A/N: Yeah, I'm not dead yet. I've promised myself that I would write a fic more than at least ten chaps for the first time in five years and I will keep it if it's the last thing I do. Work's just a bit too busy at this point, and considering how I've been busy playing NBA 2K13, PES 2013, Final Fantasy VII remake and IdolM ster 2 in whatever little spare time I have, that really doesn't leave me much time to write anything. Anyways, the bottom line is, I will continue this fic, and all my other fics, eventually. More than a few already complained to me that I should really continue my HP fic and I agree. I'll get to it once I figure that this particular fic has been 'built up' properly.

That being said, more Kazehana this chapter as promised. More lols maybe? We'll see.

A Second Journey

Chapter 7: Just a Little Breather

Poor Yomi found her raging fit stutter to a halt quite suddenly when a soft Norito was chanted by a very satisfied Musubi.

"Fist of my contract! Break the unhappiness of my Ashikabi!"

A pink glow took over the Fist Sekirei, heightening her speed, agility and strength to an extent that had Naruto raising his eyebrows. It was quite impressive to see Musubi treat the enemy Sekirei who had been flinging wind blades and undressing her nastily just mere moments ago, flinging her around like a rag doll.

That description really is quite accurate considering how what was left of the 'Death Scythe' was removed from her hold in the first few seconds, then it was quite the exquisite combo of punches, kicks, somersaults and what not that ended up launching her into the sky. The final move really reminded Naruto of his Uzumaki Naruto Rendan thing he used to do back when he was a rookie genin, only Musubi seemed to reckon her elbow would do more damage. Naruto would have to agree after seeing the huge crater that formed after Yomi crashed into the ground.

Secretly, Naruto would have loved to see Musubi kick a lot more, because, well, her legs were of a pure milky shade, long and silky, and every time she extended them, his mind wandered over to how they would feel wrapped around his waist. As her Ashikabi now, it was obvious that he would find out soon, but that didn't mean a man couldn't daydream about it every now and then.

"Why the heck are you drooling?!" A rather familiar voice bellowed in annoyance as twin figures landed on either side of him, catching him off-guard.

"Eh?" Naturally, his response wasn't too clever.

"Sis is just jealous. Don't worry about it."

"I am not! Whose side are you on anyway?!"

"My Ashikabi's, eep!" Her words ended with a light squeak as the blond simply pulled her in for a quick kiss as he murmured about rewarding his beloved Sekirei for saying such lovely words.

"Gah!" Hikari simply slapped a palm to her face as she ignored how her twin was currently floating in nirvana and turned her attention back to the final member of their group, "Hey, hey! Try and leave some for me! I need to blow some steam off too!"

"Ice Time." Icicles stormed off the ground, forcing the two remaining enemy Sekirei to scatter from their huddle, catching them completely by surprise. They had been so focused on getting out of No. 88's way since she had activated her Norito that they had forgotten to be aware of any potential hazards in their surroundings.

Akitsu was getting quite good at stealth after watching Naruto for the past few days. That was what she did best anyway, Naruto had more than once, over their short period of time together, complimented her on her willingness and patience to observe. Granted, it was more because she felt Naruto was her master and she needed to watch his each and every move to ensure his absolutely safety, but that was beside the point. What Hibiki and Hikari, and to a certain extent, the other residents of Izumo Inn failed to realize was that Naruto never made any noises when he moved.

It didn't really matter since his loud, boisterous voice would always reveal where he was but that was only within Izumo Inn. No one seemed to appreciate just how dexterous her master was. Miya and Karasuba would be the only ones who had some clue as to what Naruto really could do if he was serious but that was it. None of the other Sekirei had comprehended what it meant for Naruto to become a Shinobi once more.

Light on his feet didn't even begin to cover it. Then again, it was something that came naturally to Naruto, so he didn't even realize he was doing it sometimes, but when one reached someone of his status in the Shinobi world, one just did not discover his presence if he didn't want it to be found. It wouldn't do to assassinate someone and then having an entire army chasing after you now, would it? Sneak in, slice throat, sneak back out. Nice and simple, Uzumaki style.

How was it exactly that her master had been able to move around so quietly? It wasn't like he was moving in a different way or using special gear or something like that. So Akitsu had taken to observing her Ashikabi very carefully, trying to figure out one of the many mysteries that revolved the blond.

So far, all she could tell was that there were subtle changes in his posture and stance as he walked. It looked just like every other guy, but for some reason, there just wasn't much, if any, noise at all. So she tried it out for herself and to her amazement, her movements got relatively quieter.

It would be a while later when Naruto explained to her that controlling the way one's muscles worked would go long ways in helping coordinate the body during motion. Standard Shinobi knowledge.

Just like how he so easily snuck up behind her just as she was about to leap into the air once more, his arms circled around her slim waist as he forcefully prevented her ascent, "Aki-chan, do you still remember the conversation we had a while ago?"

The Ice Sekirei was blinking in confusion as she turned around to face her Ashikabi, "… …?"

It was quite clear that she was still longing to fight even as the lightning twins took over her task of causing area wide destruction with lightning bolts.

"The one about you being mine?"

"Ah…" Nod.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto chastised himself on the inside for saying sounding so possessive but he knew it was probably the one way to get Akitsu to actually focus.

"All of you are belong to me, remember?" Yes, he actually said that, even though it made no sense grammatically.

"Yes." Nod, nod.

"These are mine, right?" His hands easily rested on her 'twins' as they gave them a slight caress, before moving up to her cheeks that were currently a bright red.

"H-hai…" Nod, nod, nod.

"Good, what about this?"

His fingers slowly traced downwards, teasing her porcelain skin as he made his way to his destination, "If I remembered correctly, this should be mine as well." Dipping in slightly, his lips moved closer to her ear, whispering softly as his fingers did their magic.

Naturally, Akitsu didn't really bother nodding anymore; she was too immersed in what her Ashikabi was doing to really understand the situation.

The lightning twins could take care of the enemies, now all she wanted to do was just sink into the pleasure and …

Wait a minute… Gears slowly began to turn in her head as she tried to grasp that something that she seemed to be forgetting.

"… Ah!" Suddenly remembering what this was all about, Akitsu grimaced slightly before she turned around to an amused blond, "Sorry…"

A satisfied Naruto was about to reply when he was abruptly and violently interrupted by a not-so-happy Hikari.

"It doesn't take you finger-raping her to tell her that she needs to wear panties!"

To be fair, her rage was very well justified. Here she was, evading those annoying weapons of the enemy Sekirei, doing all the hard work, and yet her Ashikabi was being a complete sexually-driven retard!

It didn't help that Akitsu was already an exhibitionist! What, was he trying to give her incentive to do it again?!

"Geez, I was just having some fun, cut me some slack." The blond pouted as he tried to justify why touching his Sekirei in public when enemy Sekirei were trying to kill him was a good idea.

The fact that he pouted alone should have shown that he was just being random. He really couldn't care less that someone was trying to kill him. You get immune to stuff like that after two thousand years.

Hikari's objections were overridden when Naruto gave her a hard slap to the butt, "Don't make me go all 'S' on you."

The poor Sekirei could never win an argument against the blond. There were times when she wondered what she would be like if her Ashikabi was actually someone else…

Elsewhere, Seo sneezed in his dreams of naked women before continuing to drool and mumble about how he was going to catch them all. Yes, he was dreaming about Pokegirls, not Sekirei.

It took a while, but finally, Musubi and Hibiki were back by his side, after thoroughly decimating the opposition. Sometime during their scuffle, Mitsuha and MItsuki decided to take a strategic retreat, and with their weapons, it was quite convenient for them to execute it. Hibiki really wasn't that interested in terminating them right there and Musubi was just coming off her first ever Norito, so it made sense that neither made much effort to chase them once they started escaping.

The things that you do when you could clearly feel the utter cbf-ness coming from your Ashikabi even as you fight his battles. There really wasn't any other way to describe it. Guess sometimes feeling emotions from their master wasn't exactly the best boost for them.

Naruto was seen laughing as he teased Hikari about her inner 'M' whereas Akitsu stood by his side, a pretty blush firmly printed across her cheeks.

"Naruto-san, they got away!" Musubi declared in a relatively cheerful voice, not too fussed that she was pretty much naked at this point.

"Yosh! Now that the nuisances are gone, let's get to business!" A lecherous grin spread across his lips as he reached out with his hands, making disturbing motions with his fingers, not unlike his famous Sensei. He really had been around that guy for far too long after the fourth world war. Sakura had more than once told him that if she had known that he would be this bad an influence on her 'darling' husband, it would have been better not to have saved him at all. Then again, Jiraiya did teach Naruto the bulk of his knowledge on how to please a woman properly and hence Sakura had to make do with the fact that most decisions in life were a double-edged sword and that she was just have to live with it.

"Hai!" Naturally, the fist Sekirei was eager considering how she longed to feel her Ashikabi closer to her. It was normal for a Sekirei to run on her emotions after the Norito since it was the emotions between Ashikabi and Sekirei that drove that extra power, so for her to want to feel her Ashikabi in a more intimate way wasn't completely unexpected.

Akitsu didn't seem to mind either as she melded herself onto his arm, her generous assets brushing against him with every movement. Truth be told, Naruto honestly didn't care if she wore undergarments or not, as long as no other man saw her precious. Meaning, she could walk around stark naked if she wanted to, and Naruto would gladly let her do that, as long as he was the only male in the vicinity to appreciate it.

Uzumaki Naruto was quite the possessive man.

It made sense of course, but normally, most people still care if their Sekirei was walking around in their birthday suits. Naruto simply scoffed at those people being too normal and shy and all that, and declared that he would gladly admire their awesome figures if they chose to flaunt them before him. Miya had whacked him on the head and emphasized that no one was to walk around naked. Ever.

The lightning twins too blushed at how forward their Ashikabi was. If it had been anyone else but him doing it, they would have fried him on the spot, but seeing how they could actually feel his intentions and hence imagine what he was going to do to them, they couldn't help it. Alas, they had been corrupted by their Ashikabi in ways they would never have imagined. Who knew that it could be done in so many different ways, with varying levels of power over long periods of time? The lectures that the professors back at MBI had given them had absolutely nothing on the practical applications they were subjected to.

My dear boy, theory only gets you so far. Practice, on the other hand, makes perfect. Direct quote from Jiraiya.

But no one's perfect right? So does that mean we gotta keep practicing? Direct answer from a rather oblivious Naruto back then, who had no idea that his sensei wasn't exactly going to teach him about chakra training.

Oh, for sure, my boy, for sure. Let the corruption begin.

Anyway, digressions aside, none of his Sekirei actually minded the fact that he was probably going to take them all right there in public. Kuu was already on her way back to Izumo Inn, courtesy of Naruto clone number sixty four. This was a relatively isolated Botanical Garden anyway, so there weren't that many passer-bys. What could possibly interrupt them?

"Uzumaki… hic… NARUTO!" A rather drunken slur of his name echoed through the area, startling Naruto and his flock as they all tried to locate the source of that voice.

It didn't take them long to find a completely wasted Kazehana pointing at them with a determined expression on her face, "You will *hic* die by my boobs today!"

"Yeah! What she said!" An equally drunken Uzume was finding it hard to tell which the 'real' Naruto was since she was seeing four of him, hence she settled for grinning in a rather crazy fashion.

Silence ensued for a wee while, before it was broken by a rather annoyed Hikari, "If you say 'yes, please' to that, I will never be at your side ever again."

X – X

In the end, it took quite some effort to subdue the drunken duo and bring them all back to Izumo Inn. It was actually a good thing Miya was out on grocery shopping when Naruto and co arrived in a messy fashion. Kuu was still asleep throughout the entire ordeal so that was good. Kazehana and Uzume were placed in No. 10's room for obvious reasons, and Kuu was taken to where Musubi had stayed the night before. The Fist Sekirei had chosen to 'move in' with Naruto and had quite a good time enjoying herself, getting to know the other Sekirei of her Ashikabi better.

The fact that the other three pretty much saw this coming helped move the interactions quite a bit. The way the girl admired their Ashikabi was a given that she was going to be winged eventually, though they figured it might have taken her longer given how thick Naruto was with things like this. Unless they were in a huge pinch or great danger, he would never take initiative to claim them.

Seriously, it was ridiculous. Who ever heard of someone who had the ability to easily wing all the unwinged Sekirei out there, choose to wait for the Sekirei to pick him out of goodwill? Look at the Ashikabi from the East and South! They practically tried to kidnap unwilling Sekirei just so that they could use them. Talk about difference in integrity.

Hikari did complain that her Ashikabi was too much of a pervert for her liking but then Hibiki simply teased her about how she really wasn't complaining during certain 'extracurricular' activities. The fact that even Akitsu was blushing said something. Musubi of course, had no idea what they were talking about. It really wasn't a very well-kept secret that Naruto was very… skilled in that particular aspect. One did not have Jiraiya as their Sensei and not learn a thing or fifty about the finer aspects of procreation.

Kama Sutra had nothing on the Sannin.

Naruto's main trouble for the day came in the form of a very annoyed Hannya (who almost dropped the groceries to the ground upon seeing more Sekirei at her inn), that seemed somewhat caught between amusement and irritation from the recent acts of her latest resident. What were the chances of an Ashikabi bringing back a Sekirei to add to his collection every single time he stepped out of the door?!

"Uzumaki-san, what is the meaning of this?"

"Er… what do you mean, Miya?" He could already feel the sweat trickling down his chin. This was going to be a long conversation.

"Why is it that every time you go out, you see it fit to bring back more visitors?" She genuinely looked like she was waiting for an answer, though Naruto knew better. She was just waiting for a reason to slap him around with her ladle.

"Well, it's not entirely my fault, you see – "

"To think you would go for little kids now! My, my, I believe I've misread you."

"Urgh… Well technically speaking, I didn't go for her per se – "

"And you got Uzume and Kazehana drunk as well!"

"Hey! I didn't do that! That was completely them! I don't even know where they went drinking!" This was where the blond felt that he needed to make his point clear. He was the victim out of this whole situation!

Wait a minute…

"You sound as if you know her very well." He eyed her suspiciously as he looked her up and down, as though that would help him figure her out.

"Ara, ara, whatever gave you that idea?" Miya chose to flutter her lovely eyelashes to feign innocence.

"That just makes you even more suspicious." A sweatdrop was formed somewhere on the back of his head.

"A lady has her own secrets, oh ho ho."

"Pft, lady she says, she's just an old hag." Obviously, this was not said out loud, more like a mutter, but that didn't stop the strongest Sekirei there ever was from hearing it and summoning up a particular bloody Hannya mask.

"What, was, that, Uzumaki-san?" He swore the eyes glowered at him for a second.

"Er, never you mind." Scratching his head, he had continued, "I've only really met Kazehana twice including today, but I guess I had to end our last encounter in an abrupt manner and she wasn't really happy about it."

That was putting it mildly. He had his hands all over her during the fight, using every opportunity that presented itself to touch, caress and stroke her supple flesh and lithe physique. It was kind of like giving her a massage, an involuntary one at that, but it was still a massage nonetheless. It had nothing to do with how he just wanted to feel her smooth, pale skin on his fingertips and just run his palms over her…

"Uzumaki-san, please refrain from drooling all over my carpet."

"You don't even have a carpet!" Indignant denial straight away.

"So you did drool."

"Yes. No!" This woman was getting better.

"Are you trying to use them to satisfy your carnal urges?"

"Please, I've got my girls over there, what makes you think I would need to use Kazehana and Uzume in particular?" His face was held high in the air as he replied in a snobbish manner.

"Uzumaki-san."

"Hm?"

"Lewd acts are not permitted in Izumo Inn." Her grin was victorious as she seemed to have finally found an opening.

"What? Wait no! That's not what I meant!" Shaking his head frantically, Naruto held out his hands as he tried to explain, "You were the one that kept changing the topic around! I only brought these two drunkards back because – "

"It's okay, Uzumaki-san. I completely understand." Those violet orbs were glowing now.

"Please, not the Seiza. Anything but that! I'll even wait politely for you to summon up fifty different masks and act scared!"

It obviously wasn't the right response to give.

"U-zu-ma-ki-san." Was she actually gritting her teeth? It couldn't be something he said, could it?

"Hai…?"

"Seiza!" Out came the ladle.

"Noooooo!"

Yep, it wasn't too pleasant. At least not for Naruto. His lower limbs felt just a bit numb after the long lecture he received from the landlady, who repeatedly emphasized that lewd acts, drugging people's drinks and child abuse were all prohibited in Izumo Inn.

His outraged protests that he wasn't responsible for the latter two were cut down as Miya continued on her long-winded speech. There were multiple times when he felt like rolling his eyes because he knew the landlady wasn't really angry because he brought so many people back. She was just irritated that he had drawn on his Sage chakra out in the open. If his Sekirei had been able to sense it, then Miya would have surely felt it… and probably all the other Sekirei in the region as well.

Meaning Karasuba probably felt it, and judging from that crazy woman's bloodlust, she would clearly come to Izumo Inn to try and fight him or whatever. Since Miya didn't really like No. 4, it was undeniably Naruto's fault if the Black Sekirei were to show up.

That and she was just trying to get him to pay more money for the rent. It wasn't easy trying to feed so many people with the money she was currently getting. Kagari paid his bills so that was alright, Uzume was a bit slow at times but she still managed, always somehow getting money on different occasions after a few late nights out and the other one was just a freeloader.

Now when Naruto and co arrived at Izumo Inn, he paid fifty thousand yen to cover for himself. At least that's what he thought. Then Akitsu came with him the same night, followed by the Lightning Twins and Musubi in a couple of hours' time. On top of that, Musubi had been in a different room that night. Now, with Kuu sleeping due to exhaustion from frolicking at the botanical garden, Kazehana and Uzume sleeping off their alcohol, there were a total of eleven people including the secret resident in Izumo Inn.

It was only natural for the blond to pay up since he was the one to pretty much drag all the extra Sekirei back to Izumo Inn, hence Naruto didn't really mind. In fact, he had jokingly told Miya that she might as well charge him fifty thousand yen per head if it made her feel better.

She did just that and patted him on the head with a huge smile on her face, leaving him with a deadpan on his face.

This woman…

Well, he had lots of money, so he didn't really care, but there was just this part of him that felt like Miya was currently snickering in an evil manner that everything was going according to plan.

That being said, all the Sekirei called it a day pretty early and after a quick dinner, Naruto went back to his room, threw his jacket and undershirt off and laid down on the futon, closed his eyes and drifted off to dream land. He was actually quite tired from all the events that happened today, mentally-wise really.

X – X

Next morning was quite like the usual, with the sun shining bright quite early in the morning, naked bodies draped over his torso just like usual and …

Blink blink…

Something felt off. Not one to brag, but Naruto found it his 'special' ability to memorize the frame of the women he slept with. Whoever was currently on him was definitely not one of his Sekirei. For one, their breasts were way too big compared to the girls he had. Couldn't be Musubi because she had taken to sleeping with little Ku-chan for the night, wanting to keep her company. Akitsu might have come close but the skin he was in contact with didn't have that cool, chilly feel to it.

Gradually opening his eyes as he tried to adjust to his surroundings, not liking the sunlight that was currently blaring through the room, Naruto peered down at his chest.

"… Okay…?"

That would explain why he felt just a bit more weighed down than usual. With breasts like those, who wouldn't?

"Zzzz…" Naturally, the two Sekirei that were on him continued to sleep in bliss. Well, as much bliss as they could before they woke up with killer hangovers. Considering how drunk they were, it wouldn't be surprised if they wouldn't be in an amiable mood for the most part of the day.

Even then, why the heck were they naked?!

Scratch that, why the hell were the girls always naked when they slept with him?! It wasn't like he tried to have his way with him in the Inn because that would be suicide considering how Miya was always there. Akitsu had once mentioned how 'nice' it was to be held by him, so maybe it was because he was exuding some sort of warmth? But then why were the Lightning twins that comfortable with him too?

He could only imagine just how cuddly Musubi would get… Images of him getting squished to death by a dangerously cute bear sprung to mind, leaving him sweating slightly.

Anyway, judging from the way Kazehana and Uzume were so nicely huddled on either side of him, their hands strangely close to his lower region, Naruto couldn't only guess as to why they felt so 'at home'.

The most probable scenario would be them waking up at dawn for a quick toilet break. Then, being in their drunken states, they would stumble upon the wrong room.

It couldn't have been the middle of the night because Hikari and HIbiki were in those spots before, with Akitsu directly on top of him so unless his girls had agreed to leave quietly, there was no way in hell he wouldn't have realized the 'change' in personnel.

That brought up the question just where his Sekirei had actually gone. Trying to get his head around all these interesting queries, Naruto slowly tried to untangle himself from the limbs all over him and get up. As much as he enjoyed naked, luscious bodies, he needed to get up and wash his face. Their breath was killing him.

But alas, before he could do that, the door to his room opened with a resounding click after a couple of short, brief knocks, "Hai, Uzumaki-san! The sun's been up for quite some time now, wake up… Ara, ara…"

Blinking, the blond stared at the 'visitor' in resignation, before rolling his eyes, "Before you say anything, this is not what it looks like."

"Ara, ara, I'm so sorry Uzumaki-san," She didn't look the least bit apologetic, "But may I ask why…?"

"I'm innocent. Honest." Stifling a yawn, the blond tried to look as serious as he could, what with half-lidded eyes and drool down the side of his mouth, "There is absolutely nothing suspicious going on here in my room."

"Uzumaki-san, why are there naked women in your room?"

"I don't know."

"Even if they're sleeping in your futon?"

"No idea."

"So you mean to tell me that you had nothing to do with this?"

"Yes." Nodding, he pointed at Kazehana, who was slowly rousing from her sleep due to the chatter, "If anything, you should be worried for my chastity."

Before Miya could reply, Uzume too had woken up and just as Naruto suspected, both Sekirei were holding their heads in agony, "Urgh…"

"Naruto-san! Ohayo! Ah…" A cheerful Musubi turned up at the door, just behind Miya, only to be frozen at the sight before her. Her precious Ashikabi, dressed in nothing but boxers, with the two drunken women from yesterday naked in his futon.

Unbeknownst to herself, a menacing black aura grew from within her, causing her eyes to flash dangerously, earning a eep from the two women as they tried to find where the killing intent was coming from, not that they were doing a good job of it.

Even Naruto raised his eyebrow at how Musubi was able to project an image like that, though what was the deal with that bear?

"Er, morning, Musubi-chan, where are the others?" Taking the most sensible course of action, Naruto decided to get her to focus her full attention onto him. That might give the two drunkards some reprieve.

"Oh! Right!" The aura disappeared as quickly as it appeared, "Hikari-san and Hibiki-san were out doing groceries for Ooya-san, Akitsu-san is fixing the fridge."

"Huh?" Okay, so Hikari and Hibiki doing groceries was pretty normal, but Akitsu fixing the fridge? He had no idea she could do that.

As though understanding what his confusion was about (actually, Musubi did know, because she could feel it through the bond, but anyway), "Akitsu-san is keeping the fridge cold while the insurance company comes over to have a look at it."

Oh, so that's what she's doing.

"You know, you could be downright mean at times." Naruto deadpanned even as he scratched his head, "Try not to use my Sekirei for things like this?"

Miya frowned slightly as she scolded, "It's not very nice to accuse people of things they never did, Uzumaki-san."

"What, you mean you didn't make her do it?" Sleepy eyes grew owlish.

"Of course not, Akitsu-chan volunteered!" Crossing her arms, the purplette sniffed, "Unlike her Ashikabi who was taking part in adultery first thing in the morning!"

"… Would it help if I said this was all just a misunderstanding?" Sometimes, it was good to hope against hope.

"You can explain this 'misunderstanding' to me in Seiza." Sometimes it was not.

Sighing, Naruto gave a light shrug, before he moved over to Kazehana and Uzume, who were now wishing they had some way to chop their heads off without killing themselves from the pain. Before the other Sekireis' surprised eyes, Naruto simply placed his palms on their forehead, before a soothing green glow emanated from his hands. Naruto remained in that position for the better part of a full minute, before he released his energy, "That should do it. Now, where was I?"

Uzume blinked a few times, unaccustomed to the sudden lack of thudding in her head as she tried to come to terms with what just happened, "Did… did you just get rid of my hangover by touching me?!"

That statement alone brought gasps throughout the room, with even the landlady giving her usual 'ara ara'. It was quite impressive after all, even aliens like themselves did not know the adequate cure to hangovers. It was more like technology never saw fit to include 'treating hangovers' as one of their objectives in life. There were much more important medical diseases existing in this world that demanded more attention, and frankly, everyone knew the true cure to hangovers one way or another.

There were technically two ways to do it. The first one was pretty simple, you fill up a bucket of ice cold water, then you dunk your head in it. Hurts like a bitch but it works. The second one was kind of lame, but held truth to it. Just don't drink. Almost impossible for alcoholics, so that pretty much left them option one, which was really quite unpleasant. So most of them simply stuck to drinking anyway, screw the hangovers.

President of MBI, Hiroto Minaka, declared that hangovers were a part of life, and should be overcome the usual way, and hence made no effort into finding some sort of medicine for hangovers, much to the displeasure of quite a lot of people, but this was just a silly issue, so it died down after a while.

And now, to witness this Ashikabi being able to remove the pain, fatigue and dizziness by simply injecting some sort of emerald energy into their brains proved an intriguing sight. It only served to add to the mystery of just what Naruto couldn't do. Yes, couldn't do.

By now, all the residents of Izumo Inn agreed that it would be normal to assume Uzumaki Naruto could do anything. It made for quite the fun when they found a lot of stuff that the blond actually couldn't do, but that's a story for another time.

Kazehana took the momentary lapse of attention from Naruto since he was a bit confused as to what the fuss was all about and leapt onto the blond, "You have got to teach me how to do that!" Nuzzling his cheek in wild affection, the Wind Sekirei was about to launch into her usual sensual seduction routine, when the blond cut her off in a surprising manner.

"Yes, yes, but we have more important stuff to deal with now." Grabbing a startled Uzume and Kazehana by their arms, he lightly lifted them to his sides as he easily slid into the Seiza position. Honestly, he's been in it so often he actually found it quite comfy now.

"Eh?" The Wind Sekirei was quite confused with her current predicament as she too found herself seated in Seiza, "Er…"

"I'm sure Miya would love to hear about how you guys were involved in this 'adultery' that we will be discussing for the next hour or so." That grin on his face was just a bit too innocent for their liking.

"Oh hell no bro, you wouldn't!" Uzume gaped in horror.

"I apologize for the delay, Miya, but I felt that accomplices should also be given a strict and impressionable lecture as to why lecherous acts are not allowed in Izumo Inn." Gesturing with his hands towards the two flabbergasted women, Naruto grinned, "Now, let's see what variations you can come up with this time round."

"Ara ara…" An ominous aura emanated from the landlady as she gave a chilling smile of her own, "It is rare that Uzumaki-san would be so eager to see them, perhaps I should really give it my all." Several shadows were already forming behind her, all of different sizes, shades and shapes.

"W-wait a minute! No! We're not as eager!" Kazehana slowly began inching away from the menacing purplette before her, "I apologize! Whatever it was that you're going to lecture us about, I apologize!" It was a sad day when the No.3 Sekirei was actually begging for mercy over something so silly. Of course, silly for Naruto, frightening for everyone else.

Musubi, on the other hand, simply did a roundabout after thumping her fist onto her palm in realization, "Oops! I forgot I was supposed to keep Akitsu-san company! I'll see you guys at breakfast!" The speed at which she left the room was quite impressive, leaving a huge trail of dust in her wake.

"Noooo! Don't leave us, Musubi-chan! Come back!" Uzume desperately reached out, trying to will the Fist Sekirei back so that they would have more company to deal with their current crisis. It was not to be as the door to Naruto's room slowly closed as Miya eased her way towards the petrified duo. Actually, she was moving in front of Naruto, but because the other two Sekirei were now tightly latching themselves onto the blond as a instinctive defensive mechanism, they felt like Miya was moving to do unspeakable things to them with her Hannya masks.

For some reason, the curtains were drawn close all of a sudden, and the entire room was now pitch black, which only served to add to the foreboding atmosphere. It was as though all hope was gone and the judgment was about to be served.

"No, no, no, not the blood! Please, don't do it!" Uzume made one last valiant attempt at getting Miya to rethink her options as to what variations she should use, but to no avail. If anything, it gave the landlady more ideas.

The masks were slowly beginning to materialize, and just before they finished, Miya was seen gazing at the blond in with a small frown, as though scolding him, "I expect a full explanation."

"But of course, Miya. Nothing but the absolute truth." He smiled back gently, ignoring the twin vice grips on either side of him as the masks loomed closer.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're evil?" The purplette asked curiously, just before she unleashed the ultimate horror on the trio. Uzume and Kazehana were too preoccupied with trying to un-see some images to bother joining in the conversation.

"I'm not the prank master for nothing, you know." The moment the famous foxy grin lit up on his face, Miya returned it with an equally cunning one of her own, "Very well then."

Let the fun begin.

X – X

"Alright! All done!" The local repairman put the finishing touches on the fridge, dragged himself back out, and gave a thumbs up, "It's amazing how it's still so cold even though the power was cut off, but anyway, I've fixed it."

"Thank you so much!" Musubi gave him a warming smile as she rushed off to find the landlady's purse, "I'll be back with the money in just a second, feel free to make yourself a tea or something!"

Plopping himself back up, the young man eyed the lithe figure bustling about the room with a lecherous eye, he placed a hand under his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully, "Man, what I wouldn't give to have a piece of that ass…"

He was about to admire the bouncy 'assets' of the girl in a strange pink and white Miko outfit, but was unduly interrupted by a high pitched shriek that reverberated throughout the household.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Blinking a few times, the guy shook his head a few times, before putting it off as his imagination. There was no way he actually heard someone scream at the top of their lungs. If that really did happen, why would the buxom girl in the same room as he was not react at all? No, no, no, he must be a bit dehydrated. Perhaps, he should make himself…

"Noooo! Get away from me! Away! AWAAAAAAAY!"

Staring at the teacup in front of him, the young fellow couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the girl who was still trying to find the money. "Erm, sorry to bother you, but er…"

"Hai?" Musubi looked up in a cute manner, her arms stuck in the drawer as she continued to rummage through the contents.

Gulping slightly at how her twins were squeezed together given her position, he steadied himself before continuing, "Did you hear that?"

"Huh? Hear what?"

"SOMEBODY SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Silence permeated the room in an awkward manner as he tried to find his voice, "That." It was quite disconcerting now seeing how the voices he heard were different both times, all of them female. At first, he put it off as a female who saw a spider or cockroach or something along those lines, you know how some females get. The second time, he still thought that, although it was weird that she would be screaming. The third time though, when a different voice sounded up, more mature and succulent, he couldn't help but feel that something was very, very wrong.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about." Musubi still had a deer-in-the-headlights look as she stared back at the repairman in confusion. She was sure that the landlady said it was in this drawer, but why couldn't she find it?

Gulping the young man glanced around nervously as he played with his fingers, "Y-you… you didn't hear that?"

"No…?" It was hard not to believe the girl seeing how she was giving you this look of pure innocence.

"But…" Shaking his head slightly, he was about to take a sip of drink, just to calm him down, only for the screams to pick up once more.

"I'm sorry! I'll do anything, ANYTHING! Just don't come closer!"

Okay, that was it. He couldn't have been hearing things. That lady up there needs help.

"Ano!" Standing up with conviction, he was about to move off to the second floor to see what on earth was going on, when he was frozen to the spot by the sight that met his eyes at the entrance of the Inn.

Two women, dressed in what looked to him like matching dominatrix outfits that clung to their luscious bodies and curvy figures, appeared at the door, carrying bags of groceries with them. He would actually have been pretty interested in eyeing them a bit more if not for the fact that his brain was making a connection between the screaming from the second floor and the outfits.

The girl who was still trying to find the money was wearing a Miko outfit. These two were wearing standard dominatrix outfits. Did that mean…

"Oh, the repairman's here! Hi, nice to meet you. Urgh, Akitsu! Could you come help me with the ice-cream?"

"Huh?" The young man blinked. Aki-who?

"Ah." A soft, cool voice sounded behind him as a woman he hadn't remembered seeing walked past him casually. His pupils narrowed as he locked onto the chains that were barely holding her kimono together.

It really wasn't his fault that he didn't see Akitsu. When the fridge broke down, Miya thought it would be a good idea to air it out for a bit, and hence had left the door open. Akitsu, in her mission to keep the fridge cool, had stood behind the door and placed her hand on the left side of it. The repairman, from start till finish was working behind the fridge from the right side. That and he was focusing more on Musubi so he wasn't too attentive to his surroundings. It wasn't like Akitsu said 'hi' to him anyway.

Given the way she was dressed, only one thought could come to mind.

She was a sex slave! Why else would she be wearing chains?! Who the heck wore chains on them nowadays?! That's kinky beyond belief!

Hot, young girl dressed in Miko outfit.

Twins dressed in dominatrix outfits.

Voluptuous woman with chains over her barely clad kimono.

Screaming from the second floor.

All of the above could only mean one thing!

This Inn was one of those sex clubs! Where one could enjoy the thrills of any type of cosplay, S&M and any other fetishes you could come up with! Those clubs were legendary, not just for the services they provide but for their prices as well! To think that they would have one up here in the North! Usually, they were only situated in the South and East! This must be an illegal one, considering how the females up their sounded really reluctant… That would mean…

They were kidnapping women and forcing them to do their bidding! Oh how heartless and cruel!

"Hya!" CRASH!

The young repairman's attention was brought to the desk that was now split into two. Standing above it was Musubi, her fist stretched out, before she rummaged through it once more, "Found it~!"

Whatever she said next, he wasn't sure, all that he could focus on was how easily the girl had broken a desk that he would have been hard pressed to even lift. Before he could dwell on that any longer, the shrieks of fear from the second floor grew in volume, sending cold shivers down his spine.

This… this place was too dangerous! He must get out of here before the owner of the place comes back!

"Here you go!" Musubi was just about to place the money in the kind man's hands when he suddenly retreated quite a few steps from her, shaking his head in an almost insane manner.

"N-no, it's… it's a-alright! I-I'll just… be o-on my w-way now! Bye!" With almost inhumane speed, the repairman rushed out of the place, not even bothering to take his tools with him.

Funnily enough, it was Hikari who spoke up, "What's wrong with him?"

"Eh… Musubi doesn't know…" Scratching her head in confusion, the Fist Sekirei then proceeded to tidy up the mess she made, "Mo! And to think Musubi went through so much trouble to find it for him! What a rude man!"

"There, there, Musubi, I'll help you."

"Really? Thank you, Hibiki-san!"

Akitsu merely began placing the ice cream back into the fridge, taking special care with the cookies and cream.

The young man would eventually reach the MBI Police Force, report that he found an illegal sex club in the North, only to be deemed crazy by the officers after doing a quick check up on the address. The data in the system showed that Izumo Inn was to be left alone at all causes, with a Level 5 security code attached to it if one wanted to access more information. The poor guy was arrested for trespassing the Inn and was flung into jail, just for a couple of days.

X – X

"Er, is it okay for me to ask a question?" A slightly cowed Minato whimpered under the ferocious glare of his mother.

"Out with it."

"You want me to go to this Inn…"

"Izumo Inn!" Came the impatient reply.

"Right, right, Izumo Inn. And er, I'm supposed to give this letter to a fishcake…?" That was really why he sounded so confused. Why does he need to give a non-living thing some form of writing?

"Naruto is a person you imbecile!" Rolling her eyes at how much her son was like her in some ways, Takami couldn't help but think back to when she first saw that name too. Whoever named that kid was an absolute genius. Imagine having every single person who heard of your name remember you just because you could link it to something so funny?

Elsewhere, in the middle of Miya's lecture, Naruto sneezed, further agitating the masks, causing them to haunt the other two Sekirei even harsher, which of course would only lead to them squealing more.

"Ah! I see! Right, leave it to me, mum!" Minato sounded a lot more cheerful when he actually realized his mum did not think he was insane and was not going to send him on a mission that was utterly degrading and pathetic. He was not so dumb that he needed to be talking to fishcakes to regain his confidence…

That being said, it was still quite perplexing to Minato as to why his mother would want him to deliver a letter to a stranger. Wouldn't it be better and faster by post? Or did she want him to meet this person? She had refused to give him any information on the guy other than 'you'll see'.

That wasn't very helpful at all. Oh well, it couldn't be worse than his sister trying to jump him or trying to convert him into a sis-con, right?

Towards the end of Miya's 'lecture', Naruto sneezed.

I do apologize for delaying this update so much, but really, October is like the month of sports games. Any free time I have is pretty much spent on NBA 2K13 at the moment, I'm addicted to that game. The controls just get harder and harder every year, far out. But the dunks get cooler too, so you know, win some, lose some. Also, I'm actually bothering to grind in FFVII remake, because that's what makes an RPG I guess. I always grind till I… get bored of grinding, so, yeah.

Anyway, it's a bit of a short chapter, because, like I said, not much time to work on it, and the way this chapter was going, I didn't have that much left to add. Why is Takami sending Minato to Naruto? Shrug shrug. Also, Naruto may seem a bit too perverse, but I kinda like him that way. A few of you have mentioned that my Naruto was kinda like Jiraiya, and well, I didn't actually realize that until I went back and read them, so I've decided what the heck, it's a fun personality to write about, and he did train under Jiraiya for all those years in my storyline, so why not.

The next update might drag on for a bit, but I'll try and make it worthwhile, maybe throw in a lemon or something. Thanks for your patience and understanding! Until next time then. =D