes. Why?"
"Great Elder Koshi asked a favor of me, to pass a message along to your father. I was wondering if you might deliver that on your return."
"Oh, no!" She shook her head vehemently. "I could never speak on behalf of his High-Priest, it is above my station."
"I see." Naruto frowned slightly but was able to force his face back into neutrality after a second or two. This snake didn't seem anywhere near as useful as Ashun had been and struck him as both naive and unreliable. As deceptive and testing as Ashun tended to be, he had proven himself competent and obediant unlike his sister. Naruto didn't think he would have ever actually ended up preferring the overstepping serpent but here he was. "Very well, then. You are free to return to your siblings and bring your brother's deception to light."
"Thank you, High-Priest." SHe gave the equivalent of a smile but it quickly melted into what he assumed was a frown as she realized what she had forgotten. "Ah, the letter, High-Priest?" She stretched out slightly as if reaching for it but he just shook his head.
"No, I'll have one of my trusted Wolves deliver it." He decided before repeating "You are free to go."
These messages- while not critical- were very important and needed to reach their intended recipients in a timely manner. He had a distinct lack of faith in this child's ability to ensure that. He already knew his Wolves were capable, it was much safer to send one of them.
"Of-of course, High-Priest." She seemed nervous and uncertain about the change but Naruto couldn't bring himself to care. This letter was too important to be given to a naive snake that either doubted or was unable to fulfil his requests, she'd do more good returning home.
She had mentioned personal summon, which gave him a horrible feeling that she would now be the only one to come when he called for a Child of Aū and he resigned himself to the knowledge that he wouldn't have any further use of the Amulet anymore.
He'd never give it away- it was both a gift from Orochimaru and a very valuable artifact- but perhaps he'd find a nice wooden box to tuck it away in.
Naruto could have sworn there was a momentary shadow across the training ground despite the sky being completely devoid of clouds but judging by the way Aya seemed to flinch slightly on his arm he thought he might not have imagined it.
"It was, uh, it was nice meeting you, High Priest." She started to sound hopeful at the end but he quickly crushed it.
"You may go, Aya."
In a flash of red she disappeared. For a few more minutes he stood in that spot, staring off into nothing. Before he put the amulet away for the last time he was going to have to find a way to pass on Koshi's message. Technically he didn't have to as if he never spoke to Aū again- or ever, for that matter- then he'd still be upholding his end of the deal but he thought the old snake deserved at least this much.
Unfortunately almost nothing was known about Aū or his ancient faith and he didn't think he'd learn anything useful from a snake who couldn't pass on a message to her father. Above her station? Speaking to Aū on his behalf was above her station? What was the worth of being his personal summon if she couldn't carry out his will in their realm?
When he went back to find a wolf to carry this message he'd add to her letter asking Orochimaru to look into Aū's religion. Hopefully she'd be able to pull up something that would point him in the right direction.
With a sigh Naruto took a step with the intent to leave the training ground only to pause as a warmth seeped across his chest. A glance down showed Aū's amulet fading from a very faint red back into its plain gold and coated again in the blood he had used to call forth Aū's child.
"It's already yours," Naruto shook his head as he resumed walking. "You might as well keep it. It's no use to me anymore."
Naruto was aware that his words would have been accurate talking about both his blood and the amulet itself.
He honestly couldn't say which one he meant as he left the training ground.
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