The first morning after she'd arrived, Hinata found herself being woken up by Z, who had woken her on account of breakfast being prepared.

She rose from her bed, her having slept naked, and soon came to the kitchen with her robe tucked around her body.

"Are you feeling alright?" Z asked her, minding her discomforted expression.

"It feels much colder here than what I'm used to." Hinata answered honestly, rubbing her arms for warmth.

"Ah. Well, if you're feeling cold, you can use the hot springs. Would you like for me to buy some kind of clothes for you?"

"If you wouldn't mind, but... just anything that can keep me sufficiently warm is fine too." Hinata answered.

"I'll find it for you then."

As they finished their breakfast, she helped him in cleaning it all up, during which he asked, "Do you want to do the whole "trying for children" thing now, to get it out of the way?"

This gave her pause, Hinata looking up at him curiously.

"Yes, I'd be fine with it. But Lord Z, what else would I be doing while I'm here?"

"I'd have you keep up with your training." He said. "As long as you get stronger, it should be fine."

"Okay. Should we start once we're finished with the dishes?"

"Yeah. Though, just to get it out of the way — how many times a day do you want to limit it to?"

"What do you mean?"

"How many times a day should I cum inside?" He clarified. "I just want to know, is all. Even if it's only once, that's fine too."

Hinata thought back to the experience of last night, the feel of Z's hands on her body, as experimental as it was purposeful, the way his cock steadily started to make her scream with pleasure, the maddening buildup of tension in her body that seemed to only explode to create a satisfaction she had yet to feel before, and the cluster of things she remembered made her purse her lips on realizing her strange curiosity and desire for more.

"It's okay for it to be once." He spoke to her, his voice bringing her back to the present.

Hinata nodded without thinking.

"Yes, that's-that's fine." She nodded.

"Apparently some of the others might be coming at any time now. Mind if we do it in the living room again?"

"Alright." Hinata nodded, Z leading her off a few moments' later, her looking to the collapsed form of the table and frowning, Z standing before her as he looked into her eyes, then leaned into her neck, his hands firmly caressing her body through her robe as he kneaded along it, Hinata loosing a breath of elation as she helped him in undoing her robe, the sash hold it together being undone, Z placing his hands on her shoulders to slide it down her arms, Hinata shifting her arms to make it easier.

As the fabric fell to the floor beneath her, Hinata's naked body was bared to him again, and he smiled, hands directly caressing her body as he guided her, him shedding his own robes and baring himself to her, sitting down on a nearby couch chair, Hinata, following his ensuing instructions, sitting on his lap facing away from him, him pulling her body against him, her lavender eyes seeing his half erect cock beneath her, noting its size, before she looked back at him.

"Lord Z, can I try to help you get ready too?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah, that'd help speed it along a bit." He said, Hinata reaching down to his cock and gripping it, her giving it a gentle tug, before she intertwined her fingers around it, shifting her legs a bit to make herself more comfortable, her stroking at his member and hearing his restrained groans, noting as it steadily began to grow harder with the more she rubbed at it, growing bigger in her hands as it happened.

His way of caressing her body throughout made her hum to herself, the way he licked and brushed his lips along her neck making her shudder faintly, instinctively leaning closer to him, his hands sliding down her body, down

her legs, caressing his way back up her thighs as his meaty cock head stuck up in her hands, his hands reaching into her inner thighs to rub there sending shivers up her spine as he did so.

"Are you ready?" He whispered into her ear, Hinata's only realizing then how dazed she'd become in those moments, how her face felt hot, breathing huffy, her act of stroking his cock to hardness subconscious.

"Yes." She said softly, closing her eyes as his hands scooped under her thighs, his fingers digging into her fleshy legs, lifting her up, Hinata grasping the couch chair's arm rests for balance as he positioned her, her feeling his dick prodding uncertainly at her labia, her pursing her lips to stifle the urge to moan, before he lowered her, his hard cock penetrating into her, her body feeling it as he slid into her hole.

"You're a lot more wet and hot this time." He noted, the vibrations of his voice into her ear making her go redder than she already was. "Alright. Would you mind helping me this time?"

"H-Help?" Hinata asked over her shoulder, him setting her feet down on the edge of the seat cushion before his hands slid up the length of her thighs, hands repositioning themselves on her womanly hips.

As he explained it to her, Hinata awkwardly placed one of her hands on one of his knees, Z watching her as she tried to get a sense of balance, before starting to lift and lower herself down on him, the feeling of it strange to Hinata, who felt exposed yet liberated at once to bounce herself up and down like this, Z guiding her hips to allow his cock to scrape in and out of her hole in a pleasurable manner, her grunting and groaning as she grew more used to the sensation as before, her hands grasping the arm rests once more, Z placing his hands over hers.

"Now, let's try faster." He ordered, Hinata hesitantly nodding, before lifting and slamming herself down on him at a faster pace, Z gauging her speed, then planting his feet flat against the floor, him thrusting up into her, their flesh colliding in near sync, bodies clapping together, her breasts bouncing with every descent of her upper body onto him, breathing stopping for a split second with every ram of his dick against her cervix.

"How does it feel?"

"G-Good." She answered, moaning between pants, her shifting her hips to make the process of it scraping inside of her more pleasurable. "I want to faster, but my breasts—"

"I get it," he answered, hands reaching up to her G-Cups to fondle them, "I'll hold them. Go as fast as you want."

She loosed a hot breath, then, bracing herself, she started thrusting her hips powerfully up and down on his cock, the flesh of her big ass jiggling with every slam of her body down on him, Z grunting at the feeling of her hole tugging on his cock in this manner, the heat and wetness of her hole mesmerizing him, no different from how the pleasure quickly made it so that Hinata forget her circumstances in favor of indulging the act of satisfying the base urge she'd gained.

With her new pace, it took Z a large spare moments to finally know the pace he needed to go to match her rhythm, not helped by his own pleasure, but as he began thrusting up with her, she cried out at the sensation of him standing up slightly.

"Would you mind if I took control for a bit?" He asked, Z watching Hinata turn to look over her shoulder at him, her giving a nod, him telling her to slow down briefly, him letting her breasts go in favor of reaching under her knees to hoist them up, him standing up while holding her spread knees apart.

She was acutely aware of how big his cock was already, yet as he restarted the act of gradually building up his speed for when he fucked her, how he *slowly* pulled out while lifting her up, then lowered her back down, sliding his dick back inside her, that fact became far more blatant to her than before.

He began to walk, carrying on at the same pace, standing himself in front of a full-body mirror, him watching her through their reflection, seeing she'd placed her hands over her breasts.

"You want me to go harder, don't you?" He asked. "Do you remember the words for how I can *really* start doing this?"

"What?" She looked over her shoulder at him.

He repeated it for her, and she frowned.

"Do I really have to say it?"

"I'd like to pretend that it's really how you feel, even for just a moment."

Hinata pursed her lips again, looking down before, softly, speaking.

"I can't hear you." Z said in a sing-song voice, Hinata closing her eyes.

"Please, Lord Z, your loving wife wants to — to make a baby." She said softly. "So, please don't hold back, and cum in—*ahh*!"

She cried out, his hips blurring as, all at once, he gripped her thighs, started pounding wildly inside of her, and kissed at her neck, her cry segueing into a number of inarticulate moans and cries as he scraped it into her sweet spot, her mind blanking from the sudden influx of waves of pleasure coursing through her nervous system, the tension building up in her body blatant.

"Hey, Hyuuga, you can't let yourself just take it." He said suddenly. "I need you to rub your clit!"

She tried to voice her feelings, of how overwhelmed she felt by it all already, but as he nibbled lightly at her neck, she was robbed of her voice, his hard upwards thrusts ramming her cervix with the ferocity of a wild beast, Hinata trying to keep her breasts steady despite the meshing of pain and pleasure, yet as he did it, she let one breast go, wrapping her forearm and hand over her nipples, watching herself in the mirror as she reached down, seeing her flushed but moaning face, the utter ferocity of Z's thrusts, her fingers pressing into her clitoris before she started to rub it, the stimulations of pleasure coming as a damp sweat came over both of their bodies.

"Can you let me see your breasts?" He asked of her amid the act of perpetuating his thrusts, his labored breathing mirroring Hinata's own.

"But they're bouncing around so much —" Hinata gasped.

"I just want to see your beautiful body completely." He answered, Hinata pursing her lips before, reluctantly, pulling her arm away, it being in those moments that he saw her body, how her breasts bounced on her chest, how her thighs gave a small but visible quiver with every collision of his hips against her flesh, how her curled toes tightened further every time his cock rammed against her cervix, how her face grew even redder than before with embarrassment, how she covered her eyes to the sight of herself, no longer pleasuring her clit, and how her tight cunt took in every inch of his cock.

Taking in all of these details at once made Z grunt, and he began thrusting with all his strength, his movements fierce as she grit her teeth, loud grunts and groans leaving mouth as the moments passed.

The tension inside of her body grew, his cock twitching inside of her every so often, her breasts bouncing so much that they hurt, but her stiffening growing, his hold on her thighs keeping them stretched as opposed to pulling them together, her throwing her head back, shuddering, before her climax hit her, her mind going blank as an explosion of sensations rippled through her entire body once again, her womanhood coiling tightly over his cock, him thrusting fully inside of her and cumming hard as she shook, tongue shoving out of her mouth.

Despite her state of mind, she moved her hips in those moments, thrusting forward and back, bucking and riding out the waves of her climax as she felt Z cumming inside of her, her hands still covering her eyes as she felt it.

It was only a moment later that she realized they were moving, that Z had collapsed into a couch chair while still inside her, Hinata lowering her shaking hands, wrapping her hands over her breasts once more, Z moving his hands from under her thighs, wrapping his arms around her stomach, the feel of her back pressing against his hard chest and abs making her open slowly look down, slowly coming down from the high of her climax.

It took a few moments, the process of regaining her sense of self gradual.

Yet, just as had been precedented from the night before, Z's cock regained its complete hardness inside of her after a moment, the feel of it pressing up against her cum-filled womb again making Hinata gain a rash of lust filling her body that made her eyes grow wide, a hotness in her body that wouldn't stop festering.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Z asked her, Hinata shaking, rasping in short breaths.

He could keep going, she thought, keep using his hands, and tongue, and erection to make her cum like just then.

And he most likely wouldn't get her pregnant anyways, no matter how much he came inside... and all she had to was —

"I... I have to be alone." Hinata said softly, voice weak, her leaning forward and away from Z, who unwrapped his arms from around her, her standing up on unsteady feet, her feeling it as his cock slid out of her hole, before walking away, her disoriented after that experience, but still going anyways, the amount of cum he'd let out oozing out of her hole slowly.

In minutes, she found herself in the hot springs, the hot waters soothing her, but her expression troubled even as she cleaned herself.

"This is wrong of me. I'm supposed to love Naruto." She wrapped her arms around her body, eyes closing.

How shameful was she, for her body to continue wanting to have sex despite her only coming to the current compromise out of desire to keep some semblance of her chastity?

"Hyuuga, are you alright?" Z's voice called to her from the entrance, Hinata becoming silent.

"I'm sorry that I'm not the best at hiding my emotions. You don't have to worry, Lord Z."

"I just want to understand, so I don't get the wrong idea." Z answered. "Did something I do, or asked you to do, make you uncomfortable? Or maybe — does the whole thing make you uncomfortable?"

Hinata looked over her shoulder at him, seeing he stood at the doorway in the hall, him talking to her from outside the entrance from a distance, his posture making it blatant he wasn't sure if he was allowed to come inside.

"Are you alright?" She asked without thinking.

"I'm fine, I just figured you'd prefer to keep some modesty when you're in the bath." Z replied, looking away.

Again, this drove her to frown in confusion.

"I don't understand. You don't want me to wear clothes, but you still want to let me keep my modesty?"

His expression showed sheepish regret, and his tone in answering was apologetic.

"It was one of the things I tried doing as part of a fantasy act. I honestly didn't think of how cold you might've gotten because of it though, or how uncomfortable I might've made you. I was being dumb back then, and I'm sorry for it."

Hinata looked down at her body.

"There are honestly two things that ARE making me uncomfortable." She admitted.

"What are they?"

"One is... I'm honestly not comfortable in my body."

"Oh, really? I'm... sorry to hear that." He answered. "Why don't you feel comfortable with it?"

"My breasts are too big, and I always feel self-conscious about the rest of my figure. Not to mention, I'm not sure if Naruto really likes the sort of figure I have, compared to..."

Hearing her trail off, Z glanced at the ceiling.

"If I had to be honest, I think you have a wonderful figure. I'm sorry I came on as strongly as I did before. That was insensitive of me, especially in your circumstances. You can forget about what I said about not wearing clothes. If you don't feel comfortable in your body, it's not my place to force it on you."

Hinata didn't respond, and he frowned, sitting down next to the sliding door.

"What was the other thing, that made you uncomfortable?" He asked, crossing his legs.

"If I had to be honest... it's the fact that I don't love you. I love Naruto, but I don't have a real choice in the matter, until we get Naruto and all the other prisoners free." Hinata answered. "It's honestly my own selfishness that I feel uncomfortable with. Because I'm only here to make it so that the war prisoners can have a way back home, but instead, I'm trying to postpone it for as long as I can... and yet," she steeled herself to be honest, "and *yet*... *despite* that... I think a part of me was actually looking *forward* to-to that. Having sex with you again. Yesterday was the first time, but it felt so new, and strange, and scary. But I wanted to do it again. Not for the people of my village, not for Naruto, but... because *I* wanted to do it." She hugged her knees to chest, burying her head into them with shame, thinking back on the experiences with a frown. "It's just so... indecent."

Z processed her words, then sighed.

"There's nothing wrong with being horny, y'know." He told her. "I'm sure you know that you can't have it both ways though. We've already decided that we aren't going to make kids from you, and even now, I don't really want that, because... well, being a glorified breeder isn't exactly great either. Just because you were born in certain circumstances never makes this sort of thing fair. I'm sorry that you're in this situation to start with."

"It's not your fault." Hinata answered. "It's everything to do with Sasuke attacking, and the Raikage retaliating. That's all it goes back to."

"Yeah. That's why my plan's to take down the Raikage and replace him. Once that happens, you won't have to worry about it. You won't have to do it with anyone you don't want to. Until then though... If the idea is that we aren't really TRYING to have children in the first place, why don't we just stop having sex altogether?"

She processed his words for a moment, then spoke.

"Okay. Thank you. I —" She paused, thinking it over briefly, before shaking her head. "— I'm

grateful for this. If I could ask, I'd like to see Naruto, first and foremost. That wouldn't be possible, would it?"

"I can see about it. I wouldn't count on it though. He's in about as high security a cell as possible, 24/7, being the holder of Nine Tails and all."

"Alright. Thank you, either way." Hinata answered, her unsurprised, before looking back at him. "But are you sure that you're fine with this?"

"I mean, yeah. I enjoyed doing it with you, but if you're uncomfortable with it, I'd rather not do it at all. Did you enjoy it while it lasted?"

She didn't respond for a moment.

"It felt good." She said, tone half-hearted, and though some part of him wanted her to be honest, this response coupled with her hesitance was a bigger blow to his pride than he anticipated.

"Okay. Should I go buy some clothes for you, while you're in here?"

"I'd prefer it if I went by myself." She responded honestly, closing her eyes. "But I'm not sure if I really have a choice."

"That's something I never really understood — didn't you bring a change of clothes or anything? It seemed as if you just wore the clothes on your back."

"My house got destroyed during the invasion, so my other clothes are probably ruined." Hinata answered.

"Oh. That explains it. Just come to the living room when you're ready, I'll see what size clothes and measurements you have, and I'll buy more for you. I'll leave your robe up here for you though."

"Thank you."

Left alone, Hinata recalled the many years she'd watched as Naruto had pined over Sakura in the past, the tumultuous nights of heartache that came with the realization that he felt the way he had, and wondered if there was any chance of Naruto reciprocating her feelings for her.

She had tried to gather up her courage twice over to try and at least confess her feelings for him, but both times, something of far greater importance had come up, whether it an urgent need to heighten his training, or the day Naruto had learned that Jiraiya had passed.

When she'd fought a hopeless battle against Pain to help Naruto, she knew that it would be her last chance, whichever way it went — her life being taken from her coming as no real surprise, but the true surprise had come in the fact that she'd somehow come back to life with no explanation.

Frequently she wondered if something had been wrong with her perception of the event, sometimes thinking that she'd just been knocked out and inconsequentially woken up, and yet the fact of the matter was that her broken bones and body suddenly became far better in the small gap of time that had passed between her death and revival.

There was the horrifying notion that sometimes crossed her mind that she was somehow in the afterlife instead, with everyone else there because they'd died to Pain as well, which wasn't helped by the Cloud invasion of the Leaf that took place not long after.

Her denial phase in the face of the terrible things that had transpired made her question what sort of nightmare she'd stepped into, yet in Z, the realization that she was still acting to help gave her hope that the life she'd had before was still possible.

Yet, in light of that, she thought of what would happen if Naruto actually reciprocated her feelings in any capacity — but even then, she dismissed it wholesale, knowing how he felt about Sakura to start with.

More than anything else, she had wanted to try making peace with that fact, but she felt little confidence in her actual capacity for it.

Sighing, she rose to her feet, turning to walk out of the bath and towel herself off, her walking out of the room with her robe wrapped around her body.

Walking into the living room to find Z talking to someone, she paused, looking to find Sakura and Ino standing in the doorway, her eyes widening, and their eyes widening in turn, as they took notice of her.

"Hinata—" Sakura was the first to speak, before she glanced away, and Hinata went red with embarrassment before covering herself up in the robe she'd been provided, although it covered as much as was possible already.

"— I guess it's a matter of course that it'd already happen." Ino muttered with a sigh, and shame filled Hinata, despite their sorrowful expressions being empathetic to her.

Z noted this, then sighed, looking to the pair.

"It hasn't happened yet." He lied. "She was just taking a bath earlier, but we decided we'd try it today. At least, before we decided to call the whole thing off. That being said, before that happens, I'd like to speak to both of you before we do anything further. Is that fine with you?"

They both gave curious but wary expressions to him, but nodded.

"Do you know the reason for why the invasion happened?" He asked them, first and foremost, and when they gave the answer that they had decided to go about forcing different clans to join with them, or for Naruto's Nine Tails to be taken, he shook his head. "It's not because of either of those things."

He explained the recent event of Sasuke attacking Killer Bee to take the Eight Tails away to them, how he'd been doing it for the Akatsuki, and that he'd been taken into custody after A had intervened with some jonin as reinforcements to overwhelm Sasuke.

He then elaborated on how the Leaf's refusal to mark Sasuke as a criminal, coupled with the other villages' shady dealings with the Akatsuki, had ultimately caused the Raikage to declare war a necessary step to keeping order, as the Akatsuki had already taken many of the Tailed Beasts barring Bee and Naruto himself, with it likely that even Bee would be another of those killed for it.

"The old man was always suspicious of the other Villages, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back basically. If there were any ties between the Leaf and the Akatsuki gathering all the Tailed Beasts, he wanted to take care of it before anything else could happen, or die trying. But, as luck would have it, the leader of the Akatsuki destroyed the Leaf just about when the forces he mobilized against it arrived. Granted, I honestly don't think your Village is responsible for any of the Akatsuki's workings, but it's still an issue that your leaders never declared him rogue."

"But there's no way he did that!" Sakura exclaimed. "He joined Orochimaru because he wanted to kill his older brother!"

"Oh, really? Why isn't it possible?" Z asked. "He was donning an Akatsuki robe, and even attacked my uncle. You were teammates with him, right, Sakura Haruno? Is there another reason you have in mind for why he'd try to kidnap and kill him?"

Sakura fell silent, eyes narrowed.

"Maybe it was his brother — maybe one of the Akatsuki forced him. There's just no way he would!"

"It's not possible that someone who joined the person who helped start the LAST invasion of your Village, the same person who ALSO betrayed your Village and joined the Akatsuki, wouldn't be willing to?"

Sakura frowned at him, Ino silent.

"I understand that you have some sentimental attachment to him. But are you really going to refuse to accept the blatant truth?"

Sakura looked down, then shook her head.

"Why are even telling us this?" Ino asked.

"It's honestly because I worked it out with Hinata, and we decided we didn't want to do what my father agreed on doing. Instead, I've decided to recruit her and you both to help me change this situation a bit, by helping me take down my father and become the Raikage."

"What?" Ino blinked.

"That's preferable to what you came here to do, is that right?" Z asked, before looking back to Hinata. "That way, none of you have to worry about having to have enough babies to release the prisoners."

"But isn't he your father? Why would you want to go against him? Isn't that what you were just criticizing Sasuke for?" Sakura asked.

"It's BECAUSE he's my father that I want to do it. But do we have a deal? I become the Raikage, and you go free?" He asked the pair. "Hyuuga's already agreed herself, but do you all agree to what I decided on."

They gazed at him with wary gazes.

"How do we know you're even being genuine about all this? This could be a setup to imprison us, for all we know." Ino said.

"Hm. I guess so. If you don't really trust me, I'm not really sure what to do. Just as a heads up though — this entire thing is an even bigger setup." Seeing their confused expressions, he elaborated. "The goal of this whole thing is to have children, enough so that people can be brought out of imprisonment, right? My family's not exactly fertile. We can have sex, but the chances of us actually having children from it is alarmingly low. Even my grandfather thought it'd be better to just adopt a brother for my father than just having another child, because there just wasn't any point. The fact that I even exist is nothing short of miraculous in itself. So, even if you we did it like rabbits for months on end, chances are you'd never get pregnant — so the chances of ANY of your friends getting out are slim to none, much less all of them."

"You're not serious." Sakura said with wide eyes.

"No, I've been pretty secure in the fact that I'm a bastard in EVERY sense of the word for a while now. My purpose here is to waste your time while my father does everything in his power to prepare for anything he needed done to be done." Z answered, crossing his arms. "Do you believe me now? I don't really like being a glorified distraction, and keeping you all here under the impression that you're actually helping the situation just seems cruel to me."

"Is that why you want to get rid of him?" Ino asked after a moment.

"No. My reasons are nothing that noble. Let's just say that our interests coincide, so if you help me, I'll help you. Deal?"

It took them a moment, but the pair nodded.

"Alright. I'll take you to your rooms, until we can start working on this." Z said, before gesturing for them to follow him, him walking away, nodding to Hinata as he walked off, Ino and Sakura following, but pausing to check on her.

After asking if she was alright, that he really hadn't laid a hand on her, Hinata instinctively said no, assuring them that she was fine, before they went, Hinata looking away with a saddened expression, walking forward to go about sitting down on a chair.

When he returned after a few minutes, she looked up at Z, who gave a frown.

"Could I ask you a question?" She asked, her eerily calm.

"Yes?"

"If you knew from the beginning that the plan was to not have any children at all, then why did you want to try having sex with me at all? Why not call it off immediately?"

Z's blue eyes became downcast, but he had a resigned expression as he sighed.

"It's because a part of me did feel excited about the idea of it, even if the point was to deceive you all. I'm sorry that I took advantage of this situation to start with."

Hinata sighed, rising to her feet.

The cluster of emotions that welled inside her upon him confirming her suspicions made discerning what she felt most distinctly difficult, and yet, her eyes glared coldly at him.

"I'm grateful that you're willing to help us, but taking advantage of me like you did — I don't even know what to say."

"I know it's not enough, that it won't ever be enough, but I'm sorry for what I did."

"How can I know that I can trust you?" She asked.

"You don't. But I can still try." He closed his eyes, then breathed in a sigh. "Do you want to know WHY I want to become Raikage so badly?"

"You said it was your birth right."

"That's part of it. The truth is, there's a tradition for anyone to be able to be considered the Raikage: They have to be able to perfect the Lightning Release: Lariat technique. The problem being, while I was incredibly adept at using taijutsu, my only chakra nature was Earth. Even when I trained to become more adept at lightning nature attacks, it honestly wasn't enough, and since my father didn't really want me to be his successor in the first place, I was passed over in favor of someone else. He eventually said outright that I shouldn't bother, that someone like me wasn't going to do anything beyond bringing shame to the title. I'm good at taijutsu and genjutsu, but anything using chakra is where I usually falter. Most of my attacks usually focus on adapting to my opponents to even the playing field. So — I created a genjutsu that could do just that. A type of genjutsu that can't be broken in the normal ways. It renders the target unconscious, practically comatose, and the only way to end the genjutsu is when their chakra levels reach zero. But by then, it usually kills them."

Hinata furrowed her brows at this, before the pieces connected in her mind.

"It was *you*?"

"Yes. I snuck into Naruto's makeshift house after all was said and done, and I used my genjutsu to lock him into a coma that would never end, unless I lifted it, or someone stopped the flow of chakra. The jutsu is like a parasite that doubles as a lock, draining a person of their chakra to keep itself up. Normally, it would kill him. But Naruto has a Tailed Beast inside of him, the strongest of the bunch, so he's still very much alive. With Naruto out of the way, Tsunade out of commission, and everyone still recovering from Pain's assault — you know the rest."

"How could you do that to Naruto?" She asked, shock coloring her face.

"Because it was my job. There's plenty of empathy to go around, but while I hate my old man, my country comes first. That's what it is to be a ninja, doing what's necessary to avoid death and casualties. I just happen to think trying to use the carrot and stick routine is wrong when the carrot never existed to start with. You love him, so I'm honestly envious, but he's the sort of person someone with no clear relationship with him could willingly give their lives for. If it's worth anything at this point, hopefully he sees that when you see him again."

She paused, then took a deep breath.

"You'll free him from the genjutsu when you've become the Raikage?" She asked for clarity.

"Yeah."

"That's what I'll be focusing on." She said. "Thank you for being honest with me. If you'd come to me normally from the start, I honestly wouldn't mind the idea of it, given enough time."

It wasn't like Naruto was going to like her because she lost her life trying to help him once — such would be pretentious of her to feel, and she still cared for Naruto above all else.

Z nodded his understanding.

"Sorry again. I won't do that to you again." He promised, and when she turned away, he realized something. "Wait, I still need to get clothes for you." He reminded her, which made her pause.

"Alright." She answered, before giving him the size clothes that fit her.