"How could you sell your own fucking children!?" he barked, eyes still wide and blood still hot as he looked down at the woman who wasn't half his height. The way she tilted her head in confusion didn't make him any calmer. Honestly, the only reason he wasn't screaming like a maniac at her would be the children that were still inside her womb. His fear of harming them by stressing her.

She'd gotten pregnant again almost immediately after giving birth, almost halfway to their second litter, and Hana was right behind. Damn it, he knew they were strange but he never imagined anything like this!?

What kind of living thing didn't love its offspring?!

By all gods right and good!

"No matter, not really,"

"For fucks sake, Tsume, do you really care so little about them?" his mind was racing, full of fear like he hadn't felt in months at the minimum. How scared his kids must be! How heartbroken and confused and alone they must have felt.

"I care!" she dared counter, even looking a little irked, almost sending him over the edge. "No matter though. None for them. Grow like weeds but still young, very young. They won't remember. They will love new den mother just like me, as they grow, receiving her meals and love. No difference! No matter," she assured with an infuriating grin.

"It matters to me," he insisted through gritted teeth, not returning her grin or dropping the intense stare in his eyes. "It matters enough that I might just never get any of you pregnant again, if you try to SELL MY CHILDREN, ever again,"

"It good for tribe! Good for us. Have healers more spread out,"

"They will spread out when they're older if they want to," he insisted. "I'm not bluffing; you're not getting any more healers if you pull this shit again!" a finger came to point at her accusatorily, his eyes hardening yet further as hers grew aghast and angry. "Not to mention I think 'the necromancer', Karin, is a lot more inclined to help me than you, so if you don't want a free army here for you to use, you're just going to have to accept these terms,"

That made her hesitate, even blink in worry.

Tsume was strange but not stupid.

She was far more cooperative from then on, as she made up the map showing him specifically where his two oldest daughters were carried off too. There wasn't even an argument when he demanded some barter to bring along so he could buy them back without any risk of bloodshed. The last thing they wanted was to destabalize the fangfolk after they'd finally learned to leave Ironhold alone. The fact that the 'trade goods' he ended up bringing consisted of ten animated fangfolk skeletons lowered that risk yet further.

They were already programmed to obey him above all others except Karin, and she had made plenty that were free to leave the great white cliffs that had become her home. One of her lackeys up at the construction site led him to what he needed without complaint. While guiding the clumsy bonebags through a dense forest was time-consuming, it still only took a couple hours to reach the first burrow.

However deep or big it was underground, it was barely noticeable from where he stood.

Quite lucky for the young man that someone crawled out of the dirt to greet him, or investigate the undead. Whatever the reason their den mother apparently felt safe enough to come speak to him personally not long after, and while confused about his motives, the problem, really the whole situation, she was perfectly happy to trade a three-month-old baby for five skeletal undead. So was his next stop.

Honestly, the hardest part of his journey was probably carrying the two of them back home while keeping them happy enough not to scream. Kiba was content to suck on his wierd shirt for most of the walk but Aka liked to pull hair, and did so with surprising strength for such a small creature. Little bastard even belly laughed whenever he got it good enough to make his father squeal or cry out in pain.

Not that there was even a ghost of malice in the little boy's eyes.

His big, blue, innocent and adorable eyes. The laugh was pretty fucking cute too, and for that reason Naruto wasn't truly all that annoyed by the trip. Relief was a powerful drug, and he was drowning in it seeing that neither of his two lost children seemed particularly harmed or hurt by the ordeal. Besides, it wasn't as if their weight was much work to carry. They were so tiny, even for babies; neither weighed much more than a tabby cat, and with fresh short fur, they were fairly soft to the touch.

It helped that the tribes Tsume sold them to weren't all that far away, either.

The young fool ended up spending nearly the entire day with them, all of them, that is. After getting them home and back to the nursery with their other nine siblings, most of whom reacted with immediate wonder to the huge, hulking humanoid crammed into their cave. He always wondered if they remembered him or if they were still too young. Whatever the case, they certainly weren't too afraid to play. There was humble selection of simple toys, and hell, half of them were untouched. His silly spawn seemed to find just as much amusement in wacking stones together to make noise as in any of the games he tried to introduce.

That and climbing all over him with their clawed hands, that was also a popular choice.

Still, it felt unspeakably good just to be there with them.

To watch them laugh and let them have their fun with him. It was enough at least to keep him calm and civil when Tsume came back to discuss business. Despite the lack of any writing that he had seen, she did a remarkable job providing hard numbers; from the height of their new tower to the amount of tribes swearing fealty to her to the exact number of skeletons they now had.

Naruto allowed himself to take notes; writing was still a long ways away, but Karin had at least taught him the basics of numbers, and with a crude drawing for each associating figure, it was better than trusting his memory. Especially when he didn't know exactly how many days it would be until he saw Sasuki. It wasn't until the kids were taken away for bed that he left, reminding Tsume one more time of his threat before rejoining Karin in a proper bedroom.

He had to apologize to her again as well, but she greeted him much warmer upon his return. They shared a late dinner of fish and fruit salad before he spent the night sleeping with his head on her heavenly bosom. It was a truly wonderful place to rest.

The contentment and the sheer joy that the young man felt after the chaotic day couldn't be overstated. Those long visits with the kids always made him feel like he would overflow in it. Genuinely jumpy and jittery, brimming with a happy energy that, among other things, made him feel capable of anything! Invigoratingly alive!

Sleeping would have been nigh impossible without the holy hypnotic powers of his firebird's softened body to lay on.

With her help, he woke up remarkably well rested. By her order he ended up having a lovely breakfast with her where the children joined her, chaotically consuming their porridge and berries while he sat beside the beautiful necromancer. She apologized again for letting two of them slip off without her noticing, and generally remained affectionate until it was time for him to go. That always put a downcast look in her eyes, but she let him take a long, affectionate kiss goodbye all the same.

It was enough to keep his manic, optimistic mood.

Even more so when he began his trek home with a big, empty bag that felt like it was weightless, compared to the trip up at least. He made great time, pushing himself to arrive only shortly after the sun had fallen, hoping not to spend the night outside in early spring. Not something that would kill him, but far less comfortable then his huge new house. Finding the place at night wasn't all that difficult anymore, especially not with the multitude of lanterns hanging outside that his sweet little lamb made a point of seeing hung up when he was on these runs.

Although he second-guessed himself coming in actually, as he drew closer and closer while the throaty sounds of sheep grew louder. It wasn't until he could touch the wall and see it clearly that he was certain that it was the right manor he'd found. Then it clicked.

Naruto smiled widely as he realized what the presence of these new livestock meant!

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