Recommended Story: 'The Jutsu of Love?' by Marchgirl

Chapter Eleven

"What? You're joking right?" Moegi asked.

Kushina shook her head. "I wish I was. The thing I'm speaking of... it wasn't created with the best of intentions, and personally I'd rather see it destroyed. But if it can be put to good use, then I suppose it's only right that these two at least hear the offer."

Everyone just stared at her wide-eyed, like they were all convinced they had misheard her. Tayuya was the first to respond. "Well if you think it's worth mentioning Nee-chan, I'll at least her ya out."

Kushina settled herself, showing that the topic at hand wasn't exactly her favorite subject. "Do any of you know of any jutsu designed to alter the physical shape of a ninja?"

"You mean like a henge?" Sakura asked.

"That's what I was thinking of." Kushian exclaimed, looking a little brighter now. "I've been so busy I've forgotten a lot about jutsu over the years. It's kind of hard to remember them all when you little by little lose the ability to use them and have to focus learning on a substitute. Anyway, what I'm talking about is like a henge, only it causes a true transformation of the body on a cellular level. Even internal changes happen. A true transformation into a different species, but unlike a metamorphosis, it's not natural."

"That sounds... amazing." Shizune said. Several in the room nodded in agreement.

"Is that really possible?" Hinata asked.

"It is. But it's a very limited procedure, because it was designed to do one thing during a time when the creators were desperate for results." The Uzumaki matriarch answered. "But long story short, this process can turn a human being into a succubus."

"Is that what happened to you Mom?" Naruto asked. Suddenly everyone else was wondering the same.

Kushina shook her head. "No, that's not what happened at all son. I was this way since I was born, but I was a late bloomer as a succubus."

"A late bloomer succubus? Not to make fun of you or anything, but that sounds crazy." Tsunade said.

Kushina nodded. "I know. Normally succubi start and finish puberty when they're 11. I grew more like a human here, due to a certain influence."

"Mom?" Naruto asked, catching her attention. "You said you knew something that can turn a person into a demon. Do you know something that can do the opposite?"

Kushina said nothing, but her face showed she had something important to say. After a moment she sighed. "Naruto, if you're asking me if I can stop your change to incubus, I can't. I'm sorry, but what's you're asking for doesn't exist to my knowledge."

Naruto looked down, looking so beaten. "It's just... I've been called a monster by everyone for as long as I can remember. Heck, for years I thought my name was 'Demon' because that's what people kept calling me. I just don't want this to happen because it's means they're right."

Kushina left Tayuya's side to sit right in front of her son. "Naruto, it does not mean that at all."

"Yes it does." Naruto countered, still not looking at anyone. "You just said I can never be human and you've told me I never was to begin with. So of course they were right. I'm everything everyone said I was."

Hinata immediately embraced Naruto from behind but everyone could see she was lightly frowning. "Naruto-kun, stop this. This is not you. The Naruto-kun I know doesn't let other people define his identity for him. If you did, wouldn't you have quit trying to be a ninja, let alone hokage, a long time ago?"

"This is different Hinata-chan." Naruto told her.

"And exactly how is this different?" She immediately asked.

"Because now what they said is true." He told her, still refusing to look at anyone. "I'm not human, therefore I'm a monster. I-"

"No Naruto-kun, stop right there." Hinata forcefully said as she moved to be right in front of him. She even grabbed his chin, and he still tried to avoid looking at anyone, so she grabbed both sides of his face. "Naruto-kun, look at me. If I mean anything to you, look at me right now." She insisted, and luckily he complied. "What you're saying makes zero sense. Is Akamaru a monster? Are the toads you summon monsters? Are they?"

"N-no." The blonde made himself saying.

"Neither are you. They are not human beings, but they certainly are not monsters. And why is that? It's because they don't act like monsters. You're only a monster if you behave like one. And you Naruto-kun have never acted like a monster. Human or not, you are still my boyfriend. Promise me you will never call yourself a monster again. Promise me Naruto-kun."

"Hinata-chan, I don't think it's that easy." He softly said.

The next one to speak to him was Ayame. "Naruto, try not to have such a black-and-white view on this. Think about it this way, Orochimaru is a human, but he's not exactly humane is he? He's a real monster, and it's not because of claws or tails or even something like tentacles. It's because he enjoys making people suffer and causing destruction just for the hell of it. That's a monster, and like your girlfriend said, that's not you. And if that's not enough to convince you, I don't think anything we say can."

The whiskered boy slowly looked at his girlfriend, his surrogate sister, his mother, then all the other girls in the room. They each waited curiously, waiting to hear his response. "Hinata-chan, Ayame-nee-chan, it's not that I can't believe you, but... I worry if I change like this, I won't be the same person anymore. Look at Sasuke, when he got that mark he stopped being who he used to be."

"I don't think the mark is the only reason he acted like that Naruto." Sakura told him. "And even so, I don't think the mark created his bad behavior, but instead encouraged it."

Kushina leaned closer to her distraught son. "Son, I think I know something that might put your mind at ease on this." She saw he looked curious and hopeful. "How about you see where I've been these past few years? See others like us and how they live. That should show you that you have nothing to be afraid of."

"Seriously?" Naruto asked.

Kushina nodded. "Yes. You deserve it. And I'm sure the people there would love to see you too."

"Why?"

Kushina looked like she briefly didn't know how to best answer. "Maybe you'll understand better once we actually get there. Would you like to see it Son?"

"Only if we all get to go too." He insisted.

Kushina nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Not to be rude, but didn't you say you had a way to return me to normal?" Isaribi asked.

"Oh right, sorry." Kushina said, straightening up and looking at the bandaged girl. "I'm not a healer so maybe there are other ways than the one I described, but the only one that does come to mind is one that turns a human into a succubus. You would be the picture of health, at the cost of becoming a different species."

Isaribi closed her eyes and shook her head. "Thanks, but I'd rather not forsake my humanity like that. After what's been done to me, I'd rather not lose more of it. I'll just wait until Amachi-sama can cure me."

Tsunade looked doubtful. "Unless this person has some sort of miracle cure, such a process to undo that kind of damage will take years to complete. What exactly caused this to happen to you anyway?"

Isaribi looked at the wall, like she was trying to pretend the situation didn't exist. "That story about the jellyfish, that wasn't exactly a lie. It did happen, but not recently, more like a year ago. I lost consciousness for a while and woke up in a private lab, run by a marine biologist named Amachi. He offered me the chance to recover free of charge, as long as I agree to be a human guinea pig to a experimental medicine for jellyfish venom. I was in a lot of pain and still dazed so I agree. It worked, but... you can see it had nasty side effects. Since then he's been trying to find a cure, as well as seeing what the extent of my change has been."

The others looked shocked and sympathetic to her, Tayuya less so, while Tsunade looked judgmental. "I'm sorry to tell you this miss... what was your name again?"

"Isaribi."

"Isaribi, I'm sorry to say this, but something like this cannot be cured by a mere serum. From what I've seen, you underwent skin grafts. That requires more skin grafts to reverse, not medicine alone."

"Skin grafts?" The diver asked, looking at the slug sannin. "That can't be. I never had any skin grafts."

"Were you ever given anything that made you unconscious by this man?" Tsunade asked.

Isaribi nodded. "Yes. Sometimes my medication made me drowsy, but lots of stuff you can find in an everyday medicine cabinet does that."

"True, but he could have easily sedated you in order to perform these skin grafts and make you think they were a mere side effect of what he was giving you, which likely is what caused the internal change to your body. Also, don't you think it's weird that a marine biologist would know how to treat people like a doctor?"

Something seemed to click in the bandaged girl's mind. "I didn't think of that before, but now that you mention it..." Then she shook her head. "No, I can't believe that. Amachi-sama is my only chance for returning to normal. I have to believe he can. If I don't, what hope do I have left?"

"Alright, we won't tell you what to do. But how about you let us see this man for ourselves? Just so we know he knows what he's doing." Shizune offered.

Isaribi thought it over. "I don't see why not. But can we do it tomorrow?"

"Sure. Sounds acceptable."

"Hey, can we get some grub? I feel like I haven't eaten a fucking thing in a week." Tayuya stated.

Kushina smiled at her sister. "That's not that far from the truth imouto."

After a few more moments, Ino returned to her own body.

"What did you find out?" Shino asked.

"Something very strange is going on in that group. Either they've gone crazy or they know more than I could find out. We should hang around and keep watch without exposing ourselves until we can learn more."

"They're not doing anything illegal or threatening to Konoha are they?" Tenten asked. Not that she believed her idol Tsunade would be involved in such shady deals, but her professional side needed to rule out the possibility.

"Not that I saw, but... what I did hear made no sense at all. I need to learn more." Ino said. 'All that talk about monsters and transforming and Naruto, and that woman that calls him her son. What is going on here?'

"It would be wise to continue our observations until we learn something concrete then." Shino told the two kunoichi. "I will leave an insect in the room that will rotate with another periodically in order to gather more intel. Tenten-san, do you have a means to listen in?"

"Yes, but I'll need a distraction to get it properly set up. I can plant a listening device in their room but I'd need them all to leave first. For now, we're better off using your method Shino."

Dinner passed and night came, and everyone was asleep. With no immediate threats to worry about, the entire group went to sleep and didn't bother assigning night watchmen. Isaribi and Tayuya were given the bed since they were the injured of the group and everyone else got the floor. Tsunade and Shizune slept on the side of the room closest to the outside door in case someone did try to come in from there, while the rest slept on the other side where there was more room.

Naruto seemed to be surrounded by girls right then. Hinata was curled up right next to him while Kushina was on his other side, just not as close to him as Hinata was. Moegi slept by Naruto's head for a sense of security and Sakura slept by his feet, also finding herself longing for a sense of closeness to him.

After over an hour of sleep, Isaribi carefully opened an eye and looked over the room. Fortunately her experience being underwater so much enabled her to see fine in low-light situations. When she was certain no one else was awake, she moved as quietly as she could out of the bed. Tiptoeing her way around the others, she carefully made it to the front door and grasped the handle, giving her caretakers one last look.

'You're all nice people, even if the oddest bunch I've ever seen. But I can't risk angering Amachi-sama and being cut off from him. He's my only chance to be me again. I need to get back to him. At least this way you won't become new test subjects for him like I did.'

The diver felt a pang of guilt, for when she first saw the group reach sea Country she had plans to bring them to Amachi. He said he needed other people to be brought to him for various experiments, all of which would help reach his goal. Not much of a technical person, Isaribi couldn't understand much of the jargon he used when asked and grew to stop asking. All he told her that she did understand was with others brought to him he'd be able to understand how to reverse the change before using anything directly on her. Last time he tried, she gained her kaima form, and feared future experiments on her would make it impossible to be anything but a kaima for the rest of her life.

'You showed mercy to me, I'll repay the favor by not subjecting you to Amachi-sama's work to save myself. Just please, don't follow after me.' She thought as she quietly turned the knob, opened the door, and walked out of the room. fortunately for her, the hotels night shift were not present in the hallway at this time so she was able to walk undetected until she reached a door outside.

As soon as she opened the door, she saw Kushina standing there. "I think you took a wrong turn to the bathroom." she said, sounding like she was joking but knew full well what the purple-haired girl was really doing.

"What? But how?"

Kushina held up her right hand, and from right out of the palm a golden chain emerged ad quickly wrapped itself around the girl. The chain separated from kushina but she held onto it like a leash. Then Tsunade and Ayame appeared beside her. "Think she's being controlled?"

"How do we tell for a guarantee?" Kushina asked.

"Allow me." Ayame said before she formed a tiger sign and poked the spot where the nose separates from the forehead. "Eject!" Nothing happened. "Good. She's not under the control of somebody else. A friend of mine was a Yamanaka, so I learned how to force out an outside influence like that."

"Okay, with that settled, tell us why in Kami's name you were sneaking out tonight." Tsunade insisted.

"How did you know I even was? You were all asleep." Isaribi asked.

"Experienced ninja like us are all light sleepers. And we suspected something amiss before dinner so we were on our guard but chose not to show it. Gotta admit we didn't think you'd try to do this." Ayame explained.

"Please let me go. I need this. It's my only chance." Isaribi pleaded.

"No it isn't. We can help you. We can't guarantee it will be quick or painless, but we are a possibility. You're not limited to only one option." Tsunade told her.

"And what do you expect in return?" Isaribi asked.

"For starters we will want you to keep everything you know about us a secret. Beyond that, we can work something out." Kushina said. "I know my son would enjoy more friends, but I can't insist you do that. That can only come naturally."

Ayame gestured to Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, I think we have eavesdroppers nearby."

"I sense them as well." The sannin whispered back. "Kushina, take this girl back. We'll handle the others." The redhead nodded and took Isaribi back to their room while the other two disappeared.

When Tsunade, Ayame, and Kushina left the hotel room thru the back door, Shino, Ino, and Tenten immediately took cover, fearful they had somehow been found. At the same time they tried to follow the kunoichi trio in case they had something else on their minds.

"Why would someone in their own group try to sneak away?" Tenten whispered.

"From what I gathered, she's connected to some guy here that did something to her and her life is basically in his hands. She was probably trying to get back to him, and they all were suspicious of that." Ino offered.

"Quiet. They're still out here." Shino warned.

"Where did they go?" Ino asked, not seeing them or sensing them.

Shino surprised them by walking out into the open. "I take it you felt our presence." He said to no one.

Tsunade and Ayame appeared before him. "Yes. Kudos on finding us, but why did you do that?" Tsunade asked.

"We were requested by Hiashi Hyuuga to find the whereabouts of his missing daughter." Shino answered, then turned around. "You might as well come out."

Ino and Tenten emerged from the bush they had been hiding in. "Why did you give us away like that?" Ino asked, more than slightly irritated.

"It was illogical to continue hiding and make ourselves look like a threat when they showed they were aware of our presence." The Aburame answered.

"Wise choice." Ayame said. "So now that you found us, what do you intend to do about it?"

"Nothing in our objections says we're required to bring Hinata back with us. Hiashi-sama merely requested that we and I quote, 'track her down and find out where she is.' He never said a word about bringing her back to Konoha. As long as she is out of harms way and here of her own free will, I see no reason to force her to stop what she's doing."

Tenten and Ino were quite surprised. "What? We came all this way, and you're not interested in bringing her back home?"

"Did I ever say I was?" He asked back.

"You never say anything!" Ino all but shouted.

"Rest assured you three, Hinata is perfectly fine and here of her own free will. In fact she requested to be taken with us, and was requesting by another with us too. She is in fact safer here away from Konoha than in it." Tsunade told them before it got worse and other guests got upset at the noise.

"Can we see her for ourselves Tsunade-sama? Just to verify your claim." Tenten asked.

"In the morning. But first," she then gave a hard look to Ino. "How much did you overhear Yamanaka-san?"

"What makes you think that?" Ino asked.

"We know you used your clan jutsu to listen in on us in the room. When we ordered dinner, the youngest member of our group went into the restroom and came out unable to remember anything after a certain point." Tsunade explained, remembering how Moegi calmly went into the bathroom and came out confused as hell.

"Classic signs of a Yamanaka possession." Ayame added.

"We know when you left your host, so tell us when you started listening in and how much you heard. A lot of what you heard is on a need-to-know basis and frankly you do not need to know." Tsunade finished.

Ino was nervous, but decided not to play dumb anymore since she had been caught. "What the heck was going on in that room anyway? That woman calling herself Naruto's mother, talking about demons and changes and other countries? What's going on?"

"Stop asking questions." Tsunade told her sternly, shutting her up effectively. "You three better come with us for the time being. You are not prisoners, but neither will we let you out of our sights until we determine how much of a threat you are to our plans."

"Yes Hokage-sama." The three genin said.