For the first time since the meeting in the cave, Hinata and Lilith stared at each other face to face. Only this time there was no giant sapphire preventing the demoness from doing anything to the kunoichi.
"Li... Lilith?" Hinata said, aghast at her personal demon sitting on the ground before her in the flesh again.
Hinata did not know exactly what to do. Part of her felt like she should prepare for a fight, but at the moment her body still felt totally drained from the process that had removed Lilith's essence from her body. So at the moment she was reduced to her hands and knees.
Fukasaku took up a stance. "Demon seductress, begone from my land!" A demon in the toad realm invited nothing but trouble, especially a demon of Lilith's status.
But Lilith ignored the old toad completely. Rising slowly from the ground, her bare body looked like it needed some time to get used to moving on its own again, because her moves seemed slow, almost robotic. Lilith herself seemed to recognize this so she did a few stretches, like a person who had just woken up from a long nap.
"Mmmm, it has been so long since I was able to stretch on my own." She said as she stretched her arms over her head, puffing out her chest in the process. "Oh it feels so great to have my girls back." She added just before she massaged her own breasts.
Hinata was trying to get up on her feet too, but she felt an immediate wave of nausea once she tried and fell back on her knees. Her vision spun around and she tasted bile, but she didn't vomit. She was still far too weak to put up a fight.
Fortunately, Lilith wasn't fairing much better. She didn't look or feel sick, but her body was much less responsive than she would have preferred and she needed to lean against one of the toad statues to stay upright. However, thanks to the high level of nature chakra in this area and her own natural abilities, Lilith could feel her strength returning.
Lacking patience, Fukasaku jumped and held up his staff like a hammer, intending to smash her head in. He would not suffer the like of a demon polluting this sacred place.
The succubus however, despite her vertigo, simply waved a hand and her claws sliced the staff to chunks and then grabbed the old toad by his slimy, warty skin.
"My staff?!" Fukasaku said in utter shock, looking at the remains of his tool with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.
"Butt out frog, or I'll turn your butt inside out. Don't think I won't, I've done it before." Lilith threatened as she dropped the elder toad to the ground.
Without another word the old toad leapt away to go get reinforcements as well as a replacement staff. But of course this left Hinata alone with the succubus.
Lilith eyed Hinata, giving the girl a quick once over.
"What are you going to do to me Lilith?" The Hyuuga heiress asked, stalling for time to help get her nausea out of her system before she had to fight back. She needed all the time she could get, because right now she felt worse than she did when she got the flu.
"Honestly, I don't know right now." Lilith answered, leaning against the statue and trying some small stretches with her limbs and wings and while flexing her fingers. "I'm still pissed that you refused to let me be with Aru when I had the chance, but other than that you have been good to me."
"You do understand why I refused you right?" Hinata asked.
"Oh yeah, I do understand why Hinata. I understand completely. I just don't like it." Lilith replied, popping her spine for a moment. "You see that is why I never understood about you humans. Your contentment to remain in monotonous relationship. After all, just because I would have had you have sex with Aru does not mean anything would have come from it. I have engaged in torrid affairs with countless others, but that was all just sex. My heart and love would always solely to Aru and he knows that. I'm sure your blonde boy toy would have too."
"Naruto is not my boy toy, he is the one man in this world I love the most and I would never ever betray him with another." Hinata shouted with all her heart.
Lilith stared at Hinata for a moment then suddenly laughed a bit. "Funny thing, your devotion to your man like that actually reminds me of my daughter."
Hinata blinked. "You have a daughter?"
"Well, several daughters and sons to be precise. With all the sex Aru and I have, wouldn't you be more surprised if I had no children?"
'When you put it like that she's got a point.' Hinata thought, feeling better but unstable as she tried to stand up again.
"Anyway, you remind me of one daughter in particular. My sweet little Rimona, when she started needing sex to survive like us, she was... hesitant to do so. Like you. Saying that love was more important than sex."
Hinata frowned. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"For a young and growing succubus it is a bad thing." Lilith claimed, looking at the white-eyed girl. "Refusing sex under a moral notion is our version of anorexia. No different than refusing food under a fear of being overweight. Rimona's desire to have love before sex was unhealthy. I was so afraid for her."
"What happened to her?" Hinata asked.
"She kept herself sated with self-pleasure for the most part, and tried pursuing romance. After a while she found it with a human and they became One True Mates like you and Naruto. Her entire life, my Rimona has only had sex with that one man. Even after his death she hasn't found another man."
Hinata noticed that the succubus didn't look happy while reminiscing about this, mostly when she was referring to the human. But it was hard to say exactly why. Lilith didn't seem to hate humans or being with humans, so why would she dislike her child settling down with one? Unless it was the monogamy aspect she disliked.
"You haven't mentioned any of your children since we've met." Hinata noted. "If I had children, seeing them again after escaping entrapment would be my top priority."
"Believe me I've intended to since that sapphire broke. But I didn't escape, I merely traded one cage for another. Mentioning my children would only make me miss them more, plus I didn't want pity." Lilith replied.
"So go see them now that you can." Hinata suggested.
"Oh I will. But frankly Hinata, I think I should give you a little payback for refusing me and somehow silencing me in your own body like that. That's barely any different than what Madara did to me all those years ago." Lilith stated, cracking some knuckles and looking more mobile now.
This just happened to be the time numerous toads of various colors and sizes surrounded the area. Some even sported armor and weapons, and surprisingly even Gamabunta was there.
"Lilith!" Gamabunta roared, or croaked rather loudly. "You are not welcome here! Leave or face the entire might of Mt. Myoboku!" All of the toads croaked loudly in agreement, some of them were brandishing weapons, but others seemed to be willing to attack unarmed.
The succubus looked around at the mass of toads that had assembled, to most it would have seemed like an impressive army that should be feared. But Lilith, she looked more like she wanted to chuckle, but didn't.
"Normally that wouldn't scare me at all, we all know that I have more power in just one finger then a hundred of you warty amphibians."
The toads croaked ever more angrily, some of the younger ones seemed ready to attack right then and there, but the elders held them back.
Lilith then sighed. "But I'm not at my best right now so consider yourselves lucky frogs." She spread her wings and manipulated the air to obtain lift, struggling for a bit but this was second nature to her so it didn't take her long to rise up.
But rather than leave right away, Lilith looked at her former host and smiled in a wicked way. "But, rest assured my little Hinata, we will meet again. I may like you, but you have made me angry. Someday, when you least expect it, I will come back for you. One way, or another you will pay."
Soon enough she flew away from the toad territory heading who knows where.
"Thank you everyone." Hinata said to the toads.
Fukasaku along with his wife Shima appeared before the white-eyed girl. "Well young lady, we've got her out of you, so now it's time for you to return home to Konoha."
"Could you take me to Naruto-kun instead? He's going to need help. He's fighting off Lilith's mate."
The old toads blinked in horror. "He's fighting Aru? Why didn't you say that earlier? He needs help right away!"
With a roar like a vicious jaguar Aru lunged at Naruto with his claws outstretched. Knowing he had no adequate defense to erect in time, Naruto dove out of the way. Aru's wing grazed the bottom of one pant leg and cut it, but there was no damage to the boy's flesh.
The Incubus King had to pivot sharply to avoid plowing into a tree not far behind his target's original position. Or rather he would have had to, had he not just cleaved the stump and continued on before arching back up into the air.
'This reminds me of fighting Sasuke when he went all ugly.' Naruto thought. 'Only this time I'm going to win and not take any hits to the chest.'
Naruto created hundreds of clones, standing on the ground and in the trees, intending to give Aru too many targets to focus on. Aru didn't slow down when he returned, but he didn't make any effort to attack them all at once or find the original. He dove and sliced through the center of the horde as they tried attacking him when they had the chance, then took back to the air.
'So far he's going after whatever he can. Despite him getting more serious, he's not changing tactics.' The real Naruto observed. He created more clones and added them to the horde, making sure his enemy would be kept busy. 'But how do I beat him? I can't rely on exhausting him.'
Aru made a few more sweeps killing clones and chopping down trees, and Naruto kept pumping out the dopplegangers to keep him busy. After the fourth time though Aru stayed in the air. He held out his hands forward, only this time he was looking like he was pushing against something flat like a wall, and then he started rotating them close to each other, his left hand going clockwise and his right hand going counter-clockwise from his perspective. In no time visible energy started to spin in front of him.
'Here's my chance.' Naruto thought, getting a few clones with him to build up an Odama Rasengan, hoping that would do the trick here. If it didn't, he'd only have one trick left to stand a chance, and it was a trick he didn't want to resort to.
The two attacks charged up, and many of the clones threw shadow clone kunai at the Incubus King in an attempt to thwart him. They weren't doing anything of significance, but the attacks persisted and Aru was getting annoyed.
Holding the biggest Odama Rasengan he had ever created, Naruto took the initiative and hoped that being the first to strike would give him the advantage. His clones grabbed him and threw him at Aru, and once in the air the whiskered blonde held the chakra orb upfront.
Aru's attack wasn't fully charged per say, but there was enough force behind it to justify firing it. He clapped his hands together and the swirling energy cloud before him exploded outwardly, with a small bit of recoil for the incubus which only made him backflip a bit then steady himself. The explosion itself was like someone had weaponized an entire firework show and aimed it at one person, namely Naruto.
The Odama Rasengan took the brunt of the attack, and the momentum and size made it hard for anything else to rebound and strike around it. And the demonic attack did work to diminish that of the jinchuuriki in turn. But Naruto's momentum allowed him to keep going up and at Aru, who was shocked to see a mere human bearing through his attack.
Aru tried to turn and get away, but the attack reached him sooner than anticipated and Naruto struck him in the back. The impact hurt significantly and took away his ability to control himself in the air, and it wasn't long before gravity took hold and made them hit the dirt, with Naruto adding more force to the incubus's impact.
Naruto jumped up and stood at the rim of the crater he had created. He doubted Aru was down for the count, but he sure hoped so.
Aru looked up and saw Naruto and the remaining clones encircle him. He glared and silently grimaced. "I'll give you one thing boy, you're the toughest human opponent I've had in ages. Much better than my last one."
"Let me guess, Uchiha Madara?" Naruto asked.
Aru frowned. "No, I never got to fight him. By the time I found out what he had done to my Lilith he was impossible for me to find." Aru said as he cracked his head from side to side. "No, the mortal I last battled was some fool who hoped to steal my power for himself, the wretched little snake."
The moment Aru said 'snake', Naruto's eyes briefly widened. "Orochimaru?"
Aru raised a brow. "Yes, how did you know?"
"Where did you fight him? Was Sasuke with him?" Naruto demanded.
"Who? I don't know any Sasuke, and this fight was decades ago in what you call the Land of Lightning. Odds are he's already somewhere else by now."
Naruto was disheartened by that, he thought he would have had a lead in which to find Sasuke but if the battle was that long ago, before he or Sasuke had even been born, then it was useless intel.
Suddenly, the whiskered blonde realized he had momentarily let his guard down and that brief moment was all Aru needed. Moving faster then the human eye could see, he grabbed Naruto by his throat and lifted the boy off the ground.
"I will admit boy-" Aru said as squeezed Naruto's throat harder, choking the blonde. "That you did indeed put up more of a challenge then most other humans. But in the end, you are nothing compared to me. And now…you will die." Aru said with a smirk as he continued to squeeze, tightening his grip and taking pleasure in seeing Naruto gasp for breath.
Naruto struggled trying to free himself of Aru's grip by the Incubus was too strong. 'No, I cannot lose like this…I won't!'
He did not know if the Kyuubi could hear him or would even help but still Naruto called within himself. 'Hey Fox, help me out here. We cannot let this guy win. We need to protect Hinata-chan.' There was no response and Naruto felt no surge of chakra. His vision was starting to blur and his lungs felt like they were going to explode 'Come on you shitty fox, if I die…then you die, and is that what you want? To die at the hands of some sex demon while trapped inside my body?'
That was when Naruto did feel something, a small warmth that soon turned into a fire which spread through his body. He could feel the energy course through him.
Aru who had been so sure of his victory did not expect what he saw next. Bubbling red chakra started to pour from Naruto's skin and began to form of a fox. As the the red chakra enveloped him, Naruto felt the nails of his fingers become sharp and more clawlike. Then the top and bottom canines in his mouth became fangs; then when two chakra-made fox tails erupted from his backside, Naruto's eyes opened, revealing they had become red slits.
Aru narrowed his eyes and snarled. "Kurama!"
Naruto grabbed Aru's wrist and with his new strength, there was a sickening crunch sound in the air as the transformed Uzumaki crushed Aru's wrist bone.
The demon lord howled in pain, for the first time in a long time and released Naruto who jumped back from Aru.
The Incubus Ling clutched his hand, breathing heavily and then then glared at Naruto with his own demonic eyes, which had turned into a fiery yellow color. "You…little brat. I will not allow this anymore, I will not let you stand between me and my beloved."
The voice that came from Naruto's throat was lower, throatier and had a deep menace to it. "I will though, I won't allow some up jumped nymphomaniac lay one hand on Hinata."
"Oh, I will enjoy this. The Fox who I have long despised in the body of the human who has become an irritating thorn in my side."
Naruto crouched down, like an animal ready to pounce. "Are you going to talk or fight?"
"Yes…Let this be our final battle!" Aru shouted.
Aru just started to spring forward, but practically the very second he chose to was the same instance that numerous toads appeared in the area. The shock value of it was enough to throw him off and make him fall flat on the ground, though he was quick to compose himself. When he did, Aru saw he was surrounded by many armored and armed toads, including Gamabunta.
"Bunta! Thanks for showing up man!" Naruto called out gratefully.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried, jumping off the gigantic toad towards her loved one.
Not wanting to be tricked again, Aru made sure to check if this Hinata actually had Lilith's presence within her. It wasn't there. 'So they're still keeping Lilith's host from me. But apparently this boy is in fact connected with the toads. I could whoop them all, but if I did I still wouldn't be any closer to Lilith.'
"Aru, if you wish to mess with my henchmen you mess with me!" Gamabunta threatened.
Looking at the giant toad then at Naruto and back again, Aru shrugged and sighed. "I could kill you all, but frankly I'm too annoyed right now to be at my best. I'm not the Lord of Wrath after all."
Aru then glared at Naruto, who saw him and glared just as hard back. "Be warned boy, you've made a powerful enemy today. I'm one of the nine demon lords of the underworld. Every enemy you had until now was just practice compared to me."
The toads moved to take him down, but Aru took off to the air. Gamabunta had expected this and spat out a glob of oil. It worked and the Incubus King was engulf in the glob, unable to fly and falling back down. Under him were the toads that first moved, but not to attack. They wanted him to fly off, and now were letting up a trap for the demon when he was defenseless.
Sadly the time he was defenseless was shorter than expected. Aru burst free of the majority of the oil before he touched the ground and got back in the air. Some oil remained, but not enough to hinder him, and he started to fly out of sight.
"Thanks everyone." Naruto told the toad.
"Don't relax just yet Naruto." Gamabunta told his favorite summoner. "Aru wasn't boasting there. He really is stronger than anyone else you've ever fought. Even with his mate out of her girl, he will come back to kill you just to prove his pride."
Naruto blinked and looked to Hinata. "You got Lilith out?"
She nodded. "I did, and she's a little mad at me too."
Naruto hugged her closer. "Neither of them will lay a finger on you while I'm around."
"You better get back to Konoha as quick as you can boy. Those two demons won't stay away for long. In fact, I'm not even sure why Aru left in the first place." Gamabunta warned. "Think of him and his kind as bijuu in human form rather than animal. He and Lilith are that strong, stronger than even the Shukaku we faced years ago. They have no reason to be afraid of us, so I'd be concerned about why they chose to retreat rather than fight."
"Can you give us a lift then Bunta?" Naruto asked.
"I'm not a horse boy. But under the circumstances, I will do this for you."
"Thanks Bunta."
The two started to climb up the giant toad while the other toads returned to Myoboku. However, Hinata lost her grip and tumbled down, not stopping until she hit the ground.
"Hinata-chan?!" Naruto rushed to her, seeing her laying there and picked her up. "You okay?"
"Naruto-kun... I don't feel so good."
'Is something wrong with her?' The blonde boy asked himself. Her skin was a little paler than normal for her now that he got a better look, and she was sweating a bit and breathing harder. She looked... sick or exhausted.
"Hold on Hinata-chan." He scooped her into his arms and jumped aboard Gamabunta's back. "Not to be rude Bunta, but could you make this trip a fast one?"
"You're lucky I like you kid." The giant toad said before bounding off towards the hidden leaf village, making the earth tremble each time he landed from a hop.
"Tsunade, we got a problem." Jiraiya said when he entered the Hokage office.
"I know we do, but which one do you have to tell me?" She replied.
"According to one of my sources, Akatsuki has just gotten a new jinchuuriki. There's going to be no chance of us helping this one like we did the Kazekage. It's probably already too late."
Tsunade sighed. "Crap, so they're one step closer. How much longer do you think it will be until they aim for Naruto?"
Jiraiya shrugged. "I sincerely wish I knew. But for all we know, they're already coming here for him."
"Right now would be the best time for them to do so." Tsunade stated, making Jiraiya supremely confused. "Based on their track record the Akatsuki first make sure the jinchuuriki is actually inside the village. They've never had the manpower or means before to actually assault a village and just take the jinchuuriki. If they didn't do that to Taki they're not going to do that to us."
"So you want them to show up right away, see that Naruto isn't here, then head out to find him?" Jiraiya asked to clarify. "What if Naruto comes back early?"
"Then we're in major trouble."