NOVPUBEveryone present at the meal were surprisingly civil after the altercation that caused the leadership of the Hidden Mist Village to drastically change. It was almost as if it was fully expected, especially by the members of the hidden village. Were they that immune to the consequences of a physical battle where participants and losers were maimed or killed?
I glanced at everyone's faces and realized it was all of them and not just the hidden village members. They all expected some kind of conflict to happen and were fully prepared to fight at a moment's notice, since that was their lifestyle and how they were raised. Their lives were on the line as soon as they left the walls of their respective villages and they fully accepted it.
It was a sobering thought, because I had been living in a similar state as I travelled to different worlds and became the protagonist. My life had been on the line all the time, and in most of them, I lost it and had to go back to continue the story. I had accepted that I would die and lived my life as well as I could, even with the looming threats I constantly faced, and this world was no different.
During the dinner conversation, which Tsuru and Yui were pretty much carrying on their own as they talked to the Daimyo's wife, my eyes drifted down to the end of the table. Yagura sat there and I saw that he was more frustrated than angry, both with his position at the table and only having one arm.
Since he was young enough, I expected a bit of a temper tantrum from him. Instead, he silently fumed over it and looked like he didn't know what to do with himself. I leaned back slightly and caught Akiko's eye, with both Tsuru and Yui leaning forward slightly, and she gave me a very subtle nod. I smiled at her and was glad she agreed to heal him.
If she was the one to approach him, then I could slip in while he was unconscious and take care of the three-tailed beast. Now that I had the chance, I couldn't let it escape or be extracted by the Akatsuki. The environment was too rife with people trying to kill each other to prove their worth, so the chances of Isobo escaping were pretty high.
The meal came to an end and everyone stood to give small bows to the Daimyo and his wife. We all expressed our thanks for the invitation and both he and his wife looked quite pleased. Almost as one, we all left the formal dining room to a more relaxed setting in one of the large gathering rooms.
“There's not much needed to update either of these rooms.” Yui commented and looked at the Dainyo's wife. “You were in charge of the layout of these rooms when they were built, weren't you?”
The old woman beamed a smile and the two went into a nice discussion, which Tsuru and Mei were quick to add themselves to.
“What technique was that?” Zabuza asked me as an attendant handed each of us a glass of wine.
I turned to look at him and couldn't help but notice the pretty girl at his side, so I deflected the question. “Is your lovely daughter too young or innocent to enjoy the offered libations?”
“You thought he was a girl, too?” Zabuza laughed. “Everyone falls for it.”
Haku blushed and looked both pleased and embarrassed. “I'm not playing a role, Master Zabuza.” 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
I couldn't help but glance down at his slim figure. The swell of a budding chest kind of belied his words, because a boy wouldn't have that. My eyes reached his hips and there was definitely something going on, because there was no hint of what should have been there.
“He always says that and never changes his beauty routine or stops taking care of himself.” Zabusa said, clearly amused.
Haku kept blushing. “You know I do it for you, Master Zabuza.” He said, bashfully. “I would do anything for you. Anything.”
I caught his thoughts about how the older man saved him when he was very young and took him in. He was so grateful for that, he really would do anything for him, even if it meant acting like a concubine. He was his Sensei's property and was fully dedicated to the man and would give him everything he had.
“You're not gay.” I said with surprise when I found that truth in the young man's mind. Hell, he wasn't even bisexual. However, he was fully committed to be whatever his Sensei wanted of him.
“No, I am not.” Haku said and lost the embarrassment. “But, if he wants me to suck on his cock and swallow him down, I will do so gladly.”
Other conversations in the room seemed to stop after everyone heard that.
“If he wants to use and abuse my holes for his pleasure, I would be honored to do so. He is my master and I love him dearly.” Haku said, proudly. His voice was soft and quite feminine sounding, so his next words had a huge impact on everyone in the room. “The only real strength a person has is when they protect the one they love with everything they have.”
There were a few exchanged glances, giving the men a pretty straightforward clue as to who liked them. Of course, I had expectant looks from Tsuru, Yui, and Temari, with a shy look from Anko. There was also a split look from Mei as she gave myself and Zabuza a once-over, since we were standing side by side. Apparently, Haku's confession might push Mei into acting on her thoughts.
Since I wanted to avoid saying anything publicly about being with Tsuru and Yui, with Temari and Anko as possibilities, I decided to answer Zabuza's first question about the technique I used.
“The use of the Light element is actually a bloodline ability for myself and my family.” I said and held a hand up and formed a ball of light, then changed it into a lightning bolt shape, then made it into the shape of a bird and had it take flight.
“That's a wonderful illusion!” Haku exclaimed and watched the bird fly around the room. “Your Genjutsu must be really powerful...”
The solid light bird landed on his shoulder and opened and closed its beak, as if chirping. I didn't cheat with a ventriloquist power to make it actually chirp, because that would have made everyone think it really was an illusion.
Haku reached up to pet it and gasped as his fingers touched it. He gently grabbed it and lifted it down from his shoulder to stare at it. “It's solid.”
“Or you're the focus of the illusion.” Zabuza said and reached over to poke it. His finger hit the surface and didn't go through it like he thought it would.
They were soon surrounded by everyone, even the Daimyo and his wife, and they all poked it or petted it, as if to see it was really real.
“That was an effective deflection.” Tsuru whispered to me.
I put an arm around her lower back. “Thanks.”
Tsuru leaned into my side and we watched Haku weather the mass of attention that holding the bird gave him. “Did you choose a bird shape on purpose after what he said he'd do to his Sensei?”
I gave her a knowing look and leaned in to whisper. “They're all having fun stroking my bird.”
Tsuru quickly turned her head to kiss me and managed to muffle her laugh. I chuckled as well and we broke the kiss before anyone but the attendants noticed.
“I'm happy that our children will have a chance to inherit it.” Tsuru whispered and her hand dropped to her belly. “Can we try to have one soon? I don't want to wait much longer to have a family.”
I blinked my eyes and her words and realized I hadn't checked her over in a while. I let Panacea's power out and smiled at confirming the truth of her ovulating. “You're ready right now.”
Tsuru blushed. “I just had this feeling I needed to have you fill me up.”
I kept smiling and let her see that I was happy she wanted to get pregnant. “Tonight?”
“Tonight.” Tsuru agreed with a loving smile.
“Naruto, how long will your bird last?” Temari asked as she petted the head.
I laughed at the question. “As long as it can.”
It took a few seconds before Temari understood. She gasped and pulled her hand back from the light bird and then everyone else understood, too. It wasn't surprising that Anko kept petting it and Mei only poked it, as if she was testing if she really wanted to do it for real. Her eyes went to Zabuza and he had a frown on his face, so she stopped poking the bird and petted Haku's head instead.
I cut my telepathy off, because I didn't want to know if he was going to accept having both her and Haku in his bed tonight. I also didn't look at Haku's loving expression as he gazed up at both Mei and Zabuza.
Anko took the bird from the distracted Haku and she put it on her shoulder. She walked over to me and gave me a pointed look, then the bird, then she smiled and walked away.
“On the weekend?” I asked.
“I should have Yui and Akiko distracted by then.” Tsuru said and patted her belly.
I nodded and the gathering broke apart after that. I saw Akiko leave after Yagura, so I had to follow them and kissed Tsuru goodbye. I was sure he would agree to have his arm reattached, even if he knew he would lose a good portion of his chakra power.
None of the Hidden Mist ninjas cared where Yagura went after he lost the Mizukage position, so no one saw Akiko take him into one of the guest rooms. I stayed outside in the hallway until she knocked him out and she opened the door to invite me inside.
“You did a great job severing the arm. Very clean and concise.” Akiko said. “The burns sealing the arm and shoulder are only surface damage and haven't cause any kind of infection or excessive blood clots.”
I nodded and we cleaned up both ends, blood started flowing, and we put the two pieces together and started healing him.
Ten minutes of checking for hidden damage and chakra healing, along with me checking him with Panacea's power later, he had both arms functioning again. I then did the same trick I did to sell Gaara's tailed beast to him and Isobo and all of his tainted chakra energy was gone.
He was worth quite a bit less than the one I sold from Gaara, probably because the three-tailed beast didn't have as big of an impact on the world as the other tailed beasts. The giant turtle-like chakra monster honestly didn't care if he was out in the world or contained, pretty much making him an ambivalent participant in his own life.
Akiko checked Yugara over again and she nodded. “He's going to notice the massive change in his chakra level almost right away.”
I nodded back. “He's too used to having someone else boosting his chakra. Even with his body back to full functionality, he's going to be significantly weaker until he starts training himself up again.”
Akiko gave me a questioning look. “You're saying that like he hasn't trained in a while.”
“He hasn't. Why would he need to train when he had nearly unlimited chakra?” I asked and walked by her and stopped at the door. “If he asks you what happened, tell him the cost of reattaching his arm was his foreign energy reserve.”
Akiko raised her eyebrows. “You want me to admit what happened?”
I chuckled and opened the door. “You don't have to lie about it if you don't want to.” I said and stepped out. “You also don't have to admit that you know it was a tailed beast's chakra.”
Akiko barked a laugh. “It was only foreign chakra I felt and nothing else. I understand.”
I winked at her and shut the door. I made my way back to our rooms and barely stepped inside when Tsuru grabbed my arm and led me into her bedroom. She locked the door and I stepped us back to the underground base in Konoha.
What followed was an evening that Tsuru was going to remember for a very long time, both because of what we did and because she became pregnant and because she wanted to remember the exact day of conception for our first child. She wanted a girl first, surprisingly. She also wanted her to have that Light power as her base bloodline and a healing power as a secondary.
“It's funny how our daughter is becoming a perfect little angel before she's even born.” I joked and Tsuru looked very happy about that.
“Little Naruko is going to be the complete opposite of what you were when you were a baby?” Tsuru joked right back.
I playfully slapped her ass and she laughed. “You are not saddling her with a poor female version of her father's name!”
“Oh? And how exactly are you going to stop me?” Tsuru asked and rolled over to wiggle her ass at me, clearly inviting me to continue punishing her.
I didn't want to disappoint her, so I slapped her other cheek and she yelped at the loud smack, then she moaned and grew wet again. She gave me a look over her shoulder that told me I better not stop or I was going to regret it. I held in my laugh at the threat and plunged two fingers into her, pumped them in and out a few times, and slapped her ass again.
*
Yui didn't wonder why Naruto gave her a mission to search for maps in the different places they had been. He had asked her if she could find as many of them as she could, either bought or copied them, and dug up any descriptive details or reports about the lands they covered. The most current ones were what he needed and the older ones would be needed for a comparison.
She assumed he was seeing if the various lands and countries were keeping to their agreed upon borders, which made sense, since they would be travelling to a lot of them over the next few years. After the last job and the success of the bridge, more and more orders for renovations were coming in, as were commissions to redo several of the large bridges in Fire Country and Earth Country.
They were definitely doing to need accurate maps for that and Yui took to her new task with enthusiasm. She had Anko along as a guard and Temari as an assistant trainee. They had a lot more paperwork to handle with three businesses going and more hands made quicker work. Plus, the young woman wanted to help Naruto more than she did as only a guard.
“How are the new lessons coming along?” Yui asked Temari as they shuffled through the large map scrolls of the Land of Water's main library. It was located in the Hidden Mist Village and Mei graciously allowed them access in exchange for redoing her office to reflect her personality.
“Both Tsuru and Anko are slave drivers.” Temari answered and there was no anger or animosity in her voice. She was only stating a fact. “Akiko's constant healing is letting me learn the fighting stances and moves at a much faster rate than either of them learned the same techniques.”
“She's loving it.” Anko offered as she stood by the end of the row of shelving.
“I am.” Temari said with a warm smile. “My Sensei's are the best.”
“Learning at your own pace is really letting you shine.” Anko praised her.
“Thank you, Sensei.” Temari said with a light blush.
The pair worked on as they found and copied several maps, thanks to the special paper Naruto made for them. With a touch of chakra, it copied whatever it was laying on.
“Ah! Here's one we haven't seen yet.” Yui said and pulled out one of the smaller scrolls from the stacks to hand to Temari. “I think it's marked as a copy.”
“The kanji on the end is worn a little.” Temari said when she looked it over. “I can't tell if this says waterpool or whirlpool.”
Anko sucked in a sharp breath and tried to pretend she didn't hear anything or reacted. Both Yui and Temari gave her concerned looks and she ignored them.
“I think we can just take it, since it says it's a copy.” Yui said and Temari added it to the bag of other copies.
“I didn't see another one that size anywhere else, though.” Temari pointed out.
“We'll check it when we get back to our rooms at the Daimyo's mansion and sort through them all.” Yui responded and kept working. She would have to wait to get Anko alone before she asked her about why she reacted when she heard that word. What importance did a map about whirlpools have?
