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: The Naruto manga has officially become… I don't know anymore… it was stupid before, now it's just… there aren't any words to describe it... The Juubi was a… plant? With eyes? I don't understand... The worst part about the entire thing is that Kishi just ripped off the origin story from the bible. I'm damn glad I've tossed everything beyond the start of my story out the window. There are so many things wrong with the Naruto manga now that it's just ridiculous.
Review Responses: From how I understand chakra it doesn't have a physical form of its own (Otherwise it'd tear holes in your body every time it escaped from the tenketsu). For it to interact with the physical world it has to be through a medium. This medium can be anything from flesh and bone to air and water. The only time chakra doesn't need a physical medium, is when it's not affecting the physical world such as a spiritual entity like a Bijuu or a human soul.
In the vacuum situation the only techniques that would work 100% of the time are internal ones like the Hiraishin no Jutsu or transformation techniques. Anything that has an external element associated with it would fail to work correctly because there's no longer a physical medium for it to work with. There are no electrons to manipulate for lightning, no moisture for water, no air for wind/fire, etc. Would Earth work in Naruto's situation? Hard to tell, he's inside a server room, an entirely man made construct. Half of it is steel, the other half is concrete, of which only half of THAT is actually made up of earth like materials. I honestly don't know if Earth techniques would work in that situation. I do know his affinity with Earth isn't strong enough to affect metals though.
It's possible that something like the Rasengan could still form, but without something to interact with it's useless. The grinding of a Rasengan comes from the rapidly spinning air molecules (this is how it works in MY story, regardless of how it actually is). The Futon version of the Rasengan is simply using wind chakra to control the shape of those air molecules, changing them from their natural random movement patterns into groups of razor sharp wind blades.
As for the shadow clone technique… I've got no flippin idea how that works in the first place -_-. The entire concept defies logic despite my best effort to understand it (The manga never explains how it's formed; only what it can do after the fact). The other clones all make sense; the shadow clone is the only outlier in the group. I don't think it's even technically a 'clone' technique. It's probably something else entirely. I almost want to think it's a technique that pulls a copy of the creator from the past and brings them to the present and when the clone is dispelled he is sent back to the original he was taken from. I would label it closer to a space/time jutsu, with a greater emphasis on the 'time' part, than a true clone technique. It would also explain why the memories are downloaded into his brain because it's really just the past, the user's past, being rewritten and the memories of the present Naruto being updated with each dispel.
As for the Sage of the Six Paths, screw the Rinnegan and its OP BS. I'm of the opinion that the bloodline alone is an exception to the laws of chakra and the world. With it you CAN create something from nothing, but Naruto doesn't have, nor will he EVER have, the Rinnegan, so that's a moot point.
Another thing that touches a few reviews and PMs, when did I ever say Kurama was going to die? All I've ever said is that his chakra is being absorbed into the Jinki and his consciousness would soon follow. Gyuki was still capable of recognizing his name when called, even after thousands of years.
The clones were delegated to a minor role because they couldn't do anything else. What do you think would have happened if 35,000 people attacked a major pharmaceutical corporation? The military and the police would be swarming that place within 5 minutes, if it was even still there. Higa would have just fled the moment they attacked and blew the entire building sky high thinking Naruto had incited an attack. No, the clones never did anything major because anything major would have basically caused the instant failure of all four objectives. There were many other reasons the clones didn't do anything else, but that reason is justification enough.
Chapter 28: The Gears Begin to Turn
"Where did all this come from Naruto-kun?" Hanabi asked as she looked over all the items that were now neatly arranged on tables in the workroom.
"I've been placing orders for some more… specialized equipment, among other things, for months now. Apparently it's just been stockpiling because our apartment burned down and they had no idea where to send it. I sent one of the squads to check up on the items to see if they had arrived and apparently they all had." His clones had gone ahead and changed the address where it was applicable. The illegal items were still kept at Beta Point but the rest were now sent to a post office lock box that he had rented.
"I see," Hanabi murmured as her she read the label on one of the packages. "I'm not sure I can fit this under my standard uniform," she said. The package had a dozen bullet proof vests inside it.
"Ah, that, yes I don't intend for us to wear that, I'll be incorporating that with our regular gear. Your ANBU gear and my outfit were never designed to protect us against the projectile weapons that are used today. They will once I redesign them," Naruto said from his spot across the room. He knew what Hanabi was referring to.
"And why do we need this?" Hanabi asked as she moved on to the next item. It was long, sleek, black and completely foreign to her. She had seen something similar, although of a far smaller variety, on the hips and strapped across the chests of the MBI soldiers she had seen.
"You mean the XM2010 ESR? Kunai are nice, and I do prefer them, but that sniper rifle can pick off a target a mile away with pin point accuracy. I can enhance the range by adding wind chakra to the bullets to reduce air resistance as well, extending the range to almost three miles. The only attacks I have with that sort of range tend to rearrange the landscape and it would be nice to have something with pinpoint accuracy that didn't irrevocably alter the face of Shinto Teito."
"So why do we have two of them?" Hanabi asked as she moved on to the second one. This one was even larger than the first one. It would be ridiculous to carry something like that onto the battle field.
"The Barret M107. To make a long story short, I hate tanks, screw tanks. Once I'm finished with those rounds they'll tear right through them and blow them straight to hell." Hanabi glanced at the enormous sniper rounds that were sitting in a box just beside the anti-material sniper rifle.
There was a little note attached to the box with the rounds with a note to remind Naruto to add wind chakra to the rounds for increased penetration and to add a three-dimensional fire seal array for increased potency.
Hanabi shuddered as she remembered what happened the last time she saw one of those three dimensional explosive arrays go off. There won't be anything left of whatever tank got hit by those rounds.
Hanabi started in surprise at what filled the next box, "You actually found someone capable of making kunai and shuriken?" she asked, pleasantly surprised.
"Yes, that was actually much harder than it should have been. Not very many blacksmiths these days custom make weapons in bulk but I found one. I ordered a thousand of each." There were at least a dozen boxes of each sitting in one corner of the room.
The next item was simply an order form. She picked it up and her eyebrow started to twitch. "Really Naruto-kun? And where did you put this?"
"In the garage, it wouldn't fit in here. Don't worry, I used the Hiraishin so no one saw me bringing it here."
"I thought you hated tanks."
"I do."
"Do you even know how to drive one?"
"Nope."
"How about shooting?"
"Not a clue, it did come with a handy manual though."
"…"
Naruto shrugged and waved his hand nonchalantly, "Don't worry I'll let my clones try it out first, I intend to just wing it when the time comes," he said happily.
"You're going to give your clones a tank to play with…" Hanabi asked in absolute disbelief.
"Yes?" He sure as heck wasn't going to get inside that damn thing, he hated them.
Hanabi almost broke down and cried right then and there. She was going to have to have another talk with her husband real soon; apparently the tongue lashing she gave him earlier wasn't enough. How could he even begin to believe that giving his clones a tank to play with was a good idea after seeing how badly they were turning Shinto Teito inside out?
Sometimes she worried about the mental health of her husband. There was a real possibility that the war and its outcome had left him unhinged and she was only now noticing it.
With a shuddering sigh she placed the order form for an M1A3 Abrams down and pushed it from her mind. She didn't want anything to do with that anymore, the less she knew the better.
Thankfully for her fragile state of mind the next few items were pretty standard: Several rolls of titanium wire, parchment for him to write his seals on, calligraphy equipment, a month's supply of ramen-she'd have to hide those until Naruto's punishment was over-and a couple porcelain masks, albeit without any design on them. She would add that herself later.
The next item surprised her, "How did you get some of MBI's latest medical advancements?" she asked curiously. MBI guarded their secrets pretty heavily.
"A gift from my undercover clone. He's only been there a few days and he's already procured me a gift. It's mine anyways, most of that stuffed was created based on the blood sample I gave Takami months ago." He really should charge royalties for those advancements. It WAS based off his bloodline after all.
Hanabi finally made it to Naruto's side and looked at what he had been occupied with the entire time. Her eyes widened in surprised as she saw the items arranged neatly on the table before him. They almost made up for the ridiculousness that was the tank.
"Naruto-kun, those are…"
"Yes, you don't have any issues with this right?" Naruto asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"No, of course not. Just let me know if you need any help."
Naruto tilted and his head and thought about it, "I may need a little help but I want to handle as much of it myself as I can. I may need a few days away from you though." He really shouldn't rely on Hanabi or anyone else for something like this.
Hanabi gave him a gentle smile, "That's fine. For something like this that's more than acceptable."
x~X~x
The steady beep of the heart monitor was the only sound that broke the silence of the room. It was a comforting sound to hear, it meant that the patient was still alive. Considering what the patient had been through that was a miracle in and of itself.
Yume glanced over at Sahashi Yukari, her eyes filled with guilt and remorse. If only she had moved a little quicker perhaps Yukari wouldn't be in the Hospital right now, fighting for her life against the nerve agent used on her.
MBI had the best medicine and doctors in the world; Yukari was assured the best care and treatment being the daughter of Sahashi Takami, the director of the Sekirei Plan. However that would all be for naught if she herself no longer had the strength to fight on. Thankfully Yukari seemed to be as strong willed as her mother.
Still it had been a very close call.
***** Flashback *****
Yume rushed towards the MBI helicopter as it landed on the rooftop. There had been several in the air, heading towards Higa Pharmaceuticals to pick up the downed Sekirei there, and Yume had been able to get the attention of one of them.
Her Ashikabi and her sisters had been avoiding MBI for some time now due to their involvement with Mikogami in the south and other questionable acts but this wasn't the time to worry about that. She wasn't going to risk losing Yukari just because she was afraid of being questioned.
As the doors opened of the helicopter opened, Takami herself stepped out from within. She was quickly surrounded by both security personnel and doctors. Yume noticed a concerned look on her face as she reached her.
"Yume… what are you doing with my daughter?" Takami asked tersely. She had been tempted to ignore Yume when she had seen her waving up at them, retrieving the downed Sekirei were more important than demanding answers from her. However when she noticed her daughter in Yume's arms fear had gripped her and she had ordered her helicopter to land.
"I'll answer that later, we need to get Yukari-san to the Hospital. Blanc-san said Higa-san used nerve gas on her," Yume said as she held Takami's daughter out before her.
The fear within Takami amplified as she noticed the horrible state that her daughter was in. She knew what signs to look for; she didn't even need to do a thorough check of her system to know that Blanc had been right.
Her daughter had been subjected to a chemical attack and was dying.
Takami may not be the greatest parent in the world, she may be strict and sometimes ruthless with her children, but she still cared. Her eyes blazed with fury. "Get her in the helicopter!" she snapped at the doctors. They quickly complied, well aware of how bad Takami's wrath could be when she was angered.
Yume followed as well, stepping into the helicopter with Yukari. It was her fault that Yukari was like this, if she had been quicker, if she had been stronger, if she hadn't been distracted, maybe she could have saved her before she had been gassed. She was going to see this through to the end.
"Karasuba!" Takami roared. No one tried to kill her family and got away with it, no one. She would make Higa Izumi pay, Ashikabi or not. Minaka and his damn game could rot in hell for all she cared.
"Minaka won't like this," Karasuba said as she stepped out of the helicopter. She already knew what Takami would ask of her.
"Screw Minaka," Takami snapped as she glared at Higa Pharmaceutical's in the distance. "I want him de-." She stopped as she felt a massive spike of power.
Everyone in the vicinity felt it, even those that couldn't normally. Off in the distance a pillar of light shot into the sky.
"That feels like Hanabi," Yume commented from her seat in the helicopter.
"Hanabi? What is she doing?" Takami demanded.
Then the sky went dark, at this distance they could literally see streams of light flowing towards a singular point off in the distance.
"She's probably killing Higa Izumi right now," Yume explained. That could be the only explanation. Hanabi wasn't someone that carelessly threw around her power.
Karasuba's grin was positively vicious as she watched the show in the distance. Her blood began to boil as excitement grew within her. "This game just keeps getting better and better," she crowed with happiness.
There were so many strong people to fight; it was hard to choose which one to start with first.
There was a bright flash of light as the point in the distance imploded and then exploded violently. The boom from the detonation was almost deafening as it washed over them.
"Do you still want me to chase down Higa?" Karasuba asked Takami with a raised eyebrow. After something like that chances were there wasn't enough left of him to fill a thimble.
"Sahashi-san!" A call came out from within the helicopter. "We just picked up two level fives in the distance, Higa Izumi is confirmed to be dead."
"Let's go," Takami said as she whirled around and hurried back into the helicopter. They needed to get her daughter to the hospital fast.
Karasuba gave the top of Higa Pharmaceuticals one last glance before she walked back to the helicopter with a wide smile on her face.
***** Flashback End *****
Yume shook her head and pushed away the rest of the memories. The ride in the helicopter had been uncomfortable to say the least. Karasuba had looked as if she would attack her at a moment's notice. She had been held in check by Takami through sheer force of will and a promise of unspeakable pain if she so much as tried to do anything that put her daughter in any more danger.
It's what kept Karasuba in check even now. She couldn't move on Yume while she sat near Yukari. As much as she wanted to fight Yume, Karasuba was bound to her Ashikabi who was a subordinate of Takami and Minaka.
Yume still wore the earpiece that connected her to her Ashikabi and he had updated her on the status of the operation. There was both good news and bad news in what he had to say. The good news was that everyone made it out alive and relatively unscathed, she had been hurt the most out of them all, and they were all resting back at Epsilon Point. Higa Izumi was dead and Naruto and Blanc had been able to find some interesting information.
The bad news was that they had failed one of their primary objectives. The Jinki were missing and there were absolutely no leads as to where they ended up. They could be anywhere with anyone. This was the worst case scenario. At least with Higa they could have anticipated his moves and motives, now they couldn't.
As for the final objective, Yukari, the jury was still out on whether or not that was a success. She was keeping Naruto up to date on Yukari and her Sekirei's well-being but that was all she was able to do.
There was some movement from the other side of the bed. Yume glanced over at the sleeping Sekirei. No. 107, Shiina, as on the other side of Yukari's bed, his head was down and he was sleeping, although the dreams didn't appear to be very pleasant if the restlessness he displayed was anything to go by.
Shiina had arrived at the hospital not long after the helicopter had landed. He must have broken several land speed records to make it there as fast as he did. There had been a fearful and pained look in his eyes when he had seen Yukari lying motionless on the hospital bed. He had immediately gone to her side and hadn't left it since.
That had been six hours ago.
Her own injuries from the assault on Higa Pharmaceuticals were healed now thanks to MBI's technology and night had fallen on Shinto Teito since then. The city had once again become silent. This was due to a combination of several different factors. Rumors of the protest and the attack on Higa Pharmaceuticals had become common knowledge. The power of social media had ensured that. The backlash against the company had been enormous, especially once the public had found out that the building had been rigged to explode and that Higa Pharmaceuticals had been using live humans as test subjects for their medicine.
The fake protest that Naruto had started that morning had turned into a true full scale protest by evening.
But if that was all that had happened the city would have been loud and noisy, not silent. No, it was what else happened immediately following, and was still occurring even now, that caused a hushed silence to fall over the city.
Yume looked out the window and sighed as she watched another dozen Naruto clones hopping from building to building carrying an assortment of tools. Each clone had a giant shit eating grin on his face.
The Sekirei of Fate could already tell the cleanup from Naruto's colossal mistake of an order he sent to his clones would cost more to rectify than repairing the damage from the civil war.
A soft hiss drew Yume's attention to the door. In walked an older woman with white hair and an eye-patch. There was a white lab coat thrown around her shoulders and she carried an electronic clipboard in her hands.
"Takami-san," Yume greeted the woman as she stood.
Takami held a finger to her mouth, motioning for silence, and beckoned Yume to follow her out the door. Yume silently made her way across the room and followed Yukari's mother out the door.
The two of them walked in silence as they made their way through the Hospital. The place was busy, even this late at night. All the Sekirei that had been downed during Operation East Wind had been brought here and the doctors were busy trying to save their lives before they were moved on elsewhere.
It was a couple minutes later when Yume figured out their destination: The rooftop. A strong breeze blew in from outside as Takami opened the door and stepped out onto the roof. Yume brushed her hair from her eyes and cautiously followed Takami out the door. She couldn't sense anything dangerous out on the rooftop but one could never be too careful with someone like Sahashi Takami and the rooftop was a peculiar place for a discussion.
Takami let out a particularly large sigh as she gazed across the city at the latest feature to dot the cityscape. "Is your Ashikabi sane?" she asked Yume as the Sekirei made her way to her side. Takami had no doubt in her mind that the current catastrophe to rock Shinto Teito was Naruto's fault, and she wasn't talking about what happened at Higa Pharmaceuticals.
Yume followed her gaze and sighed in exasperation, "Sometimes I ask myself the self-same question," she murmured.
There in the distance, about a mile away, was Naruto's latest 'diversion.' It was a twenty story apartment building. It was completely undamaged and looked like any other apartment buildings except for two distinct differences.
It was upside down and painted a vibrant orange.
Of course orange wasn't a strange sight anymore. All of Shinto Teito was painted orange with a few exceptions. Not even MBI headquarters was spared. If anything that had been targeted especially badly as it was not only painted orange but the peak at the top had been replaced with a giant bowl of ramen.
Actual ramen too, it wasn't a replica. Steam still rose up from the bowl even now.
"It was funny at first, but I believe it has gotten out of hand," Takami said as she looked at another new feature that the clones had added to the city. The park that had once been the site of a battle for Kusano now had Naruto's version of Mount Rushmore sticking up from it. Naruto had created a replica of the Hokage Mountain right dead smack in the middle of Shinto Teito.
Which had already been defaced since its initial creation, twice.
"It shouldn't go on for too much longer," Yume said as she tried to comfort Takami. "The clones didn't have very much chakra in them so none of them will last more than twelve hours and over a good two thirds of them have already disappeared due to exhaustion."
"Clones? Chakra?"
Yume grimaced; she hadn't meant to give away any of Naruto's secrets like that, "It's the energy Naruto uses to do the things he does." It was too late to take back her words now.
Takami grunted in acknowledge as she lit a cigarette. Between Minaka and Naruto she was going through these things like they were candy and it still wasn't enough to keep her calm. She brushed a hand through her hair and exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
Their attention was drawn to explosion of light and sound as the fireworks lit up the night sky. The bangs and cracks continued without pause in a massive lightshow.
Then the fireworks began to form images in the sky.
Takami snorted and a small grin creased her face, "Alright, I'll admit I like that," she said as the fireworks formed images of Minaka in rather embarrassing and vulgar poses.
"Oh Naruto-kun," Yume said with another sigh as she palmed her face.
Takami shook her head and turned to face Yume, putting the lightshow behind her. Her lab coat billowed out behind her as the wind picked up, "Well, time to get down to business. I didn't bring you up here to talk about your Ashikabi's latest antics."
"No, you're not one for idle talk," Yume agreed, "I won't betray Naruto-kun." She had no doubt that there were any number of things that Takami wanted to know. This was the first time since Naruto started to take an active role in the Sekirei Plan that Takami had managed be alone with any of his Sekirei.
"We'll see," Takami murmured as she brought her cigarette to her mouth. She stopped and glared at the spent butt and tossed it away. "But right now I care more about you. I and everyone else at MBI were under the assumption you died when you saved Musubi," she said as she brought out another cigarette. The pack was running low; she'd need to get another. This was her tenth one today. The day had been rather stressful.
"Ah, I see. You are aware that the Sekirei Tama is our spirit?" Yume asked, Takami nodded and gestured her to continue. "When I gave my Tama to Musubi I didn't die, I simply transferred my spirit into her body. I have always been alive, living inside Musubi maintaining and supporting her broken core." Yume didn't mind telling Takami this much. This was her secret to reveal and Takami did have a right to know what happened.
She knew that Takami genuinely cared about the Sekirei.
"That still doesn't explain why you are here and not Musubi. What happened to that child?"
Yume grimaced and walked over to the edge of the building. She gazed across the city towards the Hokage Monument standing proudly in the park where Musubi had been killed.
"She took enough damage in a battle that she should have been terminated. Naruto… has greater control over the bond than the rest of the Ashikabi. He's capable of halting the termination command from reaching his Sekirei. He tried to do that to save Musubi from being terminated. Unfortunately the strain was simply too much and her Tama couldn't handle it. She… died and I was left alone in her body. Without Musubi's consciousness in control I floated to the top and that's how I came to be." Yume had to carefully choose her words here. Takami was sure to catch her pauses and vague responses but Yume wouldn't betray Naruto-kun, not even for her former adjuster.
Takami gave Yume a side-long glance and frowned in thought, "Just how much control does he have over the bond?"
"Enough," Yume said vaguely.
Takami nodded as if Yume's response answered her question. "Is there a way to stop him from outright obliterating the Sekirei? I know you, I know you don't approve of his actions." To her Naruto was a loose cannon that was systematically destroying the entire Sekirei Plan. If he merely defeated the Sekirei she could live with it, but more often than not the Sekirei he left behind were all level 5 deactivations, never mind his total disregard for the standard unspoken rules and etiquette surrounding the battles. He made all her work and effort to civilize and control the Sekirei Plan for naught.
"I have tried, and I have made some progress…" Yume said sadly, she glanced at the street below noting that once again the streets were dead quiet as everyone hid from Naruto's clones.
"I'm sensing a 'but' there."
Yume's face scrunched as she thought of the best way to phrase the next bit, "Yes, unfortunately he's a soldier before he's an Ashikabi. He was trained to never leave a live enemy behind. Anything less than a level 5 is considered a 'live' enemy to him." Everything she said was true; she just left a lot out of extra information. He was a soldier for his old home, although they did go by other names: assassins, shinobi and spies to name a few. It was also true that he was taught to never leave a live enemy behind, after all life was the greatest teacher of all.
"How much progress?" Takami asked, there wasn't a very much hope in her voice that Yume's response would be very good.
"He won't go out of his way to kill a Sekirei and if they become deactivated before he kills them he'll leave them be, although that's only for those that aren't his primary targets."
"Like Mutsu?"
"Yes."
Takami inhaled deeply and then tossed away the stub of her cigarette and pulled out another, "Can you push him to make any more concessions?"
Yume shook her head negatively, "No, the scars of his past won't let him make any further concessions, especially not with all the strange things going on." She frowned and directed her gaze towards MBI. "Takami, what's happened to Minaka-san? The Minaka-san I knew was strange and eccentric but the way he is now…" The Minaka of now and the Minaka of then were both strange and eccentric people but the Minaka of now was definitely completely insane.
"I wish I knew. He started to change not long after you saved Musubi." Takami frowned as a thought occurred to her, "No, I can't really say that. He started to change when he came up with the idea of the Sekirei Plan; it just became much more obvious after you sacrificed yourself. He's always been eccentric, no more than any other genius though."
Yume sighed, if Takami didn't know what was happening to Minaka then no one did, after all she did sire two children from the man. "Do you know anyone by the name of Ayesha Altugle?" Yume asked, it was a long shot but maybe Takami knew more about that enigma.
"Ayesha? Can't say that I do, why?" Takami asked curiously.
"Because Miya almost went berserk the moment she laid eyes on her."
Takami gave her a sharp look, "Describe her to me," Takami demanded. She listened carefully as Yume described Ayesha, pointing out every single detail about the woman that she could. "So she's another unknown Sekirei," Takami grumbled as she glared at the rooftop.
"Hanabi-san and Naruto-kun are certain that she's not and I agree, I don't sense any Tama within her."
"That doesn't mean anything. Although the procedure was never done on any of Miya's Sekirei it's possible to pull the Tama apart and spread it throughout the body creating a secondary network of vein like structures with eight separate control points scattered throughout the head and body that serve as miniature cores. Of course doing so would greatly affect the Sekirei, essentially stripping them of their ability to find an Ashikabi and greatly… affect their ability to use their powers. Hence the reason the process was never done." It would also significantly affect MBI's ability to control the Sekirei but Yume didn't need to know that. A great deal of manipulation and control had been added to the encasing around the cores of each Sekirei. That would only remain in place so long as the core remained in its current shape. They had all been weakened a great deal, she regretted it but it was necessary. Shinto Teito was a megalopolis; it couldn't handle a hundred and seven super beings running around.
Aside from Miya, who had already been fully developed and couldn't be adjusted, only Yume, and later Karasuba after Yume had departed, had been granted access to their full power.
Takami only shuddered to think how bad things could have been with over a hundred people on par with Yume and Karasuba running amok. Things were already bad enough as it was.
"I see…" Yume said softly, her eyes wide with surprise. Takami's words gave extra credence to Hanabi-san's theory that the Sekirei came from Naruto-kun's world and not some alternate dimension. Because what Takami described sounded very similar to how Hanabi described her own chakra network.
"I have been a part of this since the moment the ship was first discovered." Takami continued on, pushing the thoughts of unrestricted Sekirei running rampant from her mind, "No one like whom you just described had ever come in contact with Miya, either during or after her departure from MBI." Despite not being able to send anyone physically to Izumo Inn MBI kept a careful watch on that place through satellite surveillance. The coming and going of Ayesha from Izumo Inn was a very recent thing. "The only way Miya could have developed that sort of reaction towards this 'Ayesha' is if she knew her from before the Sekirei came to our world." Takami crossed her arms under her breasts and stared in the direction of Izumo Inn, "Tell me everything you know about this 'Ayesha.'"
"She's strange. She seems to have no concept of right or wrong, is capable of convincing people to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do and can survive situations that would normally kill someone without a scratch." Yume started and then proceeded to reveal everything she had heard, seen and felt from the strange woman.
"So she's a persuasive individual with no moral compass that can't be killed. Sounds like a politician." Takami rubbed her forehead with her fingers and sighed, "Just great, another headache to deal with. You will keep me informed about her." It wasn't a request.
"If I can, yes." Yume wasn't going to promise something she may not be able to keep.
"Good, you should hurry back to your Ashikabi now. I can only keep Karasuba restrained for so long before she completely ignores me and starts a fight with you in the Hospital," Takami said.
"Will Yukari-san be alright?" Yume asked in concern. It was partly her fault for not getting to her quick enough that she was in critical condition.
"She will live," Takami said simply. If her daughter hadn't died by now chances were she wasn't going to. The real question was whether or not there would be any lasting damages after she recovered.
A sigh of relief escaped from Yume's lips, "I'm glad."
"Whose idea was it to try and rescue my daughter?" Takami asked quietly. Shiina had been very forth coming about their captivity under Higa Izumi so she knew everything he did about that situation but what information he did have was rather limited.
"It was Naruto-kun's, although Hanabi-san came up with the actual plan. I apologize for not rescuing her fast enough." If she had been a bit faster Yukari wouldn't be in the Hospital right now.
"I should blame you all for putting my daughter at risk with such a foolish scheme," Takami said as she shot a quick glare at Yume. It was only for a moment though as the heat quickly left her eyes. "However I know men like Higa Izumi, my daughter was in danger regardless." It would have simply been a different kind of danger, although no less harmful in the long run.
However Yume's response helped sort out a conflict in Takami's mind. If her daughter's rescue had been incidental she wouldn't have bothered but because Yume and her Ashikabi had deliberately tried to rescue Yukari it changed things. It meant he wasn't entirely heartless.
Plus rescuing her daughter did deserve some form of compensation.
"Here, give this to your Ashikabi," Takami said as she fished a photo from the pocket of her lab coat and handed it to Yume. This image was the sole reason she had decided to speak with Yume on the rooftop instead of in the Hospital. Minaka found her useful, that usefulness would end if he got word of what she was doing right now.
Yume took the photo and looked at it curiously. Her eyes widened as she noticed something peculiar in the image.
"This is…"
"Just make sure he gets it and that he understands what discretion is. I'll disappear if word gets out that I gave that to you."
"Of course, I won't mention that it was you that gave this to me," Yume said as she pocketed the photo. "Farewell Takami-san," she said and took off towards Izumo Inn.
Takami grunted in response and pulled out her last cigarette. There was a small pile on the ground at her feet now. She was running out of options, and quickly losing control over the Sekirei Plan. Instead of controlling it was all she could do to simply retrieve the Sekirei before they expired.
There had been three level fives today. Two of them had been with Higa Izumi when Hanabi had destroyed his helicopter and the last one had been done by one of Higa's Sekirei. The rest were level 4's with the sole exception of the one Yume had deactivated with her incantation. At least they had been able to recover the level 4's in time. Considering Uzumaki Naruto's normal modus operandi this was actually a better result than Takami had feared heading over there.
She would have to change her own methods of doing things soon otherwise she'd risk losing all control over the Sekirei Plan. That meant getting the aid of someone with enough power that Minaka couldn't bully and push around.
Unfortunately with the major players and powers in Japan dropping like flies she was running out of people she could depend on to help keep Minaka in check. As much as she didn't want to work with him, Uzumaki Naruto may be her only hope of reining Minaka in. She doubted she'd be able to control him, but by leaking interesting pieces of information to him she could help direct his chaotic and destructive capabilities.
That photo was one such piece of information. She didn't hand it to Yume just out of sheer sentimentality.
She wasn't that nice.
x~X~x
Naruto's eyes shot open as he sensed someone appear inside the house. There were seals covering the entire place and he knew the moment someone entered the premises and how. This time he felt the tell-tale sign of the Hiraishin seal on the ground floor flaring up and a single person arriving.
That could only mean one thing, Yume had returned from the Hospital.
Naruto carefully slid out from Hanabi's embrace and quietly slipped off the bed. His wife grumbled in discontent at the sudden loss of his heat and curled up into a ball to try and preserve the warmth. Naruto smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek before he tucked her in.
He quickly left the room, making sure to close the door behind him, and made his way down the hallway towards the stairs up to B1. There were two bedrooms on B2, both came with their own private bathroom. The one furthest from the stairs, directly across from the work room, was the one that Naruto and Hanabi slept in each night, along with whichever Sekirei's turn it was next to sleep with him alongside Hanabi. The other bedroom belonged to Yume, Naruto's first Sekirei 'true' Sekirei. Blanc, Chime and Akitsu all had rooms on floor B1.
Blanc had been rather upset at that decision but it had stemmed more from the fact that she was denied the room closest to the library than because of any sort of preferential treatment.
Due to the nature of the place the ground and floor was rarely, if ever, used, and the second floor was almost always empty, it was basically one giant glorified guest floor that would probably never see any guests. The neighbours were used to there not being very much activity in the house so it wasn't strange for there to be little to no movement in the upper floors.
The Hiraishin seal that linked Epsilon Point to Izumo Inn was located in the middle on the first floor just outside the secret room. Naruto had contemplated long and hard as to where it should be placed but ultimately decided it was safer on the first floor, just in case someone decided to tag along when one of his Sekirei used it.
Naruto and his Sekirei had all but moved into Epsilon Point and treated it as their primary home now. Naruto still paid for his two rooms at Izumo Inn but they were really just places to rest and relax during the day and not a place to sleep. Izumo Inn was just too small for them and Miya's rules were just a little too restrictive.
More importantly however was that none of them could sleep well with Ayesha in the same building as them.
Thinking of Ayesha Naruto still couldn't figure out a way to use her properly. She was always around Minato and his Sekirei when she wasn't locked in her room or tied up in some other task of Miya's. There was no way to drop hints for her to take back to whatever master she served without making Minato, and more importantly Homura and Matsu, suspicious of his activities.
It may be better to simply neutralize her soon like Hanabi had initially suggested. The only reason he still hesitated was due to Miya. There had to be a reason why she hadn't thrown the girl out herself.
She restricted Ayesha's actions, always making sure someone was with her at all times when she was in the kitchen and never letting her out of her sight for very long otherwise. Naruto knew that Miya didn't trust Ayesha but couldn't fathom a reason as to why Miya didn't simply eliminate her or throw her out.
And that worried him. Miya knew something about Ayesha that he didn't and until he figured out what that was he was taking a cautious approach in his dealings with the enigma.
Naruto met Yume in the hallway just outside the stairs heading down to B2. She looked absolutely exhausted.
"Naruto-kun," Yume said with a small smile on her face as she noticed her Ashikabi. "Did I wake you up?" She asked as she noticed his state of undress.
"It's fine, I couldn't sleep well without you here anyways." It was Yume's turn to sleep with him and Hanabi tonight and it felt a little lonely without her presence on his other side.
Naruto wrapped his arm around Yume's waist and guided her towards the kitchen. Yume leaned into his embrace and let herself be guided through the hallway. It was nice to be able to lean on someone after the hectic day she had.
It had been an intense day for them all and they had all decided to retire early for the night, everyone save Yume who had stayed by Yukari's side.
"How's Izumo Inn?" Naruto asked as the two of them entered the kitchen. He didn't have any idea how the residents of that place took the events of today. He had used the Hiraishin soon after they had left the area around Higa Pharmaceuticals and had skipped returning to Izumo Inn.
"Tense, you may not want to show your face there for a while," Yume said as she watched her Ashikabi rummage through the fridge.
Naruto grabbed some juice and closed the fridge. He pulled two glasses out from the cupboards and poured them both a glass. "Miya must be pretty upset by now," he said as he handed a glass to Yume.
She gratefully accepted the juice and took a sip, "Yes, she was staked out the front door with her masks fully deployed and her sword unsheathed."
Naruto winced, he knew Miya was upset, especially after the first couple sets of memories. Some of his more sadistic clones had decided it would be fun to paint Izumo Inn orange like the rest of the city.
Naruto now had memories of what Kakashi's special technique, the 'Thousand Years of Pain' felt like when someone used a sword instead of their fingers. By the time Miya had finished dispatching the second squad that had tried to paint her Inn she had looked absolutely livid.
He never saw her in his memories from the destroyed clones after that. Any time one of his clones got within half a mile of Izumo Inn they were inexplicably dispelled in horrible and violent manners, each one worse than the last.
"I had hoped my clones wouldn't have been dumb enough to try anything on Izumo Inn but I guess that was hoping for too much," Naruto muttered.
"Why don't you just dispel all the clones at once?" Yume asked curiously, she knew he could forcefully dispel them whenever he wanted. He could have avoided this entire mess if he wanted to.
"I can't. Well I can but it would kill me," he said with a sigh and downed his juice in a single gulp. "I get the memories from my clones when they dispel, what do you think would happen if over two hundred thousand hours' worth of memories slammed into my head all at once?"
Yume could probably guess. That kind of mental overload would be fatal. At best it would put Naruto into a coma he might never wake from.
"They're dispelling themselves as quickly as they can, they've just decided to have some fun in the meantime."
"They've turned the city upside down, literally in some places." Yume pointed out as she remembered all the structures that were upside or even turned inside out. She didn't even want to know how Naruto managed to swap the subway with the street. "Hanabi-san was upset."
"Don't remind me." Naruto winced, "She's taken ramen away from me for the next month. It would have been worse but she forgave me for the lights pretty easily and she knows that even if I hadn't given my clones the order to go wild they would have gotten bored and turned Shinto Teito inside out anyways." Especially the Kurama clones, what they did made his pranks look tame by comparison.
He didn't even want to know where Kurama had found the ten-story Barney doll. That thing was an abomination and things had just gone from bad to worse when Kurama's clones started to re-enact Godzilla with it, he even managed to make the damn thing spit fire.
He was now responsible for yet ANOTHER depopulated section of Shinto Teito.
Naruto could understand why he did this, he wanted to leave something behind to be remembered by, but some things just crossed the line.
Naruto sighed, thinking about Kurama always made him remember how little time he had left. This was probably going to be the very last time Kurama could do anything before he was fully absorbed. From the way things were progressing he would be gone in two days.
Yume's voice broke him out of his musings, "Why am I not surprised that you are more upset about the loss of ramen than you are about the damages done to the city?" she asked with more than a little amusement in her voice.
"Hey!" Naruto protested as he pointed a finger at his Sekirei, "Ramen is the greatest food ever created! To be denied it is to be denied life itself."
Yume couldn't help but smile at her Ashikabi's exuberance. His obsession with Ramen was borderline insane, but it never ceased to bring a smile to her face. Unfortunately the smile didn't last as she remembered what it was that Takami had given to her.
"Naruto-kun…" Yume started as she pulled the photo out from between her breasts. "Takami gave this to me earlier today, as thanks for saving her daughter." She held the photo out to her Ashikabi.
Naruto took the photo from Yume with his free hand, "Oh? I'm not sure I'm interested in seeing naked pictures of…" He trailed off as his eyes landed on the person in the image. The glass shattered in his hands when he recognized who it was.
It would be impossible for him not to recognize who it was.
"Naruto-kun!" Yume cried out in alarm as blood dripped off his hand. Fragments of the glass had embedded themselves in his palm.
"Do you know who this is?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice.
"No, but those eyes…" Yume trailed off as she concentrated on Naruto's injury. She pulled him over to the sink and quickly began to pull the shards out of his hand and rinse it with water.
"The man in this photo, is Hanabi's father, Hyuga Hiashi," Naruto stated in a dead voice.
Yume stopped washing Naruto's hand, startled by the revelation, but a smile soon creased her face again. "Really? That's great!"
"Is it?" Naruto asked, Yume gave him a curious look, "The problem with this image is simple: Hyuga Hiashi is dead." When the cleanup team had finally made it to the outpost where Hiashi had confronted Sasuke they had found three dead ANBU and what was left of Hiashi's body. The head was missing as were several important pieces of his anatomy.
What was even more worrisome was his presence here, now. Even if he had somehow miraculously survived a beheading and thousands of years of history, what was he doing in Shinto Teito?
"I don't understand," Yume said worriedly. She remembered Naruto's story, if everything was as Naruto and Hanabi predicted then it's been ten thousand years since they were ejected from their home. Logically speaking Hiashi shouldn't be alive, even if he hadn't been killed.
"Neither do I, and that makes me even more worried." Naruto regarded his Sekirei with a serious expression, "You can NOT tell Hanabi about this."
"But why not? She should know that her father is alive," Yume protested.
"She should, yes, when we have more than a simple picture to show her. There's no point in worrying her about something like this right now."
"But-."
"That's an order Yume," Naruto commanded with all the authority he could bring to bear, tugging on the bond for good measure. He hated doing this to someone he cared about but this was important. Hanabi just finished dealing with Higa, he wasn't going to let her fly off and obsess over finding her father.
He'd get his own people to look into it and confront Hanabi when he had some concrete information for her.
"Yes Ashikabi-sama," Yume said as she looked down sadly. Some part of her could understand where Naruto was coming from but she truly felt from the bottom of her heart that Hanabi deserved to know about this.
Naruto sighed and placed a hand comfortingly on Yume's shoulder. "I'm not doing this to be cruel. This is necessary, now go and get some sleep, you're tired and Hanabi could use some company."
Yume nodded sadly and quietly left the kitchen.
Naruto waited for Yume to leave before he let out another sigh. He could feel her disappointment in him but there wasn't anything he could do to help that. Hanabi must not find out about this, not with what little information they had.
He knew her, she would blow up and take Shinto Teito apart stone by stone in an attempt to find her father.
He glanced at the image again and brushed a hand through his hair, heedless to the blood he smeared across it. A grimace crossed his face. There wouldn't be any sleep for him tonight, this was too important to leave until later. He'd have to get started now.
Naruto quickly strode from the kitchen, a clone appearing beside him as he willed its existence with a flare of his chakra. He held the photo up for the clone to see as he quickly made his way to the command and control room.
"I have new orders for the clones that are still out and about. Enough messing around, it's time to get for work," Naruto said to the clone beside him. He brushed his hand across the seal on his chest and his Hokage wardrobe wrapped itself around him. It wasn't entirely necessary to clothe himself but he felt more comfortable commanding as the Hokage than as Naruto, that and it was chilly to be walking around down here in just his boxers.
He began to instruct his clone what it was that he wanted done, when it dispelled its memories would filter down to the other six thousand that were still running rampant throughout Shinto Teito.
The clones still out there wouldn't last long but with that many running about he'd get results no matter how long they lasted. At the very least he'd know where not to look, even if they didn't find anything.
After he finished giving out his orders the clone dispelled itself. Naruto walked over to the table in the center of the room and picked up the communication device. He knew his clones weren't stupid enough to simply destroy their devices. He'd be able to direct their efforts over the communication line.
He glanced at the map of Shinto Teito in the center of the table and began to plan.
There was work to be done.
x~X~x
Hanabi cracked an eye open as the creaked and presence settled down upon it. "Naruto-kun?" she asked sleepily as she rolled over.
"It's me Hanabi-san, Naruto-kun is upstairs in the kitchen," Yume said softly as she tried to make herself comfortable. The mission and the subsequent results had driven yesterday's conversation from her mind but now that it was just Hanabi and her together in bed she became unsure of herself.
Perhaps it would be better if she gave her spot beside Naruto to someone else tonight…
"Oh, Yume-san, that's good I wanted to speak with you privately," Hanabi said as she propped herself up on her elbow.
"Hanabi-san?" Yume asked in concern, it was probably about their discussion the day before.
Was Hanabi still upset with her?
"I… want to apologize for my rudeness yesterday," Hanabi started, her voice soft and regretful.
"No, you don't need to apologize, you-."
"Let me finish," Hanabi snapped and Yume quickly shut her mouth, "I'm trying to apologize here so don't interrupt me." She took a deep breath and continued on, "I was irritated and took it out on you. I know you were just trying to help and I appreciate your concern. However this isn't going to be a situation that you can help with. Miya and I are very much alike; this is something we need to work out between the two of us. Having someone work as an intermediate will just cheapen the end result. Miya has to work up the courage to confess her feelings, either to myself or to Naruto-kun. This is something she has to overcome herself, otherwise any feelings that arise will be half-hearted and transitory."
"So you're… not opposed to sharing with her?" Yume asked, there was a tinge of hope in her voice.
"As she is now, I am. I feel for her, for her situation, but I'm not going to share Naruto-kun with someone whose love isn't strong enough to overcome her fears."
"I understand," Yume said sadly. She hoped for a more positive response but at least it wasn't a flat out no.
"Oh come over here Yume-san," Hanabi said as she pulled the brown haired Sekirei into her arms.
"Hanabi-san?" Yume asked in confusion.
"I'm not mad at you anymore, you don't need to lay so far away from me."
"Well…"
"Shhh, this is the part where we kiss and make up," Hanabi said as her hand snaked down Yume's chest and slipped between her legs.
Yume gasped as Hanabi's fingers slipped inside her, "Ah! Hanabi-san!"
"It's just the two of us right now and I'm more than a little curious." Her fingers began to work themselves inside Yume faster and faster. She channeled her chakra through her finger tips and used it to caress the soft folds in the deepest part of her.
Yume let out a scream of pleasure and began to write under Hanabi's ministrations. A second hand gently cupped her breast and began to knead it gently.
"H-Hanabi-san!"
"Shhh, it's alright Yume-san, it's just the two of us until Naruto-kun comes to bed. I'm going to make sure you're ready to beg for him when he arrives," Hanabi whispered into her ear.
Yume couldn't say anything more from that point on, drowned in a haze of pleasure.
x~X~x
The sky was overcast and looked as if it could rain at any moment, the weather report had indicated there would be heavy rainfall and possible thunder storms by evening. Naruto disliked fighting in the rain. Naruto had decided to leave early in the day so he could find Karasuba before the sky opened up.
Blanc was figuring out where the storage unit with the ancient Sekirei was, the street address she remembered from the document was old and had changed since it had been created ten years ago. Yume had been still asleep when they left and Akitsu was out at the Church of Kurama holding another mass.
Chime was at Izumo Inn keeping everyone there company. She was also keeping a discrete eye on Ayesha.
He had brought Hanabi long with him to help him in his efforts to find Karasuba. Her eyes were invaluable in this regard. The only problem was that she was mad at him.
"I can't believe you stayed up all night working," Hanabi muttered bitterly. She was still upset by the fact that Naruto hadn't come back to bed last night.
"I said I was sorry," Naruto apologized for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"I had Yume-san all worked up for you as well. It was difficult to keep her on the very edge for so long. Well, I suppose working her into a climax several times was satisfying in its own way," Hanabi admitted. She had been able to experiment on Yume in quite a few interesting new ways.
Naruto was seriously beginning to regret staying up all night to track down more information on Hanabi's father. From the sounds of it Yume and Hanabi had gone on and entertained themselves without him. He became hard just thinking about the two of them together.
Damn his sense of responsibility.
"Again I'm sorry," Naruto muttered, although this time he wasn't quite sure if he was apologizing to Hanabi or his libido.
Hanabi just shook her head sadly and changed the subject, "Do you honestly believe this Karasuba will retrieve Miya-san's sword for you?" she asked as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Her Byakugan was active as she searched for the Sekirei Naruto had described to her.
"Yes," Naruto reaffirmed as he followed behind closely behind his wife. "The question isn't so much as to whether or not she'll retrieve it, but what she'll demand in return for her cooperation."
"I can probably guess," Hanabi said. While she had never met the woman in person from what Naruto had said about her she was an easy person to understand. She loved and thrived on battle.
"I just hope it's not kinky violent bed sex," Naruto muttered under his breath. Now that he thought about it Karasuba hadn't sounded like she was joking when she had mentioned that a couple days ago.
Hanabi shot him a quick look, "What was that?" She could have sworn she heard something rather disturbing.
"Nothing dear."
The two settled into a comfortable silence after that as they continued to search the city for the Black Sekirei.
It was a few minutes later as they were passing near MBI that Hanabi found her. "We should have checked here first," Hanabi said as she peered up at MBI.
"She's at MBI?" Naruto had wanted to avoid that place if at all possible. That place made him uneasy at best.
"Yes, she's standing on the roof staring down at the city," she replied as she analyzed the Black Sekirei. She was dressed in her usual garb and had the same self-satisfied smile on her face that she always wore.
"Well, let's go take her some place we can talk." He had already devised a location to speak with her, a place where they could talk without anyone else overhearing them.
"She'll resist," Hanabi reminded him. She could already tell just from Karasuba's posture that she wasn't one to willingly do what another asked of her. Hanabi could almost see the arrogance and pride oozing from her pours.
"I don't intend to give her the chance to resist," Naruto said and jumped across the large gap to the main MBI building. He quickly shot up the side of the building, Hanabi followed closely beside him.
Naruto reached out and grasped Hanabi's hand as they crested the top of the building.
"Hi," Naruto greeted Karasuba as he appeared beside her, Hanabi in hand.
The grin on Karasuba's face widened but before she could open her mouth to speak Naruto grabbed her wrist. The Black Sekirei's eyes shot open all the way and the three of them disappeared in a flash of light.
Karasuba stumbled but quickly regained her balance as the three of them reappeared miles away under the Hokage Monument that Naruto's clones had created the day before. There was another flash of light as Naruto and Hanabi disappeared and reappeared a few meters away.
Just in case Karasuba decided to lash out instinctively due to the sudden relocation.
It only took a few moments for Karasuba to become readjusted to her surroundings. She quickly took them all in and flashed Naruto a menacing grin. "That's an interesting trick. You didn't use that when we fought before; don't tell me you were going easy on me?"
"Never mind that," Naruto said as he brushed away her question. He had a feeling if a fight would break out instantly right then and there if he did say he had been going easy on her. He had kept the fight strictly sword-play which had kept his arsenal of ninjutsu out of it. "I wanted to ask something of you, away from the prying eyes of MBI."
"You do realize I'm the dog of MBI right?" Karasuba asked with an amused smile on her face.
"And yet you haven't told them about any of our encounters," Naruto pointed out. He was certain Karasuba had kept quiet about all of their battles otherwise MBI would have responded against him in some form by now.
Karausba didn't deny it as she placed her hands on her hips, "You interest me, continue to do so and I see no reason to let MBI to know anything about us."
"I'm sure I can find something of interest," Naruto replied, "You mentioned Miya's sword a few days ago, you said I should look for it, well I did, and found out you have it." Or rather MBI had it but it amounted to the same thing.
The smile on Karasuba's face grew even wider. "You already knew where it was didn't you," Hanabi said suddenly.
"Of course. When two skilled fighters cross blades they're able to learn much about one another's personality. Despite your toy's ruthless nature on the outside I could tell he has a bleeding heart on the inside." Her smile became positively vicious, "I knew he would search for Miya's sword, and that would bring him back to me, another chance to battle a worthy opponent. There are so few people worth fighting."
Hanabi scowled at the Black Sekirei. She definitely did not like this woman, this Sekirei. All she cared about was battle, everything else was irrelevant.
"If you want a battle I can give you one, provided you retrieve the sword for me," Naruto said as he presented the deal for Karasuba.
"No, I have a better idea," Karasuba said as she thought for a moment. As much as she wanted to fight Naruto there was one person she wanted to battle more than anyone else. "I want Yume."
Naruto frowned and gave Karasuba a steady look. "I can't speak for her. I can't force her into a battle she doesn't want," he said finally.
"Then I won't retrieve the sword for you," Karasuba stated with finality, "You provide me with a place to fight Yume one-on-one with no interruptions, and I'll get you the sword. Otherwise you're on your own."
Naruto weighed his options. They could always simply infiltrate MBI to try and find the sword, but it could be anywhere. Higa's records had stated that MBI had the sword; there was no mention of who had it or where it was kept. It could take weeks, months even, to find it let alone retrieve it.
Plus that sort of infiltration would signal the start of a conflict with Minaka and Naruto wasn't in any position to do that right now. Even he knew that force of arms wasn't going to be able to bring Minaka down alone.
"Give me a moment to ask Yume how she feels about this," Naruto said and disappeared in another flash of light.
Karasuba turned to Hanabi, "Your toy has some interesting abilities."
"He's not my toy, he's my husband," Hanabi snapped back. She did not like the way Karasuba had been eyeing her husband while the two of them had been conversing.
"Toy, husband, same thing," Karasuba said in an off-hand manner as if it was the most natural conclusion in the world. "I may have to take him for myself after I kill you and all his other Sekirei."
Hanabi eyes blazed as she glared furiously at the Black Sekirei, her hands twitched as she envisioned ramming then through Karasuba's eyes. "I'd like to see you try and kill me. Besides he's too much man for you to handle."
"Oh now you're just sweet talking. There's no man that can't be broken, and the more stubborn they are the sweeter they taste when they finally break. I look forward to breaking Naruto-kun in."
That's it, if Yume didn't tear Karasuba's arms from her body and beat her with them she was going to do it herself. The only thing that prevented Hanabi from attacking Karasuba right there was that she knew Naruto was too far above and beyond Karasuba to be broken by the likes of her, "You really don't understand how powerful my Naruto-kun is do you?" Hanabi hissed at Karasuba, "The fact that you wish to fight Yume-san proves that. You feel Yume-san is a challenge that you must overcome and defeat." It's the only thing that made any sense, Karasuba wouldn't wish to fight her for any other reason, "Yume-san is powerful, but Naruto-kun is in an entirely different dimension. As much as I hate to belittle Yume-san's skill she wouldn't last half a second against a serious Naruto-kun."
"Good, it wouldn't be any fun if he was easy," Karasuba said with glee.
There was a flash of light and Naruto reappeared beside Hanabi. He opened his mouth but paused as he noticed the tension in the air. "Did I miss something?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Nothing Naruto-kun, just a little friendly banter," Hanabi said dismissively.
Karasuba laughed, "Your little Sekirei there really knows how to make a girl happy."
Naruto didn't want to know what Hanabi said that made Karasuba feel happy inside. "Ah, well anyways Yume agreed to the battle," he said as he brought the discussion back on track.
The smile on Karasuba's face was both brilliant and disturbing all at the same time. It was like someone had finally received a Christmas gift they had always wanted, just so they could break it in as many different ways as possible.
"She really agreed?" Hanabi asked worriedly. She knew Yume-san was strong, but Karasuba was no slouch either. From what she could see with her eyes the two of them had equal amounts of chakra. The winner would probably boil down to luck and experience.
"Yes," Naruto replied. There had been a guilty look in Yume's eyes when he had mentioned the reason for the battle. Yume had quickly agreed and he had heard her mutter under her breath something about an apology. He turned back to Karasuba, "Bring the sword here, tomorrow, at 11:00 am and I will have this place set up so it can properly handle a battle between the two of you. If you hand me the sword then, I'll leave the perimeter and you'll be able to fight with Yume to your heart's content."
Karasuba sighed with lust, "You really know how to please a woman Naruto. Bring me Yume and you'll have your sword." She turned to leave but paused after a few steps, she looked back over her shoulder and fired Naruto a grin, "We'll have to settle our fight soon as well, oh how I look forward to that." She licked her lips.
"Hakke Kūshō!" The ground exploded as Hanabi lashed out at Karasuba but the Black Sekirei was already gone, leaving laughter behind in her wake.
"What did I miss?" Naruto asked in wonderment as he stared at the crater. Karasuba must have really riled his wife up while he was gone.
"I said it was NOTHING Naruto-kun. Let's go," Hanabi said as she started to drag Naruto away from the area.
x~X~x
A thin Japanese man entered the small, dimly lit office. He had short black hair, brown eyes and wore a small pair of spectacles. He held a small package tightly under his right arm, as if he was afraid to drop it. Water dripped off parts of his clothing has he made his way across the room, the coat he had worn here hadn't kept the rain off him nearly as well as he had hoped.
The man stopped as he reached the desk. "I brought the package Councillor Naoki." The man addressed the individual sitting behind the desk. It was the only real piece of furniture in the room aside from a couple chairs and it dominated a significant portion of it.
Aside from the desk and the few chairs the office was devoid of most furnishings beyond a few simple pictures hanging from the walls and a heavy curtain that was drawn fully across the window.
There was one other person in the room aside from him and the Councillor. A woman with luxurious waist length sky blue hair and brilliant blue eyes leaned against the far wall with her arms crossed. She wore an ankle length strapless white and black leather dress with black trim that was opened at the front and flared out to the sides, exposing her navel and legs. The dress itself was held up by a metal brace just beneath her breasts. Beneath the dress she wore a black sports bra that wrapped around her neck, covering her chin, and a thigh length black skirt of some unknown material. Her hands and forearms were covered by fingerless leather gloves and black sleeves.
The most unique aspect about her were the pair of knee high white metal boots, the armor plating wrapped around her hips, and the enormous two-handed sword strapped across her back, the blade of which itself was longer than she was tall and almost as wide as her torso. All three were made out of some unknown material that far surpassed the strength and durability of anything they could produce these days.
She was a Sekirei, the councillor's Sekirei. He had found her eleven years prior and she had been his shadow this entire time. In fact if it weren't for her, the councillor would have died during Minaka's assault on Parliament. She had cut a hole in the wall and had escaped with him before Minaka's Sekirei could locate him.
The councillor had only been able to extract two of the three Sekirei that had found back then. The third had an incredibly complex locking mechanism they hadn't been able to unlock before the mountain had collapsed. They had been forced to leave that one behind. Higa Pharmaceuticals had picked it up later. However now that the company was starting to flounder an opportunity to obtain the third Sekirei would soon arise.
As for the second Sekirei, she was elsewhere. She wasn't particularly suited for this kind of work.
The councillor himself was a large, well built, man with dark eyes. His neck length brown hair was streaked with gray, although more due to genetics and stress than age. He was only in his late thirties. Finding the Sekirei had been a boon for his political career and he had advanced very quickly despite his young age.
He was also normally a very well kept individual, often opting to wear a full black suit and tie. Right now however the coat was hung up, the tie was nowhere to be seen and the shirt and the top two buttons undone. His entire attire had a rumple look to it as if he had been wearing it for some time now.
Naoki looked up from his laptop and gave the man a tired smile, "Thank you Aoi-san, just set it down there," he said as he gestured towards the desk. "You weren't seen arriving here were you?"
"I don't believe so, the rain makes it difficult for anyone to see anything," Aoi replied as he placed the package on the desk. It was a torrential downpour out there now. You'd have to be completely insane to be out there in that weather.
Of course the person they were guarding against was completely insane so Aoi had taken extra precautions to ensure that he had not been followed, just in case.
Minaka had made a few mistakes during his takeover of Japan. There were several councillors still at large and they were working against him. Naoki was one of them, the foremost among them due to his Sekirei. The others were acting as screens, drawing Minaka's attention and his small group of elite forces away from Naoki and the real plans to bring the madman down.
Naoki also had many connections in the military, both regular and special operations. Minaka currently had 'legal' control over them, but the reality of the situation was that the moment Naoki asked for it half the military was ready to turn on the emperor.
If it weren't for Minaka's private forces, MBI, and his Sekirei he'd already be deposed.
However powerful, crafty and intelligent Minaka was, he looked down on them too much. He thought too little of them to bring his full attention down on them now that he has seized control of Japan. Well that would be his downfall in the end.
The only true concern that Naoki had was that he had no way of dealing with were those damnable 'Sekirei' of Minaka's. The ones he had used to subdue parliament. Conventional weaponry had been useless against them so if he wanted to oust Minaka he was going to have to fight fire with fire.
He had his own Sekirei but there was no way he could ask Alayna to face twelve of them alone and Neptune was… an odd ball to say the least. She was better off entertaining, and protecting if he were to believe her words, his daughter than fighting a war.
That's what the package was. A bargaining chip to get the means he needed to fight against Minaka's Sekirei.
He had originally planned to use it to force Higa Izumi to cooperate, that man had the largest number of Sekirei under his control at the time, but recent events have forced him to adjust.
There was someone else he intended to deal with now, someone whose quality may surpass Minaka's quantity, especially when combined with Naoki's own Sekirei and resources. The biggest obstacle would be getting in contact with that man without tipping off Minaka.
As one would expect Minaka kept that man under surveillance whenever possible. As mad as Minaka was he recognized a threat when he saw one, even if he couldn't always track the man because of his teleportation abilities.
Naoki slid his hand across the top of the package, "Good, good," Naoki said as he carefully unwrapped it. A small black box became visible as the wrappings fell away. Naoki carefully lifted the lid of the box and glanced inside. "Perfect, with this I have the bargaining chip I need."
There inside the black box was a USB stick and two silvery orbs encased in a crystal structure with the numbers 1 and 2 engraved upon them.
He took the USB stick and pocketed it. That was for his own personal gain after Minaka was dealt with.
The other two objects were the real bargaining chips. With these two objects, these 'Jinki', he would be able to garner the attention, and support, of the only power left in Japan that had the ability to stand toe to toe with Minaka's Sekirei.
Author's Note: Do keep in mind that Takami doesn't know what a chakra network is; it's not something that can be easily detected with basic hospital equipment so she wouldn't have noticed it inside Hanabi when she was under her care at the start of the story. The description that Takami gave was her interpretation of what it was, not what it actually is. It really IS the chakra network, that's what the Tama is. An individual's chakra network compressed into a small sphere and manipulated to the extreme through the use of seals. That's why the Sekirei didn't have a chakra network throughout their body it's not that they didn't have one, it's just been compressed into the Tama.
I bet you can all figure out what the next chapter is going to be about! It's gonna be good! At least I think so anyways.
Oh, and as a bit of incentive, and because I just finished Chapter 35 and am like 80,000 words ahead of where the story currently is, if I get 75 reviews for this chapter (by signed in people so one person can't just spam dozens of anonymous reviews) I'll post the next chapter as soon as I reach that benchmark (So basically around 1650 reviews provided every review I get is signed in). Considering I have almost 1400 followers that's like asking for 5% of my readers to review. That's not asking for that much is it?
If not there's no penalty. You'll just get the chapter at it's usual time, in other words whenever I finish the next chapter and at least one week has come and gone. Just giving an option for a speedier release of the next chapter.
That being said, I would appreciate more than just a "AWESOME CHAPTER! ZOMGZ!" but it's not required. I realize even asking for 75 reviews is probably pushing it so I probably shouldn't try to also ask for 75 actual comments on my chapter. ^_^