The Ninth Sekirei Pillar

by Arthain

The Elemental Nations are in ruins, the villages are destroyed, and the last of the Shinobi are on the run. Naruto's last ditch effort to stop Madara lands him and his last companion in a new world. A world in which a brutal tournament is taking place and the prize could mean the total destruction of both this new world, and his old one.

17. Chapter 16: The Crumbling House of Cards

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Sekirei, all characters, thoughts and ideas that exist in this story that were taken from the original works belong to their specific creators, Masashi Kishimoto and Sakurako Gokurakuin. Only original thoughts and or characters created in this story are my own.

All characters I pulled from their respective games belong to the creators of said games.

Author's Notes: When it gets to the operation portion of the chapter I tried to put them in chronological order but some of them span over the course of multiple scenes. I guess to best sum it up they're put in order of when they 'end' so to speak. While some scenes may jump back to a time prior to, or during an, earlier scene when the current scene is over it'll be at a point in time furthest ahead. No idea if that makes any sense to you but I hope it does. There is a lot of jumping around.

So far my story has been pretty straight forward but that's about to start changing. There are some very interesting things coming up soon. The story is really going to start deviating from the manga. I've found some very interesting ways to insert some cool elements, at least I think they're cool anyways. The readers may disagree, they have before. Still I think I've done good thus far considering that for most of my story I've been flying by the seat of my pants. I've got the over-arching plot planned out, a few key scenes (maybe a half dozen total), but the rest of it? Oh I've just been winging it.

Review Responses: I said this before so I didn't think I needed to say it a second time. I guess I was wrong. My OC isn't going to have a large role. I said before that like the Yakuza he's basically gone come the end of this arc. That hasn't changed. This isn't a self-insertion story and I refuse to let it turn into one. I told you, I only used myself as a basis for a clone's personality. Whether it was my personality/name or someone else this clone independence situation would still have occurred. There are some plot elements I need to introduce and the clone will be doing that. Maybe I should have changed the name so you simply thought it was an OC instead of an attempt to insert myself into the story.

There were a lot of questions about Ayano. I just want to say that it looked worse than it was but she is going to be hospitalized while she goes through rehabilitation to walk again. And as for the reason behind the brutality… well let's just say the Namikaze Clones weren't the only ones who got a bit too 'immersed' in their roles. More on that later but I'm glad people noticed just how brutal the Yakuza clones were.

There was one reviewer that I couldn't talk to with PM's, he has them disabled so I'm going to address one of the points he made here. Why Naruto prioritized Mikogami over Higa is simple. 'WE' know Higa is cruel, malicious and evil. Naruto does not. My characters don't make judgement calls based on what WE know, but based on what THEY know. Higa hasn't done anything to draw undue attention to him specifically, not yet at least.

There have been several people that have asked why doesn't Naruto free all the Sekirei? Well the answer is simple; he doesn't know who was forced and who wasn't. How many has Mikogami forced? 3? 4? 15? If its 15 then yes, freeing them all is the better option, but if it's on the lower end? How many people has he consigned to despair? How many enemies has he made of Sekirei that legitimately cared about Mikogami? How many lives has he permanently scarred by tearing away their soul mate? Naruto is acting based on facts, not assumptions. If he discovers others that were forced to be winged while assaulting Mikogami's mansion then yes he'd free those as well, but he's not going to assume they were forced without any evidence what-so-ever.

Chapter 16: The Crumbling House of Cards

Naruto took stock of his inventory one final time as he readied himself for the attack on the South. He was down to half his normal supply of kunai and shuriken, having used them quite liberally in the Kusano Rescue attempt. He had managed to retrieve some but most of them had been either too damaged to be worth recovering or simply missing.

He had all the medical supplies he would need, just in case one of his Sekirei got hurt. He wouldn't need them. If Kurama and his own natural regeneration wasn't enough his little first aid kit wouldn't be of much help.

Kurama was now fully healed and just as lively as he had always been. Although Naruto intended to limit his use of his friend today he would definitely be needed tomorrow when he went through with his plan to fix and ultimately wing Akitsu.

He also had several scrolls tucked into various pockets or sealed into his body. He had everything he would need to tear Kusano away from Mikogami Hayato. Naruto had figured out the best way for him to destroy the bond between a Sekirei and an Ashikabi a few days prior.

There was actually an interesting symbiosis between the two. While Naruto had been aware early on that a Sekirei grew wings by absorbing the chakra from their Ashikabi, he hadn't been aware that they also imparted a portion of their own chakra into said Ashikabi. It was very interesting how the chakra got inside him. Normally he would feel it but foreign chakra usually fights against the body. The chakra from a Sekirei went with it, melded with the body, with the chakra produced by said individual. He never noticed it because his body never registered it as a threat. The chakra basically travelled up the pathways and embedded itself in his mind. There it melded seamlessly with him, adjusting its self rather than forcing adjustments on the mind, until it fit in just perfectly. From there it was a constant reminder, and connection, between the two.

The chakra an Ashikabi imparts into a Sekirei settles into three major areas.

The first place was at the Sekirei Core. The chakra there acted as a key that unlocked the Core and allowed the Sekirei to access more of their power than normal.

The second place where the chakra was stored in the Sekirei was in the mind itself. Much like the Ashikabi there was a location nestled inside their mind that housed the connection between the Ashikabi and the Sekirei.

The final place was at the crest; specifically the darker half of the yin-yang symbol. The lighter half was filled with the Sekirei's chakra, the darker half with the Ashikabi. When a deactivation command was received it would check for the Ashikabi's chakra in the crest. If it was there it'd head to the bond first to sever it. If the chakra wasn't there the command would head straight for the core. The signal sent from the crest to the bond with the Ashikabi would dissolve the Sekirei's chakra in the Ashikabi and terminate the bond before it headed for the core. The same would happen if the Ashikabi died. If the Ashikabi's mind stopped functioning the bond would break and it would trigger a signal to be sent from the Sekirei crest requesting a termination command.

After a couple more sessions with Akitsu he had come to the realization that the chakra redirect was there to protect Akitsu. Since she was a 'scrapped' number she couldn't be winged. Instead of the chakra being able to settle properly in all three places, and form a proper bond between her and her Ashikabi, the chakra that couldn't find a place to settle would simply run rampant throughout her body and potentially cause harm. The redirect was there to force the chakra out instead. The actual blockage was the barrier at the crest. With that there a connection couldn't be established between the Sekirei and the Ashikabi.

Of course there was no reason for the redirect to make her feel bad about herself aside from pure maliciousness.

With the knowledge he now had about the inner workings of the Sekirei he could fix Akitsu and had three different methods of freeing Kusano.

The first way to free Kusano was to send a command to the Sekirei that forced a termination of the bond without a termination of the core, the second was to turn her into a Scrapped Number and the final way was to simply overwhelm the Ashikabi's chakra in the Sekirei, destroy it so to speak.

All three methods had their pros and cons however. The first method was very risky since the difference in the command between severing the bond between Ashikabi and Sekirei while keeping the core active was so minor that you would need perfect chakra manipulation to not mess up.

He still didn't know how to reactivate a Sekirei after they've been deactivated so there was no fixing that mistake.

The second and third methods were both very similar. The difference between them was 'where' he blocked the signal between the Ashikabi and the Sekirei.

With the second method he would but a barrier inside Kusano much like Akitsu's. This would effectively cut off the communication between the two. It would also prevent a deactivation of the core since no command could get through 'to' deactivate it. After that it was just a matter of removing or destroying what was left of Mikogami Hayato's chakra within her.

The third method had the same final steps but instead of putting a block within Kusano he put the block between Mikogami Hayato and his Sekirei. After that it was simply a matter of sealing the room up so no external signals could get in and then proceed with destroying Mikogami Hayato's chakra within Kusano. Once it was all gone she would be free.

He had decided to go with the third method. It had the least potential to harm Kusano in both the short term and the long term although it made the burden on him the worst. He'd gladly bear it to save her.

Naruto approached the window in his bedroom and looked outside. Akitsu was out there along with some of his clones. She had been training hard this past week. It was actually a little frightening at how easily she picked up what he had taught her.

Naruto's clone weaved and dodged as he tried his best to evade Akitsu's attack. Akitsu had spent the last week training to become stronger and Naruto had done what he could to support her. There a dozen clones on the sidelines watching the battle between Akitsu and the current clone.

Each clone was stronger, better, and faster than the last. As Akitsu became strong enough to beat one, a stronger clone stepped forward to push Akitsu to new heights. Akitsu took to the training like fish to water. She wanted to be as strong as possible for Naruto.

A dozen lances of ice pierce the clone as Akitsu finally managed to land her strikes. She had gotten better at predicting how Naruto was going to move. She hadn't broken a sweat yet; these first few clones were always rather easy to deal with. Akitsu moved back into the mirror to prepare for the next clone.

Naruto had taught her a couple tricks from his old home. The entire back yard of Izumo Inn was covered in a dome of mirrors made out of ice. Naruto had called it the Makyō Hyōshō or Demonic Ice Mirrors. He had explained to her what it looked like and what it enabled the user to do and Akitsu had figured out the rest from there.

The second technique he had shown her was how to make clones. They were solid, like Naruto's, but instead of being an identical replica they were made out of ice. They looked like her on the outside but after you got past the skin it was all ice. He had taught her the idea behind the clone technique and she had crafted the ice version of it herself.

Finally she was working on being able to direct her projectiles in midflight. At the moment once she fired the projectiles she had no way of controlling them, she resolved to fix that issue.

In the meantime Naruto had agreed to lend her some clones so she could warm up in preparation for the day's main event.

Yume had approached her earlier in the week and had asked her to spare the Sekirei she fought. Akitsu had responded that she would try her best. She was not like Naruto in that she was going to deliberately end any Sekirei she fought, but she wasn't going to risk herself or her Ashikabi by sparing the lives of her fellow Sekirei. If she could defeat them without killing them, she would, but she wasn't going handicap herself to do so.

Akitsu was ready for today. Today she would prove to everyone that she wasn't a failure, that she wasn't broken. And tomorrow, tomorrow she would be winged.

x~X~x

As Akitsu and Naruto's clones sparred in the back, Yume and Miya sparred lightly in the front. Aside from Naruto Miya was the only person that Yume could fight against and get any sort of reasonable workout.

Miya weaved to the side as she avoided Yume's thrust. With a flick of her wrist she lashed out with her bokken. Yume blocked the strike with her other fist and quickly jumped back. "You have become faster this past week." Miya commented as she readied herself again.

While Miya wasn't using her full power in these spars against Yume she found herself using more and more power each time they fought.

"I must do my best to support Naruto-kun." Yume declared fiercely. "And I must prevent as many Level 5 deactivations as possible." She settled into her standard battle stance.

"Yes, please do so. While I agree with Naruto's plan, I can't say I agree with his methods." Naruto had changed since the Kusano episode. Oh the fun loving person she so enjoyed to tease was still there but he had hardened slightly as well. Whether Naruto had been forged into something new or something old had been revived within him she didn't know. Miya put those thoughts to the side for the moment as she carefully eyed Yume's movements. Of all the Sekirei in the Sekirei Plan, Yume was the one closest to her level. Her strength demanded a certain level of caution. "Minaka has made a mockery out of the Sekirei battles."

Sekirei were supposed to find their destined ones on their own. They were not meant to be handed out to others as trophies, nor were they supposed to be tampered with and adjusted. A Sekirei could never hurt their true Ashikabi, even unadjusted. Even the battles themselves were a twisted mockery of what it should have been. This forced organized fighting was pointless. They had come here to restore their race and their world, not burn it out in pointless battles against one another. Conflict was inevitable, yes, but Minaka was forcing the issue.

But things were different in this day and age. A thousand years past one could travel wherever one wanted without the need of silly things like passports or identification. MBI had been a necessary evil she had been forced to live with due to the need to integrate Sekirei seamlessly into today's society. Without MBI the Sekirei would never have been able to find their proper Ashikabi, or any Ashikabi.

"Yes, I feel the same. Naruto's heart is in the right place but his mind is not. He is using his heart to decide a goal, and his mind to determine the method to achieve said goal." Yume darted in again and began another quick exchange of glancing blows and blocked strikes. "Miya-san, can I ask you something?" Yume inquired.

"What is it?" Miya asked as the wooden sword in her hand blurred through the air, the strikes were almost invisible to the untrained eye.

Yume dodged the strikes with some effort, "Why haven't you been winged by anyone?" She asked curiously. Of all the Sekirei Miya deserved to be winged and know happiness the most. "If you were winged Miya, you would be free."

The two separated quickly as a sad look crossed Miya's face. She slowly brushed some of her stray hair behind her ear. "You don't know do you, Yume." Miya said softly as she gazed at the younger Sekirei with pain filled eyes, "You don't know about the accident, the one that took Takehito-san's life. If he was an Ashikabi, maybe that tragedy would have never happened."

Yume had a confused look on her face. She knew of Takehito. He had worked at MBI when she had awoken but she didn't have much interaction with him, Takami had been her adjuster. He had been a genius on the same level as Minaka and his departure had been a severe blow to the company. He had left around the same time as Miya…

Yume's eyes widened in realization "Miya…"

"The reason why I am not winged is because the person I loved was not an Ashikabi. That's all, nothing more, nothing less." Miya said softly as she lowered the bokken to her side. Her desire to continue the spar drained from her. Talking about her deceased husband always made her feel hollow inside.

Yume looked at Miya with sympathy in her eyes. She brought a hand up to her chest and pressed it against her Sekirei Core. Miya had found the one she loved, but had lost him because he wasn't an Ashikabi. Yume closed her eyes for a moment and felt the love for her that flowed through the bond from her Ashikabi.

"Miya." Yume started, her eyes still closed. "You, more than anyone, deserve to be happy. I'm sure Takehito-san would wish the same." She opened her eyes and smiled gently at the Sekirei Pillar, "You haven't been winged yet so you're not bound to anyone. You're still capable of finding love again. Love is too precious to give up on and I know your heart is big enough for more than just Takehito-san." Yume would never suggest that Miya should forget about Takehito, but she should move on. She still had that option open to her.

For her to stand still because she mourned the past was just too sad in Yume's opinion.

Miya flinched a little at those words. She loved Takehito, she still did. It just wouldn't feel right to replace him.

"'SUP!" Seo yelled as he barged onto the property, "Miya-chan! Feed me!"

Miya whipped around and glared at Seo for a moment before her normal cheerful looked crossed her face. For some reason she was both extremely irritated and immensely relieved at the unexpected intrusion. Behind Seo were his two Sekirei, both looking equally apologetic, as they dutifully followed their Ashikabi.

What Seo didn't know is that she fed him to spare those two. If she didn't feel sorry for Hikari and Hibiki for having to deal with the scum that was Seo she would have tossed him out on his ass long ago.

"Oh my, a noisy person is here and so early too." Miya said as she brought a hand to her cheek and tilted her head slightly.

"Miya…" Yume trailed off slowly. She had seen the look in Miya's eyes. Her loyalty to Takehito prevented her from acting on her desire to feel love again.

x~X~x

Hanabi stretched her arms and legs as she warmed prepared her body for the day to come. Today would be the first day in weeks that she would be able to do something worthwhile. She stared down at the perfectly smooth and unblemished skin on her arms and hands. Between the excellent medical treatment the Hospital had provided, the experimental medical cream and her own increased healing ability due to the Sekirei Core she had recovered far faster than anyone had predicted.

And she had healed completely as well. There weren't even scars left over from the accident. She knew that shouldn't have been possible, that there should have been some sort of residual reminder of the accident, but she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth too much.

She was dressed for combat. She had on her standard-issue ANBU uniform with the black pants, black ninja sandals, sleeveless black undershirt, gray chest armor, gloves that covered her arms up to her biceps, armguards and her mask. The mask itself wasn't covering her face, it hung at her side at the moment. All of this was covered by a full length dark cloak, hooded cloak that covered her entire body. She would discard it when it was time to begin the operation. She wasn't worried about looking out of place; no one would even notice her passage, but just in case she didn't want anyone to know her gear setup until it was too late.

She looked over at the bed where she should be. There was a shadow clone in it at the moment, sleeping peacefully. At this stage of the treatment medical baths and other invasive treatment processes weren't required so the shadow clone would pass all tests. The doctors had mentioned something about medical equipment arriving in two days to remove the residual scaring from her arms.

She wouldn't need that now but there was no need to tell the doctors just yet. That could wait until after today. She had more important things to take care of than a bunch of surprised doctors demanding an explanation.

In the meantime her shadow clones could take her place easily enough. She had been away from her Naruto-kun long enough.

As she finished the last of her stretches she mentally took stock of her condition. While she may have been unable to utilize her families techniques in fear of prolonging the healing process she had been able to do minor exercises with her new found Sekirei powers.

As she had figured they were gravity based. She couldn't 'change' the mass of an object, but she could adjust how much influence the mass exerted or was affected by its surroundings. She could manipulate gravity to reduce the weight of gravity until it was virtually weightless. This was akin to being in space. There was still 'some' downward force but even the smallest push could send an object flying four hours until gravity finally exerted enough force on the object to bring it back down to the ground.

Or she could use her power to greatly increase the effect of an object's mass. A small experiment on a glass of water she had been given had proven just how effective that could be for an attack. She had to be careful with that ability as too much would actually cause the object in question to implode, to collapse in upon itself. She still hadn't found the remains of the glass she had crushed with her power. She was sure it was somewhere around the room somewhere, it was simply too small to find.

The last thing she had realized is that some of her Sekirei Power was still locked away. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that what she had could be enhanced beyond what it was currently capable of doing but it would require an external application of chakra to do that.

Specifically it would require Naruto-kun's chakra. It was probably that Norito ability he had mentioned to her last week.

Hanabi attention jerked away from her thoughts as she heard some voices outside her room. She was at the door in an instant. While it wasn't polite to eavesdrop you could learn some very interesting things this way.

"…Another one fell last night." Hanabi frowned. She didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't one of the doctors or nurses that normally worked in this area. Could it be a new hire? She hadn't been aware of any new patients arriving and she was familiar with everyone in this wing.

"Byakugan." Hanabi whispered. The veins around her eyes bulged as her bloodline activated. As she stared through the wall her frowned deepened even more. That was no new hire on the other side of that door. That looked very much like a regular businessman, someone that was well connected at that. The lab coat didn't sit right on his shoulders and the look on his face was definitely out of place.

"I guess it was the Sekirei Asama Takehito was taking care of, No. 10 'Uzume'."

"I don't want to hear about that." Uzume growled. She had a dark look in her eyes as she glared at the man. It was very clear to Hanabi that Uzume absolutely hated who she was talking to. Her clenched fists and angry body posture only served to reinforce that fact. "Who's the next target?"

Hanabi's eyes narrowed. Target?

"It's hard work hacking into the MBI network to get information, because information on the Sekirei is highly classified." Hanabi watched as the man reached into his lab coat and pulled out three pictures. With her eyesight she was able to see all three photos just fine. Those must be the targets Uzume had referred to. Hanabi didn't recognize any of the Sekirei in the pictures there. "Our investigation of the MBI network has located 3 of them." The man said as he held the pictures out to Uzume, "No. 19 'Ikki', No. 95 'Kuno' and No. 3 'Kazehana'. Ah, No. 3 has yet to get her 'wings' yet. Her Ashikabi doesn't have a shadow. You should be able to take care of her easily."

Uzume angrily snatched the photos from the man's hand and began to stalk away. He smirked and adjusted his glasses, "Try not to forget. She doesn't have much time left, your Ashikabi."

"I know!" Uzume growled through clenched teeth. If looks could kill Hanabi was certain that the man in the hallway would be a stain on the wall by now.

Hanabi's eyes widened as the man turned to stare at her. Her heart skipped a beat and she quickly jumped to the side. The man continued to stare at the door and Hanabi's heart slowed down. He hadn't been looking at her.

He had been looking at her room.

The man turned and headed down the hallway in the opposite direction of Uzume.

A sudden chill went down Hanabi's spine. This place was no longer safe.

It was very easy to figure out that Uzume was being blackmailed into helping that unknown individual. He knew that she was a Sekirei and that her Ashikabi was sick: Services in exchange for medical aid.

Similar situations had been common back in the Elemental Nations. Uzume was being blackmailed into doing something she didn't want to do, and if she resisted her Ashikabi would suffer the consequences of her actions. It left a foul taste in her mouth. Uzume and Chiho were both her friends. She was going to have to find some way to help them.

Hanabi was tempted to chase after the man and end him but she didn't know how well he was connected. If he was simply a messenger than any harm done to him would simply be reciprocated against Uzume and her Ashikabi.

Hanabi looked back at her shadow clone again. It looked like her clone was going to replace her permanently here. With the clone here she would have free access to this wing until she was 'officially' released. She could still visit Chiho whenever she wanted. But there was no way she was personally staying in this place any longer. She was healed, she no longer needed them and they had already been paid more than enough for the services they've rendered.

She looked up at the clock on the wall and cursed. Eavesdropping had wasted precious time. She wouldn't be able to meet up with Naruto-kun at Izumo Inn. She sent a quick message to Naruto saying she'd meet him at Charlie Point and quickly left the Hospital. She hid her presence so well that even if someone were to look at the security footage later they still wouldn't notice her.

x~X~x

"What took you so long?" Hanabi asked as Naruto entered the warehouse. She had fully expected Naruto to have been here before her.

"A noisy one appeared at Izumo Inn." Naruto said with a dead-panned expression on his face. He had not been aware that Miya knew Seo, although she didn't seem to hold the man in very high regard.

Still he was a very observant and sharp individual. It was hard to get out of Izumo Inn with both his Sekirei without Seo suspecting something. The last thing he wanted was a noisy, sharp eyed bastard whose allegiance was entirely unknown at best thinking he was up to something.

If all he had to worry about was him it would have been an easy thing to do. Just excuse himself to the washroom, create a shadow clone, and he could be gone in an instant. The major issue had been getting Yume out. Seo had been all sorts of curious about what had happened to Musubi.

Regardless they had managed eventually. Miya had helped them get away by requesting their aid in getting some produce from the nearby supermarket. He had sent a couple clones to go ahead and do that.

By the time Seo knew anything was amiss it would be too late for him to interfere and the situation would have been too awkward to ask questions.

Hanabi flashed him a grin and pointed towards the entrance to the complex. She had already moved the container to the side. "Well, you're the last one. Everyone else is already down below waiting for orders."

Naruto nodded and quickly headed to the entrance and went down the ladder. Yume and Akitsu were quick to follow after him. Taking one last look at the entrance to make sure that it was closed tightly Hanabi quickly shimmied down the ladder.

Naruto looked gazed around the room as he made his way to the table in the center of the room. The ANBU Squad captain was there waiting for his orders. The rest of the members were already in place to go ahead with their part in the battle to come.

There was a two-way version of the communication device he had created to spy on Matsu set up on one side of the table. On the other end was Ino Yamanaka. Sakura was busy keeping the head butler occupied so she hadn't been able to make it to the meeting. It would have caused too much suspicion anyways for the two of them to be seen together for any length of time.

Although not part of the operation itself Naruto noticed three more individuals, all female, held in a stasis seal in the corner of the room. They were completely unaware of what was transpiring around them. They would be released after today no worse for wear than the moment they had come into his possession.

"Ah! Naruto-sama!" A female voice called out. Naruto turned to regard the Ayesha as she strode from the kitchen. In her hand was a tray with several cups of tea. "I have prepared some tea for you and everyone else." Ayesha said as she crossed the room and gently placed the tray on the table.

Ayesha was one of the oddest individual Naruto had ever come across. Normally she would be locked up in stasis just like the others but after only a couple moments in her presence Naruto instantly felt that she was completely harmless. There wasn't a single mean bone in her body. He wasn't even sure if she 'could' get mad. She wasn't naïve and stupid like Musubi, she knew what modesty was and she was well aware of sex and other concepts like that, she was just innocence personified.

He hadn't the heart to lock her up like the others. Plus she was a very good maid.

It also helped that she knew quite a bit about Mikogami Hayato and the mansion he lived in. She'd been working as a live in maid for several years now. She had readily told them everything she knew, information that either corroborated with what the ANBU Squad had already found out or was verified at a later date. She honestly couldn't conceive the notion that he had planned to use the information she gave him for ill-intent.

It almost made him feel guilty, almost.

Still he would keep her safe down here until everything was said and done. He had even deliberated on taking her back with him to Izumo Inn. Apparently she and Kusano were on good terms and Miya could always use some help cleaning and maintaining the Inn. With all the new residents it was definitely consuming more and more of her time each day.

He also didn't want to see that innocence in her eyes destroyed should she try to return to the mansion only to find it a smoking crater with dead bodies scattered all over the place. The south wasn't going to be a very pleasant place to be soon.

"Ah, thank you Ayesha, you can take a break now. There are some books on medicinal herbs in the storage room, why don't you go take the rest of the day off and just read." Ayesha could be a very talkative person if one simply gave her the opportunity. By now he knew her entire life story, including her hobbies and dreams.

"Thank you Naruto-sama! You're so thoughtful." She said cheerfully and quickly left the room.

"She's an odd one isn't she?" Hanabi said as she watched the blonde haired maid leave the room suspiciously.

"It's called innocence, something that I never thought I'd see in someone over the age of two." Naruto said softly. "If everyone was like her there would be no such things as war, discrimination, prejudice, envy, jealousy or greed. The world would actually know true peace."

"Yes, we would have peace." Hanabi said just as softly as she walked over to stand beside Naruto, "But that's it. I wonder how happy she is. There can be no happiness without sadness, no hope without fear, no love without hate. One cannot, or rather will never know that they are, experiencing a positive emotion if they don't have a point of comparison."

"True, but I don't have the heart to break her."

"Neither do I." She lied. One did not become as old as Ayesha in this day and age and retain that level of innocence without there being something terribly wrong with you. It made Hanabi nervous.

"Anyways, let's move on to the main objective." Naruto said. That got everyone's attention. "As everyone knows, today is the day we bring down Mikogami Hayato." He got several nods from various individuals around the room. "Everyone has a vague idea of what their tasks today will be; it's time for the final orders to be given." Naruto looked over at Ino. "I'll start with you so that the people over there don't get suspicious of your absence. The task you and Sakura have is three-fold. How the two of you divvy it up is up to you. First off I want the head butler taken out. There are only 3 individuals in that place that can organize the people there: Mikogami, Mutsu and the head butler. I'll deal with the former two, you deal with the latter."

"It will be done." Ino replied, "I know Sakura will enjoy that bit. She takes long baths every morning to try and scrub every aspect of that man off her."

"Good, secondly the moment I arrive I want you to take out their regular security force. Don't bother with the Sekirei; they will be dealt with in other ways. Just make sure that the cameras are down, communications with the outside world are cut off or blocked and that all regular security guards are eliminated." Ino nodded her head as she accepted the order, "And finally I want you to break into their vault. I heard Sakura was able to get access to it earlier. We won't be able to touch their funds in the bank but anything of monetary value that's easily stored in a storage scroll I want you to take."

Mikogami Hayato was filthy rich. It was obvious that the bulk of their money would be kept stored in the bank vaults but no one got that rich by being stupid. There was most certainly a sizeable amount of hard currency stored in safe houses that they owned in case problems arose with the banks such as bankruptcy.

"Easily done." Ino replied.

"Good, that's all. Once you have drained their vault head to Charlie Point and don't be seen. Staying hidden and out of sight is more important than speed. Now go and get ready."

"Alright." Ino replied and the communication device went dark.

Naruto turned to the ANBU Squad Captain. "I know you have one of your men on the inside. Notify him that he is to eliminate Sekirei No. 39 Mitsuki the moment she realizes something is amiss. I don't want to tip them off early but I don't want her coming to anyone's aid. As for yourself and the rest of the Squad, keep an eye on the situation and notify us if there are any changes in the movement of the Sekirei. If you see an opportunity to eliminate a Sekirei without risk, do so, but don't risk it otherwise. You're more useful as a reconnaissance and support tool than an assassination tool this time around."

"As you wish Hokage." The ANBU Squad captain said. With a quick salute he left the underground complex to go give his orders.

"As for the rest of us." Naruto said as he turned to face his Sekirei, "We're going to be the primary assault squad. Mikogami Hayato currently has seventeen Sekirei. These are the list of Sekirei that he has." Naruto said as he unfurled a scroll on the table for them all to see.

Mikogami Hayato – Sekirei Count – 19 (17 Active, 1 Terminated, 1 Deceased)
1) No.05 Mutsu – Mansion – Sword and Earth Based Powers – Naruto
2) No.15 Himeko – Outside – Unique Double Sided Blade – Hanabi
3) No.19 Ikki – Outside – Dual Kodachi – Hanabi
4) No.21 Blanc – Mansion – Axe – Naruto
5) No.23 Vert – Outside – Spear – Yume
6) No.24 Say'ri – Outside – Sword – Akitsu
7) No.25 Yen'fay – Outside – Double Swords – Akitsu
8) No.38 Mitsuha – Outside – Whip – Akitsu
9) No.39 Mitsuki – Mansion – Metal Wires – ANBU
10) No.56 Tsubame – Outside – Clones and Fists – Hanabi
11) No.65 Taki – Mansion – Mist – Naruto
12) No.77 Aversa – Mansion – Seduction? – Naruto
13) No.80 Nio – Outside – A Ladle? – Yume
14) No.81 Tharja – Outside – Unknown? – Yume
15) No.98 Iris – Outside – Telekinesis – Hanabi
16) No.102 Yuri – Outside – Psionic – Yume
17) No.108 Kusano – Mansion – Mokuton – Naruto (Rescue Target)

Hanabi noted that it was a pretty self-explanatory list. Hanabi compared the list of Sekirei, and the people assigned to deal with them, with the list that listed their locations. "You have the Sekirei split based on location." Hanabi mused, it was very logical. "You've basically divvied up the south into three quadrants centered on Mikogami Hayato's mansion. I've got the southern area, Akitsu has the northwest and Yume has the northeast."

"Yes, this makes it easier take out your targets. I put you in the south Hanabi because that's the furthest from this location. Your specialized training makes you the ideal candidate for that location." She'd have an easier time getting down there unseen, take out her targets, and head to the mansion than Akitsu and Yume.

"Of those seventeen Sekirei, eleven will be outside when the attack begins. That puts six in the mansion, four if you ignore the one the ANBU will take care of and Kusano. I will attack the mansion head on. The only Sekirei there that is of any note is Mutsu and I don't intend to play around with him this time." Of the other three Sekirei at the mansion only Blanc was a combat based Sekirei and he had a unique plan to deal with that one. She shouldn't be an issue.

"This puts you in a great deal of danger." Yume commented as she looked at the list of Sekirei and memorized the names of those she would terminate.

"We are all going to be in some degree of danger. There are simply too many Sekirei outside for any of you to join me in the assault and if I wait for you to finish outside and return Mikogami may go to ground. This must all be done simultaneously." Naruto explained.

Plus he wanted them to keep an eye out on the outside while he was inside the mansion freeing Kusano. After his Sekirei finished with their targets they were to gather at the mansion and keep a lookout and deal with any issues that could impede his ability to get Kusano to the safety of Charlie Point.

"I understand, I still don't have to like it." Yume replied. Yume looked over the map that had the routes mapped out for the various Sekirei. She memorized the routes of the Sekirei she had been designated. She'd have to move fast if she wanted to finish quickly enough to get to Naruto's side before he killed all the Sekirei in the mansion. She wouldn't be able to stay with the downed Sekirei long enough for MBI to pick them up. She would be forced to leave them alone.

She'd place them on rooftops so that they were easy to pick up and hard to get to.

What Yume didn't realize was that there would be a barrier around the mansion that would prevent her from getting in.

"Naruto is strong." Akitsu said. If she couldn't defeat some of Naruto's stronger clones then it meant he was more than powerful enough to handle himself.

Yume sighed, that was part of the problem. Naruto was too strong, it clouded his judgement at times, "Naruto-kun, could you please spare the Sekirei you meet? Just terminating them is enough, you don't need to out-right kill them." Yume asked.

Naruto stiffened for a moment and then relaxed. He had hoped she wouldn't ask that of him. He hated leaving live enemies behind him, but he hated upsetting his Sekirei even more. "You're asking a lot of me."

"I know."

"Mutsu and Mikogami both need to die, there can be no other alternative for those two."

Yume sighed softly and whispered, "I know." Those were two people that Naruto would never compromise on.

Naruto was silent for a few moments as he wrestled with himself, "I can't promise anything but…" Naruto took a deep breath, "If they become deactivated before I kill them, I won't finish them off and I won't chase them if they flee." He doubted they would flee, this was all he could promise her. Any more would risk the mission unnecessarily.

Yume smiled at her Ashikabi and hugged him tightly, "Thank you Naruto-kun." She understood just how hard this concession was for the scarred Shinobi. That put her mind at ease a little. There was now a small chance that the Sekirei in the manor would survive the war to come.

Naruto hugged her back, "Ah, anything for you Yume-chan."

Hanabi smirked, "You never could say no to your precious ones." Hanabi said. She personally intended to end the lives of all the Sekirei she met but Yume didn't need to know that.

"Oh hush." Naruto said with a pout. "Anyways it's time we got started."

Naruto bent forward and kissed Yume on the mouth. She returned the kiss as Naruto poured his chakra into Yume. Brilliant white wings burst from Yume's back as her Norito activated. Yume pulled away and arced backwards as heat filled her body. A soft glow enveloped her and her eyes opened, burning with vigor and power.

"This light of love that I wield. Overwhelm all that oppose my Ashikabi!" Yume shouted as the chakra flowing through her body shot through the roof.

Naruto turned to Hanabi and pulled her into his embrace. With a short squeak a startled Hanabi had her mouth captured by Naruto's. She melted into his embrace as she felt the chakra from him flow through her body. A brilliant blue light filled the room as baby blue petals sprouted from Hanabi's back in the shape of a multi-layered lotus.

As Hanabi pulled away from Naruto's embrace she was enveloped by the heat of the activated Norito. They had kissed many times before but it had never felt like this before. Words danced on her lips but she refrained from saying them. They sounded almost as bad as Yume's had.

"Are you not going to speak the incantation?" Yume asked after several moments of silence.

Hanabi blushed, "Erm, well, it's embarrassing."

"Oh come now Hanabi don't be shy." Naruto teased.

Hanabi bit her lip; the urge to speak the words was even stronger now. She glared at Naruto in mock anger just knowing this was his fault for some way. Hanabi growled and spoke the prayer of her Norito, "Oh blackness without beginning or end! Come forth to devour the all those that stand against my Ashikabi!" The chakra output from Hanabi's Sekirei core doubled as she finished speaking the words. The influx of power made her feel almost invincible.

Naruto grinned at Hanabi and the feeling of invincibility disappeared as she was consumed by embarrassment. Shouting out a technique was one thing, but that Norito prayer was just damn corny.

"See, that wasn't so bad." Yume said as she smiled at Hanabi. She didn't find anything wrong with the prayer, a little dark perhaps, but nothing inherently wrong.

Hanabi grumbled under her breath and let her cloak drop to the ground. She pulled her mask off her belt and placed it on her face. Her embarrassment instantly disappeared as she became a weapon. Hanabi disappeared and the ANBU Lotus came out.

Naruto approached Akitsu. "I know I can't enable your Norito just yet but…" Naruto trailed off as he bent down and kissed Akitsu just as passionately as he had the other two. "This is the least I can do until you're properly winged." Naruto finished as he slowly pulled away.

He was just including Akitsu because it would be rude to not. He most certainly didn't kiss her because he simply liked the taste of her lips.

With that taken care of it was show time. "Alright everyone, we're as ready as we'll ever be. It's time to teach a spoiled rich kid the harsh realities of life." Naruto said and his eyes hardened as he mentally prepared himself for the task ahead.

"Hokage, can I speak with you alone for a moment?" Lotus asked as she reached out and grabbed Naruto's sleeve before he could leave.

Naruto glanced over at Akitsu and Yume who had stopped to look at them curiously. Naruto waved them on, Lotus knew how important this mission was, she wouldn't delay him long, or for something insignificant.

Yume and Akitsu gave them their privacy and quickly left out the front entrance. Yume for one didn't mind as it gave her more time to take out her targets before Naruto started in on the mansion.

After the two had left Naruto turned to Lotus, "What's wrong?"

"Uzume's being blackmailed." Lotus started. Naruto's eyes went hard and flat at those three simple words. Lotus quickly continued on, this wasn't the time to beat around the bush or mince words. Her Hokage needed to know what she had seen this morning. "There was someone outside her Ashikabi's room talking with her this morning. She's being forced to terminate Sekirei against her will; if she doesn't comply they will cease to treat her Ashikabi, Chiho. Her Ashikabi has a problem with the flow of chakra through her coils. It's slowly killing her, even with the Hospital's treatment, but without it she'd be dead within a month."

Naruto cursed as he glared at the floor. Uzume was a friend, a good one at that. He'd have to do something about this. "Do you know whose blackmailing her? Or how to cure Chiho?" Naruto asked.

"No." Lotus said without emotion, "No names were spoken and there was no time to follow him to ascertain his affiliation. As for the Ashikabi's condition, I can treat the symptoms, not the cause. I can use my bloodline and my chakra control to make her chakra flow evenly again, but it's only a temporary measure. It doesn't fix the core issue; her body is producing an irregular amount of chakra. For most individuals chakra is produced at a constant, consistent, rate. Uzume's Ashikabi's body does not. There are times when it produces the normal amount of chakra required to live, and other times when it doesn't produce enough. This is slowly killing her. I can spread her chakra out evenly through her body but it doesn't stop the inconsistent generation of chakra in the first place."

Naruto brushed a hand through his hand and sighed. This was a frustrating issue and one he would definitely look into after tomorrow. He didn't know how to fix that problem but perhaps he could do something about Uzume's blackmail. "It's a shame you didn't have time to follow this man who's blackmailing Uzume. Do you think he'll return?"

"Yes, I am certain of it. It appears as if he has some plans for me as well." Lotus replied. Naruto's eyes because as hard as diamond. Blackmailing Uzume was one thing, but Hanabi was something completely different. As much as he cared about Uzume she didn't compare to his feelings for Hanabi. She had already been through enough, if she went through any more he may be inclined to take some rather extreme measures to ensure that people stopped screwing with him and his own. "He doesn't appear to be aware that I am well now. I intend to keep it that way. My clone will remain there at all times. He'll return, or someone linked to him. When that happens I'll get some answers, one way or another."

"Good, and see if you can figure out what it is they're doing to treat Chiho. Maybe we can find some way of producing it ourselves so that she doesn't need to rely on the Hospital."

"I will see what I can do." Lotus replied.

"Good, now let's go. We can talk about this more later, after we deal with Mikogami Hayato." Naruto said as he turned towards the exit. Lotus quickly fell into step behind him. Plans could be made to save Uzume and her Ashikabi later.

Right now it was time to go to war.

x~X~x

As Yume shot across the rooftops she thought back to the picture of her target. She looked like a young woman but looks could be deceiving. Her target was a Sekirei by the name of Nio. She had short brown hair, green eyes, and wore a very interesting floral patterned knee-length dress that had sections of purple, pink and white.

The only known weapon that she possessed was a ladle. It didn't seem much of a weapon to Yume but she had seen Miya lay someone out cold with hers so she wasn't about to discount it as completely feeble. Although Miya being Miya Yume doubted that the Sekirei she was about to combat would be anywhere near No. 00's level.

The information she had been given had said that Nio would be travelling by herself to a nearby produce center. Mikogami Hayato could no longer rely on regular maids to buy his groceries; they always seemed to end up in unfortunate accidents, so he had opted to send his Sekirei instead. Nio had been making this trip on a daily basis since the day after Naruto's clones had put Ayano in the Hospital.

Yume stopped as she caught sight of the Sekirei on the sidewalk below. Nio seemed to be unconcerned as she made her way to the nearby store. Yume quickly checked her surroundings to ensure that this wasn't a trap. She couldn't sense any hidden Sekirei, and she was sure that Naruto's ANBU clones would have informed her if there had been any major shifts.

Yume steeled herself and prepared to pounce on the unsuspecting Sekirei. "Sorry Nio, normally it's common courtesy to introduce myself and stand guard over you but there's no time." Yume summoned a large amount of chakra into her palm. The air around the hand began to warp and twist as it was sucked into the vortex forming in the center of her palm. "I'm sorry."

"Ether Blast!" Yume shouted as she thrust her open palm forward. A massive beam of energy lanced through the sky and slammed into the oblivious Sekirei. Nio cried out in pain as the energy slammed her into the ground. Massive cracks in the sidewalk began to form as it buckled under the pressure of Yume's sustained attack.

The random people in the area began to panic and bolted in every direction. Some were shouting that Japan was under attack. Regardless no one wanted to stick around.

Yume eased off the attack and let it dissipate into thin air. The attack had hit Nio from behind and had plowed her into the ground. The beam of energy had stripped her of all her clothing. Her naked body was nestled in a crater left behind by the attack. From this distance Yume could see the Sekirei crest rapidly disappearing.

She quickly jumped down and rushed over to Nio's side. She pressed a couple against the side of the Sekirei's neck and checked for a pulse. With a sigh of relief Yume could feel one. She hadn't expected Nio to go down that quickly or that easily. Yume quickly picked the downed Sekirei up and leapt back to the rooftop she had just been on and settled her comfortably in a hidden location behind the satellite dish.

Yume mentally apologized one last time before she bolted over the rooftops again and headed for her second target.

x~X~x

"You! You're the scrapped number that was stolen from Mikogami-sama!" Mitsuha shouted as she pointed at Akitsu angrily.

Mitsuha was the whip wielding Sekirei that Naruto had faced off against during the Kusano Incident. She was indirectly responsible for the pain Naruto had to suffer because of it. This was one Sekirei Akitsu had no intention of going easy on.

Akitsu had found her pretty easily. She had already seen her once before so knew what to look for. Between that and the spot on information Naruto's ANBU clones had given her she had easily found Mitsuha. The whip wielding Sekirei had been patrolling a small section of the south just to the northwest of the manor. It was more a show of force to keep the other Ashikabi in the south in check than anything else.

It also made her very easy to find.

"I am Akitsu Yuki and Naruto-sama is my Ashikabi." Akitsu said monotonously as she slowly approached her target. "My Ashikabi has deemed you a threat to be eliminated."

"Don't think you can beat me just because you're a scrapped number!" Mitsuha shouted as she pulled her whip out and snapped it in the air.

"No, I will defeat you because that is what Naruto-sama desires." Akitsu replied.

"Shut up!" Mitsuha shouted as she cracked her whip at Akitsu. The whip lashed across Akitsu's chest and froze in place. "What the hell!" Mitsuha shouted as she tried to pull the whip back only to find it stuck fast. Ice began to creep along the length of whip.

Mitshua's eyes widened in surprise and she quickly dropped the whip before the ice could reach her. "What the hell was that! I gotta get out of here!" Mitsuha shouted, her bravado all but gone now.

"I won't let you leave." Akitsu's voice came from behind her.

Mitsuha whirled around in surprise to see a second Akitsu approaching her from behind. She was about to jump away when a thousand shards of ice appeared in the air all around her. She was completely encircled in all directions.

"W-wait a minute." Mitsuha stuttered.

Akitsu said nothing and just stared at Mitsuha with the expressionless face. Akitsu raised her open hand and held it up before her with the open palm facing her target. "It's over." She said as she clenched her hand shut into a fist.

Mitsuha didn't even have time to scream before a thousand shards of ice slammed into her body. Every point was aimed to converge on her Sekirei Core. Blood splashed across the landscape as Mitsuha's body was torn into pieces.

The only thing that remained when Akitsu turned to leave was a blood stained ice sculpture of a spiked ball.

x~X~x

Lotus' current target was Ikki. Ikki was a Sekirei who specialized in dual-sword combat, specifically kodachi's. This would make her a deadly close range combatant if she had any sort of real proficiency in her weapons of choice.

Appearance wise her target had short, neck-length purple hair and blue eyes. She wore a green skin tight sleeveless shirt with a pair of dark thigh length spandex shorts. The number nineteen was proudly tattooed on her left leg.

Lotus had no intention of fighting Ikki. To her this wasn't about one-on-one Sekirei battles. To her all she had were four targets for assassination. It had been awhile since she had taken on the role of Lotus. Not since the Elemental Nations had she participated in an operation as a true ANBU Black-Ops.

The notes she had been given mentioned the route Ikki would take on her patrol today. It also mentioned that she enjoyed travelling from rooftop to rooftop. It would make finding her very easy.

A flicker of color caught Lotus' attention. She whipped her head to the side a noticed someone in a green shirt overlooking the main street from a rooftop nearby. She double checked her location and moved in.

It seemed Naruto's ANBU were right on the mark. Lotus didn't even need to confirm her identity. Between the location, the clothing and the obvious Sekirei core that Lotus could see glowing from within this was obviously her target.

A few seconds later Lotus silently landed on the rooftop behind the Sekirei. Her footfalls didn't even make a whisper on the gravel roof as she glided across it. Her presence was completely concealed and she was downwind. Even if Ikki were to turn around she wouldn't even register Lotus' presence. The poor woman was dead and she didn't even know it.

As Lotus sidled up behind Ikki she paused for a moment. She almost wanted to say 'Boo'. Just to see how high she could make the Sekirei jump. It would definitely be something to remember.

But she was here to do a job. She could startle people later. She raised a hand and placed it palm open just behind her heart. With a sudden burst of chakra a massive spike erupted from her tenketsu on her hand and tore through the Sekirei.

Ikki jerked and coughed up some blood. She looked down incredulously at the massive blood-stained energy spike that was sticking out from her chest. Even as she looked on the last few pieces of her once beating heart were being vaporized by the intense chakra.

As the chakra spike disappeared she slumped to the ground. She coughed up one last gout of blood and toppled over sideways.

By the time the last vestige of life left Ikki, Lotus was already long gone.

x~X~x

"Looks like things are heating up." Arthain said as he quickly unfurled the scroll. If he knew Naruto as well as he thought he did then he knew that things would move quickly. While the seal used in this chakra transfer process was definitely better and more streamlined than the one Naruto had used on Yashima it would still take almost ten to fifteen minutes to transfer the entire core from the Sekirei to Sasha.

"Further clarification: Naruto and his Sekirei have begun. An added explanation: I have already detected the disappearance of three Sekirei." Sasha said. She helped Arthain stretched the scroll out to its full length and then proceeded to lay down on the left side. "My first question: Are we ready yet?"

"Ya, I think so." Arthain said as he dragged the unconscious Sekirei to the other side of the scroll.

This Sekirei was definitely unique in his opinion. Her dress was almost as bad as Sasha's, in a way it was worse. Sasha's clothing looked like she was cosplaying, so it would get some snickers and comments but that was about it. This Sekirei dressed like she was a dominatrix.

The Sekirei had the most interesting hair. The waist length hair started a dark blue at the base of her scalp but it grew lighter as it got longer. She had flawless perfect skin and incredibly vibrant red eyes. She wore six inch black high heels with the standard dominatrix garter set. Her legs were covered in skin tight black latex that went all the way up to the middle of her thighs. From there it split off and circled up and around the outside of her legs. Her nether regions were covered with what Arthain wanted to assume was a bikini bottom but it seemed almost 'too' skimpy for that. However instead of curving around to her back it arced upwards and met the fabric from her legs. From there it was buckled to a black corset that did very little to hide her ample assets. A pair of straps went her chest from the corset and connected to a collar around her neck that had her number and a Sekirei crest on it. The entire ensemble was topped off with a pair of black earrings and some gloves that went up to her shoulders.

She had also been a very powerful Sekirei. He didn't know what kind of power she possessed but damn could she whip shit around when she had gone into a frenzy. Apparently she didn't like being back-talked to. Did she really expect him to turn around and bend over for her? He was only glad that Sasha had been able to come up behind her while she was raging on him and knock her out before things got really out of hand. He wasn't really in the mood to assume 'the position' as she put it.

"There I'm ready." Arthain said as he placed his hands in the center of the scroll and activated the transfer sequence. Arthain watched as his chakra raced across the seal and activated the process. An extra addition that Arthain had added to the scroll was consciousness seal. It would actually lock the consciousness away so that it wasn't aware of what was occurring to the body. The pain receptors would flare, but there wouldn't be anyone or anything to interpret it at the source.

"My observation: It appears as if the array we placed within our bodies was designed correctly. An added explanation: I do not detect any sort of disturbance in my chakra pathways." Sasha said a few minutes into the procedure.

"That's good to know." Arthain said as he monitored the flow of chakra from Iris into his wife. "There is one thing I'm slightly disappointed about."

"My second question: What is that?"

"Both you and this Sekirei are dressed in very revealing clothing. Neither of you needed your tops removed for this procedure to work."

"My third question: Are you saying you wish to stare at that Sekirei's naked chest?" Sasha asked. Her voice took on a dark and ominous tone. "My fourth question: Do you desire that I put myself on display for the world to see?" Her voice grew even darker.

Arthain paled and sweat became to stream down his face, "Ah-ha, no, no that's not it at all." Arthain hurriedly said, "Sometimes I get my merds wixed, you know how it is."

"My first response: Then explain what you mean." Sasha demanded.

Arthain swallowed hard and looked around for a distraction, "Ah I need to concentrate on this transfer. We don't want anything to go wrong do we?" Arthain asked nervously.

Sasha's eyes tried to bore a hole into Arthain's skull. She did not look amused. Who knew someone that enjoyed walking around with that much skin on display on a busy street would take having her tits exposed on an empty rooftop so badly? "My second response: We will talk later, tonight, at length."

"Ah fuck my life."

"An added explanation: You may wish that I had before I am done with you." Well that was an ominous pronouncement if Arthain had ever heard any.

x~X~x

"Two down." Lotus whispered as she stared down into the lifeless eyes of Tsubame. The file on this Sekirei had mentioned she had a special technique capable of making clones of herself. Unfortunately for her they weren't Shadow Clones and Hanabi was more than capable of spotting the real Tsubame amongst the different copies that she had running around.

Like Ikki she hadn't even noticed Lotus until it was too late. She was dead now as a result. Well, the result would have been the same regardless. Tsubame had no skills worth worrying about and her experience was next to non-existent.

Still that was two down; it was time to move onto her last target. She had been given four originally but she had seen Iris get taken down on her way to Tsubame. She had been quite surprised to see that Naruto's other clones, Arthain and Sasha, were on the move as well.

Naruto would need to be informed of these new developments but for the moment she needed to focus on taking out her last target. While what Arthain and Sasha were doing to the Sekirei was very interesting indeed, it didn't hinder their plans in the slightest. If anything it moved them along more quickly since there was one less Sekirei for her to deal with.

x~X~x

All Yume could think of as she stared at her target was if all the Sekirei in the Sekirei Plan Tharja must be the one with the most revealing clothing. Even if modesty wasn't something most Sekirei concerned their selves with there should still be limits. Tharja only wore five pieces of skimpy clothing: A pair of open-top strap sandals, a thick gold belt that went around her waist with a black loincloth to protect her modesty, a black bikini top, a black cloak that just hung from her shoulders and covered nothing and a full body length sheer material that covered everything from her toes to her hands but concealed nothing. You could see right through it. All it did was tint her skin a darker color.

She was revealing more skin than some women even had.

Still despite her clothing, or lack thereof, Yume would have to treat her seriously. Tharja was one of the few Sekirei they had no knowledge of when it came to their powers. She was the only Sekirei without any visible weapon no physical traits that could hint as to her abilities. This meant she had either an elemental or force base power, one that she has yet to use.

Her target was peering intently through the window of an electronic store. Her lips appeared to be moving but she was too far away for Yume to pick out the words. However the way she grinned as she stared at a miniature camera was kind of creepy.

Yume wanted to avoid property damage but this was hardly the time to be picky. Besides she could always coerce MBI into paying for the repairs.

Like with Nio, Yume didn't have the time to show Tharja any of the normal Sekirei pleasantries. The air around Yume's fist crackled and glowed with a brilliant white light as the energy gathered in the center of her palm. With an expression of grim determination Yume thrust her palm forward and pointed it at the unaware Sekirei. There was a massive spike of chakra as the ball expanded for a moment before a huge beam of energy blasted towards Tharja.

Just before the beam slammed into the Sekirei however a shield of pure darkness erupted up around Yume's target. Yume's eyes widened in surprise as her attack slammed into the shield and stopped.

The shockwave and subsequent wind storm generated from the beam attack rippled outwards and blasted everything in the area away. As Yume's energy beam struggled against Tharja's barrier the area around her began to peel away and disintegrate. Yume's eyes widened in horror as the storefront near her target began to buckle and collapse. She quickly stopped her attack but it was too late as the store began to collapse in on its self and trapped those still inside.

"That's not very nice." Tharja shouted in a dark tone as she let the shield drop from around her. She had a very unhappy look in her eyes.

Yume jumped from the top of the building she had been sitting on and landed near her. "I'm No. 08 Yume, and I'm sorry for the sneak attack but I don't have time to properly introduce myself."

"That's not what I was talking about!" Tharja shouted. "How am I supposed to get the cameras I need to spy on my dear Mikogami-sama now that you've ruined this store!" Tharja was beyond pissed. It had taken her months to find the store with the right equipment for her needs.

Yume blinked in surprise, she didn't care about the surprise attack? "You only care about the equipment? What about the people?"

"What of them? They're worthless scum, only my Mikogami-sama is worthy of my attention."

"No one is worthless!" Yume shouted as she attacked Tharja, "Everyone deserves to be loved!"

"Love is useless! All I want is my Mikogami-sama's body!" Tharja screamed as she conjured orbs of pure darkness around her. She swiped her hand across the front of her and the orbs shot towards the oncoming Yume.

Yume easily dodged the projectiles but she wasn't prepared for the next surprise that Tharja had in store. The darkness based Sekirei brought her other hand up and clenched her fist. The orbs nearest Yume instantly expanded in size.

Yume had just enough time to brace herself before the orbs exploded and knocked her away. She didn't have time to relax as a dozen more blasts shot at her. She easily evaded these as well. This time she was more prepared when the closest orbs exploded.

The two kept this up for a few minutes. Yume tried her best to close the distance and Tharja used everything at her disposal to keep Yume away.

This Sekirei was apparently her opposite. While she was light, Tharja was darkness. While she excelled in close range combat, Tharja excelled in long range. If she could only get close enough to land a single blow this would be over.

Unfortunately Tharja knew that and was doing everything in her power to keep her away. Yume knew she could outlast her opponent in a battle of attrition, but she had places to be and a schedule to keep.

"It seems like you're having some trouble." An ANBU Squad member said as he suddenly appeared beside Yume.

Yume glanced over at the clone of Naruto. "It's the setting. I can't go full out without seriously endangering human lives and she won't let me close enough to go hand-to-hand."

"Well you can't keep dodging forever and while you may care about human life, she doesn't." The ANBU said as he looked around. Tharja truly didn't care. The orbs that Yume had dodged and hadn't exploded in her face hadn't simply dissipated afterwards, they had kept going. Some had slammed into buildings, others had destroyed cars.

Yume followed the ANBU's gaze as well and quickly checked her surroundings. He was right. The entire place was being destroyed. It was probably now in worse condition than it would have been had she not eased up on her attack earlier.

Yume's breath hitched in her throat as she saw something just inside one of the ruined buildings. It was a child, no more than seven years old, and she was lying still on the cold tile floor just inside the ruined toy store. Yume didn't need to see her lifeless eyes to know that she was dead.

Because the other half of her was up against a wall, twelve feet away.

Yume bowed her head as tears began to leak from her eyes, "Naruto." Yume whispered, her voice had gone cold and hard, "All humans and all Sekirei deserve love. But that monster over there… I refuse to accept that she is either." She raised her head and stared at the ANBU with tearful eyes, "Kiss me."

"Your Norito is still active-."

Before he could say any more Yume ripped off his mask and pressed her lips roughly against his. To say that the ANBU member was surprised would be an understatement. Still he didn't resist as chakra poured from him into Yume. The ANBU had been under the impression that once a Norito was active that was it, no more could be done. But he was proven wrong. He could almost hear an audible click as all the limiters were released inside Yume.

A massive pillar of light erupted from Yume as her Sekirei Core went into overdrive. The ground cracked and splintered from the force of the chakra. The air whipped around Yume in a frenzy as her chakra began to disturb the local weather patterns. If Naruto had been trying to keep this war against Mikogami Hayato a secret before, well it wasn't a secret any more. You'd have to be blind not to see the pillar of light piercing the heavens.

The ANBU quickly jumped back and whistled in surprise. If he hadn't known any better he'd have thought that Yume had just ripped open all eight celestial gates. The amount of chakra that rolled off her body was intense. She was easily wielding enough chakra to match Shukaku.

Tharja stepped back warily as she prepared to defend herself against the assault to come. This didn't look good. Even she knew when she had pushed someone too far.

"It is time to end this battle!" Yume shouted as her chakra peaked. What appeared to be a large runic symbol appeared in the sky above Tharja. The symbol glowed with a brilliant sapphire blue color. In the very center of the symbol was the outline of a circle in the center of a six pointed star. Rotating around the star were three more glowing circles, each with multiple concentric circles within resembling that of a Rinnegan. The entire symbol was enclosed within another brilliant blue circle.

"Hearken the angel's summons!" Yume continued to chant. The ANBU's eyes widened in surprise as the symbol got larger. He suddenly realized it was actually a massive seal. He could see the written symbols and lines. Any further analysis was impossible however as it quickly became too bright to look at. Lances of pure light blasted from the seal in the sky and slammed into Tharja who had just enough time to erect her barrier around her again. Each lance of light came faster and stronger than the one before.

"The true path shall guide you to find peace in ANNIHILATION!" The barrier around Tharja cracked and exploded unable to take the concentrated assault anymore. Six orbs of pure energy shot down and circled around the now vulnerable Sekirei and lifted her up into the sky. Tharja screamed in pain when she came into contact with the seal.

"DIVINE ASSAULT: ETHER DESTRUCTION!" Yume cried out in a thunderous voice as she finished her Norito incantation. As the seal collapsed in upon its self a massive sphere of spinning energy formed in its place and consumed Tharja. With a force strong enough to shake buildings miles away the blast slammed the Sekirei back into the ground. The ground cratered beneath the onslaught. Any cry of pain Tharja could have made was drowned out by the whistling of hurricane force winds as the blast exploded in a massive burst of energy.

Yume didn't even wait for the dust to settle before she turned around and walked away. If Tharja lived through that, then there was nothing else she could do.

Not that she expected that monster to live through it. Yume doubted even Miya could have survived that without some serious injury. Of course Miya wouldn't have gotten caught in such an attack in the first place but that was beside the point.

Yume turned to the ANBU Squad member. His mask was back on his face now. "Can you check for survivors? I need to hurry on to my next target." Yume asked. She wanted to stay and help the humans that were injured but the compulsion to follow her Ashikabi's orders conflicted with said desire.

"Go on ahead, I'll check for any survivors." The clone said. He could just make a few shadow clones to check things out; he himself didn't need to stay here. "You're not going to make sure she doesn't die?" The ANBU squad member asked as he jerked a thumb over towards the crater.

"I have no sympathy for monsters." Yume said dispassionately as she turned to leave. She paused for a moment and smiled at Naruto's clones, "And thank you." With that she jumped to a nearby rooftop. She really couldn't care less what happened to that thing she left behind in that crater but she did care about the innocent people caught up in her battle.

The ANBU turned and regarded the downed Sekirei in the crater, or what was left of her. It seemed there were a few buttons you just did not push when you were dealing with Yume. Killing innocent children was apparently one of them.

"I can't wait to see what sort of cover story MBI creates for THIS." The ANBU said as he made a few shadow clones. The clones quickly used a henge to disguise themselves as random people and started to dig through the rubble to find survivors.

With one last look at the crater the ANBU chuckled and disappeared.

x~X~x

Mitsuki ran into her room grumbling to herself. Something was going on, some very bad. Her Ashikabi Mikogami Hayato was panicking about something and had demanded that every Sekirei get ready for battle.

She had no idea what was going on but something had rattled him very badly and she didn't like to see him like that.

The puppy she had named 'Fluffy' yawned and stretched as he watched his 'master' run around the room in a panic. She had obviously just come out of the bath judging from her wet hair and the towel she had around her body. He watched as she threw the towel covering her naked body across the room and began to look through her drawers for her clothing.

The puppy admired the great view of her backside. He took a dozen mental pictures as she bent over to put on her panties. That perfect view of her most private of places was simply exquisite. The boss would definitely want to review these memories in private at some later date. With so many bad memories coming his way from the Namikaze Squad and Sakura he figured Naruto was due for a few good images.

Oh, that was another good image as he watched Mitsuki turn around. Standing there with only a pair of panties giving him a full frontal view was simply amazing. He barked approvingly.

"Aww mister Fluffy!" Mitsuki cried happily as she ran over to the bed and picked him up. She squeezed him between her breasts and he melted in her embrace. Oh yes these were definitely going to be some good memories for boss. "I'm happy to see you too. I'll make sure to treat you to some good food after everything settles down!"

"Bark! Bark!" The puppy barked happily as he licked her nipple. She tasted like apples, probably scented body wash.

"Ahaha, that tickles! Stop that." Mitsuki said as she placed him back down on the bed. "I need to finish getting dressed."

It was almost a shame that she had to be eliminated. When she wasn't fanatically following Mikogami Hayato's orders she was no different than any other teenage girl. It almost made him wonder just how much of her real personality was being subverted or suppressed by her bond to that rich spoiled brat.

His original plan had been to kill her quickly and violently to leave a message but he couldn't bring himself to do it, not anymore. He had planned to playfully jump into her arms and transform into a tiger in mid-leap and tear her throat out.

He couldn't do that anymore.

All she needed was something quick, something soft, something gentle. She didn't need to die a bloody violent death. Perhaps she didn't need to die at all.

The puppy jumped off the bed and gently opened the door to the room. Mitsuki in her haste had forgotten to close it all the way. The puppy had a lot of spare time to himself. Mitsuki was often out on missions or assignments for her Ashikabi.

It had given him time to rig her room.

Once outside he transformed back into his ANBU form. He gently closed the door and brought his hand up into a sign. "Seal!" He murmured. There was a flash of light and a soft, almost inaudible, hum started up behind him. The seal would keep her, and anyone that entered the room, locked in stasis until the seal was undone.

When Mikogami Hayato was killed she would undergo a level 1 termination. It was all the kindness he was allowed to afford her.

"Effective but wouldn't it have been easier to simply kill her?" The ANBU Squad captain said as he appeared beside the ANBU member.

"Perhaps, but I'm beginning to realize that Kusano isn't the only Sekirei that Mikogami forced himself on. I can't kill her just because she happened to be taken by force by the wrong man." The ANBU member replied as he turned away from the entrance and regarded his captain sadly.

The Squad captain clamped a hand on his member's shoulder. He understood as well. After observing Mikogami Hayato's Sekirei for the last week he had come to the same conclusion. "Well the method was left to you and this is as effective as any other. I won't judge you on it. Come, let's go help Sakura and Ino finish up."

The squad member nodded and the two ANBU faded into the shadows.

x~X~x

A bright light momentarily blinded everyone in the helicopter. There was a massive boom and the occupants could see a cloud of dust rising in the distance amongst the ruins of several buildings.

"We've lost another one!" An MBI worker said as he monitored another Sekirei termination.

"What the hell is going on here?" Takami growled in frustration as she monitored the same information as the worker. Eight terminations, there had already been eight terminations today. The helicopters haven't even reached the first downed Sekirei yet although they were approaching the first one now.

She was in said helicopter as it flew to the southern area of Shinto Teito. The day had started off innocuous enough. Word had reached her at MBI that several large underground factions had begun fighting in the streets of southern Shinto Teito.

Normally it wouldn't be anything that MBI bothered with but today they had gotten word that they had begun to hire some free-lance Ashikabi and their Sekirei to help them in their 'little war'. There were at least a dozen Ashikabi with Sekirei that were willing to get their hands dirty for a little bit of extra money.

Needless to say it was expected that there would be a few terminations in such a situation. Eight in the span of two hours was a bit beyond what they had expected.

Especially since six of them belong to Hayato Mikogami, the Ashikabi of the South. She didn't know of anyone that was reckless enough to attack someone with that many Sekirei at their disposal.

Wait, that was wrong. Takami quickly went over the details of the terminations a second time. Most of them were level 5 terminations. She did in fact know one Ashikabi that was that insane.

"Kami damn you Naruto!" Takami shouted at the laptop. She just KNEW it had to be him.

They could see the buildings shake briefly as a strong tremor rippled through the city. "Oh my god we got another level 5 termination! It's No. 05 Mutsu! It's at Mikogami Hayato's Mansion!" The MBI worker gasped in horror. The employee couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of person could assault the very home of Mikogami Hayato and take out someone like Mutsu.

Takami blanched. Mutsu was one of the strongest Sekirei in the Sekirei Plan. This was a nightmare; this was more than the Sekirei rescue squad could handle alone. She quickly reached for her phone and called headquarters. "I want MBI fully mobilized! Get EVERYTHING we have down to the south now! I want all combat personnel not already engaged in operations on the way within 15! That includes the Disciplinary Squad!"

Takami didn't wait for a response and quickly hung up. This was bad, this was very bad.

"Oh dear Kami we just lost two more!"

She twitched violently. She needed to get her forces down here as quickly as possible. With this many Sekirei already terminated, and the possibility of a dozen or more. It would take all day for MBI to recover those bodies by normal means. They were spread all over the south.

That was more than enough time for foreign interests to get wind of this and make their move.

x~X~x

Akitsu knew she was going to have to be more cautious with her next target. Say'ri and Yen'fay were brother and sister. They always traveled together. This meant she would need to fight both of them at the same time.

It should be relatively easy for her to spot the two in a crowd. They both dressed like samurai pulled from ancient times. Say'ri had two swords belted to her waist, although she only ever used one at a time. The second sword was probably a spare.

Her brother Yen'fay had a total of four swords, two strapped across his back and two buckled to his waist. He used two simultaneously and from what Akitsu could gather from the notes was the more dangerous of the two. Say'ri was hesitant to go for fatal or crippling wounds, Yen'fay wouldn't hesitate to do just that.

However it also mentioned that Say'ri had the tendency to overreact if Yen'fay got hurt.

It would be best to take her out first and deal with Yen'fay second. She would be an easy target so long as her brother was still fighting strong. Whereas her brother wouldn't get any more dangerous with her gone, if anything he would become more reckless.

Akitsu's attention was jerked from her thoughts as she noticed an oddity on an outdoor patio across the street. There were a couple eating an early lunch at one of the restaurants that lined the street. The two matched the description she had been given earlier.

Akitsu started to make her way across the street. About half way across a bright light lit up the eastern sky. Everyone stopped to peer east in curiosity, including her two targets.

Akitsu took advantage of their momentary distraction. Dozens of ice shards appeared around her and shot towards Say'ri and Yen'fay. The loud crack of thunder that followed the flash of light drowned out the initial screams of those around her as her attacks converged on the two Sekirei.

Yen'fay caught some movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to look. His expression quickly transitioned from shock to anger. He reacted with a quickness that only a Sekirei could replicate as he leapt from his chair and threw his table at Akitsu.

The shards of ice tore through the impromptu barrier, ending its flight early, but it had done its task and had gained the two Sekirei enough time to prepare for the attack.

The random passerby's began to scream in terror as they fled the scene. No one wanted to stick around when someone was throwing around razor sharp chunks of ice like that.

"Damn you! Whose Sekirei are you? Why are you attacking us?" Yen'fay shouted.

"I am Akitsu Yuki and Naruto-sama wants you terminated." Akitsu replied as she created more shards of ice and fired them at the pair of Sekirei.

Yen'fay stepped in front of his sister and began to deflect the pieces of ice to the side. His hands and arms were a blur of movement as he wielded his weapons with precision.

"Damn you! Say'ri! Get ready to attack, I'll stop her ice." Yen'fay shouted as he took a step forward.

"Yes nii-san." Say'ri said as she crouched and placed a hand on the hilt of her sword. The two always worked together like this: One on offense and the other on defense. Normally she kept the enemy occupied while her brother went on the offensive but this time she would do the attacking.

A tremor rippled through the ground and caused most people to lose their footing. Akitsu and the other two Sekirei were the only ones that didn't. Akitsu could hear dogs barking in the distance and car alarms started to go off all over the place.

The ground nearby cracked and splinted as the water main just a few meters to the left of them exploded. A massive amount of water began to gush from the crack. That was unusual and potentially very bad. Ice was just frozen water and with that much extra water spraying into the air…

Their fears became a reality as Akitsu took command of the new water source. The water that rushed from the water main coalesced into a massive ice based attacked. It looked very much like the end of a meat tenderizer, only the pointed ends were much longer and far sharper.

With a mental command the massive ice tenderizer shot towards Say'ri.

"Move!" Yen'fay shouted a warning to his sister.

Say'ri didn't need to be told twice. She turned and tried to jump away only to find that she was stuck in place. She stared down at her feet curiously, her eyes widened in disbelief at what she saw. Latched onto her ankles was a pair of hands sticking up from the ground.

"Say'ri! RUN!" Yen'fay yelled, he couldn't understand why she hadn't moved yet. He couldn't see the hands that had latched onto her ankles. She had just enough time to turn her head and mouth 'Goodbye'.

With an audible crunch the impromptu hammer slammed into Say'ri. It continued on and carried her up into the air before it did 180 degree turn and slammed her back into the ground.

"NO!" Yen'fay cried out in horror.

The stream of ice that extended from the broken water main shattered into a thousand shards. Suddenly Yen'fay no longer had time to worry about his downed sister as the ice began to converge on him from all sides.

He became a blur of movement as he dodged, parried and cut down the icicle projectiles. Akitsu kept the assault up for several minutes before she finally eased off the attack.

Yen'fay was still standing, but he was in no condition to keep fighting. None of her attacks had made any critical hits but he was covered in hundreds of gashes, cuts, scrapes and bruises. He gazed at Akitsu for a long moment. Sorrow, Anger, pain and ultimately respect all flashed through his eyes before he toppled over, unconscious.

Akitsu made her way over to the two down Sekirei and checked them. Say'ri was obviously in worse condition than Yen'fay. She was still alive, but wouldn't be for much longer unless MBI got to her quickly. Hers was definitely a level 4 deactivation.

Yen'fay had fared much better but ultimately he was deactivated as well. Judging by his wounds it was a level 3 deactivation.

Akitsu debated on whether or not she should stand guard over her two fallen brethren. She technically wasn't supposed to be a part of the Sekirei Plan, yet it was common courtesy to stand guard anyways. However her Ashikabi was off assaulting the headquarters of Mikogami Hayato and may need her help.

That decided it for her. As much as she wished to respect the fallen Sekirei her Ashikabi's safety took priority. With a slight bow she turned and jumped to the nearby rooftop and headed for the manor.

After Akitsu had left an ANBU squad member pulled himself up from beneath the patio stones. "She's becoming very skilled." The ANBU said as he picked up the two fallen Sekirei. "I should get these two to a safer place." He murmured as he left to find a better place to put the two Sekirei down.

x~X~x

A bright light flashed in the distanced which was quickly followed by a peal of thunder. Arthain and Sasha both turned their heads to the south curiously.

"Damn things are starting to get rowdy around here." Arthain said as he tried to crane his head to get a better look. The buildings blocked his view of it but that still stop him from trying.

"My suggestion: Stop moving or you will mess up the transfer." Sasha said as she brought her focus back to the chakra transfer.

The Sekirei they had found had very unique powers. They had originally intended to find just anyone but Arthain had always wanted to be a Protoss and those psionic blades were just too awesome to pass up.

Their target also happened to be male, which Arthain felt was appropriate because he wasn't sure he wanted to know what sort of odd reaction would come from inserting a Core from a female Sekirei into his male body.

Despite all this the major deciding factor had been that they were running out of options.

They had actually been very lucky to find this Sekirei. Naruto and his own Sekirei were quickly mowing down Hayato Mikogami's forces. The operation was going far more quickly than either of them had anticipated.

They had both assumed it would take the majority of the day to complete. They had underestimated just how predictable and how weak most of Hayato's Sekirei were. Naruto's own forces were able to find and take their targets out quickly.

Or perhaps it was just that Naruto's Sekirei, and Hanabi, were incredibly strong.

It was almost frightening at how well this operation was going. Arthain was almost certain that a massive shit storm was on the way. Nothing ever just went 'right' for Naruto. SOMETHING always went wrong somehow somewhere. His entire life had been one shit storm followed by another. There was no way this would be any different.

This scared him quite a bit if he had to be honest with himself. When something went this right, it just meant that something 'that bad' was on its way.

"I think we may need to stick around after this." Arthain said thoughtfully.

"My first question: Why do you say that? An added explanation: The plan was to get out of Shinto Teito after the successful transfers." Sasha asked. Sticking around after doing this was going to cause some major problems. MBI probably shat bricks after what Naruto had done to Yashima. Now they were doing it a second and a third time.

MBI would have to move after this. They may be able to disregard a single lost core as an isolated case. But to have multiple go missing?

"Because a massive shit storm is coming." Arthain said as he stared up at the sky. Even the clouds were beginning to roll in. It was supposed to be sunny all day long yet he could tell it wasn't going to stay that way for long. "There are too many things going right all at once. It's scaring me. Naruto may need our help again before the end of this. Maybe he'll be more accepting of our desire for independence if we help him? I have no intention of staying long, just until Naruto and his Sekirei are safely back at Charlie Point."

Sasha was about to protest when a strong tremor shook the building they were on. The two of them exchanged worried glances.

So maybe there was a giant 'shit storm' as her husband put it on the way.

Sasha grimaced and sighed, "My first response: Alright, we'll stay and keep watch from a distance. If they need help we'll help. I just hope Hanabi doesn't see us and reveal us to Naruto."

"Well we know the path they plan to take from the mansion back to the hide out. We can just make sure it's clear and stay a good distance ahead of them. If shit looks like it'll get out of hand we can hurry back and lend a hand." He still felt a strong sense of loyalty towards Naruto. He probably always would. It just didn't feel right to up and leave like this. It really seemed like they were just using his attack as a distraction to achieve their own goals in contrary to Naruto's.

If they stuck around to help out after the fact, it would show that it wasn't just for their sole benefit.

He just hoped that the crazy shit that followed Naruto around all over the place didn't follow them as well.

x~X~x

Lotus was unsure how well Akitsu and Yume were faring but she knew at least one of them was still putting up a good fight. The large flash of light and sound of thunder that had echoed past her thirty minutes past was a good indication that things had begun to heat up on the other fronts. She just hoped that attack wasn't aimed at one of them.

The flash of light had been followed soon after by a strong tremor. She could tell it had originated from the mansion. Naruto was obviously ramping up his attack there. She needed to take out her last target and get there as soon as possible.

Thankfully there shouldn't be any issues with this target. She never intended for there to be any real combat. If her target saw her coming then she had failed as an ANBU and needed to retrain.

Her last target was Himeko. She was a Sekirei that wore a long kimono and wielded a very unique double sided bladed weapon. Her only other noticeable attributes were a pair of fingerless gloves, dark eyes and black hair that was tied back with a ribbon.

Of all the Sekirei on the list Himeko would normally be the most difficult to find. If she hid the weapon inside her kimono she could very easily blend in with the crowd. There weren't any real unique defining features that separated her from a regular citizen.

Unfortunately for Himeko Lotus knew her planned route for the day. Even if it deviated slightly there was no escaping from Lotus. With her Byakugan activated she could see everything within ten miles of her. And with the Sekirei core acting like a beacon Lotus could easily track her down even in the largest crowd.

She found her target listening to a street side musician. Oddly there were tears in her eyes but Lotus couldn't determine the exact cause.

In the end it didn't matter. Soon she wouldn't feel anything.

Lotus performed a quick Henge no Jutsu and transformed her appearance into that of a plain, nondescript woman with no remarkable attributes. She was so plain that she didn't even need to hide her presence; people would just naturally tune her out.

But she did anyways and for all intents and purposes became invisible.

As Lotus neared the musician she had to admit that regardless of everything else the man was at least skilled. Why he had been reduced to roadside peddling for coins was quite odd. While she wasn't an audiophile she knew that at the very least he was better than some of the 'professional' musicians she had heard.

Lotus pushed that from her mind as she crossed behind Himeko. With a quick chakra spike she attacked Himeko's heart and destroyed it. Lotus kept on walking away even as Himeko collapsed onto the ground behind her. It had been quick and painless. Himeko had died instantly. If anyone were to analyze the Sekirei later it would appear as if she had died of a massive heart attack.

With all her targets dealt with Lotus took to the rooftops and headed north.

Her destination: Mikogami Hayato's mansion.

She never noticed the musician pick up the fallen Sekirei and head into a nearby alley. Without his music he was so plain and nondescript that even the most observant of individual would overlook and ignore him.

x~X~x

As Yume quickly made her way towards her destination she thought back to an earlier conversation. An ANBU agent had informed her when she was on her way to intercept Vert that the Namikaze Squad had already dealt with Yuri. There had been an odd tone to the ANBU's voice as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. She personally didn't care. It was fine with her; she wanted to get to her Ashikabi's side as quickly as possible. Yume assumed that the ANBU would have mentioned that Yuri had been 'killed' or 'eliminated' if it had been a level 5 termination; 'dealt with' usually implied something less final.

"I take it you're the Sekirei that's been going around taking out my sisters?" A motherly voice interrupted her musing.

Yume skidded to a stop on the rooftop and turned to stare at the woman who was leaning against the wall beside the door leading to the rooftop. The woman wore a fully length green dress with black trim that flared open at the sides to expose long, creamy legs. The top of the dress was open to reveal ample cleavage and emphasised her impressive bust. Long blonde hair flowed down her back in waves.

From the description Yume knew that this was Vert, her final target.

The large spear that leaned against the wall beside her was another dead give-a-way. Yume noted that it was also an incredible exotic and vicious looking weapon. Unlike most spears that were simple a singular sharp blade attached to a long pole this one was far different. The head of the spear wasn't a singular blade, it was five blades all attached to a large spearhead. There was a single blade that pointed straight forward like most spears but on either side of the center blade were two more blades that angled out a bit before they sharply turned and headed straight. The butt of the spear was also bladed. The shaft of the spear had an interesting pattern of various shades of green and black.

The personal information she had been given had mentioned that Vert was a very motherly and caring figure. She often mediated and settled disputes between many of Hayato's Sekirei when things got out of hand.

Judging from the hard look she was giving Yume and the deep frown on her face she was not in a motherly or caring mood.

"Yes, I am No. 08 Yume, the Sekirei of Fate." Yume introduced herself. She wasn't the only one taking out Mikogami's Sekirei but she'd take the blame for it all to spare Hanabi and Akitsu any. "I'm surprised to find you waiting for me."

Vert slowly pushed herself away from the wall and reached over to grab her spear. "I'm No. 23 Vert." Vert said as she introduced herself as well. "I could feel my sisters falling one by one. I knew if I ran it would be only a matter of time before I was chased down." Vert replied. Her eyes hardened even more. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to go any further. I will protect the others even at the cost of my life. I will not run, I will fight and I will defeat you." She said as she twirled the spear in her hands and pointed it at Yume.

A small smile graced Yume's face, "Ah, I can feel your love for your fellow sisters. It's such a wonderful thing." It was sad that someone like Vert had been winged by someone like Mikogami Hayato. Perhaps if fate had acted differently they could have been good friends. Despite being on opposite sides of this conflict it was so refreshing to deal with someone like her, especially after the sour taste Tharja had left in her mouth. "It is a shame I have to defeat you. But I will so that my Ashikabi's goals can be realized." Yume said as she dropped into a battle stance.

The two stared at each other from across the gravel rooftop. Each waited for the other to make the first move. The seconds ticked away as the two waited for anything to break the silent stalemate between them.

A coin fell from the sky, flipping end over end. Yume twitched knowing that somehow Naruto was responsible.

The twitch was the opening Vert needed. With a burst of speed that belied her frame Vert closed the distance between the two in an instant. The air screamed as the bladed spear cut a diagonal path upwards across Yume's chest.

Yume quickly leaned back and avoided the slash attack, an unusual maneuver for someone with a spear, and quickly jumped inside of Vert's guard. She lashed out with her free fist and she aimed for the blonde Sekirei's face.

Vert whirled the spear in her hands and brought the butt of the spear up and knocked the fist away. The bladed edge of the butt cut into the gloves around Yume's hand and she quickly jerked it away before it could reach her skin.

Vert whirled her body around and jumped back in mid turn as she used centrifugal force to increase the speed and power behind her slash. Thinking quickly Yume thrust her right palm forward and fired a weak blast of energy, there wasn't any time to charge it, and knocked Vert away.

She still took a minor hit as the very tip of the spear ripped through her clothing and left a small gash across the breadth of her chest. A tiny line of red appeared as the cut began to bleed but Yume ignored it. It was superficial at best but the fact that she had been injured at all was a testament to Vert's skill.

Vert was fast, not as fast as she was, but she had far greater range and destructive power with her spear than she did.

Provided Yume didn't use her energy based attacks.

Yume saw movement from behind the roof entrance as a shadow began to form. She shook her head. This was one battle she wanted to fight on her own without any help. Vert was a respectable opponent and she deserved at least that much.

The shadow hesitated for a moment and then it was gone. Yume sensed the ANBU head off elsewhere. A small smile graced her face as she charged towards Vert. This time she went on the offensive.

The two became locked in intense close quarters combat. Yume was a blur as she dodged and weaved around Vert's and lashed out with her own. Vert's spear screamed through the air as it blocked and parried Yume's attack. It served well as both an offensive and defensive tool allowing her to attack while still having the option to defend.

Using the flat of the blade on the butt of her spear Vert knocked some gravel up at Yume. Yume flinched momentarily at the unexpected move. Vert used the opportunity to break the gridlock she and Yume had been stuck in and jumped back a good twenty meters.

"You're strong." Vert commented as she whirled her spear around and held it at the ready, "I guess I'll have to use my strongest skill against you."

"Not only is your love strong, but you're powerful as well." Yume said with a grin. "I was not aware that there was someone with your level of skill outside the single digit Sekirei." She had thought that the only Sekirei of note that Mikogami had was Mutsu but apparently she had thought wrong. Vert was easily a match for Mutsu.

"I for one never believed that you single digits were better than the rest of us. You were simply given a head start, one that the rest of us can negate with hard work and effort!" Vert declared as she began to channel her chakra into her special attack.

"Yes, you speak good words. I'll match your determination and your attack with all I have! It's the least I can do for you." Yume began to do the same as she charged her power into her first. If Vert wanted to settle this with their best attacks, well she would honor her decision and give it her all.

A large green circle with many concentric inner circles appeared beside Vert as her attacked became ready. "Sylhet Spear!" Vert shouted and a massive twenty foot long, three foot wide spear with a twisted spiral shaft shot through the air from the green circular grid.

Yume pushed her fist forward. A large ball of energy quickly expanded in her palms and grew to be several feet in diameter. "Ether Blast!" Yume shouted as the ball expanded and transformed into a massive beam of energy.

The two attacks met in the middle of the rooftop. The Sylhet spear began to spin and pierced through the center of Yume's attack and continued on. Yume continued to pour more and more power into her attack as the spear continued towards her. As the spear came closer and closer it gradually slowed down until it stopped just a foot from Yume.

Unable to maintain its forward momentum, or its form, any longer the spear dissolved as Yume's attack overwhelmed.

Seeing this Vert closed her eyes and sighed in resignation. She was beaten and she knew it. "I'm sorry everyone." Vert whispered as the beam of energy washed over her.

The beam of energy blasted through the rooftop entrance and continued on out over the city for a few moments before Yume stopped the attack.

She quickly rushed over to the down Sekirei and quickly checked her over. With a sigh of relief she noted that Vert was still alive, albeit deactivated. The damage she had sustained from her attack had been more than enough to take her out of the game. "You put up a good fight Vert. I'm proud of you, standing up for our brothers and sisters like you did." Yume whispered as she folded Vert's arms across her chest. She quickly retrieved the spear and laid it down beside her.

"You deserve better than this, you deserve better than him, and you deserve more respect than I can afford to show you. Farewell and I hope we can meet again in the future." Yume said. A single tear rolled down Yume's face. She brushed it away and headed towards the mansion. She wanted to stand watch over Vert until MBI picked her up but the needs of her Ashikabi out-weighed her own desires.

This was the first time she had ever felt like the bond was more of a curse than a blessing. She was beginning to see why Naruto disliked it so much.

x~X~x

It was time.

With the use of his father's time-space Ninjutsu Naruto appeared at the front gates to Mikogami Hayato's Manor.

It was time to end this.

His Sekirei were engaged in battles across the city. His ANBU were on the move assisting where they felt they were needed. He was ready to begin the assault on the main headquarters of the Ashikabi of the South.

He had given his Sekirei a bit of time to get to work on some of their objectives. He couldn't hit the manor right away or stand the risk of having the closer Sekirei reinforce Mikogami. There was already the potential of a four-on-one battle. He didn't want to have to deal with more.

It was time to bring down the Ashikabi of the South.

An orb of spinning chakra appeared in Naruto's right hand. "This is your wake-up call!" Naruto shouted as he pushed the attack forward. The ball of energy expanded to an enormous size, "Chōōdama Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the oversized Rasengan into the gates. With a massive boom the gates warped and twisted. They withstood the attack for half a second before they were ripped from their hinges and thrown across the front yard of the manor.

"It's time to end this." Naruto said with a determined look on his face as he strode through the front gates.

---

Author's Notes:

In case you're wondering yes I did take some descriptions and powers from various games I play. Also I didn't choose them as fodder because I disliked those individuals in their respective games (Tharja for instance is actually my favorite female character behind Lucina, it was difficult to choose between the two for whom MU should marry, and I think Blanc is awesome especially when she goes on her rants about her chest size, you'll meet her next chapter) although I do hate Iris.

Tharja – Fire Emblem: Awakening
Say'ri – Fire Emblem: Awakening
Yen'Fay – Fire Emblem: Awakening
Aversa – Fire Emblem: Awakening
Nio – Atelier Ayesha (That's where Ayesha came from as well)
Blanc (HDD Form) – Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2
Vert (Normal Form) – Hpyerdimension Neptunia Victory
Iris (Heart, HDD Form) – Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
Tusbame and Yuri were my own unique creations

As for Yume's Norito attack well it's a combination of two awesome abilities in a game I very much enjoyed. Props to anyone that figures out where I got it from or what the two attacks were.

And yes, Naruto hates the bond because it can override the Sekirei's desires with the Ashikabi's. Naruto still goes through with it because he understands the necessity, the desire the Sekirei have for it and because he believes better him than an abusive Ashikabi. Despite that though he still thinks the entire thing is pure evil. And Yume's comment, that's not to say she doesn't love Naruto, because she does, she just hated that connection for a brief moment because it compelled her to go against her wish, which had changed briefly from going to Naruto's side to honoring Vert.

Chapter 144 in the manga suggests that Yume is nearly as fast as Miya when she's enraged. With that level of speed and skill she should have trounced Tharja and Vert. And with that level of speed she would have. There are a few things to keep in mind. First off she's in Musubi's body, not her own. Her old body was conditioned for extreme speed, Musubi's is still lacking, and she's locked out of her complete power because it's not her old body. She's still more powerful than any other Sekirei except Miya which I have shown. Secondly she wasn't enraged at those two Sekirei. When she DID get enraged at Tharja, she completely overwhelmed her with power, she could have used speed but she wanted something a bit more final. With Vert it was two honorable Sekirei fighting in a standard battle and to be honest Yume under-estimated her at the start. That and I bumped Vert's power, speed, and ability up to the same level as a single digit anyways because I felt like it ^_^. Yume would have had an easier time with Mutsu than Vert because she wouldn't have underestimated Mutsu.

This chapter was all about Naruto's Sekirei. This chapter was their time to shine, and Hanabi's re-emergence into the world! Next chapter it's all about Naruto.