The Contract

Prologue

When the young man opened his eyes, he was greeted by the darkness of the night, broken only by the sliver of moonlight that slipped past the narrow space between his curtains.

He sighed.

It was unlikely that he would be able to return to the embrace of slumber; one of the many changes he had grown accustomed to since his transformation.

The faintest of movements to his left drew his eye and he was immediately reminded of his present surroundings.

It was a testament to how much of a regular occurrence being ensconced in the bodies of his women had become that he hadn't noticed until one of them had moved.

"Naruto-sama?"

The shy, sleepy voice draws his eyes to the slightly glazed pair of light brown orbs staring at him.

He was not surprised; among his human lovers, she was, without a doubt, the most fragile no matter how tough her public persona seemed.

He smiled warmly at her as he took her cheek in his palm. "Did you enjoy yourself tonight?"

She didn't reply verbally, choosing to nod happily as she nuzzled her cheek into his palm.

"Well, there's more where that came from." He guided her head back to the bed as he spoke, lulling her back to sleep. "So you'd better get some rest."

"Alright, Naruto-sama. Good night."

The moment her eyes drifted shut, he replaced himself with one of the clothes strewn about the room, tossed aside during their frenzied cloth removal earlier in the night.

Now free of their embrace, the blond walked up to the window and slipped behind the curtain, opting to not draw them as the flood of moonlight could rouse his lovers from their sleep.

He took in a deep breath, enjoying the refreshing scent of nature that always seemed to linger in the air around the village.

In the moonlit night, Konoha's beauty was only rivaled by the prevalent sense of peace that only the most powerful shinobi village could provide.

To the casual observer, the wandering hermit or the passing merchant, Konoha was the best place to be in the Elemental Nations, lacking the overwhelming show of force other Villages exhibited or the underlying sense of corruption that oozed out of them.

He knew better; Konoha was the worst of the shinobi villages, wallowing in its own corrupt filth as shadowy figures tugged on their strings and forced the Village to dance to their demands.

The once vaunted Will of Fire had been swallowed by darkness.

"Yuki."

The name was uttered so silently that, had anyone been listening, they might have thought it a trick on their senses.

Yet, the one he had summoned heard him clearly.

The curtain beside him billowed outward as a new figure appeared; first, a sleek, silvery-white fox slipped out of the darkness as though it had always been there and then, it grew larger, changing as it went until a svelte beauty stood by his side, her hand over her heart and her head bowed.

"My lord."

"Report."

The woman straightened up and clasped her hands at the small of her back. "Lady Tsunade has almost completed the diversion of funds into the accounts you requested, my lord and Shiho has completed the decryption. She assures me that she will finalize the fake Scroll within forty-eight hours. Also, Levy has completed the rune script to tear down the Kurama clan's barrier. She's standing by with Lady Erza and Kagura for your command."

He smiled upon hearing the last part. Levy's skill with scripts far outshone most things he had seen humans do with seals; pleased as he was, he wasn't surprised that she had cracked the barrier's seal structure within hours of her arrival."Tell them to wait. We'll need Shiho and Baa-chan's parts completed before we can leave. How about the clans?"

"They remain unaware, my lord. The Hyuga and Inuzuka clan heads' demands of Lady Tsunade regarding Hanabi's disappearance have kept the clans in enough disarray for the little 'errors' to slip by unnoticed such as the mission involving the investigation of suspicious activity in the Land of Tea being given to the jonin on our side, rather than those selected by the jonin commander."

"Excellent."

"Will that be all, my lord?"

Naruto turned to the the silvery-haired blond and saw the flash of lust in her gray eyes. "Do you have any place you need to be right now?"

"Nothing urgent, my lord."

"Well then, how about you… rest here? You can leave in the morning."

A lascivious grin split her features. "You are far too kind, my lord."

Naruto's grin was every bit as lustful as hers.

Konoha would burn, he would make sure of that, but it could wait just a bit longer.

His women came first.

In every sense of the word.