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.

19. Chapter 18: Civil War

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.

Author's Notes: This chapter is an interesting one for me. It wasn't originally planned and by putting it in I basically added an extra 100,000 words to my story scattered throughout various chapters. It's also added a whole new level of depth to my story.

Review Responses: In a couple chapters, chapter 20, there will be a complete and final explanation on what's happening with Mitsuki and the dog clone. Every concern and question people have mentioned about that particular pair thus far is addressed at that point. Arthain and Sasha are wrapped up in this chapter, although their situation is expanded on a bit in chapter 20 since there are similarities between their situation and the dog clone. The reason for this is the final bit of explanation requires the passage of time before it can be realistically explained.

MBI's response to Naruto's assault on Mikogami Hayato is in this chapter. It basically IS this chapter.

If you want info on Blanc go check out the Hyperdimension Neptunia wikia. Search for Blanc and you'll find it.

Chapter 18: Civil War

With a flare of his chakra Naruto manipulated it into the seal in the ground. The barrier around the mansion flickered and began to disperse, starting at the center of the barrier above the mansion and working its way down to ground level.

"Hmm, you're different than most Ashikabi." Blanc murmured as she watched the barrier fall, "It never really sank in until now but you're definitely not normal."

"What can I say? I'm just awesome." Naruto said with a grin.

There was a flicker of movement that caught Blanc's attention. From either side of the mansion Akitsu and Yume appeared.

"What the fuck is that?!" Blanc cried out as she pointed at Yume.

"What's wrong Blanc?" Naruto asked.

Yume stopped just a few feet away and looked around curiously; she too had no idea what Blanc was pointing at. "What do you mean?" Yume asked.

"I'm talking about those things!" Blanc said as she jabbed her finger at Yume's breasts. "What the hell kind of cheat code did you use to get those?! Those aren't normal!" Blanc whirled around on Naruto with a scowl on her face, "Did you make her breasts bigger too?"

Yume looked at her breasts in confusion as she cupped them in her hands. Naruto just laughed and embraced Blanc tightly. "No, no, she's always had those. If anything blame MBI. I can make yours that big if you want."

"Hell no! Those thunder tits are ridiculous, how can you expect to be taken seriously with those things flopping all over the place?!" Yume adopted a slightly hurt expression. Blanc's grumbling's grew quiet, "You like small… maybe just a bit more…" The words were too quiet for anyone but Naruto to pick up as she mumbled them into his chest. Naruto smiled down at his small Sekirei and gently rubbed her back.

"That is one of Mikogami's." Akitsu said. While she had not been privy to all of her Ashikabi's plans it didn't sit well with her that some unknown Sekirei was in his arms. That's where she wanted to be.

"Was." Naruto corrected, "It's an interesting story, I'll tell you about it later."

"She's Naruto's newest Sekirei." Hanabi said with some amusement. She just couldn't be upset with him over this. What had happened was just so ludicrous that if it had been anyone else, it wouldn't have happened at all.

"Oh! So she's one of us now." Yume said with a wide grin, her earlier hurt disappeared instantly, "I can't wait to hear the story behind this."

Blanc blushed. She would have glowered at Yume but her face was still buried in Naruto's chest and she wasn't in any hurry to pull out. "You don't need to know how it happened." She mumbled in embarrassment. Now that she had time to think about it, it was kind of embarrassing that she had lost her cool so easily with her previous Ashikabi.

Kurama, did you… Naruto started as he let Blanc out of his embrace. The girls began to introduce themselves to each other.

Yes, don't worry; I didn't want to deal with another incident like before. I did a re-imprint almost immediately that way if something went wrong, well, at least you weren't very attached to her. The nine-tailed fox replied.

There weren't any problems I take it.

None that I can see thus far, I'll keep an eye on it from in here. She's got spunk; I like her more than the others.

Thanks, that means there shouldn't be any problems for Akitsu tomorrow.

Hopefully not but you tend to have the worst luck at times. Kurama replied.

Naruto couldn't help but agree. "We should get going." Naruto said as he interrupted the Sekirei, "We need to be gone before MBI arrives." Half of the mansion behind Naruto was already engulfed in flames.

Sakura and Ino should already be back, or at least be close, to the hide out and he could sense the clones he had sent out to collect the library leaving the property discreetly.

Naruto looked over at Hanabi, "You should put the mask back on. You don't need to become Lotus but you're supposed to be in the Hospital. There's going to be some questions asked we don't want to answer if you're seen in two different places at the same time." At the moment virtually no one knew Hanabi even existed, and the few that did knew virtually nothing about what she was capable of.

While he was becoming a relatively known quantity, Hanabi was still very much unknown. That was an advantage Naruto wanted to keep for as long as possible.

"Alright." Hanabi said as she transformed back into her ANBU outfit and slipped the mask on.

With nothing left to do there everyone headed back to their underground bunker.

x~X~x

They had adopted a loose combat formation on the way home. It was a diamond pattern formation with Naruto in the middle. Hanabi had taken the lead and used her eyes to pick out the best path to avoid any sort of confrontation. Akitsu and Blanc were to either side and Yume picked up the rear. In the middle of the formation was Naruto along with the ANBU Captain carrying Kusano.

Their trip thus far had been relatively quiet and peaceful but that changed quickly when Naruto noticed Hanabi's head snap to something in the distance.

"Naruto-kun!" Hanabi called out from her forward position, "There's a Sekirei and an Ashikabi two miles ahead on the rooftop."

"Can we go around them?" Naruto called out, there had been enough death today and he had nothing against this particular pair.

"No, every other path takes us too close to the ground or is swarmed with MBI troops." She called back. She and Naruto knew that their actions down here would stir up MBI. They were dead set on retrieving down Sekirei and with this many taken out of action so quickly they had no doubt in their minds that MBI would be down here in full force.

It was why they had wanted to leave the mansion so quickly. They had left just in time too. MBI had begun to surround the property as they made a hasty escape.

The thing that worried Hanabi the most was the sheer number of troops MBI had at their disposal. Virtually every street had patrols of one form or another. She had even seen a tank column a few blocks back complete with support trucks, ground troops, and APC's.

And then there was the air force. The air was literally alive with helicopters of various sorts. She was able to easily identify the personnel carriers that MBI normally utilized but there were others she hadn't been able to identify.

But from the sheer number of armaments on them she doubted they were for peaceful purposes.

"Can we wall walk?" Naruto frowned; they were quickly running out of options. Taking the time to free Mitsuki was turning out to be a giant risk. So far there hadn't been any problems but they've already had to take two detours to avoid detection.

"No, there are a large number of armed individuals in the structure. I can't see any civilians; this is probably a Yakuza hideout. They're watching the streets like a hawk and the Ashikabi and Sekirei are on the rooftop. There are also four just behind the door leading to the rooftop playing some kind of card game." Hanabi called out. They were only a mile away now. A decision had to be made quickly.

"Any way to tell which side it is?"

"No, they all look the same- Wait they just started shooting at people in the street!"

"Are they shooting at innocents?" Yume snapped, her attention now fully on the conversation. Fear momentarily gripped her as the face of the dead child from earlier came back.

"No, it appears to be a fight between the Yakuza…." Hanabi growled as her eyes picked up on something else, "No! People are getting caught in the crossfire!" There were already several people down due to ricochet and mistaken targets.

"Naruto-kun! We can't let innocents get caught up in a war we started." Yume said as she quickly caught up to her Ashikabi.

A grim expression crossed Naruto's face as he eyed the building that was rapidly approaching. Yume was right, criminals killing each other was fine, innocents dying as a result was not. "Alright, we're taking that building out. Hanabi, knock the Ashikabi out. Blanc you take out the Sekirei, make it fast. Akitsu, freeze the door to the rooftop shut. Yume, blast a hole through the roof of the building to street level. Captain, keep going and don't stop, I want you couple buildings ahead before I make my move." Naruto quickly barked out his orders, "Let's move people, I want them taken out before they even realize we're there!"

There were a chorus of agreements.

Moments later the five of them leapt from the last building towards their target. Like an unstoppable force they swarmed over the unlucky Ashikabi and his Sekirei.

The moment Hanabi's feet touched the gravel rooftop she flashed across it and was instantly at the Ashikabi's side. Her arms blurred as she lashed out with her Gentle Fist striking key areas around the body. Ligaments snapped, muscles tore, and nerves burnt out as Hanabi disabled the Ashikabi before he could even open his mouth to scream. In mid collapse she grabbed the collar of his shirt and threw him off the rooftop. He screamed as he hurtled through the air and smashed through one of the windows in the neighbouring building.

The Sekirei whipped around as she heard her Ashikabi scream. "No!" She cried out as she watched in disbelief as her Ashikabi was thrown into the next building. "You bitch!" The Sekirei snarled as she moved to attack Hanabi.

Only to find that she was stuck. She glanced down and noticed ice creeping up her legs. "What?" Was all she managed to say before a spinning Blanc was upon her.

"Zerstörung!" Blanc shouted as she finished her spin. There was a massive boom as Blanc slammed the back of her axe into the Sekirei. The Sekirei screamed as she was ripped from the icy embrace and knocked into the horizon.

Yume jumped across the breadth of the rooftop. At the height of her jump she flipped her body around so that she faced downwards, "Ether Blast!" Yume shouted as she fired a massive beam of energy from her open palm. The energy beam ripped through the rooftop and continued on down through the structure.

Naruto pulled out a small spherical object. It was a new three-dimensional seal he had created in his spare time. He wasn't quite sure how powerful it was. It was a rather compact design but it was filled to its limit with fire chakra.

With a casual toss he dropped it into the newly made hole that Yume had created. "Quick, get to the next building!" Naruto shouted as he leapt off the current one. The others were quick to follow.

Once they were all safely off the building Naruto held up a single hand sign, "Kai!"

The five of them were knocked off their feet as the building behind them vaporized. A massive pillar of flame shot upwards into the sky. The heat from the blast threatened to scorch the five of them from its intensity. Thankfully most of the blast was directed upwards due to the large hole that Yume had created, otherwise the blast would have taken out the entire block.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FRICKIN HELL WAS THAT?!" Blanc cried out in shock and disbelief as she struggled back to her feet. That was the biggest explosion she had ever seen in her life.

"Uh, something new I created?" Naruto said sheepishly. He didn't expect the explosion to be THAT large. I mean, who knew that making seals three-dimensional exponentially increased their effectiveness? He had simply meant to blow out the levels, not vaporize the building.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, I know you love your seals and all but maybe you shouldn't make that particular one again." Hanabi said as she eyed the devastation left behind. With the exception of the building they were on all the buildings around the target had caught on fire.

"Ah, you're probably right." Naruto said as he dusted off. "Collateral damage is too easy to cause with something like that." Maybe he should use wind next time instead of fire.

"Do you have any way to put out the fires?" Yume asked, but even as she spoke the sky opened up and it began to rain.

Well that was a blessing if Naruto hadn't ever seen one. Rain would wash away their scents, hide their movements, and take care of the fire, or at least make it less intense until the fire department arrived. "Hanabi, is there any one in danger from the fire?"

"No, most of the people started to run the moment the shooting started. The few people still in the buildings have already begun to flee, unless someone deliberately jumps into the fire it won't cause any harm." Hanabi said as she eyed the surroundings. Well the Ashikabi may have trouble but the building they were on hadn't caught fire.

She cursed suddenly as her eyes began to sting. While she could keep her Byakugan going for twelve hours straight, that was while being idle and doing nothing. This intense continuous use of it was shortening her ability. She was rapidly losing her ability to see things.

Naruto turned to Yume, "I can but it'll take time to control it so it doesn't do more damage than the fire. The rain should be enough until the fire department gets here." The fire was already showing signs of weakening although Naruto doubted it would fully extinguish by the weather alone.

"Ah, are you alright Hanabi-san?" Akitsu asked in concern as she saw Hanabi grimace while rubbing her eyes.

Naruto was at her side in an instant, "You idiot, you've been over-straining your eyes haven't you? Turn them off for now and rest them." He said as he noticed the pain and fatigue that prolonged use of her eyes were causing her.

"I can still-." She started to protest.

"That's an order Hanabi." Naruto said seriously. Her eyes were a luxury, not a necessity. He and the others were powerful; there wasn't anything in Shinto Teito that could stand against the five of them together.

Hanabi grumbled for a moment before, with a sigh, she turned off her Byakugan. She immediately felt better as the strain disappeared. The cool rain that dripped behind her mask and over her face was a nice relief as well.

"Alright, let's keep moving." Naruto said as he took off again. They had covered half the distance to their destination. There was going to be a point where they'd have to cross through an open park and he wanted to get through there before the rain let up.

"Just out of curiosity Blanc…" Yume asked as she eyed their newest addition to the swarm, "Where exactly did you knock that Sekirei to?"

Blanc blinked a couple times and then shrugged, "I dunno, somewhere over there." Blanc said as she pointed to a random place in the distance that vaguely resembled the direction the Sekirei had flown.

x~X~x

Miles away and some fifty floors up from street level, a Sekirei slammed into the side of MBI headquarters and became embedded deep into the steel reinforced concrete outer wall.

x~X~x

"You're far stronger than I had thought you were." Yume commented as she eyed Blanc's thin arms. Yume knew that Blanc had to be at least strong enough to easily swing that large axe but she hadn't really given any thought to just 'how' strong she actually was.

"Anyone would get strong lugging this thing around." Blanc said as she whirled the axe around in her hands expertly as if it was feather light, "The fricken thing weighs three tons." Everyone paused for a moment and stared at Blanc in shock. "What?"

Naruto turned to Hanabi, "Remind me never to piss Blanc off enough that she feels the need to hit me."

"Yes, that might be a very good idea." Hanabi agreed as she too eyed Blanc's deceptively frail frame. Apparently having a small compact body meant that the chakra was more compact as well and allowed for greater concentration, and thus a greater increase, to a Sekirei's strength. At least that's what Hanabi was assuming. Any other explanation was just too wild to consider.

"Naruto-sama, we're coming up to the park." The ANBU Captain commented from just ahead of them.

Naruto quickened his pace and caught up to the Captain. He was right, two more buildings and they'd be at the edge. This would be the trickiest part of the journey, the place where the greatest number of things could go wrong. So long as they stuck to the rooftops the chances of encountering others were greatly reduced. The moment they hit ground level it was completely different.

The group paused at the edge of the last building just beside the park. It was a rather large park, a good half of it was filled with trees, but provided very little cover as all the underbrush and lower limbs of the trees had been cut away to make it more favorable to human use. There were large sections of the park that were wide open, including a large swath that cut the park in half that they would have to travel through. Going around it wasn't an option since Hanabi had noticed troop movements heading to either side of the park earlier.

While it looked peaceful at the moment Naruto knew what was going to happen. It was almost a certainty with him around.

"Hanabi, take Kusano and head to the complex alone." Naruto said as he tried in vain to wipe the water from his face. The rain was coming down even harder now. They were all going to be soaked through to the bone by the end of this.

Well except perhaps Blanc who was the only person with waterproof clothing.

The ANBU Captain approached Hanabi and held out the little girl. "I'm not sure I understand." Hanabi said as she took the girl into her arms.

With a puff of smoke the ANBU Captain disappeared, "Well aside from the Captain being out of chakra we are going to get ambushed in that park. I can feel it in my bones. You can get Kusano to the underground complex without anyone knowing. Use every bit of stealth you possess and get her there safely. Afterwards keep a lookout and protect our base. There's an ill-wind blowing and it will be a comfort to know that there's a safe haven waiting for us after weathering the storm."

"Aren't you being a little paranoid?" Blanc asked as she stabbed her axe into the rooftop, "Everything has been going perfectly so far, well aside from your over-the-top display of fireworks."

Hanabi groaned, "I understand." She said as she finally understood, "I'll make sure Kusano get there's safely. You just make sure you keep these three safe. I don't want to hear any more bad news."

Hanabi knew what it was that had put Naruto on edge. Everything today had gone absolutely flawless. Sure there had been some unexpected incidents but they had actually turned out to benefit Naruto in the long run. Nothing goes this right for someone, not unless there was something to balance it out.

One could argue that point by saying that this entire operation was to balance his originally botched Kusano Rescue attempt but that would be giving Naruto too much of a break. As sure as it was raining right now something was bearing down on Naruto.

And he wanted to make sure that Kusano was out of the way before it arrived. With her skills she could get herself and Kusano to the complex with ease. She could even walk openly down the street and no one would notice her, especially in a rain storm such as this.

"I will, I refuse to lose anyone else." Naruto promised and kissed Hanabi on the top of her head. "Stay safe and stay hidden." He said as he gave her a quick embrace.

"I'll see you at Charlie Point tonight." Hanabi said and suddenly she was gone. Naruto knew she was still in the area but knew that no matter how hard he, or anyone else, tried to find her she would remain hidden.

"Be prepared for anything." Naruto said to his Sekirei. With a lunge he jumped from the top of the building to the sidewalk below. The sidewalk fractured as he landed hard. Two more loud thumps could be heard as Akitsu and Yume landed beside him.

Naruto looked around curiously for Blanc, he hadn't heard her land. He saw her not far from him levitating slightly off the ground. It was her shoes. They had anti-gravity components built into them so that she wouldn't fall through or destroy whatever surface she walked on because of the enormous axe she wielded.

"I gotta get me a pair of those shoes, preferably in orange." Naruto murmured to himself. He could silence his footsteps and mask his movements but there were always signs that an experienced tracker could use. If he could levitate instead of walk however, good luck ever tracking him then.

"Did you say something?" Blanc asked curiously as she noticed him staring at her.

"No, nothing, let's get moving." Naruto said as he quickly jogged across the street.

"I still think you're overly paranoid about this whole thing." Blanc said as the group ran through the park. They were making good time and at this rate would be out of it in five minutes.

"If we make it back to safety without encountering any trouble I'll let you laugh and ridicule me all you want." Naruto said as he kept a keen eye on his surroundings. He would prefer to be laughed and made fun of than to encounter any problems this late in the operation.

"Nothing is going to happen." Blanc insisted as the four of them broke out into the middle of the park, the large open strip.

The ground started to rumble.

Naruto cursed, "That doesn't feel like an earthquake…" Naruto said and as he picked up the pace. He didn't want to stop and find out what that was.

"I don't feel anything." Blanc said as she floated a couple inches off the ground. She was using her anti-gravity boots to stay off the muddy grass.

"Ah, helicopters." Akitsu said as she pointed above them.

The other three quickly looked up and sure enough Akitsu was right. Above them was a civilian helicopter slowly circling the area. Naruto squinted as he tried to make out some details but it was too far away, all he could make out was the colors and a logo that marked it as a news report helicopter. It didn't seem to be focusing on them however as it was directly overhead and that would make filming difficult.

"It doesn't seem to be focused on-." Naruto was cut off as an explosion lit the sky. Naruto whipped his head to the side and gaped at the explosion as a heavily armed helicopter shot past the remains of another. "Why the hell is MBI shooting its own people?"

A deep throated growl emanated from Yume as she stopped beside him. She glared at the attack helicopter. "That's not MBI!" Yume had seen those gunships before. They weren't part of the standard MBI force, or even their Special Forces.

They were foreign. After the last major war a major foreign nation from across the ocean had set up multiple military bases within Japan to help keep the peace. They had also been the nation that launched the attack on Kamikura Island and nearly killed Musubi.

The rumbling in the ground grew more intense.

"Then who are they?" Naruto asked. There was another explosion as the attack helicopter that had taken out the MBI personnel helicopter slammed into a building. The cross-winds up there must be nasty if it caused the helicopter to go out of control like that.

Suddenly the sky lit up as a massive explosion erupted from one of the buildings near the park. Pieces of the twenty story apartment building were sent hurtling through the air and the entire building began to collapse upon itself. It was as if someone had taken out the entire foundation of the building, and a good chunk of the first few floors.

"They are-."

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING STANDING OUT IN THE OPEN? RUN YOU IDIOTS!" A shout from across the field drew their attention.

Naruto whirled around and growled. "Arthain? Sasha? What are you two doing here?!" Naruto demanded. This was NOT where the two of them should be, although technically both of them should have dispelled long ago so they really shouldn't be anywhere.

"What part of RUN do you have trouble understanding?!" Arthain shouted, the clone of Naruto took a quick look over his shoulder. "Ah fuck!"

"What-."

"HIT THE DECK!" Arthain shouted as he tackled Sasha to the ground and covered her with his body. "TANK!"

Naruto hadn't noticed them because the rain had concealed their presence. Arthain had only been able to see them due to his closer proximity. There was a tank column driving into the park.

A tank column that had already fired its first volley.

A hastily erected psychic barrier from Sasha deflected or stopped most of the shots but a couple rounds got through. One of them went wide but the last one went straight for the group.

Blanc was directly between Naruto and the tanks, and right in the path of an oncoming round. Before she could even scream she tripped and watched in surprise as the shell skimmed across her chest.

For the first time in her life she was thankful she had small breasts.

Unfortunately that left Naruto in the path of the shell. He tried a quick substitution but his chakra control slipped, "Shit…" Was all he could say before the tank shell hit him in the chest. The shell exploded on contact and he disappeared from view in a mighty ball of fire and smoke. Naruto felt his feet lift up from the ground as he was hurled violently through the air. His body twisted and spun through the air as intense pain flared across his body. The last thoughts that flittered through his mind before everything went dark was just how right he had been that something bad was about to happen.

Naruto's Sekirei stared on in wide-eyed horror as everything played out for them in slow motion. The impact of the shell, the vicious knockback, the explosion of fire and smoke, the bloody and ruined body that spun out from then cloud of smoke and the dull thud as Naruto slammed violently into the ground.

The unmoving body.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Yume screamed in horror as she rushed to his side. Akitsu and Blanc reached his side just as fast. "No! No! NO!" Yume couldn't believe this was happening. Naruto was supposed to be invulnerable, an unstoppable juggernaut. He couldn't get hurt, he couldn't die, not like this.

She began to cry and her tears mixed with the rain to create a torrent sorrow. She stared down at her ruined Ashikabi; there was a large chunk of Naruto's right side missing. A large pool of blood had already formed beneath him and was getting larger by the minute. She quickly felt for his pulse and found it, but it was very slow.

It was a Sekirei's duty to fight for their Ashikabi, to protect them from all dangers.

And she had failed.

"Holy shit!" Arthain exclaimed as he stared down at his former boss, "That's going to leave a nasty scar in the morning."

"How can you joke at a time like this!?' Yume screamed at Arthain as she got to her feet. There was anger and rage in her eyes, "You brought those tanks here didn't you!?"

"Right, because my sole purpose in coming here was to get Naruto killed." Arthain spat out sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "We were hiding in the trees at the edge of the park and when we saw them coming we decided to warn you." Arthain said, his sarcasm replaced by annoyance and anger as he glared right back at Yume, "Just because you all stupidly decided to stop in the middle of this clearing to stare at a light show in the sky doesn't make it MY fault he's lying there on the ground wishing he'd worn an anti-tank vest!"

"An added explanation: We have been clearing the path as best we can. We can't fight an entire tank column; the foreign military has been tracking you for some time. They knew you would come through here so decided to cut you off." Sasha expanded on Arthain's explanation as she came up to stand beside him.

Initially they had been under the impression that the military had just been trying to take control over the city. Arthain and Sasha had tried their best to clear a route by either distracting them, stalling them or if all else failed killing them but there were simply too many for them to deal with if they wished to remain incognito. It wasn't until it was too late to warn Naruto and his group had they realized what the military's actual target was, that was when everything clicked. The army had been tailing Naruto's movements, placing troops in strategic areas to corral them to an open area where they were the most vulnerable.

"Why didn't you tell us anything earlier!?" Yume shouted at them. If they had known about this beforehand they could have prepared themselves, Naruto wouldn't have been hurt.

Arthain opened his mouth to respond when the ground shook and the air roared as more tank rounds exploded around them. "Geezes Christ!" Arthain said as threw his arms up over his head. He whirled around and glared at the tanks, "CAN YOU GIVE US A FUCKING MINUTE OVER HERE!? WE'RE TRYING TO HAVING A MOMENT YOU KNOW!"

"My first response: I don't think they can hear you, or would even care if they could." Sasha pointed out. Sometimes her husband was just plain weird. She turned back to Yume and addressed her earlier question, "My second response: We didn't figure out the reasoning behind their troop movement until after you entered the park. There simply wasn't any time left to warn you."

Arthain brushed past Yume and quickly went to Naruto's side. He brought out a first aid kit. "Naruto will survive this, hell he's survived worse already, but if he gets hit by a second one when he's unconscious like this you can kiss him goodbye." He said as he began to pull out disinfectant and bandages. There wasn't a whole lot he could do in this type of setting but the least he could do was prevent an infection, which would make it easier for Naruto's bloodline and Kurama to heal the injury.

I mean this can't be worse than having a fist shoved through your right lung by your best friend, right?

If Naruto was conscious he could summon Kurama's chakra and almost instantaneously heal the damage but until then he'd have to hold on with his passive regeneration.

The three Sekirei glanced at each other before they turned as one towards the approaching tanks. They were all in agreement. There would be no mercy for them. Normally Yume was against killing, but this was different. This was a direct attack on her Ashikabi. No quarter could be given.

"The only way they'll touch him is over my dead body!" Yume growled as she positioned herself between Naruto and the tanks. Naruto had always been there for her, for Musubi, and for others. He never asked for compensation, he never asked for favors. He jumped into the fire to help others without a moments worry about his own safety. But when he needed help she had failed to be there for him.

It was a Sekirei's duty to protect their Ashikabi. She had failed.

No mercy.

Tears streamed from her face as she lifted her hand and pointed it at the oncoming column, "Ether Blast!" Yume roared as she fired a destructive beam of energy from the palm of her hand. The energy beam tore through the first tank and destroyed the front of tank behind it.

Akitsu was literally vibrating with anger as she glared at the oncoming forces. They dared to harm Naruto-sama? They dared try to take away her Ashikabi? They dared to try and prevent her from finally becoming winged?

They would pay.

The air above the tanks stopped raining as the water droplets froze and began to coalesce into large clumps. Massive chunks of ice a dozen meters in diameter began to form above the oncoming vehicles. Akitsu glared at a tank as it turned its barrel towards her. "Comet!" Akitsu growled and with a wave of her hand a massive chunk of ice tore through the air and crushed a tank beneath its immense weight and force.

"DIE YOU FRICKEN BASTARDS!" Blanc screamed as she shot across the field. Utilizing her anti-gravity boots as a form of propulsion she closed the distance in seconds, a sonic boom erupted from her as she shattered the sound barrier.

They were going to pay. She had finally found someone that cared about her; someone that wanted her, she had finally found someone that liked her breasts. She had finally found her true Ashikabi. And these bastards tried to take him from her!

She would crush them all.

As she reached the first line of tanks Blanc jumped into the air. At the height of her jump she began to spin as she added centrifugal force to the power of her attack. "GETTER RAVINE!" Blanc roared as she slammed her axe into the top of a tank.

The tank split in half and exploded as the ammunition within detonated. The ground beneath the tank cratered beneath the force of the blow as massive chunks of earth were ripped up from the ground and hurled away from the impact zone. A nearby tank was smashed as massive chunks of earth and rock slammed into it at sub-sonic speeds.

"They're really tearing shit up." Arthain noted as he quickly bandaged his former boss. There were already signs that Naruto was going to recover provided his Sekirei could keep him safe. The wound had already lost its jagged and scarred edge and new flesh was quickly beginning to form.

"My second response: They really care for Naruto." Sasha said as stood beside her husband. She had a hand stretched out above her as she projected a psychic barrier around the three. It wouldn't stop a concentrated assault but it should be enough with the enemy forces focused on the Sekirei.

There was an explosion as Yume annihilated another tank. "I just hope they don't think this is everything. There were troops and APC's coming up behind those tanks. Naruto better wake up soon otherwise things are going to get real bad, real fast." Damn he wished he hadn't been right. This went WAY beyond a shit storm. "I seriously hope our operation didn't just kick off World War 3."

x~X~x

There was a mind numbing amount killing intent suffocating Izumo Inn. Miya stared at the television with a look so intense and murderous that it drowned everyone around her in sheer terror. Her sword was gripped so tightly in her hand that her knuckles had turned white and it looked as if she was on the verge of tearing through Shinto Teito like an avenging goddess.

She had seen it; the whole city had seen it. A nearby news crew had caught the action on camera. Miya had felt her heart stop when the tank round had hit Naruto-san. The fear that gripped her was so intense she didn't know how to handle it at first. Flashback to a time not long ago when Takehito had been killed ripped through her mind. She felt enraged yet terrified and powerless all at the same time.

She wanted nothing more than to simply charge into battle to protect a certain blonde haired shinobi.

Her rage had a noticeable effect on those living at Izumo Inn. Kaho, Tsukiumi and Minato were all clumped up in the far corner, hugging each other. Terror had overwhelmed any sort of flight response.

Matsu was unconscious in a nearby wall and Homura had been cratered into the floor. Both of them had tried to stop her from leaving. Right now she couldn't feel sorry for their injured states.

But their efforts had brought her a semblance of sanity. She was too far away to be of any use to Naruto-san right now. His Sekirei were still fighting so he was still alive. He possessed incredible regeneration capabilities; he may be able to heal through this. She didn't know how badly he was hurt; maybe he had just been clipped.

Even if she had gone there was nothing she could do for him, personally. It would only put him and the other Sekirei in more danger since it would signal her entrance into the Sekirei Plan. She couldn't do anything right now but the moment the time was right she was going to personally end Minaka's life.

Minaka had used Naruto for his bid for power and it had gotten him hurt. That was something Miya could never forgive. "If your stupid power play got Naruto-san killed Minaka… I will DESTROY you and wipe MBI off the face of existence!" She quivered in rage. She had stood by and done nothing when Takehito-san had been killed; they claimed it was an accident. Consequences be damned, she would not stand idle if Naruto-san died as well.

But her inability to help Naruto infuriated her beyond her ability to express as she watched the scenes unfold on the television.

x~X~x

"Ugh… what the hell hit me?" Naruto groaned as he slowly opened his eyes.

"A tank round, armor piercing by the looks of it. Good thing too because if it was H.E. or H.E.A.T. it would have vaporized you on the spot." Arthain said. "You got ambushed by about a dozen M1A2 Abrams, nasty things, I want one." No more problems with traffic. Someone got in your way you could just drive over them or through the nearby building and make your own road. If someone honked their horn at you, you could point a 120mm cannon at them.

It also just screamed awesome.

Naruto tilted his head and looked over at Arthain. His clone was sitting beside him, heedless to the muddy ground. Beside him was an open first aid kit with most of its contents either missing or spread out across the ground.

Tilting his head a little more he could see Sasha standing nearby with her hand raised above her head. There was some sort of barrier surrounding them that kept even the rain out. He stared at that curiously for a moment. He wasn't aware he had any ability that could generate that sort of result without the use of a sealing array.

Arthain noted where his gaze lingered. "Long story short, we're Sekirei now, I can explain it to you when we get out of this royal cluster fuck."

That brought Naruto's attention back to his surroundings. He quickly sat up and had to hold in a wince as a sharp flare of pain shot through his side. He looked down and saw blood stained bandages wrapped around his chest. "That hurts."

"Ya, I would be surprised if it didn't. You're still missing several large chunks of your body." Arthain commented idly. Naruto looked at him sharply, "While the tank shell exploded when it hit you most of it just kept going straight through you. You were missing, oh, I'd say about 25% of your torso after it was finished. Your passive regeneration has done wonders to heal you though. Your rib cage is back as is some of the muscle tissue so I was actually able to bandage you properly but all those bandages are really doing is helping to keep the rest of your organs inside, you know, the ones that weren't violently ripped out by an armor-piercing round."

Naruto gave Arthain a rather dry humorless look, "How long have I been out?" He asked.

"About fifteen minutes. Your Sekirei have done a wonderful job of protecting you, of course they're probably going to get over whelmed by sheer numbers soon."

Naruto looked out past the barrier Sasha had erected around him and had to agree with Arthain's assessment. There was a wall of ice between them and the oncoming forces from behind which Akitsu and Blanc hid. Akitsu was sending out waves of ice at the oncoming attackers but it was definitely far fewer, and far slower, than he knew she was capable of. Blanc was hurt, albeit not very badly. There were some bandages wrapped around her right arm and from the blood stain on them it was obvious that she had been shot. She probably wasn't capable of swinging her axe around anymore.

Yume was out amongst the troops weaving and dodging between them as she took them out one by one. They couldn't touch her but Naruto could see that she was slowing down. All it would take was a single hit and she'd be in serious trouble.

Still his Sekirei had put up one hell of a fight. There were a dozen destroyed tanks, some still burning, scattered across the park. Almost two dozen different armored vehicles were crushed, smashed, destroyed or turned into swiss-cheese. Hundreds of soldiers were down. There were even the remains of two gunships.

But there were still hundreds more to deal with and not all of the armored vehicles were taken out. There were still about a dozen left with an assortment of mounted weaponry.

Arthian was right; his Sekirei wouldn't last long enough to finish this battle. They'd had a long day; his Sekirei hadn't started this battle at full strength. If they had been fresh this battle would have already been over.

If Hanabi had been here this would have already been over. Naruto shook his head vigorously. No, he couldn't think like that. If Hanabi was here Kusano would have been placed in harm's way and he couldn't allow that. That was one decision he was glad he made.

Naruto struggled to his feet. "I need to help them." He growled as he straightened. God it hurt but he would endure. He'd rather feel this pain than the pain of losing anyone else he cared for.

Kurama I need help with this injury.

I'm already doing what I can. You don't seem to realize how badly you've been hurt. You may be missing your side but the impact did far more than simply tear out a portion of your torso. All your organs are bruised and you have hair-line fractures and chips in most of your bones. Kurama fired back, Unless you want to deal with bone fragments racing through your blood stream tearing you apart from the inside out I need to split my attention.

Well that was that. No wonder his side wasn't healed yet. Kurama was more concerned with keeping him alive than getting him into fighting shape.

"No, we need to get out of-." There was an explosion as half of the armored vehicles exploded all of a sudden. A few moments later the rest followed suit as something tore through them and systematically decimated the rest of the armored force. "-here?" Arthain just gazed at the ruined vehicles in confusion, his head tilted to the side as he rapidly blinked his eyes.

Now that there was only the troops left they could actually win this.

The sound of air being beat into submission caught their attention as a half dozen MBI helicopters came into sight above them. Each airborne vehicle was filled to maximum capacity with soldiers.

A massive gun fight broke soon out between the forces in the helicopter and those on the ground as the MBI troop transports started to land around Naruto and his Sekirei. The armed forces rushed out of the helicopter and began to fire upon the foreign troops.

He needed to get his Sekirei out of the crossfire. Perhaps Arthain had a point; this would be a very good time to get the hell out of here. "Yume!" Naruto shouted over the din of the battle as he tried to get her attention.

Yume's head whipped around to stare at him. Her eyes widened and a large smile creased her face, "Naruto-kun!" Yume cried out happily. She quickly knocked out her current target and rushed over to her Ashikabi's side. Blanc and Akitsu quickly followed, their concern for Naruto was palpable.

Sasha let the barrier drop as they reached them.

"Are you alright?" Yume asked in concern as she gently touched Naruto's face, just to make sure that he really was there.

"Yes, I'll be fine." Naruto said with a smile as he gently squeezed Yume's hands.

"He's still missing a few pieces." Arthain said as he stood up. "There's one over there, just for the record." He added as he pointed to a piece of bone with some flesh attached to it a few meters away.

Naruto gave him an odd look and Naruto's Sekirei glared. Sasha just groaned and palmed her face.

"What? He could keep it as a souvenir or something…" Arthain trailed off as the looks he was receiving became disgusted, "That was something I should have kept to an internal monologue wasn't it?"

Sasha kicked his legs out from under him. With a yelp Arthain did a face plant into the muddy grass. "My first response: Yes, that was a very inappropriate comment." Sasha said as she glared down at her husband.

Arthain raised a hand and pointed to the sky, "Yup, I deserved that one." He said and let his hand flop back to the ground, "I'll write that down in my book of 'What NOT to Say'." He really did have that book; he reviewed it every night just to make sure he never made the same mistake twice. Unfortunately Arthain had the feeling it probably wasn't helping very much since he just kept on making new mistakes. "On the bright side I now know what mud tastes like." Sarcasm probably wasn't the best thing to fall back on right now but he couldn't help himself.

"Ignoring my wayward clone." Naruto said as he regained his Sekirei's attention, "I'll be fine, I'll probably need a few days to return to top condition but I will live."

"Tough bastard." Blanc said, despite her words there was no anger as she beamed a smile at her Ashikabi. "I don't know anyone that can take a tank round to the chest and live."

Arthain piped up "Well there is-." He yelped in pain as Sasha stomped him.

Naruto just shook his head and turned back to his Sekirei, "Anyways I'm glad MBI arrived when they did." He said as he eyed the battle between the two forces.

The foreign soldiers began to retreat as the MBI forces started to push them back. While the foreign soldiers still held the advantage of numbers MBI was far better equipped due to the over-technology from the Sekirei ship. Their weapons tore through the anti-ballistic vests that the foreign soldiers wore while their weapons had little to no effect unless they managed to get a bullet through one of the gaps in the armor.

"We could have taken those bastards out ourselves!" Blanc declared hotly. She was still upset over being shot by a couple of foot soldiers.

"There are still other forces in the city I can throw you at if that's what you want." A new female voice said.

That got everyone's attention as they all turned to regard the newcomer. Striding across the field with a thunderous scowl on her face was none of the Sahashi Takami. She had a very haggard appearance due to the efforts and stress she had gone through with ensuring the safe pickup of the fallen Sekirei. She was dirty, soaked through to the bone, and incredibly upset.

Beside her was none other than Karasuba. She had a very satisfied smile on her face. From the blood that was still dripping from the edge of her blade she had just seen combat. She was more than likely responsible for the spontaneous destruction of the armored vehicles. She too was soaked through but she didn't look nearly as stressed out as Takami.

"Damn those clothes are like see-through." Arthain said as he eyed Takami. Sasha growled and jumped on Arthain's back. He coughed and gasped as the air was knocked from him, "A-Alright, s-shutting up now."

"Thanks for the timely arrival." Naruto said as Takami stopped a few feet away.

"I didn't specifically come here to save you. I just can't allow those jar-heads to get their filthy hands on any of the Sekirei." Takami growled as she glared at Naruto. She jabbed a finger at him, "Do you have ANY idea what the hell your little escapade down here has caused?"

"It's been a glorious bloodbath." Karasuba said with a lustful sigh, "So many humans to kill. I've actually lost count how many I've cut down. They're all so weak and worthless, but at least they're worth a little entertainment." Yume sighed at Karasuba; she hadn't changed at all since she had been her commander.

"No, I don't, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me." Naruto said with a sigh. Aside from his attack on Mikogami Hayato the only conflict that should have occurred was between two rival Yakuza factions. Naruto was pretty sure something had happened to escalate things further because he was certain the Yakuza didn't have entire tank companies.

"You're damn right I am! And then you're coming in for questioning. I've had enough of letting you run around unchecked." Takami yelled.

"Please resist." Karasuba said with a grin as gingerly wiped the blood from her blade.

Takami glared at Karasuba for a moment. "Because of you everything down here has gone to hell. There isn't an active Sekirei in this section of the city aside from your own!"

"Wait what?" Naruto said in surprise. While Mikogami Hayato had the bulk of the Sekirei there were still plenty of Ashikabi and Sekirei down here that were neither associated with him nor caught up in the conflict between the Yakuza. "I only attack Mikogami Hayato and that's not against the Sekirei Plan rules. There are battles every day and you never bat an eyelash at them!"

"It's not WHAT you did that's the issue; it's HOW you did it." Takami said with a sigh. She was incredibly upset at Naruto but the blame didn't rest 'entirely' with him. Minaka was completely insane, she was certain of it now. "Sekirei battles are supposed to be one-on-one with the victor standing guard over the Sekirei until we come to pick the fallen up. Quick, clean, and done within an hour. In that setup there's virtually no way for foreign elements to interfere."

Naruto frowned; he hadn't even considered the implications of his actions beyond the scope of Shinto Teito. "Is that what happened here?"

Takami nodded, "Yes, I don't know if you had anything to do with the war between the underworld crime lords but there was almost a dozen Sekirei employed by them in total. They're all terminated now. When you combined that with the number you and your own terminated, and then just left behind, we're talking almost thirty terminated Sekirei. We didn't have the man power to quickly retrieve them before the foreign elements attacked."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, that didn't make any sense, "This is Shinto Teito, we're dead smack in the middle of Japan… how could a foreign military attack without causing serious international fallout?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

Takami knuckled her back as she stretched it. Gods she was tired, "MBI has made some… enemies. It has used its money to push people around it really shouldn't have. The Japanese government sided with the foreign military to try and oust MBI. MBI was labeled as a domestic terrorist due to its takeover and subjugation of Shinto Teito. The technology they recovered from MBI would be shared between the two nations."

"This… is going to cause some problems if MBI is considered a terrorist organization." Naruto pointed out. If MBI was considered a terrorist all their assets could be frozen and seized, the international community would band together to get rid of them. The Sekirei and everything related would be seized as well.

It would be a nightmare.

"I said was." Takami said, "I'll try to shorten it since I'm tired and I want to get this over with. Minaka sold you out. He knew you were planning this and 'fed' the information to the Japanese government through a spy in our ranks." Naruto's eyes widened. How was that possible? He had taken every possible precaution to make sure that no one knew about this. "While the Japanese defense force and the foreign military were tied up in a war down here with MBI and the Sekirei, he led an assault on the emperor's palace and parliament. Thanks to you, it's now 'Emperor Minaka'."

"How? If all of MBI's forces were down here, what did he attack the palace with?" Naruto asked in concern. This was beyond insane. Like he had used the Yakuza as a smokescreen to hide his activities from the authorities Minaka had used HIM as a smokescreen to take over Japan. He had been completely outplayed and he had no idea how or even why Minaka did it.

Takami's scowl returned, "I don't know how nor where he got them but he attacked with twelve Sekirei MBI has no record of. They certainly didn't come from the ship that landed on Kamikura Island. These Sekirei aren't like the ones here in the city. They're all battle-hardened, experienced, and worst of all, ruthless." Those Sekirei scared her. While she was unsure as to whether or not they were on Karasuba's level of skill, they were at least as bloodthirsty. That much was certain from the bloodbath left behind in the parliament buildings.

"And the people are just going to go along and accept this because they're all a bunch of sheeple that don't give two shits as to who's in charge just so long as their perfect little world isn't disturbed." Arthain piped up as he guessed at what the public's reaction would be to all this.

"Worse, they'll see Minaka as a hero. He's already portrayed the government as traitors that sold the country out to a foreign nation. He has already circulated footage through the news networks depicting the 'heroic acts' of MBI troops as they rushed to the rescue of the regular folk."

"What about the other Sekirei?" Yume asked in concern, "The ones that weren't Mikogami's or with the Yakuza?"

"Most got caught up in the conflict in one way or another. Some tried to protect the people; others were simply trying to flee. All told as of right now, a good third of all Sekirei were taken out today. Maybe one, possibly two, Sekirei and their Ashikabi got out of the south before all hell broke loose."

"Poor Kazehana." Karasuba said with a grin, "Perhaps she should have found herself an Ashikabi before she accepted Minaka's request for assistance. She always did have a soft spot for the director. Oh, I'm sorry, it's 'Emperor' now isn't it?"

"Kazehana?" That was the Sekirei that was supposedly related to Gaara and Temari.

"Kazehana was one of the strongest Sekirei, on the same level as Mutsu. She's the reason you're still breathing. Most of the foreign air force was taken out by her. It didn't help her however when they blew up the building she was on and gunned her down as she tried to jump to safety. She probably would have been fine anyways if it hadn't been for the sniper with the anti-material rifle." Takami explained as she glared at Karasuba. That wasn't supposed to be common knowledge. They had managed to retrieve her but it would take her months to recover from those injuries, if she didn't end up deactivating while in their care due to the injuries she had sustained.

Naruto stared at the ground as guilt washed over him. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. Why was it that nothing ever went 'right' for him? There was always something that went catastrophically wrong.

He had rescued Kusano, yes, he had freed a couple other Sekirei, true, but he had just delivered all of Japan into the hands of a mad-man and caused the deaths of countless others, many who were completely innocent and had nothing to do with the Sekirei Plan.

He clenched his fists as anger, guilt and remorse washed over him. How many lives were worth sacrificing for his ideals? Has he not sacrificed enough already?

"Look, I blame you for starting this entire mess but don't shoulder the entire thing yourself." Takami said as she noticed Naruto's expression. He really hadn't anticipated nor wanted this to occur. "If Minaka hadn't sold you out it was more than likely that aside from Mikogami's Sekirei the only causalities would have been the Yakuza and a few of the Sekirei they employed. The response from the foreign militaries would have been slower and more subdued and we'd have been able to handle it far better."

"Yes, this wasn't your fault at all!" Blanc said as she tried to cheer her Ashikabi up, "If it weren't for that bastard Minaka everything would have been fine!"

"Regardless I'm going to have to bring you in now." Takami said as she turned to Karasuba, "You're too dangerous to let you run around loose. Plus we need to make sure your Sekirei are alright." She said as she eyed Akitsu, Yume and Blanc. She needed to get all three of them back for analysis. That was the real reason for taking Naruto in. There were plenty of dangerous Ashikabi but none of them had such strange things happen around them.

Akitsu should be locked up. She was a scrapped number and shouldn't be running around free.

Blanc had somehow managed to unwing herself. That was completely unheard of and she needed to know just how Blanc had managed to do that and if there were any unforeseen consequences as a result.

However it was Yume that Takami wanted to get her hands on the most. For all intents and purposes she shouldn't even exist. Takami would pay a great deal to figure out what happened there.

Naruto frowned and broke out of his guilt, "I'm sorry but that's not happening. I have places to be and that's not in MBI's hands." He said firmly. As sorry as he was for the trouble he had caused Takami he wasn't about to hand his Sekirei over to them.

"You're not in any condition to resist." Takami said as she eyed the blood-stained bandage wrapped around his chest, it was already starting to fall apart and unwrap as the blood reduced the bandages ability to stay together. He was tired and hurt, his Sekirei were exhausted. The only unknowns were the two people just behind him and she doubted regular humans could cause her any problems. "Don't make me resort to force. It's been a long day and I'd rather this was peaceful. I guarantee that no harm will come to you or your own." Of course that was 'all' she could guarantee.

All around them a hundred MBI soldiers pointed their guns at them. Karasuba's grin widened as she brought her sword up. She eyed Yume in excitement. She was obviously hoping to settle her score with Yume.

"And you don't have any way to stop me." Naruto said as a clone popped into existence beside Sasha and Arthain.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu!" The two cried out at the same time and they all disappeared in a flash of golden light.

Takami cursed and bolted to her helicopter, "Find them!"

x~X~x

A bright yellow light filled the underground complex as Naruto and company arrived. Naruto's clone dispersed as they arrived.

The moment the light disappeared Naruto's head spun like a top as he stumbled forward. He coughed up a glob of blood as he momentarily recovered his balance. "Shit I don't think I was ready for that." He gasped out as he looked down at his side. Pain began to flare anew and he started to fall over.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Hanabi cried out in shock as she rushed to his side. She caught him in her arms before he could hit the floor, "What happened?" Hanabi demanded Yume and the others.

Yume looked to the side guilty, "I failed to protect him."

"Oh get off the guilt trip. It's no more your fault that he got hurt than it was my fault it started to rain." Arthain said in exasperation as he sat up off the floor and pulled himself over to the wall so that his back was against it. "There was absolutely no way you could have known there were a dozen tanks barreling down on you."

"What tanks?" Hanabi demanded.

"It's fine Hanabi-chan." Naruto said as he rested in her arms. He really didn't feel like moving right now. "It's a long story but suffice to say I was right about that bad feeling I had." Naruto looked around the room, "How's Kusano?"

"She's asleep in the back room; Ayesha is taking care of her." Hanabi replied as she gingerly touched the bandages. "And no it's not fine. You're badly hurt! There's a hole in you if you hadn't noticed."

"How do you treat having your side blown off anyways? People don't normally live through that." Blanc said as she wrung her hands in consternation. She had read a lot of books, many medical ones too, but nothing she had ever read had ever mentioned treating something like this. It was simply assumed the person would bleed out and die in moments.

"I just need sleep." Naruto said with closed eyes, "Between my bloodline and Kurama I'll survive."

"Yume! Get one of the beds ready. Akitsu help me carry Naruto and Blanc can you go through the white kit in the kitchen? It's over there." Hanabi said as she pointed through one of the doorways, "There should be two smaller containers inside the white kit with small round black pills. Get me one of each."

"Sorry about this Hanabi." Naruto murmured sleepily. Now that he was in the safety of his bunker all the adrenaline and endorphins that had kept him going were draining from his system. The pain came back in full force and he wanted nothing more than to just drift away to sleep.

Ayesha came out from the back rooms and quickly ran to the kitchen to help Blanc find what she needed.

A psychic barrier formed around Arthain and Sasha. "Don't worry my love, just concentrate on healing. You're safe now." Hanabi whispered to Naruto. She planted a quick kiss on his forehead and proceeded to gently lift him with Akitsu's help.

Arthain looked over at Sasha and sighed, "Looks like we might as well make ourselves comfortable until Naruto wakes up."

"My first response: I agree." She said as she sat down in his lap. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest, "I'm going to sleep, wake me when Naruto is up."

"Hey wait…" Arthain protested but Sasha was already fast asleep, "But what about my nap time?" Arthain muttered with a pout. He sighed and let a small smile crease his face. He gently wrapped his arms around her chest and pulled her tight against him, "Ah well, I guess this is relaxing in its own way." He said as he adjusted himself to make Sasha more comfortable.

x~X~x

Arthain awoke with a start. He blinked his eyes and looked around the underground complex in sleepy confusion. He was on the floor with his back against the wall and in his arms Sasha still dozed peacefully. He must have fallen asleep at some point in the evening.

He looked around for what it was that could have awoken him. The room was pretty empty. Most of the clones from the day before had dispelled. Sakura and Ino had dispelled themselves soon after Naruto had fallen asleep and the clones that had gathered the library had dispelled themselves the moment they had deposited the scrolls on the central table.

Judging from the memories he now had the ANBU clones had all dispersed themselves. Arthain frowned; there was something odd about one of their memories. He passed it off as nothing and continued to focus on his surroundings. He could hear someone softly humming a tune in the kitchen, and judging from voice it was probably Ayesha preparing food.

That either meant it was breakfast or Naruto was awake, possibly both. It was hard to tell what time it was down here but considering he had fallen asleep after a couple hours, and how stiff his muscles were, it was probably morning.

Still he couldn't identify what it was that had awoken him, it almost sounded like someone throwing up. He shrugged and gave up trying to figure out what it was. He was certain that if it was something serious he would have figured it out by now.

A few minutes later movement at the far side of the complex caught his attention. Five people slowly made their way into the main room: Naruto, Hanabi, Akitsu, Yume and Blanc who trailed just a little behind the four. That must have been what had awoken him.

Hanabi was fussing over Naruto as she tried to convince him to lie back down. Akitsu and Yume looked as if they agreed with Hanabi and Arthain wouldn't be surprised if the three of them simply picked Naruto up and carried him back to bed.

Still, despite their worries Naruto looked far better than the night before. He had clean bandages around his chest now and they hadn't immediately soaked through with blood. That had to be a good sign. He also looked far healthier and more stable as well.

Arthain doubted Naruto was up to wrestling a bear any time soon but he was definitely on the mend.

"Good morning Naruto!" Arthain called out to his former commander. He raised a hand and waved it comically.

Sasha sleepily opened her eyes and yawned. Arthain had deliberately been louder than required to wake up his sleeping wife as she requested. The small blonde woman stretched her arms and made cute little noises as she worked the kinks out of her back and arms.

Naruto frowned at the two for a moment. He sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair, "Good morning although I'm surprised you're still here."

Arthain made a small noise and shrugged, "Even though the mission is over we still need to debrief you on what we've done. We don't intend to stay very long. Just explain a few things and then leave Shinto Teito." Naruto had the right to know what they had done; any fallout because of their actions would fall upon him due to their origins.

"You won't last forever you know. The chakra in your bodies will run out eventually." Naruto said as he sat down on the edge of the table facing Arthain and Sasha.

"My first response: We have taken care of that, we will not run out of chakra. My first question: Can you take a look at us Hanabi?" Sasha asked.

"Sure but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see." Hanabi said as she focused her chakra into her eyes. The Byakugan couldn't tell the difference between the original and a Shadow Clone. "Byakugan!" Hanabi shouted and then immediately gasped in surprise.

"What is it Hanabi?" Naruto asked.

"They have Sekirei cores inside them! Both of them!"

Arthain grinned at her; he loved seeing that shocked look on people's faces. "See! Told you we were Sekirei now, we targeted two of Mikogami Hayato's Sekirei during the assault. We figured since they were going to be taken out anyways, might as well put them to use beyond simply an extra body count." Arthain replied, "We didn't know who was tasked of taking out who but we knew what his Sekirei looked like from our vigilance over his mansion. It was close, almost didn't get the second one. Your girls are damn efficient."

Akitsu smiled at this and stood a little straighter. Yume however had a frown on her face, "So… you did to two more Sekirei what Naruto-kun did to Yashima?" Yume asked, disapproval was obvious in her voice. Naruto's case was forgivable. He did it in the heat of the moment to protect Hanabi-san and heal her.

These two did it simply because they didn't want to dispel. The motives were entirely different and Yume wasn't sure if she could accept it.

"Essentially yes, unlike Yashima we took precautions to prevent their suffering. They both slept through the entire thing. They didn't feel a thing."

"That doesn't make it right!" Yume shouted at the two.

"Iris was one of them wasn't she?" Hanabi asked. Sasha's nod was all the confirmation she needed, "That one was my target. Her fate probably wouldn't have been any different even if you hadn't taken her core. At least in her case you were correct, she would have simply been one more added to the body count however…" Hanabi trailed off as she glanced over at Yume.

"Oh, well…" Arthain coughed uncomfortably. He got the hint. His core had come from one of Yume's target. That one probably would have been simply terminated, not outright killed like what stealing the core had done. "Sorry?" Arthain said lamely. He really wasn't but what could he say? He was a little guilty but it was too late to go back and change things, killing him would only put to waste what the Sekirei had gone through. It would also be poor repayment for his aid in saving Naruto the night before.

As off-colored and inappropriate as his comments were they were hardly worth condemning someone to death for. At least he hoped so anyways.

"Which Sekirei was it?" Blanc asked curiously. She knew of Iris and was glad that bitch was gone. Aside from having jumbo size tits that she loved to flaunt and shove into her face she was a damn sadist through and through. She enjoyed torturing and breaking people. Blanc felt the world was a much better place with that bitch gone.

Although she was worried that Sasha may have the same kind of tendencies as she eyed the rather 'unique' clothing that she was wearing. Sasha felt the gaze and tried her best to cover herself.

"It was Yuri." Yume snapped as she glared at Arthain. If looks could kill Arthain would be a pile of ash on the floor right now.

Blanc's eyes went flat, "Oh, the child molester."

The room went dead silent.

"Anyone wanna switch?" Arthain asked as his eyes darted back and forth between Naruto's Sekirei. "Anyone?"

For some reason he was feeling decidedly uncomfortable with the Sekirei Core he currently had inside him. Not surprisingly though no one seemed to want to take him up on that offer.

It only took a few moments however for Yume to tear into him again, "You let him die without suffering first?" Yume shouted at Arthain in anger.

Sweat drops began to roll down the backs of everyone's head at Yume's sudden change of tune.

"I just can't win can I?" Arthain sobbed as he buried his face into Sasha's hair. Sasha gently patted the side of his face comfortingly.

Hanabi shook her head at the scene unfolding before her and went back to analyzing the two. "What is all that other stuff inside you?" Hanabi asked curiously. After she had gotten over the shock of seeing a Sekirei core within them she noticed that there were a lot of other odd things about the clones.

Sasha answered this one for Arthain since the former was still crying into her hair. "My second response: The chakra from a core would solve our chakra issues but it would not solve our inability to take a strong blow. The seals you see within us solve that problem."

Arthain lifted his head from his wife's hair and expanded on what she said. "Basically we'll still go up in a puff of smoke if, say, someone cuts us in half, not that even former boss man could survive that, but we can take a hit. We can be cut, stabbed, beaten, bones broken, poisoned or whatever and still maintain our form. Anything fatal however, is still fatal."

Naruto hummed to himself, "That's actually pretty ingenious. I'll overlook this entire move for independence if you put down in detail what type of seal you used to maintain your form." What his 'former' clones had just discovered could completely revolutionize his shadow clone technique. To be able to create solid clones that could take a hit and keep on going was beyond useful. That was the single real flaw behind the technique for him. He could put a lot of chakra into his clones but all that meant nothing if a single strong blow was enough to dispel it.

Plus even if they were going rogue and independent, it's not like they had any ill will towards him or his own. Their desire to stay behind and help, despite how disastrous the entire situation had turned out, was evidence enough of that. Despite being their own person they were still part him and knew well enough to keep their mouths shut about things they shouldn't speak about.

If they could make it out of Shinto Teito without being seen they could disappear into the Japanese country side and no one would ever find them.

And his acceptance of their independence had nothing to do what-so-ever with the fact that he did NOT what to have memories of fucking himself.

"Will do former boss man!" Arthain said with a grin. If that's all it took to have Naruto's blessing then he'd gladly do it.

As Naruto watched Arthain extricate himself from behind Sasha his curiosity got the better of him. "How did you end up this way?" Naruto asked softly.

Arthain stopped halfway off the ground and looked up at Naruto, "I'm not exactly sure I understand the question." He said as he straightened.

"The others all dispelled themselves just fine. You two however refused to. More than that you went above and beyond to ensure that you'd persist for a long time to come." Naruto explained himself more thoroughly. Sure, sometimes his clones acted funny when he created them but Arthain and Sasha took this to a level that was actually a little frightening.

Arthain looked at Naruto sadly and sighed softly, "It's partly your fault you know." He started as he made his way over to the table. "You created us in your hyper-focused state, or 'Hokage Mode' as it's sometimes put. That was both a bad idea and a good idea." Arthain frowned as he looked for some parchment to write out the seal he and Sasha had used.

"Over there." Naruto said as he pointed to a stack of papers on the edge of the table, "Use the back, I don't need them anymore." They were the old documents and information about Mikogami Hayato, "What do you mean by that?"

Arthain slowly made his way over to the stack of papers, "Exactly that. When you create a Shadow Clone it creates a duplicate of the original. Everything is exactly copied over." Arthain paused and looked Naruto straight in the eyes, "Even the hyper-focus state, albeit in a different form."

Hanabi picked up on it almost immediately, "So then you're saying you became hyper focused on your role? Which includes-."

"The marriage, yes. We didn't just become a pair of clones acting for the benefit of our neighbours. We BECAME a married couple." Arthain continued. Now Hanabi understood just why it was both good and bad. "Sakura and Ino weren't just 'clones' of those two. They BECAME Sakura and Ino for a short time, at least the Sakura and Ino that you have envisioned in your mind. Did you not notice how… different the Yakuza clones became?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes, I noticed that." Now that he thought back they really acted the part. Perhaps a little too well. Some of the things they did went far beyond what he would have ever done normally.

"The longer we're in our role the more integrated and focused on it we become until the 'clone' disappears and the new persona takes over. Ino, Sakura, the ANBU, they all are, or were, shinobi so they there was no trouble with them dispelling themselves after the fact. That's a natural aspect of being a Shinobi. The Yakuza didn't stay in their forms long enough to fully 'lose' their identities and were created to imitate something that already exists. We however…" Arthain said as he pointed at himself and Sasha, "We were not emulated after Shinobi, or anyone for that matter, and we were kept on up until the end. By the time the operation started we weren't just 'Clones of Uzumaki Naruto posing as Arthain and Sasha Namikaze'. We WERE Arthain and Sasha Namikaze."

"And this is because of the 'hyper-focus' state I was in when I created you?" Naruto wanted to confirm.

"Yes, which is why you should be careful. Say you were to create a clone to mimic Sasuke while in that role. They'd BECOME another Sasuke, albeit without the Sharingan."

"And hence why you said it was both a good and a bad thing." Hanabi repeated what he said earlier. She had a feeling that would be the case. Becoming 'that' immersed in a role has its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was a very believable undercover clone. No matter how good at acting her Naruto was there would still be flaws and little hints that observant people could pick up because Naruto would still be Naruto. But if the clone threw 'away' Naruto and became fully the person they were undercover as, that would be a different story. Those flaws would disappear.

They'd not only become completely dedicated to completing the mission but would become 'one' with the role itself.

The disadvantage was that if Naruto created the wrong persona and it started to vie for independence there could be serious consequences. If Naruto created a clone to mimic any of the megalomaniacs of their old world and they started to merge with their persona? There would be serious issues.

In an odd sort of way Naruto was actually creating a new life in that situation, albeit a short-lived one that was entirely dependent upon him to continue surviving but a new life never-the-less.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind whenever I create my clones." Naruto said as he rubbed his temples.

"Only deep undercover ones." Arthain explained, "I didn't really feel more 'Arthain' than 'Clone' until about day 4 or 5 of the operation. Anything shorter than that and you don't have to worry about it."

"So essentially if I need to refuel their chakra at any point…" Naruto stated.

"Then they're probably going to merge with their role." Arthain finished, "Assuming you even created them in the hyper-focused state in the first place."

"So all I need to do is never refill my clone's chakra and I don't have to worry about renegades amongst my ranks." Naruto said with a chuckle. "Ugh, what a day this has been."

Arthain felt it was probably best to keep that one final tidbit a secret from Naruto. Actually it was probably best he kept it from everyone. Sasha would figure it out eventually though.

Clones don't age. They'd last until their Sekirei Core gave out, if it ever gave out.

x~X~x

A couple hours later, after Arthain had written out the sealing array they had used to maintain their bodies, found Arthain and Sasha racing westwards out of Shinto Teito. It was still quite early in the morning; the sun had yet to rise. The cover of darkness would aid their escape from the city, especially with the chaos and mess left behind by the civil war, and what happened couldn't be considered anything else, there were large gaps in MBI's security around the city.

The two of them had the skills necessary to get out of the city during the height of its lockdown; with the way things were it was going to be simple.

"My first question: What's wrong? An added explanation: You look very worried about something." Sasha asked with a slight frown on her face.

Despite how rough things had gone the night before everything had worked out for them in the end. They were heading out of the city with the blessing of their creator. He had even paid them for the seal Arthain had written out for him. Hayato had a lot of wealth stored at his home, even giving them a fraction of it would ensure that they could live comfortably for at least a couple years.

"There's something that's been bugging me ever since I got the memories from one of the ANBU members." Arthain said, his brow was furrowed in deep thought, "The one that helped Yume with Tharja is the one that concerns me the most."

"My second question: Why does that concern you?" She hadn't noticed anything wrong with that set of memories in particular.

"Well…" Arthain paused as he tried to formulate the proper words to phrase what he was thinking, "The ANBU said Yume's Norito was still active… That was two hours and two battles after it had been initiated.

"My first response: Naruto has potent chakra, even if only a certain amount can be absorbed, the amount that is should be more effective than that of a standard Ashikabi's." Hanabi's had lasted at least that long as well. It wasn't that strange to think that a Norito from Naruto would be stronger than that of a regular Ashikabi's.

"Well ya, but that's not what's bugging me in particular." Arthain said as he looked back towards the hidden complex, "If Yume could go two hours and fight two battles on a single Norito… Why did Musubi's run out in five minutes?"

Sasha's blood ran cold.

The disparity of strength between Mutsu and Musubi was far greater than between Yume and any of her opponents. Musubi would have probably burnt through the power faster than Yume, however the discrepancy in time was simply too large to make any sense. Yume hadn't been sitting on her laurels; she had been active the whole time.

They shared the same body as well so the effect of Naruto's chakra on them would have been identical.

"That got me thinking about something." Arthain said somberly, "If the Sekirei crest can be used to receive commands that can literally change the physical makeup and genetic structure of a Sekirei... how hard would it be to send a signal to pre-maturely end a Norito?" It was a rhetorical question. They both knew the answer to that. It wouldn't be very hard, not compared to the difficulty some of the other signals and commands would be.

Sasha was worried but she didn't let it show on her face, "My third question: Would Kurama not have-."

"No, he wouldn't have detected it." Arthain interrupted her; he knew what she was thinking. "It wasn't something that would affect the bond between Naruto and Musubi so it wouldn't be anything that would translate into something that Kurama would have been aware of." Musubi hadn't been linked to Kurama at the time. Arthain had a very bad feeling about where this train of thought was heading.

"My fourth question: But why would anyone want to end her Norito prematurely? That would guarantee that she would fall against Mutsu. With it she may have survived." Not 'may' have, she would have. From the recount of the battle from Homura, Musubi's Norito had run out halfway through the battle. She had fallen several minutes later. If she had held on even two minutes longer Akitsu would have arrived and things would have taken a different turn. Having the Norito last its full duration would have ensured she lasted those extra two minutes.

"I don't know why, I can't think of any motive that could drive someone to do that. That's the only reason I haven't run back to Naruto to tell him. I can't think of anyone that could, or a reason 'why' someone would do it." Until he figured that out it was pure speculation. There could be other reasons for why Musubi's Norito ran out so much faster than Naruto's

He just couldn't think of anything aside from pure coincidence and even that was stretching it. For the sake of Shinto Teito Arthain REALLY hoped it was simple coincidence.

---

Author's Note:

There the role of the clones is done!

Anyways, let me know what you think of the clones, what you liked, disliked, and the just plain strange (and this isn't limited to just Arthain and Sasha). It'll help me write better stuff in the future. And don't just say you hated it or liked it; I want to know 'why'. I can't do anything if I don't know why something is good or bad.

Also feel free to comment on other aspects of the chapter too, I think I'd cry if all I got was 50 reviews saying "KILL THE CLONES! RARGH! *teeth gnashing*".

No Kazehana for those that wanted her. The only argument for her inclusion into the harem was that she was wind based, just like him, and a pervert. I'm sorry but that's not a good enough reason. I didn't see any way of really fitting her in properly, personality wise, with Naruto's swarm. I tried to think of interesting ways I could write her in and came up empty. I've already added an extra one, by accident, this past arc and with the potential for Miya in the future (No she's not guaranteed despite what I've written thus far) we're up to 6 Sekirei. I'm really stretching the limits of believability and my ability to give them all sufficient screen time. I was also tired of simply tossing all the refuse that Naruto doesn't get to Minato.

And finally I didn't want to simply give her to a random Ashikabi either and the plan can't move on until all Sekirei are winged or removed in some way so I needed to get rid of her.

Blanc's attacks are all in German (Except Getter Ravine, no idea why that's in English), if you have no idea what she's saying, well, neither do I. Let's all just bask in the cuteness that is Blanc pulling off crazy moves!