66: Expanding Territories: Yugakure

Tsume sat in the outdoor baths of Konoha as she attended the meeting of the Allied Mom Force, or more accurately the after meeting of it. She had accepted Kushina's invite to attend, although in truth only because of it being related to learning more about her lover's jutsu. She had been rather terse with the red-headed Uzumaki simply stating that she would attend after Kushina had explained how they wished to see how Ibara would react should more of Naruto's lovers surround her. The female Uzumaki had tried to make some small talk, but Tsume had simply cut her off stating that she had got what she wanted so could leave. Kushina had obviously not been pleased by her being so coldly dismissed, but not wishing to push her into changing her mind had simply left.

It had been a choice that suited Tsume just fine as she truly hadn't wished to hash out their differences at the time. Those differences had centered around one person, namely Mikoto Uchiha. Yet, despite how upset she was at Naruto's mother for her friendship with the Uchiha, she was surprised that she hadn't been all that upset at her lover making the Uchiha a member of his harem. Although, she did admit that she had experienced a little trouble at the idea of including her in the new description that Naruto's used for describing the harem, The Family. Still, Mikoto starting a relationship with Naruto had not bothered her strangely enough. She suspected that at least in part it was due to the notion that it had likely only been a matter of time. She after all knew just how potent and strong a draw her lover gave off due to his pheromones. Yet, while Kiyomi had indeed modified them, that modification had simply been to give them a greater effectiveness at a distance, the Bijuu hadn't actually altered the chemical make-up of them any further than that.

As a result, Tsume, a woman who lived and died by her senses, could fully understand the draw Naruto had on any woman that he spent time with. After all, from her senses most people were an open book to her, an ability she deliberately tapped down when around others. When she deeply looked at Naruto though using her senses, it was her sense of smell that told her just how virile and powerful he truly was. It was her sense of sight which told her that despite all the power that he wielded, just how gentle and caring he was due to the way his eyes lit up when around those he cared for, or reflected how deeply he wished to help those around him through how he carried himself. It was also through her sense of touch that his gentle nature in regards to his lovers and her came through as his hands, which could and had shattered bones, only caressed her in the gentlest of ways. Well outside of training or when she wanted to be fucked roughly. With hearing, Tsume could only hear his genuine love and affection for each woman that now found themselves to be a member of his family. As for taste, that Tsume admitted didn't play to his gentle nature but like smell conveyed the power lying just beneath the surface. However unlike his scent, her sense of taste did not convey his strength like a gentle promise of a strong mate as whenever Tsume tasted his skin, lips, or drank a load of his seed it was like a spike hammered into her brain that she had made a wise decision by accepting him as a lover.

So, she could understand why Mikoto Uchiha and she now shared a connection with the same man. She had put a collar around her neck for him after all. Still, in the grand scheme of things she would admit that didn't exactly mean she had expected a lot of interactions along the more sexual side of things with the Uchiha. In fact, Tsume had fully expected that they would have treated one another like members of a family that avoided each other at gatherings.

Yet, it had been those same senses that in the past had led Tsume not to trust Mikoto or really any Uchiha for that matter. And knowing what she did now, she suspected the reason was because most Uchiha always gave her the impression that their loyalty lied elsewhere and not with the people they were to call comrades, unless those comrades were other Uchiha. Not to mention they had tended to view the Inuzuka as a vastly inferior clan. Naturally there were outliers here or there that her senses told her were different. But, Mikoto had not been one of them. Or more accurately, she had straddled the line far too closely for her liking. A truth highlighted by the fact that even though Mikoto had alerted the Third of the Uchiha's impending rebellion, she had ultimately sided with her clan.

A fact that rubbed Tsume the wrong way, especially as Kushina had chosen the Uchiha's friendship over hers. After Kushina had befriended Mikoto, Tsume had tried to continue being friends with the red-head, but the conflicting information her senses sent back about her ability to trust the raven-haired woman had made it all but impossible. A fact she had brought to Kushina's attention, but the red-head had simply replied that she couldn't just stop being friends with Mikoto. Tsume hadn't made it an ultimatum, but she began spending less and less time with the Uzumaki expecting her to get the hint. So when that time became almost nil and instead it appeared Mikoto and her grew closer it had left the Inuzuka feeling betrayed. After all, she had been the first one to befriend the fiery red-head upon her moving to the village.

When the village had been attacked by Kiyomi and she had learned of Kushina's death, she had mourned her. She had also regretted her harsh stance particularly upon seeing how hard Mikoto had taken it. However, as was often the case, when she learned the red-head had survived after a fashion her stubbornness had kicked back in. Particularly as she had also learned that she had been right about the Uchiha all along.

Yet, as had often been the case since joining Naruto's Family, she was being forced to reevaluate her views on certain matters, particularly in regards to Mikoto. The Uchiha revealing the monument her family had kept secret for untold generations for Tsume caused the label of being untrustworthy to disappear from the many terms her senses foisted people with. In truth, it hadn't been there in the few times their paths had crossed generally when in the Den or the Family's personal hot springs on Kiyomi's property. But, although her senses and thus her animal side might have told her Mikoto's loyalties were no longer divided. The human portion of her was a little more hesitant to accept it, particularly since she viewed the Uchiha as being the fulcrum that had driven a wedge between Kushina and her.

Still, Tsume was forced to admit if not for Kushina's friendship it would have been likely that Mikoto wouldn't have felt any loyalty to Konoha when her family rebelled. It didn't mean the outcome would have been any different, but the woman that emerged from the Leaf's Maximum Security Prison might have been another enemy rather than someone who had gone along with Danzou's plot to protect one of the likely targets of it, Kushina's son and her lover.

Despite that though, Tsume was bidding her time on how to interact with the red-headed Uzumaki going forward. But she was distracted from her thoughts as Mebuki said, "So Kushina, you must be quite proud of that son of yours. From what I've heard he's put an end to those bandit troubles up north."

Kushina smiled as she nodded while sounding every inch the proud mother, "Very much so, although there wasn't any doubt my Honey could handle some second rate bandits."

Tsume felt a similar sentiment naturally. She also had to give Kushina credit for not letting any of the concern she felt from knowing that the bandits were in fact missing-nin., or that their thievery was in actuality a scheme to steal supplies for a group head-up by unknown person or persons that might be tied to either Tobi or Sasuke. Yet while that detail wasn't known outside the Family, Kiku Yamanaka proved she was as much in tune to the ways of gossip as her daughter Ino when she stated, "I'm sure that bandit activity must be tied to something else though. Why else would someone murder the Rice Paddies Daimyo in the aftermath?"

Umeko, the wife of the clan head of the Akimichi looked concerned as she asked, "Do you really think so?"

The brown haired Yamanaka shrugged as she replied, "It's just some rumors that I've heard swirling about." She turned towards Karin, who was observing Ibara, as she stated, "It might also be why Miss Karin would assign four of her best guards to help a competitor."

Karin looked away from the owner of the bar Seventh Heaven whose face was flushed, but it had nothing to do with the heat of the spring's water in order to respond, "I don't know about that. In truth I considered it an investment for the future. If those bandits had been allowed to continue then they might have become a threat to our shipments to and from Kumogakure. But, it is a worrisome sign that someone would assassinate the Daimyo, and in such a brutal fashion. I heard it looked like he was torn apart by some beast."

Tsume frowned as did Kushina, who had been filled in about the history of the person that The Family suspected was behind the Rice Daimyo's murder. Knowing that Mizuki was working with the bandits had been bad enough for most of Naruto's lovers, but the added knowledge that there was also a Uchiha tied up in the mix almost made if feel like people with a grudge towards Naruto were building up to something big. It was an action not missed by Mebuki, who asked, "What's wrong Tsume? Kushina? Did you hear something else?"

Tsume thinking quickly stated, "No, it's just that since we know this bandit the Lizard had a curse mark, and considering how the Daimyo was killed, it makes me wonder how many more are out there."

Mebuki nodded as some of the concern she felt that her daughter Sakura could come face to face with such an opponent was easy to see. Much as it was on all the women's faces, since many of them had retired upon having children to raise them. Something that to Tsume had always felt like such a waste of potential, especially considering some of the careers they could have had if they continued. Tsume knew it was hard work to have a career and a child, but such things were expected in the Inuzuka. That was one thing she felt separated Naruto from a lot of the men in the Leaf Village in that he saw the strength his lovers possessed. In fact he was counting on it to make his ambition a reality, and although he stated that he didn't want children. She suspected that even if he did, he wouldn't put the type of pressure she had heard some of the other women's husbands had.

She suspected that was one reason so many of the women tended to volunteer as reservists. It was their chance to relive their glory days that in many instances Tsume felt had been cut short. Ibara, Tsume knew for example had been pressured by her husband to retire after it had been discovered she was pregnant. The same could be said for quite a few others as well. Tsume knew that some would justify it as being due to the dangerous nature of the shinobi world, but the Inuzuka felt it was also driven by some of the men's egos. After all, some of the women were as talented or even more so then their partners. Mikoto, who had been pressured by her husband to retire being a perfect example, if her husband had not been the clan head then she doubted he would have had nearly as a spectacular career as his wife. Who not only had reached the rank of jounin first, but had been nearly invited to join the Anbu.

For Tsume if a person was going to use the argument of how dangerous it was to be a shinobi to justify retiring, then she felt the best example of it had been Mebuki and her husband. When they had discovered they were going to be parents, both of them had decided to call it quits.

Tsume supposed that was the better alternative as Yoshino Nara proved when considering how devastated she had been by her husband's death. She couldn't exactly fault the Nara for falling apart since of all the kunoichi's who put their careers to the side for their families; she perhaps had the greatest potential. That potential hadn't been something one would see on the battlefield, but in preparing for it beforehand or preventing one completely. Where her husband had been a tactical genius beyond measure, able to play a battle like it was a game of Shogi, Yoshino was someone that could be given a set of data that didn't seem connected and would be able to see things others missed. It was a skill that had earned her the nickname of the Oracle. Her abilities had predicted that Suna's rash actions before the outbreak of the Third Shinobi war was due to the disappearance of their Kazekage before the news had even leaked from the Wind Village. She also predicted the outbreak of the war that would follow them, but her warnings had been ignored by Sarutobi on the advice of his counselors. Considering it had been Homura and Danzou, Tsume suspected they had downplayed how Yoshino had claimed that several reports of crops damaged by storms and were destined for Iwa didn't fit with other weather reports she had seen. Yoshino had believed that the misinformation was due to Iwa stationing a large force near the Grass Country border to launch a surprise attack on Fire Country. An attack that would happen once Iwa used Suna's increasingly frantic actions to locate their Kazekage to their advantage. Considering Homura and Danzou's revealed desires and as leaders of Root, Tsume figured they had likely known as much as well, but had wanted a war to start which was why they had instead influenced Sarutobi to station troops further south where it was much more likely trouble would occur.

Later events would prove Yoshino correct, but by then the Third Great Shinobi War was already well underway. Shikaku though had not been so quick to dismiss his wife's claims and as such kept several elite squads near Grass's border and devised several countermeasures for an invasion from the Country. This had included Team Minato's mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge which he had known would be the only supply route large enough to sustain Iwagakure's army. Still even Yoshino hadn't been able to predict Kirigakure's surprise entrance in the war. Mainly due to how little information ever escaped from the Land of Water, but also due to just how little their strategy made sense. The Kiri-nin attacked all sides equal seemingly with no clear cut objective while arriving and departing like the Mist they controlled. In fact to many it had felt as if Kirigakure had just wanted to keep the war going for as long as possible as they often attacked whichever force had gained an advantage.

Tsume was called back to the present as Mebuki asked, "Well with the Rice Daimyo death who will be ruling the country."

"They should just let the head of the Fuma take over," Kushina said quickly, both due to it being a very beneficial gain for her Family's ambition. But, also because from what Naruto had told her when he had returned to ask Karin to loan Yoruichi, Rangiku, and Tier to a competitor, Sasame had been the one holding the country together.

"That's extremely unlikely," Kiku said due to her following the gossip tied to the various families that ruled over the lands that made up the Elemental Countries. "The Daimyo often get rather… tense when Shinobi rise to such positions of power. Let us not forget that they would have placed an embargo on Snow Country after Doto's rebellion if not for the fact that so many countries would have ignored it as they depended on the revenue they received from it. An embargo would have likely brought Doto to his knees, at least before they activated those heat generators."

Mebuki teasing her friend said, "Well who could forget about an embargo that never happened. Honestly Kiku, you don't need to justify that you like following the Daimyo's families for the drama of who is seeing who or the latest pictures of the next royal baby."

"I do admit to following them for such reasons," Kiku said enjoying many of the gossip magazines that featured such articles. "Yet, my point is that it often makes the various Daimyo nervous to see Shinobi entering their realm. There is good cause for it, as is the case when the current village leader of Yugakure assumed control of the Land of Hot Springs. To this day many rumors persist that the previous Daimyo was pressured by Village Leader Bora into stepping down. Furthermore, this caused several of the surrounding countries including ours to threaten war with Yukagakure."

Tsume frowned having remembered the incident as it had happened several years after the Kyuubi attack. Due to insights provided from their research into the scroll, The Family new that one element of the current Daimyo Bora's rise to power was the development of the Enticement Touch. It was a less refined version of the Temptation's Touch but without the elements of the Binding which was what gave Naruto the power to control his lovers' bodies if he had desired to, or in Kanji's case to completely enslave his victims to him. Bora had developed it from notes that Kanji had left behind or been confiscated by the Yukagakure Anbu Taki when she had pursued him after his defection. With the Enticement Touch, Bora had been able to charm various high ranking guests to his village's famed hot springs and bleed them of valuable information. Information, which he then used to black mail them for money, power, or favors to grow his political strength.

Koyuki had experienced it shortly after joining the harem as The Family had wanted to investigate more about the technique's origins along with those of the man that had given it to Naruto. The Spring Country princess had described it as a subtle pressure to want to please the person using it. Yet, they couldn't exactly trust the Princess's impression of the jutsu as she had been bound to Naruto already. From Tayuya's experience with Kanji, when he had tried to use the Temptation's Touch on her, it was possible that being Naruto's lover had insulated Koyuki from feeling the full effects of the jutsu.

Tsume would tend to think that was the case as Daimyo Bora had been able to amass enough power within Yugakure to seize control by secretly murdering the previous village leader, a fact he had revealed to a colleague while unaware that Konan was spying on him before her own conversion to becoming Naruto's lover. After disposing of the previous leader, he had announced that Yugakure was no longer a shinobi village, but a resort town. He had then opened their famed Hot-Springs to the public, as in the past they only allowed a few visitors to experience them making it an indulgence that only the super-rich or nobility had been able to enjoy. They had done this to insure their secrecy as members of those two classes being spies was all but impossible. Naturally this change in status caused people to flock to the village.

While at the time Tsume had found it pathetic for an entire village to abandon their shinobi heritage. In hindsight, Tsume realized if anything Bora was embracing it to a far greater degree. After all, in truth they were simply embracing one of the least recognized and glamorous skills of shinobi in the modern era, the ability to gather information secretly. With the Enticement Touch at their disposal the shinobi of Yugakure used their positions as attendants, masseurs, entertainers, and courtesans to ferret out information from their guests. She suspected that a great many of the visitors never even realized they had given up anything of value while feeling good from the hands of a pool-boy rubbing lotion on them, or a waitress chatting up a patron enjoying a drink. After all, they didn't need to have a job with top secret access to know secrets that might be useful to the intelligence gathering operation that Bora had put into place. The woman having lotion rubbed on her shoulders, for example, might work in a castle where a noble might be seen getting a little too friendly with another member of the staff. There were confidentiality agreements in place to prevent such rumors from spreading, not to mention the persistent whispers of just how violently the nobles could react to prevent such things from getting out. Yet, under the sway of the Enticement Touch, a person might let it slip due to some careful prodding from the Yugakure shinobi using it. The target might quickly get ahold of him or herself asking the person they assumed was just a pool-boy not to go gossiping about what was revealed, which the shinobi would naturally promise to keep it a secret between them. But, Tsume could easily imagine that the information would make its way to Bora, who would assign someone to verify it and gather proof before using the information to his advantage.

Tsume was sure that as soon as a reservation request was accepted by Yugakure, an intelligence gathering process that likely rivaled that of a much larger village's, such as Konoha's, began going to work on finding out all they could about their future guest. From there if the person was deemed to potentially have information Yugakure might value, a personalized package would be put together for him or her. Likely they might arrive to find their vacation package was suddenly upgraded to include an attendant that matched their preferences. Or, they might meet a fellow vacationer who was a dream come true. All in an effort to separate them from whatever information that Yugakure was angling for.

Tsume listened with half an ear as Kiku finished explaining how the nobility had taken offense at Bora taking over the country. With her own insights it was easy to understand that Bora had blackmailed the previous Daimyo into stepping down. He had also likely done so again to force his neighbors into backing off and accepting the change in power. The idea made Tsume a little nervous as Kiku mentioned how one of the loudest protestors over the previous Daimyo's removal, The Land of Fire, had suddenly reversed course. She wondered what it could possibly be that Bora had learned which would cause the Fire Daimyo to back off. She knew that it could just be something embarrassing which the Daimyo wouldn't want revealed, but something just didn't feel right about it being something minor.

The Inuzuka's attention returned to the conversation completely as Ino's mom finished, "…I still wonder what leverage Hot Water Country had to make everyone back down."

Mebuki smirked as she said, "They might have pictures of the various Daimyo with women half their ages that they don't want getting out. Everyone knows that more than one operation has been blown by a loose word from some shinobi getting a happy ending from a Yugakure masseur." The other women laughed as it was a relatively poorly kept secret that the former kunoichi and shinobi were spying on their guests. At least among the other shinobi villages as many a leaked secret could often be traced to some recent visitor the Hot Spring village. Yet, despite how the Kage and other village leaders had issued travel advisories about visiting there. Many people ignored them in favor of the good times that were said to be had there.

*****************************

Kushina's gaze drifted to Ibara as she noticed that the woman didn't join in with the laughter. The former kunoichi and bar owner's face was flushed, but from her heavy breathing the red-head had no trouble spotting that the woman was struggling to keep her arousal in check. She wasn't the only one that noticed Ibara's plight as Tsubaki also seemed to have picked up on her friend not joining in the conversation.

"Are you feeling alright Ibara?" Tsubaki asked taking in the woman's flushed appearance.

"F… I'm fine," Ibara replied quickly, "I think I just have been in the water a little too long. I should get going anyway. I need to tend to the bar tonight."

The other women quickly said their good-byes to Ibara, who hurriedly returned them as she rushed off to the bathhouse. Kushina suspected that before she left it though, that Ibara would likely take a few moments to take care of the burning arousal that she felt. Quite aware of how one could get lost in taking care of their needs, she decided she would head off before the others in order to give Ibara some advance warning so as to not be caught in the midst of pleasuring herself.

However, as it appeared none of the other women seemed in a rush to leave she reached for the floating tray containing her cup of sake and sipped its contents before placing it back. Savoring the warmth that heated her insides as the spring was doing outside her, she let her violet gaze drift to Tsubaki. The woman had long brown hair much like her friend Ibara, although it was of a lighter shade, with long bangs that hung over her forehead. Much like the other women on the Allied Mom Force, she had once been a kunoichi, but had retired upon starting a family.

Kushina felt a little resentment towards the woman as she had learned that Tsubaki had also been rather vocal in her dislike towards Naruto due to his containing Kiyomi. In truth, she had felt the same about Ibara as well, although it had disappeared for the bar owner since she was aware how the woman now regretted her actions. However, the red-head didn't know if Tsubaki had a similar change of heart, or just kept quiet about her resentment due to public opinion changing in Naruto's favor. She had watched for some sign of Tsubaki's feelings towards Naruto one way or the other, and if she had to guess, she would believe that the brown-haired woman still held a lingering bitterness against her son.

Kushina wondered why the women would still hold negative feelings for him after everything he had done for the village. But, she didn't feel it would be smart to pursue the matter with the woman at the moment as Tsubaki had in the time since retiring as a kunoichi become a rather powerful figure on the Civilian Council. The woman was on the short list to becoming the Speaker of the Civilian Council. It was a position of considerable power given that it almost functioned as the civilian equivalent of the Hokage. Granted, the position didn't possess the means to override the Hokage in any way, but she could make Naruto's ambition difficult to implement from the mercantile side of things.

At present that didn't seem to be a concern since just about everyone saw the benefits of the increased trade going on between Konoha, Kumo, and Suna. But, Kushina knew that people with grudges could ignore such a thing in order to pursue it so couldn't underestimate the lengths that Tsubaki would go if Naruto's involvement in bringing the shinobi village's together was ever discovered.

The Uzumaki wondered briefly if Ibara had confided in Tsubaki about how her feelings towards Naruto had changed. She suspected that the bar owner hadn't mainly as she hadn't noticed any strain in the two women's relationship. It was likely due to Naruto not being a common discussion point for them as they went about their lives. She wondered what would happen should Ibara enter the Family, but figured such pondering could wait for another time.

She instead concentrated on what a waste of potential the Allied Mom Force was. As although it in truth was composed of more than just women, the fact that the Reserve Units carried such a moniker was all the proof that one needed that the strongest fighters in it were the women that had put their shinobi lives on hold for their children and husbands. Kushina couldn't bemoan the women for making such a choice, as she knew a part of the reason to do so was to prevent a child from losing both parents to the dangerous profession. She just didn't understand why it was always the woman that ended up making the sacrifice.

Kushina had made no plans to retire after Naruto's birth although she had planned to take a few years off to be there for him as a baby. But, she had wanted her son to respect her strength as a shinobi as much as she was sure he would have respected his father's. In fact, Kushina had only backed down in her bid to become the first female Hokage only because she had recognized that Minato would have made a better one than her. Yet, she had never acknowledged him as being particularly stronger than her.

That was one of the reasons why she intended to turn down the offer to join the Reserve Units. She knew she had much more to offer to her son's ambition then to be someone the village would call on only during extreme emergencies. In fact, she was considering taking part in the upcoming ANBU Exams, as although she had yet to technically to be reinstated as a kunoichi, in order to participate in the exams all one needed to do was to have reached the rank of Jounin at some point in their career. Naturally an exam taker also needed to pass a background check, but she knew that would be easy for her.

The only thing stopping her was her son, who when she had shared her desire to take the exams with him had supported her choice, but stated there was some other position he would want her to take. Kushina had been nervous that he might ask her to become the head of the Uzumaki Clan, which with her return there were some calls to establish the clan officially in Konoha. Naruto had ensured her that it wasn't, since he didn't want such a thing either. Yet, any further attempts on her part to get the information out of him had proven ineffective. She cursed her libido as some of the times she had tried to use sex as a means to get what he was thinking out of him, she was often the one that ended up giving in as he turned the teasing around on her.

Still, although she would likely wait to see how Naruto would want her to use her talents to further the ambition shared by his Family. She might just take the ANBU exams just to prove that she would ace them. After all, provided there was no written test she had little doubt that she was more than match for them.

But looking around the hot-springs, she couldn't again help but feel there was so much wasted potential before her. Tsubaki for example was the daughter of the famous Taijutsu master, Chen. Through her husband Iyashi, a prominent medical shinobi and doctor, she had three children, all daughters named Hibari, En, and Azami. From listening to the mother brag about her children, she knew that both Hibari and En were fraternal twins, both of whom appeared to have been in the Academy at the same time as Konohamaru. A fact that had been revealed as Tsubaki lamented that her daughters were still genin despite achieving better grades then the current Sarutobi Clan Head. The third daughter, Azami, was a year younger and according to Tsubaki was almost a reincarnation of her father due to her grey eyes and incredible proficiency in Taijutsu. There were some stating that Azami would have already been made Jounin if not for the fact that she hadn't been able to attend a Chunin exam.

The subject of the Chunin Exam had been one of the few times where Tsubaki had worn her dislike for Naruto out in the open as she had accused Tsunade of delaying the exams so long to fit Naruto's schedule. It had taken a lot of restraint for Kushina to pretend she hadn't heard the comment as a lot of the women had quickly shot a concerned look towards her. They had likely feared that Kushina would march right over to Tsubaki and begin pounding on her as she would have done when she was younger.

The sad fact though was that in the past it likely wouldn't have been a one fight sided as Tsubaki had also been considered a prodigy in Taijutsu much like her father. Seeing that potential going to waste made her wonder why young girls even bothered joining the academy if their goal was to just find a man and then pop out babies. That was something that wholly attracted her to Naruto in that he recognized her strength and rather being intimidate by it, instead wanted her to continue to grow her abilities. She suspected that was something a lot of his lovers had in common as if the Allied Mom Force was anything to go by; too many men seemed more than willing to let their wives' potential go to waste.

Kushina stopped thinking about the topic feeling slightly depressed on behalf of the women before her, although she was sure most were content with their choices, to instead inquire about a woman that she had yet to encounter upon her return to the village, at least in a flesh and blood capacity. Not too surprised, since she had married a shinobi of another village years earlier, one of the few that had been allowed to do so during the peace treaty that existed between Suna and Konoha. Focusing on Umeko the person most likely to have the answer that she was looking for she asked, "By the way, how is Kirio doing? She must be pleased that relations between Suna and Konoha are so relaxed. She battled tooth and nail to marry that guy from the Hikifune family."

As soon as the words had left her mouth Kushina knew she had touched on an exposed nerve for some of the women present, particularly for Umeko. She quickly tried to retract her question as she said, "I'm sorry, forget I asked."

"You didn't know," Mebuki said kindly, "but just let's just let it drop…"

"My sister is a traitor," Umeko said curtly cutting Sakura's mother off.

Ino's mother tried to lessen the tension Kirio's name had caused to appear by stating calmly, "Mebuki is right, let's not talk about it…"

"It's fine," the Akimichi said waving off the other women's concern. "I'm sure you'll just end up telling her anyway." The full-bodied woman continued with a voice tinged with anger and betrayal, "You're right that my sister did fight to marry that bastard from Suna. I suppose we should have considered that a sign that her love for her home wasn't what it should be."

"Why," Kushina asked surprised remembering how close Umeko and Kirio had been as children. Recalling the plump purple-haired girl with swirls on her cheeks she added, "Kirio was passionate sure, but she loved Konoha."

Tsume seeing that the Akimichi was about to lash out at her sister's memory quickly interjected, "The problem arises from Suna's betrayal during the Sound Invasion. In the immediate aftermath of it, Konoha issued a return decree to people that had married people outside the village and settled in Suna and Wind Country. Most did, but a few didn't and were branded as missing-nin. Kirio was one of the ones that refused."

"What's worse," Umeko said bitterly, "That bitch's lover even participated in the attack. She had to have had some sort of advance warning, but instead choose to keep silent."

"But I don't understand," Kushina said looking around the spring and saw that quite a few people felt the same way as Umeko did, "Wouldn't her missing-nin status have been rescinded due to the reestablishment of the alliance between Suna and Konoha?"

"For most people it was," Mebuki answered, "However, Kirio falls into a unique category as her husband was killed during the Sound Invasion. He was a member of the Daimyo's Royal Guard which had been lent to Suna for the invasion. In the aftermath of it, things were pretty tense and we were standing at the precipice of another war with Suna. The reason Kirio is still technically a missing-nin is because during that time when tensions were at their worse, she was offered and accepted her husband's spot on the Royal Guard. To accept that was a clear sign that she no longer viewed Konoha as her home, and even might have come to see us as her enemy."

"I see," Kushina said sadly, "Since the Royal Guard is a unit normally outside of Suna's control she is still considered to be a member of an enemy group."

"That's right," Umeko said angrily, "She's a stain on the entire Akimichi clan's honor."

Kushina didn't respond as she didn't want to appear to agree with the sentiment even as she could understand it. After all, if put in a similar position where she was forced to choose between her son and lover, or the village then she would easily choose Naruto. A trait she was almost all of Naruto's lovers shared, although she could tell Tsume was a bit more conflicted about it then her. Loyalty after all was not something an Inuzuka took lightly and coming to the decision to betray the village was not something that she imagined that Tsume could decide lightly even in a hypothetical situation. Kushina assumed that the Inuzuka wouldn't know the answer until such a day arrived and she could weigh which of the two entities that she had given her loyalty to was in the right and which was in the wrong.

Kiku changed the subject as her curious nature got the best of her in order to ask, "By the way Tsume. I've been meaning to ask you about that tattoo you have. I couldn't help but notice that it is the same one that my daughter wears."

"Now that you mention it," Mebuki said having seen the mark on her daughter when they had visited a hot-spring together, "Sakura has the same one tattooed on her hip. She was rather evasive about it so I thought maybe she was just at that age."

Kushina noticed that Tsume was caught unaware by the question since she could imagine that the Inuzuka had grown so accustomed to it, and had likely not bathed outside of the Family's hotspring in years. Luckily, it seemed that Karin had recognized that with so many foxmark wearing women being in close proximity to the uninitiated it might come up quickly said, "That mark is used to show membership in the Women's Bathing Association. It helps keep people who are not members from being let onto the grounds."

Kiku leaned forward in interest as she asked, "Really, and how does one go about becoming a member. I've seen and heard of people from outside the village being allowed onto the Kiyomi property. Are you saying they are members as well?"

"Yes," Karin said adjusting her glasses, "It was for just such a reason that its name was changed from the Konoha Women's Bathing Association. As to how one becomes a member, well there are certain criteria that need to be met first."

"Such as," Mebuki asked crossing her arms, "It's kind of strange that certain women just seem to be able to join while others are excluded."

Karin shrugged as she said, "I'm afraid it can't be helped. For instance one of the most important criteria is that a woman who wishes to join cannot be married or at the very least should be in a marriage that is failing."

"What! That's a pretty crazy criterion for becoming a member," Mebuki said shocked.

Karin repeated her shrugging motion as she replied, "Well, Miss Kiyomi the founder of it is quite insistent on it. You see, she wanted to create a place where the members can be free to be themselves, and speak freely about matters related to their home villages. As such, each member is sworn to secrecy and we don't want to take the chance that a member might think that vow doesn't apply to her husband because they share everything together. Take Miss Kiku for example, your husband has a rather high position in the Intelligence gathering division."

"So?"

"So," Karin said responding to the Yamanaka's question, "As you pointed out we have members from outside of Konoha. So maybe he might ask you to keep your ears open for any information related to another village such as Kumo. Well you might overhear one of our Kumo members mentioning how they are having a hard time feeding their troops due to a locust plague and not really see the harm in passing such information along. If word got out where you heard it was learned, well the environment of trust and understanding that we are trying to create would be destroyed."

"Okay, I guess that's understandable," Mebuki said sounding slightly dubious. "But Lady Tsunade is a member not to mention Tsume and my daughter. Are you honestly saying that if they learned something important they wouldn't act on it?"

"Oh, they would I'm sure," Karin said with a smile since the entire family would work towards making sure it only benefited each village. "But, don't you think such information would be shared with the Hokage directly. Otherwise you would think a person would keep it to themselves. They might be giving the information to Tsunade directly so she could do something about it. That is a world of difference from it being passed to her because someone is eavesdropping on other members. Plus, there are other benefits to becoming a member…one I'm sure a married woman's husband would not appreciate."

"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked with a tone of interest. Kushina found the woman's tone a little surprising making her wonder if her marriage was experiencing some trouble.

Kushina smirked as Karin appeared a little nervous as her tone had easily implied that it might be sexual in nature. She couldn't exactly blame her fellow Uzumaki since she herself had quickly relived the pleasure that her son had given her since becoming a member of his Harem. Rescuing the bespectacled kunoichi from the dangerous territory that she had entered, she said, "She means there is more there than just a variety of hot-springs to enjoy. It's a place where kunoichi can really just be themselves despite which village they come from. Karin was just alluding to the fact that since a lot of us members spend so much time there your husbands might become a little jealous and demand to know how you are spending your time. That would put you in a position of either lying, or telling them nothing which would damage your relationships in the long run."

"You're a member as well?" Mebuki asked surprised, "Why aren't you wearing that fox mark?"

"Oh, but I am," Kushina said pulling herself out of the water. She smirked as a few of the women gasped as she brazenly raised her right leg out of the water and spread her thigh so that her right heel rested on the ledge. Showing off the fox mark on her inner thigh, she also experienced a little thrill in displaying her pussy to the other women as its wetness wasn't entirely due to being submerged. She felt her own arousal growing to the point where she might begin playing with herself in front of the others due to a look of hunger appearing on Tsume's face as the scent of her arousal reached her, as well as it was due to the feelings of her son returning to the village with Sasame so he could show her around. Having a fairly good idea of how his tour would likely end, if it even began, and wanting to be a part of it she added, "Well this has been fun, but Naruto is due home from his mission soon, and I want to be able to give him a proper greeting so if you'll excuse me."

Kushina stood heading back to get dress. She heard Tsume and Karin also explain that it was time for them to go which set off a chorus of the other women deciding to call it a night. Reaching the bathhouse, she heard muffled moaning and knew that Ibara was still inside. Letting the woman know she was coming she called back, "Tsume, since we're both leaving can I walk back with you. There's still something I want to discuss."

She heard Ibara gasp inside and the sound of a person scrambling before the door slammed open on the opposite end as Tsume responded to her request in the affirmative. Opening the bathhouse door, she stepped inside and smirked as although there was no visible sign of the woman that had just been inside, there was a musk that hung about for a few moments before the fresh air of the open door carried it away. Stepping in to begin getting dressed, although she was sure she would be naked again soon enough, Kushina decided that once Karin concluded her experiment that she would encourage her son to induct a new member into the Women's Bathing Association. After all, she believed it was only right that she paid the favor that Ino did for her forward, although she did look forward to paying the Yamanaka back with interest as well.

*****************************