A/N:
Again, I'd like to thank all reviewers.
Now, I'm moving on to answering a few questions. I'm not going to bother naming you, because it isn't as if I have one million reviews worth of questions, but 31 at the time of my writing this fourth chapter. So here goes.
Yes, Naruto will be interacting more with the village veterans(both male and female).
No, Jiraiya hasn't really shown up yet past appearing at Naruto's bedside table just like in cannon and telling him that boatload of common sense about Uchiha-I'm-too-sissy Sasuke. The old perv will show up in chapter seven.
Flight is definitely an option. But I'm looking at things far more esoteric than just firepower in terms of Naruto's arsenal. So the five compact mini rasengans is out. Fire, wind, water, lightning based Rasengans are all game although I must say that later on, that idea will merit quite abit of thought…
As for you, shadows24, I have no clue what you're asking about…-_-. Please phrase it in sentences. Thank you for the review though.
To thee who asked: a quick check on the Naruto and Tsunade filters will sort out the better pairings. I'd advise you to switch it up to 'M' only. The ratings below that are generally not really worthy of being read barring several of the more well-written T, like the one by Jonque, but that isn't Tsunade-Naruto romance centric, so if that's what you're looking for, its out. I'd suggest Finding Forever, Entwined Tails, Three Stars, and The Missing Hokage & Her Mates. They all provide a light, if interesting read. Jonque's one though is by far the best in terms of character development.
I'm sorry about the length of the chapter, but so far in, that's what allows me to update regularly with 1k-2k words every chapter. I'm thinking that the chapters will only grow longer in length because school has just started up and I'm officially back on the school swim team. The coach is a slave driver _, so updates will get longer, but will come less frequently.
As for this chapter, we take a look at just how fucking awesome a real honest to god I-can-turn-into-a-fucking-large-steel-shuriken technique can be in the hands of a master.
As for more potential women of interests, I've had several interesting suggestions, but I'm not going to commit the cardinal sin of adding too many women too fast, and running the character development by having too much interaction where not needed. I intend to see this story through till the very end of the Naruto series, where Madara dies and what not.
Just to satisfy curiosities, I'm looking at Haku(tricky), Guren(complicated), Mei Terumi(surprisingly easy and refreshing), Kurenai(after Asuma is dead maybe?), Inzuka Hana(because being able to morph should so be shared…) and a few others.
I'm not saying that they will ALL just come together in one big blob of virginal hormonal induced orgy, but that they'll come in time, and slowly, methodically, in well-prepared introductions and even better character development.
One, because there's still Hinata and Sakura to consider, and two, bringing in so many more women at this point is not conceivable(Naruto doesn't have the maturity to deal with it, nor the time or attention) and three, it contradicts me saying that there will no Chuunin Exam Day Harem. Instead, I will slowly, subtly, nudge these women into his life, and have them make do with whatever happens then.
If it means romance is slow in coming, so be it.
We also take a look at the relationships between Anko, Tsunade, and Naruto.
I want to repeat that as of right now, Anko and Tsunade are two of the women I will eventually place him with.
It's a ninja world, so romance is straight out without more development later on, but I think all the hot, gritty, kinky sex they want to have is still a viable option. I know, I know, it sounds like a sneaky excuse for writing lemons and putting the length into some of those super short updates, but hey, I don't think anyone will complain right?
Now as for development…development, development, development…
I'm tempted to pull and Umbitch(Hp fans, cheer!) and say "development for development's sake must be stalled/impeded/outright stopped" but that would be terrible of me. So yeah, any advice by any one of the readers who has experience in the department of character development will be appreciated.
PS: As for chapter three, I made a mistake that people have highlighted and it is thoroughly embarrassing. I meant to say twelve hours inside the hours for one hour outside. It should show up when you read it later on. But if it doesn't treat it as such in this chapter's of Author's Notes.
Thanks a lot for the reviews and comments. And someone raised a valid point about Haruno Sakura. She did nothing to prove herself, and while I agree that she needs more credentials than just being a lost, sad little puppy with a backstory to merit Tsunade's training, I DO NOT agree that she wouldn't survive Tsunade's training.
I believe one of the scenes in the anime was of Tsunade throwing rocks several tons heavy at her apprentice to 'make her learn dodging'. It's where I got the idea of using trees from. Still, in this chapter, we take a look at Tsunade's reasoning for choosing a mostly useless wall-flower, and what factors played a role in her accepting Haruno Sakura as an apprentice.
In my mind, she could have just as easily accepted Hinata, and I don't care what kind of chakra control you have, the Byakugan beats everything in diagnostics…hmm….an idea surfaces…
As for the sealing, I'm actually incorporating part of it later into how the mansion came about. Needless to say Mito Uzumaki WILL play a role, but not in the sealing of the house itself. That is done by the First. She might have influenced it, given him the designs, but you have to admit, that having so much control over wood has to count for something…
And no, I maintain the sealing IS done by the First because simply put, it's a plot device of mine.
-0O0-
Just to let you guys know this symbol(-oO0-) is used when I decided to switch perspectives from one person, say Anko to another, like Tsunade. It should be pretty clear. I also use it mark author notes and of course, separate stuff up. Cheers for the new year people!
Hoo-rah!
-oO0-
Chapter Four
-oO0-
In the eyes of the ninja world, a technique such as that of Naruto's Sexy Henge should have been impossible.
The chakra requirements were staggering to anyone below the rank of a jounin who possessed a larger than average chakra pool, although the technique itself required only a small amount of chakra to maintain once the initial chunk of chakra you pushed into it was spent formatting the body overlay.
In the eyes of Senju Tsunade, the technique was a miracle.
It was a physical manifestation of chakra and boasted a one hundred percent conversion of chakra into living, breathing, human flesh with full soul resynchronization and zero chance of rejection if formatted correctly.
Where medic-nins used their chakra to induce short spurts of hyper-recovery on their patients in order to combat battle wounds and reduce pain, this technique allowed her to simply replace the lost limbs or crippled organs and entirely erase pain from existence.
With a bit of dabbling, she could probably even get a reasonable template frame for the DNA of bloodline users from their graves, run them through her own genetic settings, modify the framework, and replicate them as she saw fit to simply possess their bloodlines - all three thousand, one hundred and thirty five registered bloodlines along with god knew how many other unregistered and unknown ones.
Of course, her current body would probably not be robust enough to handle the mutations, but she could simply enhance it, make it stronger, faster, better, more enduring than ever before. She could turn from fifty to fifteen within a heartbeat and no one but her and Naruto would be any the wiser.
It was awe-inspiring.
It was tempting.
It was horrifying.
In the wrong hands, this technique could spell the end of the world, and now one more person than needed knew about it – Anko.
She could simply use a modification of her cure regarding pain/pleasure conditionings to simply erase the memory from the Tokubetsu Jounin's mind.
Yet, being a seduction specialist herself, Anko was probably going to be immune to all but the worst of her methods, and those were damaging enough on a micro-level to actually fry the brain stem. Brain damage on a scale so complicated meant that bringing her back even with Naruto's technique would be a monumental task.
It took mere moments more of deliberation before she decided that being straightforward with her might be a better option.
A Secrets Four Guardian seal would suffice to hold off most if not all of the people who would have been interested in ripping the knowledge right out of Anko's mind.
Even that would require a Yamanaka, and the knowledge that Naruto's technique wasn't just a perversion of the true Henge beforehand for the primary motive, both of which were unlikely as far as she knew barring Danzo's little force of marauders.
Still, if she wanted Naruto's secret to be absolutely safe, what she had to do was simple.
Kill Anko.
She didn't want to do it. Not with the special jounin being such an un-expendable resource after the village had just barely fended off an invasion, and with security still in a mess. She could make do with the seals for now.
That left the only other available option as the surroundings of the First Hokage's mansion.
But then, the Shodai's sealing methods left nothing to be wanted in regards to security and shelter and they could openly discuss the blackest of Konoha's secrets here without worry or fear of unwanted eavesdroppers.
Decisions, decisions….
"What are you thinking of, Tsunade-sama?"
Anko was stretched out on a generous four-poster mattress, naked, the physical exertions having left her skin dewy and soft. Tsunade cradled her closer, enjoying the soft curves of her lover against her own.
'Pain. Love. Joy. Happiness. Family. A mix of all five and how to make sure Naruto gets all of them.' Tsunade considered answering.
Yet it was a bit too much melancholic for her tastes and she doubted that Anko would like to hear how she'd been considering either brain-washing her and sealing her tongue, or that she was considering the very alternative of killing her.
'Be honest, straightforward, and hope for the best.'
"Naruto's technique," Tsunade answered. Beside her, Anko shifted, than sighed.
"Will you kill me?"
There it was. The uncharacteristic intelligence possessed by so little in assassin's trade, the jadedness of a woman who'd seen the worst of a ninja's life, and the resignation to an authority that she'd never before bowed to: The Hokage - before her.
What did that say about Anko's trust in her?
Could she say 'yes' and simply reach over to break her neck, so much like breaking a dry twig underfoot?
She couldn't.
Simply watching a hardened, jaded Jounin like Mitarashi Anko - the Mitarashi Anko: the one who'd fought the village's slander and disdain, the one who'd fended off multiple attempts of rape by her own teammates until she'd made a habit of dropping the responsible party's testicles onto the Hokage's desk each time they tried something, the one who'd stood by old man Sarutobi, the one who the ninja council rode like a whore each time they rejected her application for resignation or her application to be promoted – cave to her unasked demand, nuzzling into her neck, heartbeat tripling in fear at the rejection, and the possibility of her death was enough – was in fact, too much.
It was too painful.
She hadn't realized exactly how much she desired the jounin past her obvious physical attractions until Anko had simply submitted to the first lover she'd ever had proper, barring all the one-night stands and hurried quickies on the missions to satisfy her urge.
She turned them around, pinning the younger woman under, gently grinding their hips together and feeding the heat between their thighs that'd been building.
A multitude of emotions danced through the younger woman's eyes.
Fear. Of death. Of rejection. Of not being wanted.
Pleasure. From the intense manner Tsunade had claimed her so thoroughly, until all she could hear, see, touch, smell and taste was the sweet scent of her lover's body and her world was white-washed in pleasure.
Submission: because for once it would be nice to simply let loose and be dominated, and not have to fight for your life while being pleasured; while being loved more thoroughly than anyone in the past had ever done for her.
"Silly girl," Tsunade slipped one hand between the Jounin's thighs and into her while she tunneled the other into the silky mess of the jounin's raven hair before settling her mouth over hers. Earlier, when they'd lost themselves to the passion, their kisses had been fast, furious, needy. This time, the kiss was a deep, wet, tongue-twining embrace so sweet it had Anko's toes curling.
"I'd forgotten"-Tsunade whispered as she played with her, rolling one long finger over the tip of her sex, making her quiver – "just how good a woman's body feels under me. I've thought about it, fantasized, but the reality…" the Sannin levered up and looked her in the eyes before brushing one long manicured finger over the tip of her lower lip, "is so much better."
It was as if someone had simply set every nerve ending in her body on fire from the pleasure that course through that simple action.
Then Tsunade stopped abruptly, whispering instructions in her ear before standing and dressing herself, leaving her body cold, and lonely, and the aching need between her thighs unsatisfied.
For a heartbeat, Anko laid back in the bed, savoring the warmth of the bed sheets against the cool airs of the night ghosting over her skin.
Damn it.
Hearing her say that had sent a flood of sensations into the most sensitive areas of her body; her breasts tingled, her belly pulled tight. Tsunade merely laughed, then laid a hand on her collarbone. A flood of her chakra washed into her, and it was as if the world suddenly tilted leaving her hyper-sensitive. The hand flattened, than dipped to cup her breast.
Her eyes drifted shut as the Sannin began to squeeze and pull and flick at her sensitive nipples.
"Follow me, and I'll reward you beyond your wildest dreams."
Anko's eyelids flickered. Against the heat of her hand, her nipples drew tight and aching. "How?"
"You will know soon enough."
Optism warred with suspicion. One Sannin betraying her had been more than enough. She didn't know if she could handle a second. "Really?"
She hated that voice…that tone. It was weak, unsure, and pathetic.
Yet when Tsunade moved to hug her head to her naked body, cradling her the way a mother would cradle a long-lost child, she found that she would gladly follow Senju Tsunade to the depths of hell and back.
"Yes."
-oO0-
The room was majestic. Sealed by a massive, thick wall of cut limestone at the end of a long hidden corridor, and buried under thirty tons of dirt and concrete beneath the Hokage's tower. Its beehive domed central chambers was well-lit with strategically placed lamps.
That wasn't what drew her attention.
The Chamber glowed: phosphorous yellow, forest green, and blood red. There were colors, colors and more colors; electric blue, violet hued whites and flaky grey bubbling and popping, branching out to spread into a web of promise that went on forever.
Every symbol carved with a chisel and sculpted into perfect symmetry and dimensions with a bone-knife, painted with ash-thickened blood, infused by chakra till the symbol squirmed and writhed and glowed like boiling tar spilling over from hell's pit.
It was done in the good old ninja way - nice, slow, easy, and patient in the most methodical manner.
They were carved by delicate hands holding delicate tools under delicate conditions.
And when one seal was finished, just another seemingly meaningless symbol that seemed to gain a life of its own screaming and flopping over and over in its place, radiating blood and power, the woman would stop to inspect her work, nod at some unseen, taciturn acceptance of her effort, wipe her brows with a hand-towel, than shuffle a few feet forward and start on the next one.
No mistakes were made for no mistakes could afford to be made and no variations or breaks were given to possibly break the engraver's concentration.
Anko glanced at the Sannin, silent, reverent. She had questions, but they could always be answered later.
She looked over at the woman again.
Yes.
Later.
-oO0-
It was hot, not to mention, humid as hell – but the Sannin forged on. Every now and then, the claustrophobic effects of the combined space they worked in, the heat, heavy layers of sweat-soaked clothing that clung to her frame culminated in a force that battered at her concentration, almost as if the chambers had grown sentient in its eighteen years of unused and disapproved of its now almost morbidly fascinating comeback.
Tsuande didn't care.
With a sigh, and a final burst of infused chakra, she carefully stood. Her legs were numb and her chakra dangerously low, but it was done.
The components of the ritual were complete.
Blood, of the participants, mixed with the ashes of ancestors fallen in battle, painted and allowed to coagulate in the tiny little niches that were the seals she'd carved for hours.
Saliva, and the spits and liquids of arousal and of release from the bounded-to- be, streaked with that of the binder, sealed within a cup – to be drank by the taker.
Paints, infused with chakra, each color symbolizing a different face of the human emotion - jealousy, hatred, awe, spite, lust, frenzy, love – to decorate the chambers, like red carpets at a movie gala, like a feast at a wedding, like kneeling before praying, like bowing before speaking: to give respects to the spirits that be, so that they could in turn bleed and open a road to the realms to answer their summons.
It was taboo. The binding of a person, so complete, so deep and entrenched in the soul that even onto death the bound and the taker would never take leave of one another. Ancient warriors bound their wives to them in this manner. For that manner, so did Clan Heads and daimyos and Kings of entire nations. It was a binding so intimate that the loyalty, the love, the devotion of a bounded to the taker was a guarantee.
It was a binding of the souls.
Now all they had to do was get Naruto to agree to it.
-oO0-
A/N: It's quite abit shorter than I'd like, and not as refined as I'd hope for it to have been, but meh. I'm not perfect.
Reviews.