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: I just want to mention something, last chapter I went into detail about Naruto and his emotions, and the level of control he has over them. I won't be saying 'mask' this or 'mask' that. Consider it a given unless otherwise stated.
Review Responses: If you followed the game Hyperdimension Neptunia you'd find out that all four characters, Neptune, Noire, Vert and Blanc have 2 states, their 'normal' state and their transformed 'Goddess' state. Noire, Vert and Neptune were all in their normal states when encountered (Although you only know that for Neptune due Naoki's reaction to her personality since she undergoes a massive personality swap upon change). Blanc is the only one that is encountered in her transformed state. Since transformations change the body both internally and externally they will cause serious strain and potential harm to any child the shape shifter may carry. Hence while transformed they can't carry since they're not in their 'normal' state and it's 'expected' that they'd revert back sooner rather than later.
With Noire, Vert, Blanc and Neptune, I ported over everything from the game. Their personalities, their traits, their skills, their powers, everything. So if something is true about them in the game, it's true about them here in my story. And when I mean everything, I mean EVERYTHING.
Except for their title of 'Goddess.' I didn't transfer the title over, but everything associated with the title I did.
As for Roy, he's not the only Fullmetal Alchemist character I've ported over, although you won't find out who the other person is until later. However unlike the Hyperdimension Neptunia ones, it's appearance only with a smattering of personality. Just wanted to use someone with a readily identifiable appearance. Don't expect him to be flinging fire all about with a snap of his fingers.
Chapter 41: Restoration
"How is it looking?" Alpha asked as he approached the group of clones clustered around an odd looking table. The table looked like wood but at the same time didn't, like someone had made a table out of something that was ALMOST wood, but not quite.
Alpha was the name given to the clone in charge of organizing and managing projects while their creator, Naruto, was away. While the other clones were all dressed in varying amounts of Naruto's casual clothing, Alpha was the sole clone that was dressed as a Hokage. It wasn't necessary but it was a useful visual aid for the other clones to utilize to easily identify him on sight.
The table wasn't the only odd thing here. In fact the very island they were on could be considered odd due to the fact that it was floating in the middle of absolutely nothing. The island itself looked as if it was surrounded by an impenetrable wall of darkness, although that was quite far from the truth. It wasn't darkness that surrounded them, but nothing itself. That meant any light that left the island, never returned. It just kept going forever. Since there was nothing for the light to reflect off and return it looked like a wall of absolute darkness.
Another odd thing was the source of light on the island. The light simply was, it was just there. There was no source, or rather there was no 'single' source, everything was a source. Everything gave off its own light. It defied all laws of the normal universe, but Naruto was never one to care about what was 'normal' and his clones shared those sentiments.
Their creator, Naruto, had not wanted them to create dimensional portals on Earth, or even in that universe, for fear of letting a nightmare get through. Alpha understood his creator's sentiment, that was certainly not their plan nor anything they desired.
So to mitigate that possibility they had simply created an alternate dimension. They had opened a portal into the nothingness between dimensions and created an island from which to continue the experiments. The island wasn't that large, maybe a mile in diameter, and was covered in what appeared at first glance to be a soft bed of grass. Upon closer inspecting one would notice that it was something completely alien instead, like someone had tried to create grass from nothing and had stopped halfway there. It looked like grass, smelt like grass, felt like grass, but it was not grass, it had a sense of 'wrongness' to it that no one could ignore.
The fact that the grass seemed to sway like it was being blown by a gentle breeze contributed to the sense of wrongness since the air was completely motionless.
The island was the best place to continue the dimensional experiments. Should the worst come to pass and a nightmare did force its way through they could detonate the entire thing and completely annihilate everything, returning the island and everything on it to nothing.
Since they were all clones it wouldn't be a cause for concern because they were expendable by nature.
The island was subject to its own unique laws of nature, completely under the control of Naruto's clones. They had lost almost a thousand clones making the dimensional island and the laws associated with it but they had managed to do it. Manipulating the laws of reality was a tricky thing; if you didn't do it properly you could easily wipe out all life in an instant.
"We're getting closer," Gamma said, glancing over at Alpha momentarily before looking back at the diagram on the table.
Alpha was the clone in overall control of all groups and projects. After him were clones Beta through Eta. Each one worked on a different problem that needed to be solved.
Beta was in charge of reactivating the Sekirei after being terminated.
Gamma was in charge of finding a particular dimension.
Delta group, the largest by far, were out in remote areas practicing Ninjutsu.
Epsilon group was devising new Ninjutsu for Delta group to practice.
Zeta group was in charge of figuring out a way to circumvent death. They weren't trying to devise ways to become immortal, but rather bring someone back who had died prematurely. That group struggled the most with their task. Had they been back in the Elemental Nation things would have been easy, here however this planet treated Death far differently. Whereas in the Elemental Nations Death merely transitioned a soul from one place to another, a place all souls shared, here the souls were sent many different places through various means after death. The location differed depending on their accomplishments in life. From the reports he had seen some of the locations just didn't make sense or existed outside of time. It made things very difficult for them to make any solid progress. The concept of death was a little different here than back in the Elemental Nations.
The chances of there being any progress in that area quickly enough to be of use in the war against Orochimaru was slim to nil; if there was even any progress to be made at all.
Eta group was the last group, they were the ones charged with rewriting existence or at least finding ways of doing so. They were elsewhere. Much like Beta and his group they were stationed in a place outside of the universe where they could freely manipulate things without fear of destroying the world.
That group had to be replaced on an almost hourly basis. Some of the things they had come up with were down right frightening, even to Alpha and the other clones. At the very least they were learning a lot of what they should 'not' do.
Reversing gravity for instance was not as simple as simply making you fall upwards. Falling upwards was simply 'shifting' the direction of gravity, Hanabi could do that. Truly reversing gravity caused all SORTS of problems at the atomic level.
That had definitely been one of the more unpleasant set of memories.
All told there were just over two thousand different clones between the six groups with Delta being the largest of them.
"How close is closer?" Alpha asked as he stopped just behind Gamma and peered over his shoulder.
"We have found half the proper coordinates for the dimension," Gamma said as he tapped a finger on the diagram.
The diagram charted the multi-verse. Naruto had created a four-point coordinate system by which to categorize the different dimensions and the clones had been using it to create a map of the multi-verse.
"Half is good," Alpha said approvingly.
"Yes, we're opening portals to the Elemental Nations every time, so we're hitting the right universe, but unfortunately it's always the 'wrong' Elemental Nations," Gamma said, "There are always large discrepancies between the Elemental Nations we connect with and the information we have gleaned from Yuuchi and Miya."
"So not only are there multiple universes, but multiple variations OF each universe," Alpha said.
"Yes, although we hope to connect with the proper one within the next couple weeks. Each time we adjust the coordinates the world we connect to is closer to what Miya and Yuuchi described."
"How will we know when we hit the right one?"
"We don't think that'll be a problem," Gamma said as, tilting his head and giving the map of coordinates a queer look. "It's odd. Logic would dictate that there should be an alternate Elemental Nations for every possible potential action, but that's not the case. It's like its split into chunks, sections. As if the only time a new alternate universe is created is when a large change, like some sort of key event, is altered."
"What kind of key events are we talking about?"
"Like Uchiha Madara actually being killed by Hashirama and not miraculously surviving due to a Dues Ex Machina."
"That's pretty big," Alpha said. That would completely and irrevocably change the history of the Elemental Nations.
"Exactly, our old man actually lived long enough to hand over the Hokage's hat to us. We got quite a few odd looks and double takes while walking around there. Anyways whenever we connect to a dimension there's always… I don't know, sort like a shift, it's almost imperceptible, but it's there. We think it's the universe or timeline shifting the connection to the primary timeline of that alternate dimension," Gamma said. To be honest they had absolutely no idea what was causing the shift, but something was. All they had was guesses and hypotheses at the moment.
They didn't dwell on it too much though, it made things easier so no need to try and dissect the reason behind it.
"Keep up the good work. You still have some time yet. The Hiraishin no Jutsu hasn't been refined enough to be useful for 'The Plan'," Alpha said.
By using clones in tandem with each other they were able to move larger and larger landmasses. However the number seemed to end at a twelve. Beyond twelve there didn't seem to be any benefit to having more working together. Refinement seemed to be the only thing now that helped expand the size and range.
The Hiraishin no Jutsu had been an inefficient technique once you pushed it past the point of personal teleportation. If you were only transporting yourself, or a small group of people, it was fine. However when you started to increase the size of what you were transporting the mistakes and deficiencies started to appear. There were several clones working on more efficiently connecting the start point with the destination. A smoother glide through space meant they could transport larger objects using less chakra. In addition the clones were also increasing the effectiveness of pinpoint teleportation. No more would they arrive within a few inches of their desired location. They were going to narrow it down to within a few micrometers.
They were also working on reducing the delay between departure and arrival. There was a small lag, almost unnoticeable, when using the technique. The transition from one point to another wasn't as a smooth as it could be.
If all of those areas were improved and Naruto had his chakra control refined with that particular technique even further then it was theoretically possible to move anything.
"We'll be rea—"
The clones all froze as a particular set of memories arrived.
"Keep at it," Alpha said as he turned and bolted across the island.
Heading through the dimensional portal to Charlie Point he quickly made his way down the well-trodden hallways to Karasuba's room. A dozen clones fell in behind him along the way; all of them were ready to do battle.
He burst into the room and quickly took stock of the situation. The clones behind him quickly scattered around the room.
"It's fine, we got her under control," Beta said quickly as Alpha and the others appeared in the room.
"What the hell is this!" Karasuba demanded as she struggled against her restraints.
Had they been physical restraints there was no doubt that she would have broken free but Beta and the others had quickly used seals to restrict her movements.
"We'll explain—"
"I will explain," Naruto said as he suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. A startled looking Chime fell to the floor, clearly not prepared for the unexpected teleport.
Karasuba's eyes narrowed as she stared at Naruto intently. "That bastard Minaka killed my Ashikabi, I know he did, how am I active?" she demanded.
"Simple," Naruto said as he moved to her side, "I have reactivated you. You were never killed, simply deactivated and what was deactivated can be reactivated."
A suspicious look crossed her eyes, "And why would you reactivate me? I assume it's not so you can play with me," Karasuba said, her eyes flickering across the bed.
Naruto looked at the clone, "Take your fingers out of her."
"Yes boss."
"I have reactivated you for several reasons. The first reason is simple, so that I can figure out 'how' to reactivate a downed Sekirei," Naruto said.
"So you used me as a guinea pig?" Karasuba asked.
"Yes."
Karasuba stared at Naruto's crotch and sighed lustfully, "You really do have balls, I like that."
"They're MY balls Karasuba," Chime growled as she stood beside Naruto and placed a hand over his balls protectively.
Karasuba just grinned viciously at Chime, "I will enjoy taking them from you."
"Enough about my balls," Naruto said as he interrupted the conversation before it could go to dark places, "As of this moment Karasuba, I have all I 'need' from you. If you don't agree with my next demands I will terminate you here and now."
A thoughtful expression crossed Karasuba's face, "You've hardened since the last time we talked," she said with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Current events haven't allowed me to grow any softer, there will be time for that once Orochimaru is dead," Naruto replied, "Regardless I need two things of you. First, I want you to pledge your support to me in dealing with Orochimaru and his Sekirei."
"Who's this 'Orochimaru' and define 'dealing with,'" Karasuba said.
"You know Orochimaru as Minaka, Orochimaru took over his body years ago. As for 'dealing with,' that means dead, exterminated, killed, obliterated, or whatever word you wish to use."
Karasuba's mouth widened into a full blown smile, it wasn't a very nice smile, "Oh you don't need to force me to do that. I fully intend to hunt down the bitch that toyed with me the moment I get free of these bindings!"
Naruto nodded, he had expected as much, "A lot has changed since you were deactivated. The Sekirei Plan is over, Miya is taking action against it, as are the rest of the major players including myself. We're going to kill Orochimaru, Minaka as you know him, and end this once and for all. However I have plans for you, and you will agree to them otherwise I will simply kill you here and now."
"Oh? Sounds like things are about to get exciting," Karasuba said enthusiastically, completely unperturbed by his threat, "And what plans are these?"
"I'm taking control of all the Sekirei after Minaka has been disposed of," Naruto said, "You do not need to know my plans for them, not at the moment anyways. However I'm certain that there are a few Ashikabi and Sekirei that have grown used to having their own way and won't take kindly to being put under my control." Having access to a powerful Sekirei, one that would have no qualms about being turned into a weapon if their Ashikabi desired it, was intoxicating. Naruto had no doubt there would be a few that would balk at any sort of restriction. "They will be given a warning, if they ignore that warning they are to be hunted down and killed. I want you to be the one that hunts down those that ignore my warning."
It sound very vicious and cruel, but that was the way it needed to be presented to Karasuba. She was the sort that responded positively to that sort of attitude. Chances are there were going to be very few that resisted his plans. It wasn't like he was going to completely ruin the lives of the Ashikabi and their Sekirei, if anything he'd probably improve it for the majority of them.
However like everything else in life there were always going to be exceptions, people that don't care to play by his rules.
"So I go from being MBI's dog, to your dog?" Karasuba asked.
"It's better than being dead."
Karasuba laughed, "You reactivate me to slaughter Minaka's Sekirei and to hunt down your strays in the future! And you'll kill me if I don't agree." She laughed heartily again. As her laughter died down she gave Naruto a look filled with bloodlust and passion, "You really DO know how to make a woman feel wanted."
"So will you accept my conditions?"
"Yes!" There was a flash of light as a seal appeared on Karasuba's chest.
"Good," Naruto said.
"What is this?" Karasuba demanded as she tried vainly to get a glimpse of the seal on the chest. No matter how she tried to twist her head she couldn't see it, she could however feel it burning into her skin.
"Insurance," Naruto replied and disappeared, taking Chime with him.
Alpha snapped his fingers and a set of profiles appeared in his hands. There were six in all, profiles on the various Sekirei that Minaka had. The six that weren't included were ones that Naruto's Sekirei were already handling or, as in the case of Hiashi, had exclusive rights to.
Alpha moved across the room and stopped beside Beta, "Give these to Karasuba and take her elsewhere. I'm sure she'll want to start hunting as soon as possible," he said.
"Right away," Beta said as he took the profiles from Alpha. A moment later Beta and Karasuba were both gone.
"Beta Group, your job is finished, dispel yourselves," Alpha said as he made to leave the room.
A rush a memories quickly filled his head as the group dispelled itself. Buried within those memories was the secret on how to reactivate a downed Sekirei. Hopefully they wouldn't need to use that method again in the future. One of the reasons for unleashing Karasuba was to show Orochimaru that Naruto knew how to reactivate a Sekirei. Hopefully that would actually prevent the snake from even trying that method in the first place. There's no point in using a weapon against someone who already knew a counter-measure for it.
A few minutes later another set of memories, these ones from Beta, appeared. Beta had handed over a set of clothing and the profiles. After getting dressed with some clothing Beta had provided Karasuba had quickly grabbed the files. She had scanned over them and then tossed them away. She had left soon after that with a vicious grin on her face.
Karasuba was on the prowl once more.
x~X~x
Miya looked around her property, surveying the construction that was taking place. Naruto had been here a few minutes ago with Chime but both had suddenly disappeared without any explanation. She was certain there wasn't any problem; she couldn't feel anything across the bond. The pain that she had felt a few days ago still had her on edge, it had all his Sekirei on edge.
His clones had made quick work of her former home. Once Naruto had removed the vines and trees that had torn the place to shreds there really hadn't been very much left. Most of it had collapsed in the process of clearing out the vegetation. The clones had done another quick sweep of the property looking for any undamaged belongings they could recover. The damage unfortunately had been almost universal, aside from small soft malleable items such as clothing and some linen not much more was recovered.
The clothing had been separated into two piles. One of the piles which had all of Miya's clothing and the surviving linen, had already been taken to Epsilon. The second much smaller pile was what was left of Minato's belongings. They were currently stored in a hastily raised shed in the far corner of the property. There was a second shed nearby that served as the departure and arrival points for the Hiraishin no Jutsu.
One of the unique items that had been found was the eighth jinki. Naruto had taken possession of that and had added it to his collection. He now had four of the Jinki, five if you included Kurama in the count. All four were secured safely and bound in seals in the workshop on B2.
After everything that could be recovered had been recovered Naruto's clones had become quite a bit more destructive. The clearing of the debris had taken only an hour as a liberal use of Ninjutsu had reduced the entire thing to kindling, swept it up into a windstorm, and deposited it on the front doorstep of MBI HQ.
It had left a large gaping hole in the middle of her property, a hole however that was now ready to be filled with a solid concrete foundation. While Naruto was very good with his hands and could build just about anything, a leftover from his youth where he had to fix all his household problems himself, he didn't know the first thing about creating the foundation of a home.
To that end they had contracted that job out, which was why Miya was here at the moment. There was a large cement truck parked by the hole in the ground with a dozen or so construction workers nearby helping to guide the concrete into the foundation.
It would be the foundation of the new home she built with Naruto, her Ashikabi. In a very real sense watching this happen felt like starting over. Like all the left over pieces and regrets of her previous life as Takehito's wife, as a widow, as No. 00, were being swept away. In its place she was seeing the foundation of her new life, her future as No. 01, as Naruto's Sekirei and as his wife, created before her.
For the construction workers this was just another routine job.
For her it was the start of a new life.
She had debated long and hard what sort of home she had wanted to build with Naruto. Ultimately it became a tossup between a small private home for just the two of them, or an inn similar in function to the one she had just lost.
She had settled on an inn. She didn't regret everything that happened in the past, and the managing the inn had ultimately led to the meeting with Naruto. That by itself made it worthwhile.
She sensed presences suddenly appear beside her, "You disappeared rather suddenly," Miya commented with a raised eyebrow as Naruto and Chime returned.
"Sorry about that Miya, Karasuba woke up," Naruto said apologetically.
A small frown creased Miya's face, "I don't like you associating with that trash."
"Especially since she seems to want your balls, bro," Chime said as she gave Naruto a frown of her own.
Naruto sighed and shook his head helplessly, "You two… she's not as bad as you both seem to be making her out to be, and she's not getting my balls anyways. They're already split up enough as it is, I don't think I have anything left to even give her if I wanted to."
"Oh? I would be most interested to hear Naruto-kun's explanation as to 'why' Karasuba isn't as bad as we know she is," Miya asked with amusement in her voice, although there was a hint of painful retribution if he didn't answer correctly.
"And don't say she's just 'misunderstood,'" Chime added, "because I won't buy that."
"Oh, she's not, she really is a blood-thirsty battle fanatic," Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders, "But she doesn't 'live' on death, but on the battle itself. It's all she really cares about, it's her life entirely. It's not like she's a psychotic murderer that will run around killing people for fun. Karasuba is very much like the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist back from my time. If you're too weak, you're not even on her radar. She'll ignore you unless you deliberately attack her. If you're strong she'll respect you and listen to you, in her own way of course, while trying to find ways to surpass you. It's only those in-between that really have to worry about Karasuba; people with some strength but neither the potential, nor the will, to become 'strong enough' that have to worry."
"Won't that cause a problem in the future? Most Sekirei fall under that category," Chime pointed out.
"True, but remember most of the Sekirei Karasuba took out was at the behest of MBI. While she will kill the weaker Sekirei if told to fight them, she'd much rather train and focus on those stronger than her. She's not really interested in those beneath her."
Miya let out a long drawn out sigh, "Karasuba will make us her target," she said.
"She'll try, but that's what the seal is for," Naruto said with a grin.
"You mean the seal you placed on her chest?" Chime asked curiously.
"Yes, it's like those 'geases' I've read up on," Naruto said, "It's not a real geas but it simulates the results. Karasuba agreed to my conditions, she'll hunt down Orochimaru's Sekirei and the run-aways that reject my proposition after the war. What she 'doesn't' know yet is that she's restricted to JUST those individuals, and those that attack her first. She can't hunt down anyone else unless I strictly give her permission to do so. So even if she wants to attack us, or any other Sekirei, unless I've given her the okay she's unable to raise her hand against them."
"Does Karasuba-san know about that?" Miya asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto let out a sheepish laugh as he scratched the back of his head, "Ah, I imagine she'll find out eventually."
Miya was about to respond when a black car pulled up on the side of the road in front of her property. The windows of the vehicle were tinted to prevent anyone from being able to see inside. She glanced at it curiously, she could feel one of her own feathers inside the vehicle, it was a familiar presence, so she knew it couldn't be Orochimaru or one his Sekirei.
She glanced over at Naruto and saw that he had noticed the new arrivals as well. There was a thoughtful expression his face although there were tinges of remorse mixed in as well.
The reason for that soon became apparent as the doors opened and Minato stepped out. He looked well for someone on the run from MBI, although bags around his eyes indicated that he wasn't sleeping very well.
Homura followed soon after, looking the same as usual, garbed in her long black trench coat, white-collared shirt, dark pants and black face mask. In her arms was the prone body of Kaho.
"Naruto-san!" Minato called out as he quickly made his way across the property to the blonde-haired Ashikabi.
"It's good to see you Minato, how have you been?" Naruto asked.
"Ah, things could be better I guess…" Minato trailed off as he came to a stop a couple feet from Naruto.
"I'm sorry about your mother," Naruto said.
Naruto was going to avoid mentioning Kusano if he could. Hanabi had told both him and Miya about what she had said to Minato. Naruto didn't like keeping this from his friend but he could see his wife's point of view.
And he wasn't going to make his wife into a liar just for the sake of friendship. As much as he cared about Minato, Hanabi took precedence.
"Thank you," Minato said with sorrow. It was obvious that the recent loss was still hard for him to talk about, "My okaa-san, before she…" Minato stopped and took a deep breath, "she said you would be able to restore Kaho-chan to life."
Naruto glanced over at Homura who had moved up beside her Ashikabi, in her arms was Kaho. Her body was still limp, but alive, after having been terminated by Tsukiumi through the use of her Norito.
"I can but…" Naruto turned to Miya, "I'll need to take her from you, so long as she's connected to the eighth Jinki through you I can't keep her active for more than a few moments."
"So Naruto-kun wants to take yet another one of my feathers from me?" Miya asked playfully. She was fully aware that Naruto had already taken Yume, Chime, Blanc and Akitsu from her.
She had been a little put out at first but she had quickly gotten over it. He had more control over their bond when they were connected with him instead of her; she understood why he had done so from a logical point of view. It still irked her a little however that he hadn't bothered to ask her first.
She had made sure that Naruto was aware of her displeasure. She had used that as an excuse to break in the lawn at Epsilon. That had kicked off the first of potentially many chases around the yard.
"You told me to ask first before I ever did something like that again," Naruto reminded her.
"So I did," Miya said. She turned to Minato and gave him a smile, "Go ahead and revive Kaho-san," she said, giving Naruto her permission and blessing.
Naruto gave Miya a smile and quickly went to work. He channeled chakra through his foot and stomped on the ground. A six by three foot slap of rock rose up three feet from the ground.
"Set her down on that," Naruto said.
Homura just shook her head at how effortlessly Naruto seemed to make the earth rise. She didn't say anything though as she moved to the slab of earth and gently laid Kaho on it.
"You will have to re-wing her," Naruto said as he slipped a hand down the back of Kaho's haori.
He placed his fingers firmly over the location where the Sekirei crest should be and began to channel some of his chakra into it. He could sense the seal there and within her body. She was just like Karasuba, deactivated but nothing more.
"Thank you Naruto-san," Minato said as he bowed his head.
"It's nothing," Naruto said and began the process to reactivate Kaho.
Naruto's clones had actually developed half a dozen different methods of reactivating a Sekirei. Some were complex, others not quite so much. There wasn't any reason to use a couple of the methods but some of the other ones were useful for adding extra restrictions to the Sekirei upon activation.
He hadn't done that to Karasuba however, he wanted her at peak condition when she met Orochimaru's Sekirei. In fact he had actually powered her up some to help her in her hunting. He wasn't going to add any restrictions to Kaho either, but as she wasn't his to control he certainly wasn't going to give her any extra advantage.
The method he was currently using was one of the less complex ones. He would sever Kaho's connection to the eighth Jinki and then connect it with the ninth, Kurama, located within him. That was all that was required to prevent a deactivation command from reaching Kaho after he tried to reactivate her, although he would have to put in a temporary block so that whatever was sending the commands didn't try to repair the severance before he could connect Kaho to Kurama.
From there it really was just using some of his chakra to jump start her core. Not enough to mark her as his, but enough to get the initial reaction going beyond what was required simply to keep her alive.
He had learned early on there was nothing he could do to prevent a forced deactivation like what happened with Musubi. If that much force was placed behind the command there wasn't anything Kurama could do in his condition. However as long as they were connected with him, Naruto could simply reactivate them afterwards.
It was the best he could do without permanently damaging the Sekirei. He could break them like with Akitsu, completely isolate them from the system and reactivate them like that but it would prevent them from ever having an Ashikabi. That wasn't an acceptable solution for Kaho.
Kaho opened her eyes and let out a sharp gasp of air as Naruto felt his chakra disappear into her core. Pulling his hand out from the back of Kaho's clothes he stepped back.
It was just in time too as Minato engulfed Kaho in an enormous hug.
"Kaho-chan!" Minato wept in relief as he held Kaho tightly.
"Minato-kun?" Kaho asked in confusion, her voice came out harsh and gravely from prolonged disuse. She cleared her throat and tried again, "Minato-kun? What's… going on?"
"Naruto-san reactivated you," Minato said.
"I don't understand, how?" Kaho asked.
"A lot has changed since our battle," Naruto explained, "Consider the Sekirei Plan finished. I'm moving against Minaka, I'm going to kill him."
"I'll help," Homura said as she clenched her fist in determination, "I despise that man, I despised him even before he killed Takami-san."
"Takami-san is dead?" Kaho gasped in surprise.
"I'd rather you simply survived, I don't have many friends left," Naruto said sadly.
"We're not sitting this one out!" Minato said firmly, giving Naruto a hard look, "He's trying to kill me and Yukari-chan, he killed okaa-san. I'm not letting him get away with that."
Naruto sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Minaka is dead, he was taken over by Orochimaru fourteen years ago, you should know this by now." The two of them nodded, "What you don't know is that Orochimaru is over ten thousand years old. There is a very good chance that he's actually more powerful than I am."
More than a good chance actually. Orochimaru was a genius and powerful even before Naruto had disappeared into the void. With ten thousand years he would be completely unstoppable using conventional means. That was one of the reasons why Naruto was working so hard to break the laws of reality. So long as he existed within them Orochimaru was going to be able to counter him. There was no technique that he knew that Orochimaru wouldn't be able to do better. He had to come up with new techniques, ones outside the standard ones.
Naruto had even contemplated dropping the moon on Orochimaru, but that was a last ditch resort if all else failed. It would be better to annihilate the planet than let Orochimaru have his way with it.
"I can't just do nothing!" Minato growled. If Naruto was right then Orochimaru was someone he couldn't beat. That left him feeling impotent and useless, a feeling that reminded him far too much of the time before Ayesha where he was too cowardly to do anything.
Naruto sighed and scratched his head, "You can't fight Orochimaru, but maybe you could fight some of his Sekirei."
He didn't want to involve his friend in this; this wasn't going to be like the Sekirei battles of the past. This was going to be ruthless and cut throat, similar to how their battle against each other had gone.
But he respected Minato's determination and understood the feeling he had. He had been in his shoes many times in the past. There was also a very good chance that he would go out and hunt even if Naruto didn't give him any assistance. In that case guiding Minato in the right direction with some information would increase his chances of survival.
"There's one we want in particular," Homura said, "I believe it was one of Minaka's Sekirei that killed Takami-san on his orders. It was a dark-skinned man with gray hair that shot black lightning."
"Darui."
"You know him?" Minato asked.
"He used to be one of my commanders… a long time ago before he was forced to be Orochimaru's Sekirei. Yes I know him, I can have Blanc upload a profile for Matsu to download for you," Naruto said.
Darui wasn't a pushover. Out of Minaka's Sekirei Naruto would rank him among the top three strongest. Not because he possessed the greatest amount of power or largest number of techniques, but because of his experience and intelligence.
However between Matsu, Homura and now Kaho, they would have a good chance against him.
And it was one less obstacle he would have to deal with before moving on MBI.
"Thank you Naruto-san, thank you for giving me back Kaho-chan and… just thank you for everything."
"Like I said, it's not a problem," Naruto said as he dismissed Minato's thanks. In a way this was a form of redemption for him. He had taken away so much already, with this act he was finally giving back something. "Oh! Minato, I managed to recover some of your stuff from the wreckage, mostly just clothing. It's over there in that shed," he said pointing to the shed in the corner of the property.
"Oh! Thank you Naruto-san."
"Sahashi-san, we should go, I'll grab our belongings, you head to the car with Kaho-san. We can't stay out in the open for long," Homura said as she laid a hand on Minato's shoulder.
"Ah, you're right," Minato said and looked at Kaho, "I can wing you again when we get back, we need to hurry," he said as he picked Kaho up bridle style.
"Don't be too rough with her tonight, she's probably very stiff and sore from being deactivated for so long," Naruto called out as Minato made his way back to the car. Minato blushed a little and quickly got into the car, trying as best he could to ignore Naruto's comment.
Homura quickly made her way to the shed and disappeared inside. A few moments later she left with a large box in her arms. She gave Naruto a nod as she passed by him on her way to the car. The driver opened the trunk of the car as soon as he saw Homura carrying the large box. Placing the box in the back Homura closed the trunk and climbed into the back of the car beside Minato and Kaho.
She gave Naruto one last grateful smile and closed the door. The car took off down the street the moment the door closed.
Miya let out a disappointed sigh as she watched the car leave.
"What's wrong Miya?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Oh nothing," Miya said as she placed a hand to her cheek. She was happy for Minato, glad that Kaho was back.
But despite what she may have said earlier, it was hard to see one of her feathers taken from her. A deactivated Sekirei still existed, could still be restored.
Kaho was essentially gone for good.
x~X~x
"I see he managed to revive her," Seo said as Minato entered their room in the underground bunker.
Seo was sprawled out on the couch looking far worse for wear than when he had left. His coat was tossed on a nearby chair. It was completely ruined, covered in holes and tears from his fist fight with Sanada. There were bruises and small cuts all over his body. He hadn't bothered to take a shower after he had returned, he didn't want to do much of anything. It hurt just to breathe, but he knew he would live, the wounds were all superficial. He hadn't been anymore hurt after the second round.
Sanada had really been interested in finishing the fight they had started back then. They had finished, but it had been a draw. Both of them had vowed to fight the other again in the future to see who the best was.
At least he said in the future, Sanada was more inclined to have round three right then and there. There was a lot of anger and frustration built up in him over something that happened in the past. Seo didn't know what it was but he felt it better not to ask.
His two Sekirei, Hibiki and Hikari, were asleep in his room, completely worn out from the fourth round of the third stage. They hadn't come out unscathed either but both had taken a bath before they had collapsed on their bed and gone to sleep.
"How did the fourth round go?" Minato asked.
"As well as expected. There wasn't nearly as many Ashikabi there as I thought there would be," Seo said. He tilted his head back and stared up at the white-wash ceiling, "I guess the threat of Sanada scared most of them away. That man has some scary Sekirei at his disposal."
"I thought Sanada-san only had three," Minato asked in confusion.
"He had six Minatan, seven if you include that weird one, Nio," Matsu said as she walked into the room Minato's bedroom. "He also has No. 14 Chiyo, No. 17 Yuna and No. 20 Hatae."
"Those bitches are as bloodthirsty as Karasuba," Seo muttered, "They wiped out almost all the Sekirei on the ship while I fought Sanada."
"What about the Jinki?" Minato asked.
A smirk crossed Seo's face, "I got the fourth and the sixth. Some pair of nobodies got the fifth. Sanada and his Sekirei were too busy fighting to bother searching for the Jinki."
"Mina-Orochimaru didn't cause you any trouble did he?" Minato asked worriedly.
"No, he organized the event and then seemed to have completely forgotten about it. It's like he doesn't care what the outcome was just so long as someone got the Jinki," Seo muttered. "There wasn't even an announcement when it finished. The boat just exploded and we were expected to swim ashore."
"You seem pretty dry for someone that needed to swim ashore," Homura pointed out.
"I grabbed one of the life boats when the cruise ship started to go up," Seo explained.
"I've never seen Seo-tan work so hard in my life," Matsu chuckled evilly as she stared at Seo, "You could have won Olympic gold rowing that fast."
Seo scowled at Matsu but didn't say anything.
"What happened?" Minato asked.
"Don't say any—"
"Sanada-san swam after Seo-tan shouting curses and demanding a rematch in the future," Matsu chuckled, "Sanada-san almost caught Seo-tan twice."
"I had to make sure I got the Jinki to safety!" Seo protested.
"You had Hibiki-san and Hikari-san electrocute the water to stop him from climbing aboard," Matsu pointed out.
"He was causing it to tip!"
"Then you beat him over the head with a paddle and knocked him unconscious," Matsu added.
"I had to make sure," Seo grumbled in annoyance.
Sanada's Sekirei had been pretty put out after he had knocked out their Ashikabi. The large chested one had chased them to shore while the other two had rescued Sanada, and THEN chased him afterwards. All three of them had followed him for a couple miles before he managed to shake them by hiding in a dumpster.
Hibiki and Hikari had electrocuted him afterwards for dumping them in there with him.
All-in-all he almost would have preferred going up with the ship.
"It looks like we were both successful then," Minato said with a smile on his face, "that's a relief."
"What's next then kid? You staying here until Naruto cleans house?" Seo asked.
"No, I'm going after the Sekirei that murdered my mother. Naruto-san said he'd have Blanc send Matsu-san information on him," Minato said.
"I already have it Minatan," Matsu said as she pushed her glasses up her nose, "If Narutan's information is correct he is a very scary opponent."
"Doesn't matter, I'm not going to let my mother's murderer just walk free," Minato growled.
"Of course Minato-san, I'll work on finding him and put together a plan of action right away,"
"Thank you Matsu-san," Minato said.
He doubted Kaho would be in any condition to fight for a while but once she was, he was going to hunt Darui down. He would make him pay for killing his mother.
x~X~x
Some people thought that being confined to total darkness was harsh. They had obviously never been forced to endure the opposite. The light was bright, so bright it burned her eyes whenever she tried to open them. Never before had she thought she would come to hate the light so much.
At least in the dark you could sleep.
If asked to describe what the room looked like, she wouldn't have been able to tell you. It was too bright to open her eyes, and even for those brief moments that she did it was too bright to make out any details. It was as if every inch of the room had been transformed into a giant light. No matter how she turned her head it was always the same.
She couldn't even use her sense of touch to make things out. She was hung suspended from the ceiling in the center of the room. Her arms and legs were spread wide and her hands and feet were encased in some cold metal prison that prevented her from even wiggling her fingers or toes.
As if that wasn't enough there was a cold metal clamp secured tightly around her waist that prevent her from moving any part of her body even an inch.
It was also very cold, so cold that at times she feared she may get frost bite. That never happened, but whether that was a blessing or a curse she did not know.
Her clothes had been taken from her before her imprisonment, clothing gave a measure of security and comfort they didn't want her to have. It would take more than destroying her modesty and isolation to break her though.
She didn't know how long she had been kept in here; time might as well not exist. No one visited, not even to feed her food. They didn't need to, there were lines hooked into her veins that fed her intravenously. With MBI's breakthrough in the area of medical technology they could keep her alive through intravenous feeding almost indefinitely. She'd die of old age before malnutrition.
What she didn't understand was why she was still alive. She should have died. There was no reason to keep her alive.
But so long as they didn't kill her, there was still hope for escape. To that end she had honed her other senses since her sight was of no use.
She had become accustomed to all the different noises around her, picking the sounds apart and deciphering what they were was about all she was able to do while she was stuck in here.
One thing she quickly realized was that she was still at MBI. There was a familiar hum in the background that she recognized as the fusion reactor in the basement. It wasn't something she had paid particular notice to while she had worked for that company, but it was definitely something she recognized now.
Her ears suddenly picked something up, something different from the usual noises that kept her company. It was the sound of footsteps. Or not so much the sound but she could hear the vibration in the metal that held her suspended. It was so subtle she never would have noticed it if her other senses hadn't taken up the slack her lack of sight provided.
The vibrations grew stronger and stronger until she felt them stop somewhere nearby. After a few moments of silence there was a loud hiss as a door slid open. A gust of hot air washed over her cold skin bringing with it a sense of relief and satisfaction.
She never realized just how cold she had been until that door had opened.
"You really are a very remarkable woman, Sahashi-san," a familiar, yet disturbing, voice echoed loudly into her sensitive hearing.
"Why don't you just kill me you bastard?" Takami spat out hoarsely. Her voice was rough from disuse.
"Because you are useful, you were before, you still are now, and I hope you will be in the future," Orochimaru said.
She started in surprise as the voice appeared right by her ear. Despite her hyper sensitive hearing due to the isolation she hadn't heard him cross the room. That could only mean he had wanted her to hear him coming.
"Not anymore, I'm done dancing for you," Takami shot back.
She shivered as a cold finger, even to her chilled skin, traced lines across her naked flesh, "Do you know the temperature of this room?" Orochimaru asked, ignoring her comment. He didn't wait for her to respond before he continued on, "It's below freezing in here. Yet you persevere. An interesting property of the humans of this world is your ability to adapt. If you slowly reduce or increase the temperature, the body compensates and you can survive at temperatures that you wouldn't normally have been able to."
Takami didn't respond, she just stared straight ahead, her eyes still closed to block out the light. For some reason despite the door being opened the light wasn't any less bright than before.
She could feel his fingers work their way up to her breasts. She shivered but refused to shy away from his touch. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.
"Your children got away, but not for long. They will run straight back into my arms, Takami-chan." She did react when a long went tongue worked its way into her ear.
"They're not that stupid," Takami spat out.
"Oh, of course not, but… once they know I have you, once they know that you are still alive. They will come for you, they will try to rescue you, and then I will kill them, slowly, oh so very slowly. Their Sekirei shall share their fate. Oh you can't imagine the horrors I can inflict upon the Sekirei. Their malleability allows for endless possibilities. It is inevitable, I have already arranged for Minato-kun's Sekirei, Matsu-san, to pick up information on your whereabouts. A 'leak' from 'dissatisfied' employees so to speak." She sensed him take a couple steps back, "And I'll make sure you get to watch your children get torn to shreds before your very eyes."
"So that's all I am, bait for my children, why not just hunt them down yourself coward. Or are they somewhere you can't reach?" Takami asked with a smirk on her face.
"Ah, this is what I love about you, so defiant even in the face of unbeatable odds. I want you, you know. I will break you, but I know nothing I do to you personally will accomplish that. You're strong, and it's that strength that makes you worthwhile, it's that strength I wish to keep even after I've broken you. You are one of the few humans worthy of my full attention, you should be happy. I hope you enjoy the show I am going to put on for you, because I will make their deaths long and painful."
"But… there will be a way to end their pain. Submit to me and I will make it quick, resist, and they will suffer. They will suffer for as long as you resist. Know this Takami-chan, even in death I can hurt them. They will know no peace, in life or beyond so long as you resist."
Takami could hear her captor make his way from the room, his mocking laughter trailing behind him. She grit her teeth in anger as she furiously tried to think of some way to get out of this predicament.
She had to come up with something, anything; otherwise she was going to become that bastard's slave. He knew her too well. Or rather he knew the weakness of all mothers.
She would willingly submit to him if it spared her children pain and torture.
x~X~x
Naruto slowly traced his had along Miya's side as the two of them laid together in his bed.
Miya was sound asleep. Her face, nestled in the crook of his neck, had a soft, gentle smile on it. Her arms were wrapped around his waist and her naked body draped over his own. She'd had a rather uneventful, but satisfying, day that culminated in some 'quality' time with Naruto.
He had paid special attention to her when they were together, much like he had with Yume the night before. Their ship was almost ready and both Yume and Miya would be off to Okinawa within the next couple days to deal with Minaka's forces, more specifically the two Sekirei he had deployed down there.
Despite the beautiful woman in his arms, his mind was a mile away. There was something he needed to do, something that today's events had reminded him of. It was something that he had put off long enough.
Closing his eyes he took a long, deep breath and drew himself into his own mind.
It was time to go see Kurama, or at least what Kurama had become.
Opening his eyes he glanced around, taking in the landscape. It hadn't changed very much, just a vast empty grassy landscape dotted with soft, gentle rolling hills and the odd canyon. Naruto hadn't expected much of a change in the landscape itself; it was his mind after all.
However Kurama wasn't where he had always been. The only thing he could see was a large silvery orb hovering thirty feet above the ground. It looked exactly like all the others he had seen, minus the crystal encasing.
"I wonder if that was just my imagination," Naruto mused as he stared at the silvery orb.
He could have sworn he had heard Kurama's voice during his marriage with Akitsu. At least it 'felt' like Kurama's voice, it had an odd tone to it he hadn't recognized. It was why he had been unsure as to whether or not it had actually been Kurama, or if it had just a figment of his imagination.
Naruto, using his imagination to give him the ability to fly, floated up to the level of the silvery orb. He gently placed his hand against the surface and pushed his chakra into it. He had tried to get a sense for what it was before while Kurama was still around, but he had never been able to sense anything. He hoped direct contact now would result in something more.
Naruto tilted his head and looked at the orb in both confusion and curiosity. He had initially assumed that the orb 'was' Kurama but that wasn't the case at all. It was definitely made up of Kurama's chakra, but only a small portion of it.
The rest of it was gathered in the middle of it. Like the silvery orb was actually just a shell encasing Kurama, like an egg or a cocoon.
Or a prison.
Naruto frowned and pushed more chakra into the silvery orb. His chakra entered easily enough but it dissipated after some time. There was no sense of rejection or resistance, which was bad. He had hoped that if the silvery outside really was just a shell encasing Kurama perhaps he could crack it open and see what was inside.
If there was resistance he could use that to force it open, to see what lay behind it. Without that however there was nothing to grab onto, nothing to use to pry it open. He couldn't force his way inside, it seemed to reject his mental projection of himself. Only his chakra could pass through the shell.
Removing his hands from the orb he floated backwards and stared at it thoughtfully. There had to be something he could do. The chakra he had sent inside had destabilized soon after it had entered, it hadn't given him a very clear picture of what was in there, only that 'something' was there.
That didn't leave him with very many options. If he couldn't stick his head in there and see what was going on and simple chakra probes turned up nothing but a fuzzy picture he couldn't make heads or tails of, then he needed something else.
Something chakra based that was solid and dense enough to reach the center of the silvery orb without being disrupted and dissipated by the orb. It also had to be something that wasn't destructive since he didn't want to damage the orb in case damaging it hurt Kurama.
That eliminated most of what he was capable of doing. In fact it eliminated everything save one option, something he hadn't really practiced with very much.
Or at all really.
He knew the theory behind it, knew his mother could do it; she had even done it using his mindscape body so he had the capability within him. He had just never actually tried it himself. He couldn't just leave things how they were however, something had to be done. The silvery orb was a giant unknown he needed to solve as soon as possible. He couldn't go into battle with Orochimaru with something like this sitting inside him.
He thought back to that moment when his mother had helped him suppress Kurama for the very first time; remembered the feeling of the chakra chains extending from his body. Then he duplicated that feeling within him now. He manipulated the chakra inside his body to take the shape and form. Feeling something form within him he pushed it out from his body, willing it into the form of a chain.
The construct that appeared was definitely not a chain and last only mere moments before it self-destructed.
A single failure was nothing to Naruto however so he tried again, and again. By the tenth attempt he was able to form a single link before it collapsed. By the twentieth he could form an entire chain like his mother, but only for a few moments. By the fiftieth he had something stable that could be used, but dissipated the moment it entered the silvery orb.
It was nearly two hundred tries, and several hours, later when he finally managed to create a single chain long enough and strong enough to actually push through the silvery shell. As before when he had sent in tendrils of chakra, he felt nothing, no resistance, no pressure, nothing. The shell felt like an empty void.
Naruto cautiously worked his chain through the shell, making sure not to rush it. He didn't want to damage anything, he was merely probing it, using the chain as a means of sensing what was within.
He instantly noticed the moment he breached the shell and entered the inner part of the orb. Whereas the outside felt like an empty void, the inside felt warm and comforting. He could feel a regular pulse of chakra there as well, like a heartbeat.
He sent a small pulse of chakra through the chain and released it at the tip. It bounced around the inside of the orb like a sonar pulse, giving Naruto a much clearer picture of what was inside there than before.
Unfortunately he still couldn't make heads or tails of what was in there. He was about to send a second pulse of chakra through the chain to try to get a better idea of what was in there when something tugged on the end of the chain.
Suddenly Naruto had something else to worry about than seeing what was inside the orb as he felt himself get dragged towards the silvery shell. Whatever was in there was trying to drag him inside as well.
Knowing the silvery shell wouldn't allow him in, and not wanting to become squashed like a pancake in his own mind, Naruto fought back with everything he had. He grabbed onto the chain with his own hands and began to tug back; trying to pull whatever was inside, out.
Letting gravity re-exert itself on him in his own mind he dropped a bit, using his own weight to try and force it out. It worked for a time, until the pull became such that even his body weight wasn't enough.
Knowing that his mental representation of his physical strength and weight wouldn't be enough he began to focus his mind. Using his will power he forced himself to the ground. It seemed to work as he slowly, but surely, pulled away from the orb.
It never even occurred to Naruto to simply dissolve the chain.
Sweat poured off his body as he struggled against the unknown force. He could feel mental fatigue start to build as the struggle stretched on. He didn't know how long he fought, but it didn't matter, he wasn't going to lose no matter how long it took.
He was about ten feet from the ground when he began to notice a significant change in the orb. Cracks began to appear in the shell. Long jagged cracks that gradually grew larger and larger as Naruto pulled further away from the orb. Brilliant white light shone from within the cracks.
Then, with a massive boom, the silvery orb detonated. Fragments of chakra ripped across Naruto's mindscape, burning huge gouges into the once pristine landscape. Naruto cried out in pain and grabbed his head, the tug of war he had just been engaged in completely forgotten. He could feel each fragment of the silvery orb tearing apart his mind.
He was in too much pain to notice it as it slammed into him. Naruto let out a harsh grunt as he was harshly slammed into the ground. He just laid there, stunned and numb from the various sources of pain he had to deal with.
He barely registered when the individual that had hit him rolled off his body and climbed to their feet.
"It's about damn time you stopped moping and got me out of there, brat," A soft melodious voice said from above him.
Focusing his eyes on the source of the voice he stopped, stunned by what he saw.
Standing above him, looking down with an annoyed expression, was a beautiful young woman with long blue hair and crimson eyes. Her figure was perfectly proportioned in every way, and completely without a stitch of clothing. Her beauty was such that it would stop the hearts of most men that simply looked at her. She was completely flawless in every way, so flawless that she almost looked unnatural. The most amazing thing of all however, were the nine brilliant white wings that stretched out behind her.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked clueless.
"Are you seriously that stupid?" the beautiful woman asked incredulously. "Who do you THINK I am? The damn tooth fairy?"
That jarred a memory. Naruto's eyes suddenly grew wide as he realized who it was he was looking at, "Kurama?!" he asked in disbelief.
"No, I really am the tooth fairy."
"Wait… what?" Now Naruto was completely confused, his mind was not ready to deal with this just yet.
The woman sighed as she palmed her face, "Never mind… you're still recovering," she said. She glanced around the mindscape and grimaced at the devastation. This place was a representation of Naruto's mind. That meant damage to this place was damage to his mind.
"Yes, I am Kurama. That damn Jinki did this to me," Kurama spat out as she gestured at herself.
"But you have—" Naruto started.
"Don't say it," Kurama stopped him.
"Those are—"
"Hey! Stop it."
"Why do—"
"No!"
"What—"
"Enough!"
"How does it—"
"Don't. Even. Go there."
"…"
"…"
"Tits?"
BOOM!
A massive crater formed as Kurama hammered Naruto into the ground with mind numbing force.
"Oh, wait, he's still recovering," Kurama said worriedly as she stared down at the unconscious blonde.
It was thirty minutes later when Naruto woke up. He let out a groan as he rubbed his temple. Propping himself up on his hands he opened his eyes and glanced around his mindscape. The damage done by the fragments of the shell had already begun to heal, although for some reason there was a new crater nearby that he hadn't seen earlier.
Standing a few meters away from him was Kurama, although it was definitely going to take Naruto some time to get used to her new form. There were only eight wings trailing out behind her, the ninth was wrapped around her body to provide some measure of modesty.
"What hit me?" Naruto asked Kurama.
Kurama looked a little nervous, "Ah, a stray fragment from the Jinki shell hit you on its way down," she said as she shifted the blame to something else.
"Odd, I was looking up and I didn't see anything…"
"That doesn't matter now," Kurama said, in a hurry to change the subject, "What's been going on outside? I haven't been able to see anything while trapped in that damn prison. I probably wouldn't have even known you had gotten married if my name hadn't been mentioned so many times."
"Heh, a lot has changed, might as well sit down and get comfortable, this may take a while," Naruto said with a grin.
It was good to have his old friend back, even if he was now a she.
Author's Notes: Lots of things happened in this chapter. Karasuba, Kaho, Takami, the fourth round, and many others. As you can see I'm starting to wrap things up. At the rate I'm going I'll be done around 665,482 words I think. Sad, I know, but I'd rather actually FINISH the story than go on for 1,000,000+ words and never actually complete the damn thing. Still, 665,482 words is a lot. That's about 4 standard size novels.
There is also something in this chapter that you've all probably noticed and might find cheesy but… regardless of what you think about it, it's the reason I started this story. It's the whole change with Kurama. It really is the 'primary' reason I started writing this story.
Back when I started this story, the history of the Jubi wasn't revealed so I had an idea bouncing around in my head. I thought to myself, perhaps Kurama and the others represented a faction of evil, a single element, and the Jubi was the sum of all evils. Then I thought, if they're demonic beasts, prowling the ground, then perhaps there exists the opposite as well, or could be. Angelic beings floating flying through the sky.
Basically the idea of each Bijuu having an opposite 'light' to their 'darkness.'
Then there was a page in the Naruto manga where the Sage of the Six Paths spoke with the baby versions of all the Bijus. There he said that one day they would all become 'one' once more. That they were all different now from what they were before, or even what they were when they were inside him.
My thought pattern at the time was that I could actually use canon material and conversations to leverage support for my idea and story. So ultimately I crossed Naruto over with Sekirei and used the Jinki as the means of purifying the Bijuu so that they 'become' that something different, or their opposites.
Of course between the revelations in the manga and changes that have happened in my story after the fact, things have gotten a little off course; but that was the original basis for me starting this story.
If I had stuck with the original plan the story would have been over ten chapters ago but things evolved into what it is now. I don't regret it one bit, the story has definitely got more flesh to it, but it definitely took a turn in a different direction. The exact moment it shifted gears was the Civil War chapter, Chapter 18 I believe.
And no, there won't be any sexing between Naruto and Kurama even if she is a hot 9-winged angel, so get your dirty minds outa the damn gutter! They're friends and they're only ever going to BE friends, although they MIGHT have a lot of fun messing with each other. This I am adamant upon.