58 Going to the Battlefield

With the Sage Mode enhanced clone, he was already near the valley. Thanks to Sage Mode enhanced leaps and running, he was able to cross a mile in a matter of minutes. And like Anastasia said there was a town… the key word being was. Being in the middle of the town square the Sage Mode enhanced clone saw it wasn't an incredibly active one. There wasn't a person in sight; even after he landed right in the middle of the town; it gave him the impression that this was in fact a ghost town. But there was a lot of… malicious intent around him.

"This place is overrun with youma." Kurama gruffly said, speaking for the first time in a long time. "They're ants compared to you, but be careful."

"I know Kurama," The clone replied, "And it's good to hear your voice, again."

"Bah! I was busy."

"Sleeping?"

"..."

The lack of an answer was all Naruto needed. Grinning he shook his head and chuckled, "Well, in case you want to be caught up on the latest events: Isley's on our side. A group of women called The Crimson Guard was made with the sole purpose to kill me. They're now on our side. Isobu, as it turns out, followed us to our new home six years ago and has been under the Organization's nose all this time. We're going on the offense against the Organization now. Oh, and I have a connection to two Goddesses of Love called Teresa and Clare."

"...Everything else I can believe, but a runt like you being in contact with two Goddesses?"

"He is telling the Truth, fragment of the Juubi." Said the angelic voice of Clare.

"...Naruto, please tell me you heard that voice." Kurama said to him pleadingly.

The clone chuckled once more as his toad-like eyes surveyed the buildings around him. Those youma's are looking at him, he can feel their eyes on him. "Yes. I heard her. Clare, that is my friend Kurama. Kurama, this is Clare one of the Twin Goddesses of Love. Teresa should be close by." his eyes darted to his left, followed by his head when Naruto heard movement. There was no one there. He frowned, strange, his negative emotion sensing told him someone was… his eyes went wide with realization, followed by several flares of yoki appearing on his senses; gritting his teeth the clone backflipped, just in time to avoid a dark grey-skinned female youma with wings, crashing into the ground he was standing at. Her clawed hands effortlessly making a hole in the ground.

"Kurama, Clare, I need to concentrate for a bit! I'm being attacked by some youma."

"You can handle them."

"The lack of concentration will be my downfall if you're not quiet!" The clone shot back, and quickly leaned back to avoid several enterlonged fingers attempting to impale him. He then planted his hands on the ground, bent his arms and pushed off the ground, driving the heels of his boots into the nose of another youma that tried to take advantage of his vulnerability. He quickly backflipped himself onto his feet and put some distance between him and the youma. Naruto took a quick look around and was surprised to see a fucking horde of youma surrounding him.

"Strange… why didn't I sense them before?" The clone mentally asked himself as he took a defensive stance. "Why didn't any of my wives, and girlfriends sense them for that matter?"

Little did he know, these particular youma were also survivors at the Organization's failed attempts to attack the West. They grouped together, went to the North learning to suppress their yoki in the meantime and devoured any hapless travellers they came across before they settled here as their new hunting grounds. While he had have an impeccable sense of his surroundings while in Sage Mode, he was more focused on the battalion of soldiers the Organization was sending to the North.

"No matter," the clone reached into one of his holsters and took out a tri-pronged kunai, "I'll take them out before they get more people killed."

Tossing the tri-pronged kunai into the air, Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash and reappeared in midair with the handle of the kunai in hand and a rasengan in the other. Then he allowed gravity to take hold and turned around mid fall and used the momentum to drive the rasengan into the back of a green skinned, and winged youma he appeared above. With a roar Naruto drove the sphere of chakra into the youma's back, and he cried in agony from the feel of his skin, muscle and bone grounded into nothing. Then the sphere of chakra expanded before exploding. The force of the explosion made by the rasengan had forced the youma into the ground. He was dead before he hit the ground, due to most of his torso and the entirety of his head having been blown off.

With a grunt Naruto backflipped and leapt over another youma that tried to slice at him with sharp nails. He missed, by mere inches. The youma's overreach had allowed Naruto to retaliate, by driving his tri-pronged kunai through the youma's skull. He fell to the ground, twitching; Naruto quickly twisted the kunai and dragged it down, splitting the back of the scalp and neck in half before yanking it out. He quickly turned, rolled under the dive of another youma that tried to capitalise on his distraction; he got up, turned to face the youma and stomped his foot on the ground. Several spikes shot out of the earth and caught three youmas, stabbing them through their torsos, necks, stomachs, legs and heads. The one that tried to dive at him was one of the three. Surveying the area, Naruto quickly located any youma not currently fighting him and took note, while ducking and weaving around any who lashed out at him. There were about ten of them with twenty-three left still actively trying to kill him. That in mind, the clone created three more and they all leapt into the fray.

"Huh… they're being unusually quiet." the 'original' clone mentally pointed out to himself.

"They're probably scared of you." Kurama pointed out with a huff, "You managed to kill a small number of them in less than ten seconds, and made three clones who are killing even more of them in less time."

As Kurama said those words, the 'original' clone could see several youmas being killed off in droves. Yellow flashes could be seen in almost every direction, followed by a youma or two falling down dead.

"Besides, you're doing a favour for these poor bastards. Even I'm appalled by how they're made. It's about damn time you got off your ass and did something about it." Kurama added on to it, growling from the back of his throat.

"While I wouldn't quite put it that way, I agree with him," Clare said, sounding rather bored.

"Indeed," Teresa concurred, "We would appreciate it if you dealt with this… plague as soon as possible."

"Who the hell is that?!" Kurama demanded, and despite not being able to see his friend, Naruto knew the fox was wildly looking around his mindscape for the second disembodied voice.

"I am Teresa," said woman politely answered. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, fragment of the Juubi."

"...Call me Kurama, please." Kurama requested the unseen goddess politely. "It's my name."

"As you wish, Kurama."

"I have to admit, you're a much better goddess than Kaguya was. Friendly too." Kurama couldn't help but chuckle, "Were you always this lucky, Naruto? To have friends in such high places?"

"Honestly? I didn't even know they were watching over me… until a 'claymore' of the Crimson Guard brought me to their realm… after being possessed. Don't ask."

"...you fucked her didn't you."

"No! More like she gave me a blessing… through a blowjob."

"...Okay, even I'm going to point out how absurd that sounds." Kurama deadpanned, "What kind of person gives blessings through blowjobs?!"

"Naruto! Kurama! Focus on what is happening please!" Clare shouted at them. "If you go out then your clones go out with you!"

"On it!"

With that, the clone started mopping up. After two minutes of fighting and killing, the youmas were taken care of. The three clones put them in one massive pile of corpses and burned them. Then they dispelled themselves, leaving the 'original' clone by himself as he and the Boss received their memories.

"Right!" the clone declared, brushing off the blood and snow off his hands. "Now, let's find out where this secret entrance is!"

….

'Saturday, 20th day of Ahmun, Year 2117AS:

It wasn't long since my last journal entry. Our journey to the valley was quiet; we're not even there yet; but several minutes after my previous entry we all sensed it: a spike of yoki. Lytelle, being one of the better sensors when it comes to yoki said there was multiple sources instead of the one. According to her the nearby village that was made to 'hide' the passageway to the Organization was overrun by youma, but they were being snuffed out. I asked the handler giving us orders if there were any warriors nearby to deal with these youma, but he completely evaded my questions. Why would he do that? Is he hiding something? If so, why?'

A small, cartoonish face with a question mark over the head was drawn underneath the writing.

'I don't like the way he's ignoring my questions. We deserve to know! Don't we? I asked Henriette, Regina, Hanna, and Lytelle for their thoughts on the matter of the youma being killed… and Hanna, being the logical one, gave the suggestion that it might have been the Ladykiller. I have to admit… the thought of him being on the other side of the valley scares me. He may be one person, but he destroyed Pieta by himself!'

A scared little face was drawn next to the last word for added effect.

'What chance do any of us have against him? And if he is already there… is our fate already sealed? Are we really going to die here? We won't have much of a chance against him if the rebellion is already set up… Gods, I wish I was hiding in the mountains with the others!'

With a sigh she closed her journal and tucked it away. With a quick look around the trainee saw they were approaching an underground tunnel build directly under the earth. So that's where the secret entrance leading to the North was, huh?

….

"Well, Anna was right. There is a narrow valley here." The clone mused aloud to himself. Not only was there a narrow valley, there was an underground tunnel burrowed into the mountainside at the end of it. That would be a good place for the Organization to hole up.

And the valley outside of that tunnel was wide enough for the battalion to defend and manoeuvre around. The clone looked back from over the shoulder. That place is wide enough for his rebellion to set up camp, and fortifications; they're still a day ahead of the Organization's battalion so they have time to set up shop. To make matters worse, the tunnel itself was only big enough for a large, full-grown man to squeeze through. So, it wouldn't be too hard for one guy with a spear and shield to defend it quite cheerfully against a large force…

It also appeared that there was someone in there, sent on ahead to do just that. He was clearly buying time for the other forces to set up a defensive position on the other side, from what Naruto could read of his intentions.

"Well, if nothing else, the Organization is lead by competent assholes, so… credit where it's due, I guess?" Kurama muttered.

"Yeah. They are." the clone mentally replied with a frown, "I'll dispel and let the Boss know they'll have company once they get here." after that, the clone closed his eyes and he went up in a poof of smoke.

….

Back with the Original Naruto, he received his clones memories. Looking at Anastasia he asked her, "Anastasia, how much time is taken away from going to East to North, if the secret entrance is used?"

The woman shrugged cluelessly, "If I had to guess? 10 to 15 hours. Crossing into another region usually takes up to three days. More if there are breaks in between. And the Organization is rumoured to have shortcuts to decrease the amount of time it takes for us to get to our assigned region."

"I can personally confirm they have a shortcut from Sutare to Toulouse," Miria told him, "Toulouse is where we are all sent before we are to head to our assigned region. It's easier for us to get to the North, West and South from there."

"It's also where the majority of us would be stationed, including the top three, if we were still part of the Organization." Cynthia added, "I never saw any shortcuts myself, except for the one from Sutare and Toulouse."

"Well, I just got the memories of my clone back - there is a valley at the town we're heading too… it was also overrun with youma when my clone got there." he shrugged helplessly at the looks he was getting. "But they're taken care of. There's an underground tunnel burrowed into the mountainside at the end of the valley, and someone is there blocking it with a spear and shield."

"To buy themselves time no doubt." Miria and Shikamaru said deductively at the same time, before they gave each other looks.

"...troublesome." he groaned, and sighed as he looked down at the ground.

"Excuse me?"

"Don't mind him, Miria." the blond chuckled with amusement. "Shikamaru finds everything troublesome. It goes to show how much my friendship means to him if he's getting off his lazy ass to help us out. He wouldn't have bothered if that wasn't the case."

"...noted."

Just then a yellow flash appeared amongst them, and the clone he left behind with Soleil appeared amongst them, with said awakened in hand fully clothed and armed to the teeth with her weapons. She also had a lewd grin and red-stained cheeks, indicating that she'd had some fun. While surprised by their sudden appearance no one was put off by them. The clone had a scroll in hand.

"We got everything sealed away in here boss." the clone announced, before tossing the scroll to the Original. After the Original Naruto caught the scroll, the clone dispelled.

"Glad to have you joining us again, Soleil." Naruto told the silver-haired awakened.

"Thank you," the woman replied with a smile. Then she looked around and recognised the area, as she had been here plenty of times in the past. "Looks like we're getting close to Ashford. A nice place with a valley."

"You've been there?" Noel asked, looking at the awakened being with a raised eyebrow.

"With my mercenary force a couple of times, yes. It was called Sevington around 50 years ago and was a hotspot for youma. More often than not it would always be attacked by a large group. It's populace would end up getting nearly wiped out by the youma every decade, oddly enough." she wanted to give them a little piece of trivia about the town. She sighed, "Ashford went dark awhile back though. Two weeks if memory serves."

"Is that common? That town just… going dark every decade?" a curious Ino asked.

Soleil shrugged nonchalantly. "Pretty much. It's not surprising. The mayor would argue with a handler about the pay after a youma is killed. Then shortly after, usually a week or so, a horde of youma comes and nearly wipes out the population. Then five years later, a few brave souls would come out and rebuild it."

"We have ten more minutes until we reach town, and the valley." Anastasia announced.

"Alright," Naruto looked to Alicia and Beth, "Wanna cut loose when we get there?" he asked them. He got two overly eager smiles that promised a lot of pain for the poor bastard defending the tunnel in return.

….

Ten minutes later, an armoured man with a spear and shield let loose a heavy sigh. Damn, this job was boring! Why did he have to go ahead and guard this place? They had no idea if that rebellion of Phantom Miria's was even coming here! To him this was a waste of time. Then he felt it. His bowls getting full of fluid. With a sigh he leaned his spear and shield against the stone wall and left his post in the entryway to the tunnel in order to relieve himself. Thank the gods he was an awakened being, otherwise those two would have been a damn nightmare to carry. He didn't notice a pair of twins, garbed in clothing and armour remisent of their old uniforms walking up to him with a purpose.

Still walking Alicia and Beth exchanged looks and nodded as one. Then the former's yoki spiked as she began her transformation. Now finished taking a piss, the man jumped, utterly startled by the sheer amount of yoki that popped up out of nowhere. He felt a shadow wash over him and the awakened being quickly turned and looked up, to see Alicia in her awakened form descending upon him from the sky like a bird of prey. Her scythes had more blades on them and they extended outwards. What frightened him was that she was grinning menacingly! He may not know much about Claymores the Organization's made, himself included, but he did hear from the handlers that Alicia and Beth were emotionless! So why was the woman descended upon him grinning like a lunatic?!

"HAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

Hearing another woman cry out, the awakened man unleashed his yoki and got the hell out of the way of the sword that tried to chop his head off. It instead cleaved into the wall of the valley, where his head was and found Beth standing there, looking at him with an equally menacing grin as her sister. Speaking of her sister, Alicia landed beside her, kneeling to absorb the impact of her landing. The ground cracked beneath her feet, such was the force of the landing.

Beth yanked her claymore out of the stone and shouldered it with a smile, "We've been wanting to do this for six years, and we finally get the chance." she said with a look that promised a lot of pain. "Alicia, do you want to take this one?"

Alicia answered by forming a tornado of wind around her scythes. In retaliation, the awakened being aimed his hand at the partially awakened woman, and it morphed into several thick, tendrils with spikes jutting out of it; he sent them to impale the elder twin hoping the sudden transformation would be enough to take her by surprise. Alas, she vanished in a blur of speed, the tendrils chopped to bits quicker than even his eyes could see. The next thing he knew, he was rolling along the ground.

"What…?" blinking he looked around and found to his dismay, his own body, standing up without a head. Not a second later it promptly collapsed to the floor like a puppet having its strings cut off. The last thing he saw before darkness overtook him were Alicia's scythes.

With the head chopped into several slices Alicia was… disappointed. "That was easy."

"We are stronger now, Alicia." Beth told her, walking to her sister's side. "It is to be expected."

"I know," the partially awakened sister sighed, "I just thought he would put up more of a fight, y'know?" Her pout looked weirdly adorable. "Well, that is one down… 59 to go." her expression brightened up considerably at that.

"Should we wait for Naruto?" Beth asked.

"We shall. He and the others should know we took out the 'guard'. Phantom Miria would be very interested to know it was an awakened being too."

"Indeed she would." With that Alicia reverted back to normal. She cracked and rolled her wrists, and flexed her fingers. While they were used to the Soul Link it didn't mean it didn't put a strain on them. It wasn't affecting them much anymore nowadays thanks to Naruto helping them. Several minutes later, the others caught up to them.

"Good job you two," Naruto praised the twins with a smile. They blushed and smiled shyly in return, enjoying the praise he was giving them.

"Hmm… it's only big and wide enough for one person to go through." Hysteria pointed out, then she took note of the spear and shield leaning against the entry way and went over to pick them up.

"It looks like the Organization outfitted him with armour like ours," Rosemary said, upon looking in her direction everyone found that the short-haired woman was kneeling beside the beheaded corpse and was inspecting the armour he wore. "He's missing the faulds however; he has greeves instead."

"He didn't have a helmet either," Alicia added. "Cutting off his head was a lot easier thanks to that."

"We have to assume the rest will be donning the same armour then," Teresa said walking to to the forefront of the group with Clare, plus the team Captains by her side.

"Chances are the rest of them are on the other side of this tunnel, waiting for us to funnel out into a killzone." Flora added with a thoughtful frown on her pretty face.

"Thanks to Alicia transforming they'll be expecting us too." Veronica pointed out with Cynthia nodding concurrently with her friend. "Whoever goes first will be assaulted the instant they reach the other side."

"Why don't we just expand the tunnel? We can manipulate the earth right?" Helen asked.

"It's a sound plan, but, you have to take into consideration that we would be making the areas around the tunnel weaker structurally. We might end up making it collaspe on top of us halfway through." Shikamaru told her with a shake of his head. "No. It's best if we leave it alone."

"...What if we dig under it?" Deneve suggested.

"That… can work." Shikamaru admitted. "You'd have to make sure your 'demonic' power is suppressed though. Tunnelling underground won't do much for an element of surprise if they can detect you."

"That would be natural to them by now." Naruto said and he gave the women a wide smile that showed how proud he was of them. "They've been suppressing their yoki for six years, and only released it during a fight. If they let their power loose they can suppress it just as easily. Teresa is a professional when it come to that. So is Priscilla. Roxanne taught the rest of the Crimson Guard her method of suppressing her yoki, as Raftela mentioned before so that should be second nature to them."

"Naruto,"

Blinking Naruto looked up at the sky, "What is it Isobu?" he asked, prompting everyone to stop and listen to the one sided conversation.

"I can sense multiple yoki signatures within the Organization's headquarters. All of them are immense. They are far stronger than that one who was with you… Riful, I believe?"

"Yeah, that's her." he confirmed.

"These yoki presenses are more intense than her. By ten times, I'd wager. I may not be able to sense emotions but… I can literally feel they're driven by a ravenous hunger. If I had to compare it to something, it would be like when jinchuurikis would go berserk if they go beyond their limit. Only it's worse. Be careful, Naruto. The Organization is deploying something against you, but they haven't ventured beyond the Headquarters."

"I see…" he narrowed his eyes dangerously at the warning tone in the turtle's voice. "Thank you for telling me, Isobu. I'll let everyone else know."

"Let us know what?" Luciela asked.

"...it appears the Organization has some new 'tools' at their disposal. Isobu told me there's several of them, and their yoki is ten times stronger than Riful's. Luckily they're not leaving the grounds of the Organization." the blond looked at the tunnel and crossed his arms thoughtfully, "it's likely they're going to be used on us if we manage to get past the people on the other side of this tunnel."

"If they're stronger than Riful then all high ranking warriors will have to defend the low ranking ones." a deeply in thought Miria deduced. "Luckily we can make shadow clones, so that can confuse them if we're lucky."

"They have no idea we're here though," Kiba added. "We don't use yoki so would we have to assume they can't detect us?"

"It's almost a certainty." Miria said with confidence. "The Organization has no knowledge of chakra. Only yoki. They would have conditioned these new weapons to seek out our yoki and will set them loose on us the second they see us approaching their headquarters."

"Giving us the time to sneak in and get those trainees out of there." Ino said thoughtfully.

"This is looking more and more like a suicide mission than a rescue." Choji pointed out with a bleekish look.

"We've dealt with worse." Tenten reassured the big boned Akimichi, referring to Akatsuki utterly demolishing Konoha and the Fourth Shinobi World War that shortly came after it.

"We should get started." Naruto announced. "There should be 89 of them left on the end of this tunnel."

"We'll go through the tunnel," Alicia volunteered, gesturing to herself and her sister who was nodding concurrently with her sisters decision. "We can distract them long enough for everyone else to ambush them."

"Yes. We can get their attention to focus on us." Beth added. "We're strong enough to fight several awakened beings at once."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully as he contemplated on what to do. Knowing he wasn't good at making decisions, the blond turned to the tacticians Shikamaru and Miria.

"What do you two think? Tunnel under this passage way, or let Alicia and Beth wreck havoc on the opposition on the other side of this tunnel."

"I say both," Shikamaru stated. "We have some tunnel under and get them from behind while Alicia and Beth go after them from in front. I'd also send a few of you clones to help when you've sensed Alicia engaging with the enemy."

"That would be a sound plan," Miria added with a nod. "Once the the twins start the fight, we can also start funneling in a few reinforcements. Also, with Alicia's speed, she'll be able to bolt through the tunnel before they're able to react."

"Assuming they haven't sensed her transform before," Shikamaru pointed out. "Chances are she'll be funneling into a wall of spears and shields on the other side." he looked at Alicia directly, "But if she makes several shadow clones while they're transformed, she could overwhelm them with sheer numbers and wear them down."

"I can do that!" Alicia exclaimed with a wide smile. "I can do that!"

"As can I." Beth added; and before any of them knew it Alicia and Beth made several shadow clones that were reinforced with chakra. And all of them were eager for a fight. "Also, we've been working on a little something in our spare time." the youngest of the twin sisters added.

An excited Alicia nodded concurringly, "Yes! We have been working on getting Beth to partially awaken with me in charge of protecting her soul."

Everyone looked at them in surprise. Naruto included.

"Really?" he said, "When? And how come we didn't notice?"

Beth giggled, "As my sister said: it was something we were working on in our spare time. And as for why you didn't notice? We were using your simulation, of course. It's been doing wonders in helping us."

"You mind setting up something like that for me back in Konoha?" Tenten asked, "You have no idea how desperate I've been for a good sparring partner aside from Lee."

"You're getting first dibs on any claymores you manage to find in Staff." Naruto pointed out to her with a flat look on his face. Then he shrugged and gave her a cheerful grin, "Why the hell not? It'll give genin teams some combat experience before they take on C-rank missions."

"I'll pay you to set up one for private use in my shop," Tenten added, "I have plenty of room upstairs for something like that."

"How much are we talking about here?" he asked out of curiosity. "I'll happily set one up for private use for you for 5,000 ryo."

"Perfectly reasonable," the brunette chirped.

"...How much would it normally cost to set one up?" Ino asked him with squint eyes.

"About 25,000 ryo, if I were to charge Konoha's standard prices on time and labour. But I'm only charging for the resources, because she's a friend." the blond answered. "It's a very complex seal, that increases the size of the 'area' inside of the simulation, combined with automatic repairs that fixes any damages that occur outside of the simulation. and scenario generators from real to fictional. This would include seals that keeps sound and chakra from getting out of the simulation so people won't get worried when its in use. It depends on how far the sound will extend though, it's entirely dependant on the room Tenten wants me to set it up in. But, as I said, she's a friend, so she has a discount."

"Fair enough, I suppose." Ino nodded in satisfaction.

Naruto nodded as well and turned his attention to the twins. He said to them, "Now that you brought up Beth being able to partially awaken, I'm curious to see what she would look like." he chuckled, "I guess I can find out when you're engaging the enemy." he turned to the others, "Anyone who can manipulate the earth, get ready on getting that underground tunnel working. I'll follow Alicia and Beth. Any objections?" he waited for them to speak out. No one did and so he nodded with satisfaction. "Okay then, let's get to it."

….

It had been what… twenty minutes since that huge burst of yoki appeared out of nowhere? It got the men in a panic since they took a phalanx formation a few meters away from the exit of the tunnel, not far behind their nine 'questionable' units. The trainees had to be separated since not only were they more likely to get in their way, they were meant to be the second wave in case the first defense fell. The girls didn't want to fight. But what could they do? There may be 40 of them in total but they were outnumbered by those 9 men with yoki… they suspected they were youma. Or some type of new warrior the Organization made. But they were so scary! They were always scowling, always had this… look in their eyes that made them feel like a piece of meat. It was unnerving.

Then, they felt it - several more bursts of yoki appearing on the other side of the tunnel. Each one of them was… overwhelming. Not one of the trainees could even stand. Half of them fainted on the spot and the rest were frozen in fear or bawling their eyes out. They were nothing short of terrified. Immediately after the twenty massive spikes of yoki could be felt, the nine units in front went right into panic mode and transformed. But, then, three of them suddenly and literally fell apart, falling to the ground in heaps of bloody chunks as three consecutive blurs of black and silver shot forth from the tunnel. Soon after, a flash of gold erupted beside one of them as the Ladykiller himself appeared in the fray, a tri-prong kunai in either hand.

"Alicia! Beth! Take'em out!" he commanded, before throwing one of those small knives into the air above him and vanishing in another yellow flash, just before he would have been impaled through the head by a spear.

Not long afterwards, five more awakened beings fell to the three blurs as the last one seemed to explode, as Naruto reappeared in front of the man that tried to run him through with the spear in another yellow flash. He slammed right through him, a rasengan in hand that tried to drill through the cuirass. It didn't penetrate, much to Naruto's surprise, but the force behind his technique still sent the man flying back into his comrades - thus causing disorder in their ranks. Then, three more blurs shot forth from the tunnels and engaged the phalanx. To make matters worse, the rumbling of earth behind them signalled the arrival of the second wave as several metallic ribbons short forth; Riful's demonic cackling echoed throughout the valley and she formed in her full, awakened glory on the blindside of the phalanx, followed by Miria and her teammates. The fight was over before it even started.

"Well… that was easy." Naruto said. Then he looked in the direction of the trainees. And stared at them. And they, in turn, stared at him. "Ah… Hi, there?" Just then Alicia and Beth reappeared beside him, along with their shadow clones - a few of whom were normal while the rest were in their awakened forms.

Beth's awakened form had her hair as a series of blades. But, they were shorter, and her skin was a pale, metallic white. Several silvery, metallic plates were on her shoulders, with many spikes on her upper back and tailbone. More spikes were further down, and lengthened, forming into an actual, full-on, functioning tail. Her neck, like Alicia had lengthened a bit, and more plates formed on it, as well as her legs and torso. Finally, her arms and legs were like those of a cat, though she still retained a pair of humanoid - albeit viciously clawed - hands. All in all Beth vaguely resembled a feminine, metallic sphynx with glowing, golden eyes.

One in particular yelled to her comrades as she took on a defensive stance with her spear and shield, "form ranks! We can't let them through!"

Naruto sighed heavily at the sight of them hastily scurrying into formation. The poor girls were apparently stuck in fight or flight mode, though he couldn't really blame them, now could he? He slowly approached the scared trainees and just as several of them would have impaled him upon their spears, he batted their weapons aside and continued walking forth, towards the one who'd rallied them and raised a hand towards her. She flinched, eyes burning with panicked tears… only to feel him ruffling her hair.

"You're pretty brave," he complimented her. "I gotta admit: I'm impressed."

The girl in question looked at him warily, even if she visibly appreciated the praise. The other girls in formation stared both awkwardly and in terror. They had no idea how to react to this.

"I won't hurt you," he assured them, "not a single one of you. My issues are with those men in black - the handlers and elders, not you. Put down your shields and spears and I'll keep you all safe."

"H-how? How can you keep us safe?" the girl he was ruffling asked him, sounding almost demanding, like she had to be brave in front of others.

"I have Alicia and Beth to help with that," he said, hiking his thumb towards the women in question. "As well as the three Abyssal Ones on my side - though two of them are living with me. There's also the Crimson Guard as well, plus several Single Digit warriors and Double Digits who've undergone training in the ways of my homeland. Anyone who would try to hurt you is as good as dead."

Without so much as a second thought, another girl in the shield wall they'd formed dropped her weapons. She looked to be about twelve with chin-length white hair and a black ribbon wrapped around her head tied in a little bow on the left side. She gave Naruto a hesitant, but hopeful glance before awkwardly stumbling through the forest of spears and scurrying on up to hug his arm. "I don't wanna die…" she whimpered pathetically. "P-please take me away from here! Far away!"

"I was planning on doing that in the first place." he chuckled, hugging the girl to him to comfort her. "But first I need to rescue the rest of you trainees from the Organization. You wouldn't happen to know where they are would you?"

"They're in the mountains," she answered timidly.

"E-Erica…" another girl cried out in half hearted protest.

"They're in the eastern evacuation shelter, near the ports," the girl continued, unimpeded. "If Raftela's with you, she'll know where it is."

"She is. So are plenty of the current generation of 'claymores'," he confirmed. "Thanks for the information." he rubbed Erica's back and chuckling warmly as he drew a timid smile from her.

At the sight, on more spear fell, and then another… and then another. Soon, they feel like dominoes as the girls saw no point in fighting anymore.

"You… wouldn't happen to have a doctor with you, would you?" the self-appointed leader asked after being the last to drop her weapons with a sigh. "Several of our friends fainted from shock after feeling all those massive yoki spikes."

"Not really," he said with a sigh. "Clarice is back in Morris, and so is Tsunade… but I can help you out with that. When Clarice fainted the day I brought her back to Morris, I just woke her up with a surge of chakra. It's kinda like yoki, but more… pure, I guess."

….

It wasn't long until the rest of the rebellion regrouped with Naruto, and they were surprised as hell when they saw Naruto sitting on the floor, talking with a bunch of trainees sitting in a crowd around him - one in particular sitting in his lap, albeit in a perfectly innocent manner. Raftela quirked an eyebrow when the blond gestured for her to approach. Not seeing any harm in it, she did.

"Raftela, Erica here says the rest of the trainees are at a 'eastern evacuation shelter' near the ports," he said, gesturing to the girl in her lap, "and that you know where it is. Can you lead the search and rescue teams from Konoha there?"

"I shall do my best," she said, nodding with a subtle determined gleam in her eye. "I am very familiar with the layout of Staff. Leading them there should be no issue at all,"

Naruto nodded with approval, before addressing one of the Kumo nin he'd brought with. "Okay. Samui, you take Teams Guy and Ebisu with you and extract the trainees. Follow Raftela to the evacuation shelter and get those trainees out of there. Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth you can go with them. If they see more of the Crimson Guard among them then they might be willing to go with us." As she nodded in acceptance, Naruto then turned his attention to her present teammate. "Omoi, you take Teams Asuma and Kurenai with you and secure a safe path for them."

"Got it," Omoi replied with a nod.

After that Naruto brought his attention to the trainees, "Do you want to be taken to Morris? The rest of Miria's rebellion is there; you'll be a lot safer there than here."

"Can you come with us?" Erica asked timidly.

The brave one from earlier, introduced as Henriette, replied before Naruto had a chance. "Morris is on the other side of This World," she pointed out. "If he's leading the siege, he needs to stay here."

The blond chuckled, surprising the trainees with a poof of smoke as another Naruto appeared right there in their midst. "I can be in more places than one," the original explained to her with a mischievous wink, "I am a one man army. If there are reports of me being in 'two places at once' this is why."

"Ooh! So that's why there were so many Alicias and Beths," one girl chirped in wonder. "Can you teach us that, too?"

"Eventually," Naruto chuckled. "It takes a while to learn, because you need a lot of chakra. But none of you have chakra to use, yet. I need to close your stigmas for that to happen. But, when everything else is outta the way, I'd be happy to do that."

Of course him saying he can heal their stigmas got the expected reactions from them: disbelief and denial.

"B-but that can't be!"

"We were told our stigmas couldn't be healed!"

"There's no way that's true…"

With a chuckle Naruto looked to one of his wives and gestured for her to reveal her stomach. It was Miria who provided the proof. And seeing the pure, unblemished skin taking the place of the stigma that should all rights be there got them all to gasp in shock. Then all eighty silver eyes were on him.

"As Miria showed: I can heal your stigmas. But not here. Not now. I still have an Organization to deal with." the blond explained to them. He eased Erica off of his lap and ruffled her hair when he got up on his feet, "My clone will take you all back to Morris; all you need to do is hold hands and not let go." he explained to them.

"Your uh… c-clone will stay with us, won't he?" another girl asked, Hanna if his memory serves. The girl in question was around the same age as Erica and has short and wavy, platinum blonde hair that framed her face and pointed ears. Her locks covered up one eye, much like Queenie's. Like the other girls, she wore a form fitting two piece cotton, light-grey jumpsuit with plate armour protecting vital parts of her body.

"Yeah. He will." the blond answered her.

The trainees all looked at one another with uncertainty; then one by one, they all walked over to the clone and latched on to him, and holding onto the hands of those who were touching him. Then they all vanished in a massive yellow flash.

"How far are we from the Organization, Raftela?" Naruto asked once the trainees were teleported away.

"I do not know." the woman stoically replied. "This is the first time I have gone through this shortcut."

"I recognise this place, now." Teresa said, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I've been here a long time ago when I was still a trainee. It took me five hours to get from Staff to here; the landscape will turn barren in two hours in that direction." She pointed to the Southwest, where they could see a barren wasteland in the far distance. "That is where the Organization is."

"Then that's where we're heading." Naruto said. "We'll be splitting into two groups from here on out. In case you all need reminding: Samui, is taking Teams Guy and Ebisu to extract the trainees hiding in the eastern evacuation shelter. Raftela leading them and Hysteria, Rosemary, and Elizabeth are going with. Omoi, is going to take Teams Asuma and Kurenai and secure a safe path for them. Everyone else will be following me to distract the bulk of the Organization's forces. Any questions?" He received none. "Alright, let's get going!"

….

When she found herself in a giant, stone chamber in the blink on an eye, Henriette's eyes nearly popped out of her skull as she frantically looked around, sensing several yoki signatures around the area.

"Welcome to Morris," the clone chuckled, riffling the girl's long hair as she looked up at him. "Specifically, we're in the citadel's great hall. C'mon, let's find a head to the mess hall until we can find some rooms for you all to stay in."

The girls all followed him, some more timidly than others. Naruto found that rather cute.

"Me being here with you all so suddenly might bring the residents to us. So don't be surprised if awakened beings suddenly appear. Who knows, if you're lucky you might see another member of Crimson Guard. Like Sistina the Divine Oracle, Cassandra the Dust Eater, or Neideen the Naughty, or as she is commonly known within the Church of the Twin Goddesses: Saint Nymphetamina."

A girl named Lytelle in particular perked up at that. She was just shy of hitting adulthood by the standards of the continent, rocking bright golden locks a three-pigtail hairstyle with two high, and one low, and having straight bangs. A flash of recognition shined in her eyes and her cheeks burned red upon hearing that title. Being from Nash, she had overheard the legend on many an occasion. She was also familiar with Neideen for… other reasons.

Naruto saw that expression on Lytelle's face and chuckled sheepishly, "I see you've had an encounter with her?" he asked.

"Let's just say I've happened upon her… living up to that first moniker, back in Staff," the girl muttered in mild, slightly amused embarrassment.

"Lucky!" Another girl giggled naughtily. "You have no idea how jealous I am of those two!"

"Oh?" Now, Naruto just had to know! This was probably the first and only time he would get some dirt on that naughty woman! "What did she do?" He was visibly intrigued, though he was careful in keeping himself from sound too curious.

"You didn't hear it from me, but she fornicated with the current Numbers One and Two on several occasions," Lytelle whispered, "They were only twelve at the time, too! It was so scandalous!"

"Considering Alicia and Beth were the previous Numbers One and Two, I'm going to go on a wild guess and say the current ones that replaced them are twins as well?" he asked, before looking to them for clarification.

"They are," Henriette confirmed. "They just turned thirteen, I hear, and seem to have mastered an improved soul link."

"Alicia and Beth have improved too." he pointed out. "They can both partially awaken now; though admittedly they made clones for that to work. Still, the Boss will be interested in seeing them."

A trainee with cropped hair looked at him with an odd expression, "'Boss'?" she asked in perplexment.

"The Original Naruto. I call him Boss because that's what he is… even though we clones like to do our own things." the clone clarified before chuckling mischievously. Then he cleared his throat. "Neideen is quite the naughty one isn't she. She uh… lived up to her nickname the first time we met. Right in front of the other Crimson Guards too."

Taking a moment to connect the dots, one trainee in particular asked with a shy but impish grin, "sooo… that 'scuffle' in Nile was an orgy, then?"

"Lytelle!" Erica yelled in embarrassed protest.

"Yeah, pretty much, though that was actually the second time we met." he corrected her with a sheepish chuckle. "The first time we met they were at a gravesite belonging to a few warriors that fell in Pieta. I took them back here with me to give them our side of the story. Long story short: we showed them proof, written by this guy called Dae - who apparently is the guy that cuts you girls open - and they joined our side." he rubbed the back of his head with a hapless shrug. "That scuffle was actually me sparring with Chloe and Lutecia… the aftermath of that spar was the orgy." The clone hummed thoughtfully. "Chloe should be around here, too, actually. Turns out she's pregnant… and I hope she doesn't kill me when she goes into labour, now that I think about it."

"I'll gladly hold her down if you want," a voice sounded from farther down the hall. Naruto and a few others nearly jumped out of their skin upon hearing the sudden reply. They all looked in the voice's direction and saw both Sistina and Neideen waiting for them down the hall.

Smiling Naruto turned to the trainees and gestured to the two women, "In case you don't know who they are the one on the left is Sistina the Divine Oracle. The one on the right is Neideen the Naughty." he then looked at the women and said, "It turns out the Organization sent a small battalion to delay us. They sent these trainees along with ten awakened beings and forty men. One of which was a handler."

"I see…" Sistina muttered. "So, that one's the path they took." She shrugged. "Well, if nothing else, it made your job of getting the kids out of harm's way easier."

"Erica here said the rest of the trainees are held up in an evacuation shelter." the clone said, ruffling the hair of the girl in question affectionately. "Raftela is leading the shinobi teams there, the main force is going to be used as a distraction, just as planned." then, suddenly, he gave Sistina a serious look. "The Organization has something else in store for us. One of my Tailed Beast friends told me of several yoki signatures within the walls of the Organization. They're massive yoki signature's too. You wouldn't happen to have any foresight into what they are?"

"Tailed Beast, friends?" a curious Neideen asked before Sistina could say anything. She was aware that Naruto is capable of turning into a Tailed Beast thanks to the information the Organization and Sistina had provided. And she was aware that there were more than one, thanks to Sistina as well. But she wanted to remain 'ignorant'; she was still curious about them after all.

"Isobu, the three tailed turtle. He's the third strongest of the nine Tailed Beasts, but, he is just as dangerous as the fox that destroyed Pieta."

"They are given the name Abyss Feeders," Sistina explained. "Originally, they were conceptualized as a means by which to kill the Abyssal Ones, once the Organization had collected enough Awakened Being corpses. They are the result of grafting girls with the flesh and blood of awakened beings. Their eyes are destroyed and have no minds of their own, and are modified to release no yoki which increases their ability to sense it. They are little more than killing machines that will not relent until their targets are consumed. Their regeneration is on par with a high level awakened being and their bodies are very malleable." here Sistina closed her eyes and used her foresight to peer into an alternate future, "In an alternate future, one where you had not arrived to this continent, Isley of the North had fallen to them."

"I see. And...what are their strengths and weaknesses?" a now very serious Naruto asked. The Abyssal Ones were hailed as the strongest awakened beings for a damn good reason. A weapon capable of killing them had to be addressed immediately.

Sistina opened her eyes and said, "Being blind and relying on scent and yoki sensing, the Abyss Feeders are at a great disadvantage against opponents that are suppressing their yoki. They are also incredibly unintelligent and slow witted with little to no sapient characteristics." she sighed and scratched the side of her head, "As for their strengths: they have an insane amount of regeneration; unless you sever their heads from their shoulders they will just regenerate in a matter of seconds and keep attacking. They have also been conditioned to learn the skills of their prey, and spread the information to other Abyss Feeders, making them difficult to fight if it's being drawn out. The power difference is so great that only single digit warriors will be able to fight them head on. The others would be better off as support."

"I see…" Naruto peered at the ground to his left. "You got all that Isobu?" he asked aloud, getting everyone who does not know about his connection with the Tailed Beasts to look at him oddly.

"Yeah. I just finished telling the Original what was being said here. He's in the process of letting the rest of your rebellion know about this new weapon." The turtle answered. "I'm keeping a close eye on those things, though, just in case. They haven't moved yet, but, I'll let you know the second they do."

"Thanks. The Boss will want to know the moment those things are being sent out." he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Knowing him, the Boss would go into the Rikudō Sennin Mōdo to take care of them."

"So… what Riku-whatchyamacallit?" Erica asked, tilting her head in a curious manner. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at her cute expression.

"In your language, it would be called 'Six Paths Sage Mode'. It's my most powerful form." he answered her with a ruffle of her hair.

"How strong is it?" Hanna asked,

"Strong enough that the destruction of Pieta pales in comparison to the amount of destruction I can cause in that form." Naruto gave the trainees a nonchalant shrug. "Basically: in that form, your strongest warriors wouldn't be a warm up."

"He's not lying, either." concurred a supporting Sistina. "He would be able to defeat any one of us with little effort."

Naruto blinked and looked at her, "Let me guess: a vision of my fight with Kaguya and Madara?"

"Sasuke, actually." Sistina corrected. "I did see those battles, too, though. They were awe inspiring as well as frightening to behold."

"Oh." with a chuckle Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "It's a little weird, knowing you can see into the future. You're the only one here that knows me that well."

"I do know things only you know… like the name of the cat Quicksword Irene had adopted." She winked at him with her blind eye. "But I won't let anyone else know. She wants a cat by the way. So does Cassandra." she told him offhandedly.

"Sooooo~" Neideen cooed, walking over to the large group of trainee's with a certain glint in her silver eye and a leering grin. "They're staying with us are they?" she asked, coming to a stop beside Naruto. She grinned as the one with pigtails turned beet red, as did the one with the ribbon. They looked so cute~!

"Yeah," the clone nodded. "We were heading to the mess hall so they could sit down and wait while I got some rooms cleared out for them to stay in."

"Good idea." Neideen praised, "Luciela's been cooking up some food with Nalani. Rafaela, Ophelia and Teams Evianna, Glinda and Octavia are around. Along with the remaining Crimson Guard and some hybrids. They'll be in good hands here…" she let out an ominous giggle that came off as creepy and perverted at the same time. For Naruto is was… oddly arousing.

The way she looked at them raised many a red flag for the girls present, the little voice in the backs of their heads yelling, "stranger danger!"

Neideen squawked in surprise when Naruto swatted her on the posterior. "No. Naughty girl. If you want to do that, you've got me."

The one-eyed hybrid giggled at that. "Oh, I know I do~!" she wrapped her arm around her hubby's and looked at the girls, "Come along you all, let's get you something to eat."

….

Back in the valley, Scarlet let out a heavy sigh of relief as she noted that everything was here and accounted for after triple-checking each and every last item, down to the ten spare pitons for the tents. It was stressful as all hell, but she did it. Maybe now, that perpetually naked brunette will stop eyeballing her like a slab of meat? Everything was going quite smoothly, now that they had taken the northern valley and started setting up a base of operations. The tents were set up, several sharpened wooden stakes were set up in the direction of Staff as a barrier to discourage a full-on charge from enemy forces and a ditch was dug with caltrops at the bottom to serve as another layer of defense for the camp.

A cold shiver ran up the redhead's spine and the lifeblood drained from her face as she heard Priscilla's stomach growl from here. She breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Naruto say, "there's some grown innards in one of the scrolls, Priscilla, stop scaring the poor woman; she's been through enough to make up for what she's done!" It appears he heard her stomach growling too.

"To be fair, it tastes better when they're fresh and still warm," she playfully rebutted.

"W-would she be able to s-secure one of the other valleys?" Scarlet recommended. "It was our plan to close off any potential escape routes, right?"

"She could, but after what Isobu told me about the Organization's new weapon, I'd rather not risk it." he answered her then the blond addressed Priscilla, "And as for the innards being 'fresh and warm', they are fresh - and you can heat them up. Or you can go ahead and eat mine if you're that desperate."

"No!" The brunette immediately yelled. "I was joking! Anything but that!"

"I was too," Naruto chuckled, "lighten up!"

"Y-you… you jerk!" there was the sound of skin smacking against fabric as Priscilla punched him in the arm. "You owe me some extra snuggles for that!"

"I think I'm beginning to give a lot of my girls some extra snuggles tonight." he chuckled. "I certainly don't mind though." Scarlet looked at Naruto when she heard Priscilla squeal in surprise and found the naked brunette being hugged from behind, with her privates being covered up by the blond. "I get to spoon you after all~" He then kissed her on the cheek, drawing an embarrassed blush from the awakened being.

Naruto chuckled again, before addressing Scarlet. "Is everything running smoothly?"

Scarlet let out a sigh, if nothing else, the blond was a benolivant boss. "Yes. I triple checked everything. We are all set," she answered him with a nod. "The ditch has just been completed, thanks to Deneve speeding it along, and the caltrops are set. That should slow down these new weapons of theirs."

"Yeah. It should, but it might not. Those clones should be just about finished setting up the intruder detection seals at a fifty yard radius around this camp. If anything that intends to hurt us passes them, we'll know before they reach us."

Priscilla blinked and looked at her hubby with a curious frown. "How?"

"There's an 'alarm' in the middle of our camp. The second those seals are set off, so will the alarm." he answered, pointing to said 'alarm' in the middle of their camp. It was a seal etched onto a human-sized boulder. "It'll glow and emit a loud noise - it'll wake everyone up and will automatically turn itself off after five minutes."

A lot of the stuff he said went right over Scarlet's head, but she nodded anyway. It was beyond her knowledge, but she understood what it did the second he said 'alarm'.

"Your talents never cease to amaze," Jean cooed as she slid on up behind her man and hugged him.

"Hey, Jean," he greeted her, reaching back to embrace his wife lovingly. "How's everyone else?"

"Eager to fight, but wary of this new weapon," she replied. "I can't say I blame them."

"Anything that's made to kill an Abyssal One is not something to take likely. I'll be taking care of them, myself." he told her, Priscilla and Scarlet. "I'll use my Rikudō Sennin Mōdo when engaging. I'm not going to take any chances with them." he looked at his wife from over the shoulder and asked, "Wanna turn in? Come morning, it'll be quite eventful."

"That would be delightful~!"

"Don't forget my snuggles," Priscilla reminded him pointedly.

"I haven't forgotten at all, Priss." he answered her with a chuckle and a loving kiss on the cheek. "After all, as your breeding stud I need to tend to your needs as well, don't I~?"

The brunette blushed and giggled at that, pleasantly surprised. "Indeed, you do~!"

With Priscilla getting another peck on the cheek, Naruto looked to Jean and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Let's go you two. We have some snuggles to do."

Both women giggled and obliged as Naruto lead them to his tent, a flustered redhead left in their wake. He opened the flap and gestured for them to enter first; Naruto gave their nice asses a firm swat as they walked inside one by one. Then he followed them inside and closed the flap behind him. Though them going inside the tent had caught the eyes of a certain pair of best friends and twin sisters. The second the flap was closed up, Naruto let out a startled yelp when he was pulled down on top of his bedroll, and spooned by Jean who then proceeded to snog him lovingly. Priscilla meanwhile took up the other side and lightly nibbled the crook of his neck. Chuckling, the blond wrapped an arm around the two of them and hugged the women to him. Jean and Priscilla hugged him back in return, the former hugging an arm to her bosom while doing her best to plunder his mouth with her tongue. Priscilla just kept nibbing against his neck, trying to do her best to leave her mark on him.

He certainly didn't mind this arrangement. What straight man would? And if his senses were right, he was about to have some more company. Naruto's senses were proven right, but he heard Miria giving those people a stern talking to before they could even open the flap.

"And what do the four of you think you're doing?" the sandy-brunette asked demanding.

"O-oh, nothing big sis!" Helen quickly answered; Naruto wasn't surprised to hear her. And he knew if Helen was around her best friend Deneve wasn't far behind.

He was proven right when he heard the pixie-haired blonde sigh, "Give it up Helen. Captain Miria isn't going to fall for that." Deneve sighed again and came clean. "Helen wanted to join Naruto in his tent. And so do Alicia and Beth if my guess is right."

Miria sighed exasperatedly. "Naruto's left plenty of clones around camp. Go pick one of them."

"But they're busy…" Helen whined like a child.

"They're almost finished." the sandy-brunette told the rebellious woman. "Or is it because they are not the original?"

"No! It's not that at all," Naruto could almost see the stubborn pout on Helen's face. "I just want some me time is all…"

"Uh-huh…" Miria didn't believe her at all. Not that Naruto blamed her. Helen is the outgoing and mischievous one after all. "He has Jean and Priscilla in there. I've been hogging him to myself for ages, so let them have this. There are plenty of Naruto clones wandering around. Go get one of them."

"Okay. Let's go Beth."

"Okay, Alicia."

Naruto, Jean and Priscilla all heard two pairs of feet walking away. It was pretty damn obvious that it was the twins by this point. So it left Helen and Deneve as the ones who are still outside with Miria. Naruto can imagine Helen pouting like a child, with her arms crossed under her bosom as the twins walked away. He didn't know why that was so easy to picture, but Helen was the type of woman to do just that. Maybe that was why it was so easy to picture?

Pushing those thoughts aside with an amused chuckle, Naruto turned his full attention on over to Jean and Priscilla. "Now, where were we?" he asked, after Jean pulled away from his lips.

….

Back in Morris, the trainees were in the dining hall eating a large abundance of food that Luciela, Nalani, and Rafaela had cooked. Erica was one of the exceptions; she simply couldn't eat another bite, no matter how good it was and how much she wanted to keep on eating. The food was that good! So now, she was sitting by herself on a surprisingly comfy bed. Dipping the pen she had been provided by one of the clones into its inkwell, and whipping out her journal, the young… former trainee decided on one last entry for the day.

'Saturday, 20th day of Ahmun, Year 2117AS:

This is to be my third and final entry for today.

I must say it was quite eventful… for one, we finally met Ladykiller Naruto and the rest of his rebellion. Ladykiller Naruto was not who the Organization portrayed him to be! He is kind, considerate, and so friendly! He even has the Crimson Guard on his side! The Crimson Guard, women who are hailed to be some of the strongest of our generations. Even the previous Number One and Two, Alicia and Beth the Black were with him! They killed ten Awakened Beings that were with us, with little to no effort! Then Ladykiller Naruto took us away from that valley and brought us to safety in Morris, where the rest of the Crimson Guard is, along with several warriors like Quicksword Irene!

I even met several Awakened Beings here in Morris; the Infamous "failed experiment" Luciela of the South; Evianna the Highland Harpy; even Wild Horse Octavia, Europa the Lazy and Fresh Blood Agatha are all here! They are more civil than I expected them to be too, though I couldn't help but feel a bit… overwhelmed by the sheer amount of yoki they had. It's hard NOT to be intimidated by such powerful auras.

I think I am going to enjoy my stay here, though. I can tell everyone else that was brought to Morris are enjoying themselves. Ladykiller Naruto is just so approachable! It's hard to put the kind of man he is into words! He's just… so friendly and generous. And admittedly cute… I'd die of embarrassment before saying that to his face though.

And what's more: the other trainees that were taken to the evacuation shelters, and the other warriors? He's going to rescue them! The same as he did us! But there was that new weapon Sistina the Divine Oracle told him… the Abyss Feeders… I don't like the sound of them. I dislike how they were made too. I hope he kills them quickly. Any drawn out fight with them is bad.'

With the last word written down, Erica exhaled and set her pen aside, closed her journal and placed it under her pillow. Tomorrow was going to be a brand new day. She was looking forward to it and to settling down in this new home the Ladykiller was providing them. With that thought in mind and a smile on her face, Erica slipped on under the covers and quickly drifted off with a happy sigh.