70 Yoma Cleansing

The next day, Shion took in the crisp mountain air as she ventured towards the chapel, with her daughter, Mirai in tow. The young maidens were in the company of Galatea, Riful, Luciela, Priscilla, Harja, and Little Teresa, gaining the attention of many a villager as they passed on by. The half-abyssal kids and former Numbers were just tagging along so they could return to their duties as acolytes… at least for now. The so-called "Three Titans" among Naruto's wives, however, had much to discuss with Shion and Father Isaac about expanding their hubby's influence, and were liable to bring any kids who wanted a piece of their daddy into this grand conspiracy.

"Glad you could finally come," a voice called out as they entered the courtyard. It was Sistina as she awaited the group's arrival, accompanying Neideen as she always did, nowadays. Both of them were garbed in the nun's uniform of the Twin Goddesses; their outfits sported a pair of black Mary-Janes; white, thigh-high stockings; a black dress dress; black armlets; and a headdress comprised of the white guimpe and black veil. The bandeau and cap, however, were conspicuously missing. She has bits of gold lace to go with the white and black. The dress also showed a generous amount of cleavage and had a shorter, leafy skirt.

Sistina gave Shion a polite, and respectful bow, her vision of the future had shown her who this young woman and the girl beside her were. "I have been looking forward to your arrival for some time, Lady Shion."

Said blonde replied with a respectful bow of her own. "I'm glad to finally meet you, Lady Sistina," she said, before turning her attention to the one-eyed woman and playfully added, "and especially you, St. Nymphetamina~!"

Neideen giggled at that. "Oh, I have a feeling we'll get along swimmingly."

Shion gave the eye-patch wearing blonde a polite, if mischievous smile, one that she readily returned. "I believe we will," then she looked to the chapel and gestured to it with a look of expectancy, "So shall we enter the chapel and begin our discussion?"

Sistina and Neideen both smiled at her, with the former gesturing to the chapel itself. "Of course,"

After that they all entered the chapel to begin their discussion.

----

Naruto meanwhile was personally scouring the nearby lands for any youma or Awakened Beings not afflicted with him. With him was a small group of four Kumogakure ANBU, and several women and girls of the latest and last generations from the now-defunct Organization.

For the trainees, Henriette, Erica, Hanna, Regina, Lytelle, Ava and Eva were there. For the warrior hybrids, Heidi, Tanya 'the Evil', Leia, Savra, Charlotte, Audrey, and Rachel were there as well. This made for a group of 14 hybrids.

Naruto was currently in the process of jump-starting their chakra systems among other things. His intention was to bring them with and train them on the road as they sought out the remaining youma and Awakened Beings. The ANBU were tagging along as extra protection; if they happened to be ambushed by bandits, or youma, then they would have war veterans protecting them.

Suddenly, Naruto came to a stop and he held up a fist prompting everyone to stop. He looked around before focusing on one area to his left: a tree.

"You've gotten good at hiding yourselves." he called out. Everything was quiet for a moment, before three people dropped down from the tree in a crouch. Naruto smiled at seeing three familiar faces.

The three in question were the Awakened Beings, Chronos, Lars and Gwyn.

"What are you three doing all the way up here? Shouldn't you be at Westvale Keep?" Naruto asked them.

Chronos smiled goodnaturedly, "It's rather boring staying there all the time. Besides that, the youma in the area have all but fled farther westward upon noticing the spectacle you made of the Organization. We figured that now was a good time to inform you of that."

Lars grunted in agreement. "Not much excitement happens there, nowadays. anyway. Not since that 'flying one' and her group came across us." he said, referring to Anastasia.

Gwyn took note of the group behind him; the silver-eyed ones maybe the last generation of warriors and trainees he guessed. But the ones with the blank masks puzzled him greatly. "Who are they?" he asked, inclining his head at the group of four.

Naruto looked at them. "They're special forces from my homeland - the best of the best, and the elite. They're also war veterans. They're here to act as a buffer in case the Organization comes back, or their enemy comes along." he looked back at the Awakened Beings, "So the youmas have moved further in… probably holing themselves up in an isolated location... or worse case scenario, in a town… do you know where they're heading exactly? Lautrec's full of mountains, and valleys, including a desert. There's plenty of places for them to hide."

"The majority of youma in the West have collected into a massive herd well over 1000 strong," Chronos said with a nod. "When they were last in range, they were heading toward Raby Castle."

Naruto slowly nodded as he took that information in. Then, suddenly, he snapped his head to the others behind him with a smirk, "Looks like we're having a little detour." he looked back to Chronos, Gwyn and Lars and asked, "Want to come with?"

"I certainly don't mind," Chronos said with a grin. "It'll give us something to do." Lars and Gwyn nodded concurringly with that. They were bored, Westvale Keep may have been on the western edge of Naruto's territory, but there was little action there, which wasn't all that surprising considering they were awakened beings. Powerful ones at that.

"Alright, everyone grab on. We're taking a detour!" Naruto declared, quickly producing a small group of clones to hold down the fort. They quickly fanned out and with that everyone grabbed hold of Naruto, and they were gone in a massive yellow flash. There was a very real threat of a potential army that needed to be dealt with. This would be one good test run for the warriors and trainees with him as well.

----

Over in Raby castle, the group of 22 men and women appeared in the bailey of Raby Castle. Savra and Audrey immediately perked up, sensing a massive concentration of yoki, north-by-northeast of their position. It would appear that they'd found the herd.

"The youma are approaching a small town, about a day's walk from here," Audrey stated. "At their current pace, we should just make it before they do if we head out within the next five minutes."

"Naruto," one of the ANBU started, getting the young man's attention, "You're able to cross entire battlefields in a matter of seconds, are you not?"

"Yeah… when I'm in Bijuu Modo, I'd be a beacon to them and they'd scatter before we even get to them. We should approach more stealthily." Naruto replied. He rubbed his chin and started to think. "...Given their numbers, I doubt they'd be deterred if they sensed the girls. Gwen, Lars and Chronos can also hide their yoki pretty damn well, seeing as how they'd been hunted by the Organization for decades, and they can't sense chakra, at all." A figurative light bulb flickered above his head and then he turned to the ANBU in charge, a large, bald black man who stood well above two meters in height with muscles that made him look capable of crushing a baby elephant to death.

This man was codenamed Kuma.

"Would you happen to have any soldier pills?" Naruto asked.

Kuma turned to the sole female among the ANBU who'd come with, a pink-haired black woman wrapped from the lower half of her face on down to her knuckles and ankles in sarashi bindings. Her codename was Bara. She quietly nodded and presented Naruto with a small sack.

Naruto nodded politely and smiled. "Thanks." Then, he turned to the Awakened beings and other girls before saying, "alright, we're going to be saving some time by double-timing there, using a basic chakra dash. Just focus your chakra into your legs while you're running, like you'd use yoki for the same effect. These pills will give you a massive boost in chakra so you can last longer while doing so. This should halve the time we take to get there, assuming we stop to rest every now and then. We'll come up with a battle plan when we get there and see what kinda terrain we have to work with. Any questions?"

----

Meanwhile, back in the Chapel of Morris, the grand conspiracy had begun.

Father Isaac sat in the middle of the meeting hall, flanked by Neideen and Sistina. Shion and her daughter Mirai were sitting opposite of them, alongside Riful, Priscilla, Luciela, and their respective daughters. Finally, those also present were Undine's daughter, Damia; Glissa's daughter, Lyesse; Clare's daughter, Teresa; and Cynthia's twin daughters, Hana and Susan.

The young ones were all quite curious to hear what this meeting was all about. They were also garbed in acolyte's uniforms, though the younger ones had more modest variants on than their elder sisters for obvious reasons.

"So, you're from a country named the Land of Demons?" Isaac was legitimately curious.

"You're not the first one to wonder if there are actual demons there," Shion giggled. "In truth, it got the name from being the birthplace of the Nine Bijuu - massive, mountain-sized animal-themed demons that now serve as the guardians of my continent."

"Uncle Kaku and Auntie Tabi are quite friendly," Harja chimed in, drawing a giggle from Shion.

"I never thought I'd see the day Shukaku would be called such a thing," the priestess commented with a warm smile. "How times change… That father of yours is nothing short of a walking miracle, I must say." With that out of the way, she decided to get to business. "So, now that we're all here, what is the plan?" Shion was mostly asking for the benefit of the less-informed participants of this conspiracy.

"Once we get that unseemly boy, Garth, to take take the blame for impregnating Harja and Teresa," Sistina started, "Hana, Susan, Lilith, and Samantha's pregnancies will easily be pinned on him after the fact. No one will question it if they point the finger at him."

Several of Naruto's younger daughters were visibly surprised to hear that their sisters had gotten themselves knocked up, but kept quiet.

"After that, we make preparations for the dispersal," Riful added. "With the Organization gone, several of Naruto's wives will undoubtedly wish to return to their hometowns if possible… or settle down somewhere they don't feel all cooped up. Naruto's planning on having some of the girls who'd like to serve as a replacement for those bastards - dealing with bandits and the like, once any remaining youma have been exterminated."

"The Twin Goddesses wish to spread their influence to your continent." Neideen said with a smirk, much to the surprise of everyone else excluding Sistina and Isaac. The woman's smirk only grew at their looks, "Thanks to being their Champion, I am able to communicate with the Twin Goddesses. I know for a certainty that Teresa and Clare have had an eye on him during his early years, and wish to spread their religion to your lands because of it. It's one of the favours they want Naruto to do, when the time comes, and while they are planning to get him to help with that, the Goddesses believe it would be easier if he had help."

"I see... " Shion mused with a deep, thoughtful look on her face. She hadn't seen the Goddesses themselves, but even she noticed how many girls and women have taken an unnatural amount of interest in Naruto. And with Neideen confirming that these Goddesses have been watching over Naruto for years, that pretty much told the Priestess that it was the divinity responsible for the amount of fuckery Naruto's been going through with various women and teenage girls after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

It was...well...depending on the opinion of the person...amusing to think about; having divinity take an interest in you for the longest time. Yet it can also be worrisome for the exact same reasons: if two goddesses took an interest in someone, then their interest on that individual could spark the interest of other gods and goddesses.

But back to the matter at hand.

"Having their influence in the Elemental Nations may prove beneficial…"

"I'm sensing a 'but'..." Neideen said with a knowing look.

Shion chuckled at that. "But... it will take some time for anyone to believe in them. Let alone make their presence known."

"You have a point." Neideen agreed, "But there is two people from the Elemental Nations that can confirm their presence." here, her smirk turned to a full blown grin. "You know of them."

It took a moment for Shion to connect the dots. "It's Naruto and Kurama… isn't it?"

Neideen giggled impishly at the astonished looks on everyone else's faces-those who weren't aware of him being able to talk to them. "Yep~! Naruto and Kurama are on a talking terms with the Twin Goddesses… and Rabona herself as well."

"When did that happen?!" A wide eyed Riful asked.

"Back when we were in Nile." Neideen replied. "They talked to Naruto through me and then brought myself, Naruto and Sistina to their realm for a brief moment to talk. Cassandra, Roxanne and Miranda know of it too. They were there when it happened."

"So he's kept it from us…" Riful muttered darkly. Someone was going to get a harsh talking to once they were done here.

"Naruto's most likely forgot, due to everything that's been happening lately." Sistina defended for him. "Not to mention due to his experiences in his past, he most likely kept it to himself out of self preservation: anyone who claims they can talk to the gods themselves are usually deemed insane, or are reduced to laughing stock. Besides… would you have believed him?"

"...No. I admit, if he had come out and said that, I wouldn't have believed him." Riful replied with a sigh, an expression of understanding showing on her face.

"It certainly doesn't help that he has grown up alone and was treated as an outcast." Sistina added with a sad, yet angry frown, one that was shared by all the women, and girls in the room. "That may have been another factor for his decision to keep it to himself."

"...why did he allow them to live again?" Priscilla asked herself aloud.

"Because Riful fucked him for a week straight and it made him calm enough to think rationally," Luciela answered with a shrug. There was no need for her to censor herself, here. With everyone else talking about the plan, and the daughters knowing their father had fucked some of their half-sisters, she saw no reason to.

"She wasn't the only one," Sistina pointed out. "A woman named Anko was immensely helpful in that regard, as well. Ironically, she's an outcast, too, because her mentor betrayed the village and turned out to be an evil mad scientist."

"We seriously need to do a headcount and check on his previous lovers…" Riful muttered. "Naruto wants to do that already, but I'm thinking we should light a fire under his ass when he returns."

"She's not as much of a lover, as what Naruto's people would call 'A one night stand'." Sistina told the Abyssal One correctively, lest she and the others get the wrong idea. "Anko was pretty desperate on getting Naruto to not destroy Konoha… and she was also a part of the team that got his first love killed - though she was the only one who wasn't fighting to kill. Hell, she wasn't even there willingly. The parties who'd caused Naruto so much hell in his childhood had extorted her into participating."

"Noted, but, it is still worth checking on her," Riful pointed out.

"No arguments there," Sistina replied with a smile and a nod.

"Out of curiosity…" Priscilla started, drawing Sistina's attention to her. "Do you know how many lovers Naruto's had on his homeland?"

Sistina smiled a mysterious smile. "Some. Not many are actual lovers, mind you. But they did have an encounter with him. I know he has had a lover who would be a Queen here, seeing as she is the leader of her own country. She cannot leave there for a large amount of time, due to her responsibilities to her people however."

"...But how many are there?"

Sistina shrugged. "I lost count… and my visions are not always accurate." The former Number One made a 'hmmmm' sound as she thought on it, "The last I checked, he's had close to fifty. Though many of them were one night stands… and the twelve in that country called 'Nami' weren't his fault… they pretty much ambushed him." Sistina and several others giggled. "Not that he was complaining. It felt nice to be so appreciated, even though he did nothing to initiate it."

"The Twin Goddesses were responsible for that." Neideen revealed with a helpless shrug. "And plenty of other things around him too... besides, have any of you wondered just why so many women are falling head over heels for him lately...?" And she then pointed towards the ceiling with an exasperated, yet amused smile as the answer.

"The twin goddesses…" Priscilla slowly began.

"Are responsible…" Riful continued.

"For all of that?!" Luciela finished, looking at the Saint with wide eyes. Did that mean they were responsible for her too…?

"Not all of it, but certainly a sizeable chunk," Sistina clarified. "Mostly, the women that walked in on and started fucking him. And in case you were wondering, no, they weren't responsible for you falling for him. That was all you… they just gave you a little nudge is all - urged you to look in his direction and see if he was a good mate."

"Being love Goddesses and all, they knew he would take good care of you." Neideen added, before letting out quite the perverted giggle, "And then some."

"They've been watching over Naruto for years." Sistina continued, "Even when their influence was limited in the Elemental Nations, they were still watching over him. They, along with me, know him better than he knows himself."

"I…I see…" The redhead mused with a thoughtful expression; it looks like she owed her happiness to the Twin Goddesses themselves. She sent a silent prayer to them in thanks.

"That certainly explains a lot." Riful muttered. She didn't know whether or not she should feel proud or irritated that her man has the Twin Goddesses themselves watching over him… she went for feeling pride instead, lest she offend them or something.

"Before we get anymore sidetracked, let's get back to the main discussion." Luciela told them. "We know of the plan about Garth, we also know the Twins themselves want to spread their influence to the Elemental Nations… so what else is there?"

"Combining the church of the Twins with that of Rabona and inserting our children into positions of power to further the influence of said goddesses," Neideen chirped.

"We know all about your plans to take over the world," Sistina giggled, waggling her fingers dramatically at those last words. "You scratch our backs, we scratch yours."

"Ohhh~" Priscilla had an wide, evil grin on her face that would make Roxanne green with envy. "I like the way you two think."

As she listened to them all talk Damia looked to her half-sister Lyesse and leaned over to whisper. "...Daddy's not going to be happy if he finds out about this, is he?"

Lyesse slowly shook her head and whispered back. "No. I don't think he will."

----

Clarice stretched and let out a tired sigh as Tsunade checked her handiwork. Healing the bones on that amphibian took a lot out of her. She had to go through many of them, but the brunette had hoped the job was done.

"I must say I'm impressed," Tsunade said, drawing a blush from her. "You're improving quickly. Go ahead and take a break, for now. You've earned it."

Clarice smiled and nodded happily and enthusiastically. A break sounded good to her. Upon sitting down on one of the beds, she perked up as the door opened. Shizune and Inonon entered with the Feeders in tow. The young blonde had just gotten up not too long ago and had rounded them up with Shizune's help.

"Good to see you're up again," Tsunade greeted the young Yamanaka. "Are you ready to go again?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Inonon chuckled nervously. She smiled at the strawberry blonde who pressed up against her hand and rubbed the Feeder's scalp. "Now that they've taken a liking to me, they should be much easier to deal with. It's much harder to heal someone who doesn't trust me, because their subconscious tries to eject me from their mind and resist the changes I make."

Gaki grunted happily in agreement.

Inonon giggled, "Alright, let's try this again. I think I got a better understanding on what I need to do now." she said with enthusiasm. Gaki was all to happy for the girl to have another go. She didn't find it too bad last time, not to mention she did feel better. The Abyss Feeder scampered on over to one of the beds and laid down on top of it, the previous experience of this session having told her it would be wise to rest. Inonon went to one of the beds as well and sat down on it, with Shizune being with her every step of the way.

With all that said and done, she cast her Shinten Saisei and hopped into Gaki's mind, Shizune catching the blonde as she went limp and lying her down.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that…" Clarice muttered.

"You're not the only one." Tsunade agreed. "But it is useful for suppressing memories you don't want to remember. Or outright removing them." She gave Gaki a smile, who was now on the bed, yawning as the effect of the jutsu was taking effect on her again. "Let's hope she keeps up the good work, eh?"

"Y-yeah, let's hope." Clarice hoped she wouldn't have to have someone running through her head. She liked the way her head worked, thank you very much! But, she understood the necessity of Inonon's efforts on the Feeders. She couldn't help but feel sorry for them, despite how creepy they still managed to be. At least they had eyes and normal teeth now.

The remaining feeders, meanwhile, seemed to take an interest in the dead frog, sniffing at it and looking expectantly at Tsunade as if to ask, "Are you gonna eat that?"

If nothing else, it was amusing… and creepily adorable.

"No. You can't eat it. Clarice is using it to train," the blonde said gently, prompting the Feeders to cock their heads in curiosity, not quite understanding what she meant, but they nodded nonetheless.

Speaking of Clarice she was looking at the other frogs that were in… various mangled states, due to her fuck ups in the amount of chakra she used. There was more than enough for each of them and Gaki to chow down on at least one. "If we're done with those, perhaps they can eat them?"

The Feeders perked up at the sound of that.

Tsunade looked at the other frogs Clarice pointed out and shrugged. "Leave some for later," she said after a moment of thought. "We only have a limited amount and they can be used again for other uses." Like amputations.

Clarice nodded and fetched one for each of them, giggling as the Feeders beamed. A few of them even licked her face in appreciation.

Meanwhile, in Gaki's head, Inonon slaved away, trying her damnedest to fix the woman while ignoring the memories of Naruto's orgies. That… proved rather difficult. But, she managed. Letting out a tired sigh, the disembodied blonde took a gander at her handiwork and felt that was about as good as it would get for the day. She felt that Gaki's mind should be given time to adjust, before she tampered with it anymore. With that thought in mind, she cancelled the technique and returned to her body.

Not long after that, Inonon groaned as her eyes fluttered. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when the strawberry blonde Feeder looked down at her in curiosity, half of a mangled frog in the woman's mouth. It took every fiber of the young blonde's being not to cry out, thoroughly startled as she got up. Inonon let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and patted the Feeder on the head. Then, she turned to Tsunade and asked, "so, um... who's next?"

----

Much later that day, back with Naruto, he and his group were fast approaching the village that was being threatened by all the youma. It took them about twelve hours, counting the times they took a break to let the trainees and younger warriors take a breather, but they were here with time to spare.

Naruto made a few Kage Bunshin to go to the perimeter of the village in order to set up a barrier to protect the civilians. Though one of them had gone to the town's mayor in order to inform them what was going to be happening. Nevertheless, once the clones got into position they quickly set up their fuinjutsu formula and watched as a dome of chakra, red in colour, appeared around and over the village.

"A barrier-ninjutsu?" Kuma stated in a questionative tone.

"I had to learn something when I was on my way to this continent for the first time." Naruto said with a shrug. "The Six Burning Barrier Formation; it's not as strong as the Four Red Yang Formation, but it'll do for this situation."

"What's it do?" one of the other ANBU asked.

Naruto chuckled in amusement at the blatant attempt to get information. "It's does what all barrier-ninjutsu does: it keeps things out; keeps things in; it traps; it protects. But this one requires six people with high jonin level chakra to maintain. The clones are behind the barrier so this will be up for as long as it needs to be. Anything that touches the barrier itself will be immediately incinerated." Of course, he left out that the barrier becomes stronger the more people that is maintaining it. And since he has six clones with above Kage level chakra, the barrier is pretty damn strong and will be constantly up unless they're removed.

Naruto blinked and had to stop himself from punching himself in the face; he had a barrier-ninjutsu all this time and he didn't use it at Pieta! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

"...Are you okay?" Audrey cautiously asked Naruto after seeing the rapidly twitching eyebrow of realization.

"Peechy." Naruto exhaled with a look of mild irritation and self loathing. But he quickly pushed his negative thoughts aside and got back to the situation at hand. "Alright, we should have a few minutes to rest up before the horde arrives. Take the opportunity to do so."

"And what are you planning on doing?" Lars questioned, his eyes following Naruto as he sat cross legged on the ground.

"I'm going to sense just how far out they are." The blond answered. Then he closed his eyes, slowed his breathing and went absolutely still as he prepared to intake the nature energy around him. Senjutsu gave him the ability to sense others around him, and it doesn't require him to use Kurama's chakra/yoki, so the army of youma wouldn't know he's here.

Since Audrey said the youma were short of a day away from this village, and they themselves would get there just before the youma, Naruto just had to know how much time his group had to rest before they're beset upon. They should have several hours, but in situations like these it never hurts to be sure.

Besides, while he may have above Kage level reserves, even his Kage Bunshin had limited amounts of chakra. They couldn't keep the barrier-ninjutsu around the village up indefinitely.

And it would seem that they've sped up. If he had to guess, Naruto would wager that they sensed the trainees and warriors approaching and decided to try pick up the pace so his girls didn't have time to dig in and prepare. Unfortunately for the youma he was there. And he was an army killer by himself. With Chronos, Lars, Gwyn here as well as the Kumogakure backing up the warriors and trainee's they didn't stand a ghost of a chance.

"Alright," he announced without opening his eyes. "It seems they've sped up - most likely from sensing the girls. I'd say we have a few hours, four from the feel of it, before they reach us. I'll keep an eye on their approach just in case, though. I don't want them to catch us with our pants down, so to speak."

"So, what do we do until then?" Audrey asked.

"Rest for one thing. We've been on the move for the past 12 hours, with little breaks in between." Then Naruto opened a single eye, showing the toad-like iris that has replaced his normal blue, "Or you can practise to use your chakra, just not extensively."

"We should also formulate a plan," Henriette chimed in, reminding Naruto once more of Miria. "Their numbers are absurdly higher than our own."

"They have an army, we have a Naruto." one of the ANBU said, before he, Kuma and the other two guys among his unit chuckled as if sharing a joke between them. The man in question was a light-skinned blond codenamed Crane.

"...not that joke…" Naruto whined with childish annoyance and exasperation. He thought he got away from that one!

"Uhhh… context please?" Rachel asked politely.

"Naruto here can make thousands of himself." Kuma said, gesturing to the blond in question. "It saved our asses during the war we had back in the Elemental Nations. Trust me, if there's anyone who should be worried it's those so-called 'demons' you have here."

That got nervous looks from Audrey and Rachel; if he could do that, they wouldn't have had a ghost of a chance of fighting him back in Nile! He would have massacred them on the spot had he wanted to kill them! Damn, they were lucky!

"Duly noted," Henriette replied with a nod. Then, she turned to Naruto and asked. "Should we scout the terrain and see what 'we're working with?"

"It would be advisable, but I suggest anyone who can make a Shadow Clone to make one now. Anything they learn, you'll learn once they're dispelled."

Audrey and Rachel got to work in doing just that, along with the four ANBU. After the clones were made, all six of them went off in the direction the yoki was coming from, with the clones of Audrey and Rachel taking the lead since they were the only two of the six that could sense the youma.

"Right now, I need to keep absolutely still… if I don't balance my chakra with Nature Chakra things will get… nasty." Naruto said before closing his eye once more. He may not have been in Sage Mode, but he was still taking Nature Chakra into him. Just the slightest mistake can end up being fatal to him if he's not careful. Even talking to them in this state is pretty damn risky. Though the risks for that have been lessened thanks to his ever constant training in Sennin Modo over the years to keep himself from going stagnant it was still better to be safe than sorry.

"Nasty how?" Tanya asked.

Naruto however didn't answer; mainly because he was focusing on keeping his chakra and Nature Chakra balanced. So, one of the ANBUs, Crane, had answered in his stead.

"I don't know the specifics of Sennin Modo, but, I did hear a few stories of people dying when they tried to undergo the training for them. I've heard some decades ago that his sensei, Jiraiya, had an incomplete Sennin Modo and it gave him toad like features due to the imbalance of the two chakras."

"How'd you know about that?" Charlotte asked.

"Jiraiya travelled a lot." Crane answered with a shrug. "He's been in Kumo plenty of times in the past, mainly to publicise his books, and has told a lot of stories of past toad summoners. I thought his first one was the best, to be honest. It's a shame it didn't sell too well. I would have loved to have read a sequel."

"You just wanted to know if Naruto found the answer to the hatred in the Shinobi world in that book." Kuma said with a shake of his head. "If you ask me, Naruto was bland and too optimistic."

"Naruto's an awesome character!" Crane said in the defense of the fictional character, who was, in his opinion pretty damn cool. "He never gave up! Even with the odds against him, he never gave up!"

"Kinda like me?" Naruto asked, no longer taking in Senjutsu Chakra. If they were going to talk about the character from the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, his namesake, and the character that was inspired by Nagato, then he'd might as well join in.

Why? Because the Naruto from that book, is just like him.

"Yeah, kinda like-" Crane began, only to pause as if he had a sudden realization.

"Yeah. I share the same name as the character in the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. I'm named after him, and I share the same attitude as him." While he couldn't see the expressions on their faces thanks to the blank masks the men and woman were wearing, he can feel the wide-eyed, gobsmacked expressions behind them. He smirked at them. "Surprise?"

"Holy shit! You're the Naruto in real life!"

Naruto glanced to the sky for a moment, puckered his lips in thought and slowly nodded. "Yep. Pretty much. Though there are a few differences, we're very similar. Though Naruto was inspired by Jiraiya-sensei's first disciple."

And it was his words, the words that Naruto said in the book, the words that Nagato told Pervy-sage, that convinced him to have a change of heart in the end.

With that Crane turned to Kuma and said with victory in his voice, "See! I told you that Naruto was real!"

"He's not the same Naruto!"

"They share the same name, and a similar personality, close enough!"

Though she couldn't talk, Bara's opinion of the exchange was made abundantly clear when she went over and whacked them both across their heads. They both fell to the ground due to the force the mute woman put behind her fists.

They were being so unprofessional… someone had to be the straight guy here. Or woman, in her case.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at that. He was reminded of his team dynamic with Team Seven back when everything was much simplier.

Getting to his feet and straightening himself up Kuma cleared his throat and said, "right, I suppose now's as good a time as any to check on the clones." He turned to another man in his group, a small, dark-skinned man with dreadlocks. "Lion, how far out are they?"

"A good few kilometers," the man replied. "They've almost arrived at their destination."

Kuma nodded in acknowledgement with the news. They'll know what to do once they get the information needed.

----

Meanwhile, with the clones, all six of them were unnerved by the sheer number of monstrous purple creatures dashing forth to the village. Not far out from where the main party was resting, they'd seen a hill flanked by two others that would serve as a good choke point bottleneck them. Once they'd been routed, it shouldn't be too hard to finish them off,

It was still unsettling, though; like Chronos had claimed there were thousands of them, though their number seemed to have doubled, as there appeared to be around four-thousand.

"Well… it's a good thing we have Naruto with us." Crane's clone said with a heavy frown behind his mask.

"A very good thing." Lion agreed.

"I've never seen so many youma in my life…" Rachel said, trying to hide her nervousness. Where the hell did they even come from!? "Hell, I didn't know there were this many!"

"You think some of the Handlers, or the council got away before Naruto blew Staff sky high?" Audrey asked as she looked at her friend from the corner of her eye. "We know they've been making the youma and Awakened Beings… and they had to have made them somewhere."

"Are you seriously saying one of those bastards got away and released these assholes as payback?"

"Considering all the shit they've been pulling for centuries? Killing those who've been asking too many questions? Killing those who have outlived their usefulness? I'm saying we shouldn't rule that out - it's a very high possibility."

"...Naruto did let Rubel go, so he could go to the Mainland and say there's nothing here. He could have done it." The former Number 5 said after a moment of thought.

Upon hearing that, Kuma decided to ask, "what are the chances that this is the handiwork of the mainland Organization?"

"Uncertain," Audrey muttered with a deep frown. "They're in a middle of their own war, and Naruto wiped out Staff and everyone in it…" she paused for a moment to think on it some more. "We don't know what they're capable of, though, so it could very well be possible."

"And Rubel is a spy for enemy of the Mainland's Organization. After seeing what Naruto did I would like to think he's not dumb enough to antagonise someone of his caliber." Rachel added, having been informed of rubel's true loyalties by Miria herself. "But humanity does tend to do stupid things, so it's a possibility too."

"It's possible that he told the Organization on the Mainland everything to try and distract them while the faction he's working for takes advantage of that weakness," Kuma pointed out.

"And risk drawing the ire of Naruto, and in turn the ire of several thousand warriors and demons who are all capable of controlling the elements and reshape the landscape?"

"Never underestimate the hubris of an empire," Lion pointed out. "We're saying it's a possibility, but you also brought up a good point, there. I certainly hope they're not that dumb."

Audrey and Rachel's clones exchanged looks. They certainly hoped they weren't that dumb. Besides, Rubel was a Handler, he wasn't that far up in the hierarchy; only the Elder, like Rubel, would know the most important of information. That would include the locations of secret facilities where youmas are being made.

Then again… if Naruto of all people was able to sneak into Staff with nobody knowing, and steal a bunch of documents dating back to the creation of the Organization, then who's to say someone else didn't?

Besides, when Audrey really thought about it… they can't actually pin this on Rubel anyway. It's only been a few days since the Organization's destruction and it would take the man himself a few days to find a dock - Sandy Crotch being one of them. And then it would take him around…12 months, assuming its the same distance to the Elemental Nations, to get to the Mainland. And if it's not, then it would still take him more than a month or two.

And Camilla killed her Handler, Ingmar, proving there may have been some Handlers still around that wasn't at Staff. And that turtle destroyed the boats before anyone could have used them to escape. So any Handler's that managed to survive had to have gone inland... and it certainly gave them enough time to find hidden, youma making facilities and set them free.

And again, Rubel can't be used to pin this on. They know that Yamanaka girl, Ino, went through his mind and she didn't find anything related hidden youma facilities in that brain of his. And she went through everything, and even wiped out some of his memories for that matter!

With all that in mind, Audrey came to a conclusion. "It can't have been the faction opposing the Mainland Organization. Rubel wasn't that high up in the hierarchy of the Organization, and neither Naruto or Captain Miria discovered any youma making facilities from him and Ino went through his memories like a fine comb. He was also with us in Morris for a while too. He wouldn't have had time to do this. The Organization, on the other hand, may have had people that were away at the time of the attack."

"So you're saying these people had the knowledge on where the facilities are located and set these bastards loose on us?" Rachel said questioningly .

"To keep us from getting into their enemies hands? Yes. It's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense." Audrey replied with a nod.

Rachel can't help but chuckle darkly. "Well, at least there's one silver lining to all this."

"What would that be?" Audrey asked, giving her friend an arched eyebrow.

Rachel let out another morbid chuckle. "If those bastards did set them loose, then they didn't live long to gloat about it."

The Youma would have torn the survivors to shreds and eaten their guts the second they got out of their cages. They were too dumb to live if that was the case.

"...I have to agree with you there." Audrey said with a morbid chuckle.

----

Back with the main group, those who'd made clones perked up upon receiving their memories. Audrey and Rachel reeled at the sensation, not nearly as used to it.

"We may want to head forward about sixty meters," Kuma declared after shorting out the memories he got from the clone. "It'd provide us with a better choke point."

"We also got some info on their numbers. Their a lot bigger now, there's over 4000 of them in total." Lion added.

As they told everyone what was learned, Naruto took in their reports with a level head. And after Audrey finished relaying her theory on how this army was made, everyone was surprisingly calm. Understandable, considering the Awakened Beings, trainees and warriors learned that Naruto is able to make thousands of copies of himself. It's as Kuma said: the ones who should be worried are the youma, not them. Naruto is a one man army in the most literal way possible.

Naruto took a moment to draw in what he needed to go into Sage Mode, still keeping an eye on the massive horde as he got up. "Looks like we're heading out, then," he said. "Lead the way."

With four nods, the ANBU did just that…

It didn't take long for them to reach the area specified. As expected the trainees were shaking in their boots at the sight of all those youma they could see swiftly approaching. Taking a quick look around, Henriette noted that they had the high ground and the only way they could get through was a narrow passageway between two large hills that would bottleneck most of the creatures. Unfortunately, not all of them were restricted to the ground.

Seeing the wheels turning in the girl's head as well as Tanya's, Naruto patted them both on the head and said, "you don't have to worry about the flying ones. We'll take care of them." He then flashed an evil, but oddly charming grin as he added. "Consider the rest of them to be practice dummies, okay?"

Both girls blushed and nodded, as Henriette took the initiative. "There's too much room to form a shield wall," she declared. "Everyone with a shield, take position between two girls with a claymore!"

"There's no need for that," Naruto told them with a chuckle. "Chakra is more versatile than yoki… but instead of explaining, how about I show you?" He stepped in front of the group, "Make sure you all stay behind me."

That was the only hint Naruto gave them; and the ANBU were the only ones to know what he was talking about. Turning to face the approaching horde, Naruto crouched down and pressed his hands against the floor. It wasn't long until everyone felt the ground tremble.

Then there was a spray of purple blood, along with agonised cries and deathly wails as the ground itself seemed to come alive and attack the youma in the form of numerous deadly spikes jutting out of the Earth.

"Holy SHIT!" Audrey exclaimed in wide eyed surprise. What the hell was that?! Did Naruto make the ground of all things come to life?!

"...Doton: Doryūsō, or in your language, it would be called 'Earth Style: Falling Earth Spears'. It allows the user to make mud or stone denser and shape it into spikes that then juts out from the ground in order to impale their target." Naruto explained for them. The numbers of the youma has been reduced a bit, but there was still over 4000 left.

"Audrey, since your nature affinity is Earth, you can do this too."

"B-be that as it may, it would still be advantageous to take up a defensive position while the youma are picked off from a distance," Henriette pointed out.

"Did I mention that those with the Earth Affinity can make their skin as hard as diamonds?" Naruto added with a hint of mischievousness in his voice. "And those with Lightning affinity can give themselves 'Lightning Armour' that enhances their speed, reaction time, and pushes your physical prowess to their absolute limit?"

"That's true," Crane said in agreement. "Before Naruto and his father came along, our Kage was hailed as the fastest man alive, thanks to his Raiton Chakura Mōdo. And his father, our Sandaime Raikage who also had the Raiton Chakura Mōdo, had faced a force of Ten Thousand Shinobi alone for three days. He died in that battle, but he took over 6000 with him."

"I fought the man when he was reincarnated during the war. He was no joke." Naruto added as he stood back up. Then he walked back to the group and ruffed Henriette's scalp affectionately, drawing an embarrassed blush from the young girl. "But still… this is meant to be you training to use your chakra. But if you want to act more defensively, I won't stop you." he concluded with a shrug.

"With… all due respect, there's far too many of them for us to handle otherwise." Henriette said while she tried to keep her nerves under control.

"Well, she has a point sir." Crane respectfully pointed out. "We're outnumbered two-hundred to one, if they were to go out there with such a disadvantage, they would get overwhelmed."

Naruto looked at the masked blond and came to the realization that he had a point. These girls weren't soldiers like Heidi, Tanya', Leia, Savra, Charlotte, Audrey, and Rachel. They were still in training. Heck even Ava and Eva, who were soldiers were still young girls - they were younger than Miata!

"Fair enough, I have to stop thinking they're soldiers when they're not." he conceded. Then, he turned to the trainees and smiled. "Don't let that get to you, though. I have faith in all of you!"

No one present could help but be amused by the girls' blushes.

Then Naruto got right into what he liked to call 'serious business' mode. "Audrey, Rachel, as the highest ranking single digits here, you two are going to be in charge. The ANBU along with myself and the Awakened Beings will be on support."

"Roger that," Audrey said with a salute. Rachel, meanwhile, nodded respectfully in acknowledgement.

"This reminds me a lot of the war…albeit with less numbers on our side." Crane said reminiscently.

"Yeah…" Lion said, with Kuma and Bara nodding wholeheartedly in agreement. They have no idea how tough these youma are, due to them never fighting one before. But the ANBU have been informed on their capabilities by Miria, so they have some idea on what to expect from these so called demons.

On the bright side of things, they didn't have the fate of the entire world on their shoulders. And this wasn't a war either. So, while they can't rest on their laurels and take things easy, there was a silver lining in there, somewhere.

----

Depending on the perspective of the person, it was lucky that the army of youmas had not gone past them. And despite Naruto killing off several hundred of them in one move, they continued on their path.

Chronos, Lars and Gwyn were on top of one of the two large hills the hybrids were positioned inside. The ANBUs were on the other. Behind Audrey and Rachel was Naruto himself; he was standing absolutely still with his eyes closed in concentration. The orange pigmentation around his eyes that showed him being in Sage Mode was still there. As the giant army of youma approached, the sounds of thousands of moving feet reached their ears.

The trainees were still shaking out of fear. The warriors were frightened but had more control over their emotions. After what felt like an hour, when it was nearly ten minutes of tens of hundreds of feets, the purple skinned humanoids, of various shapes and sizes - several thousand of them with wings - came into view.

All of them came to a running stop.

At the same time, the orange pigmentation around Naruto eyes faded away as he opened them. He took out a dozen of his father's tri-pronged kunai and held them in a loose, but firm grip.

"Audrey," The former Number 3 to look back at him questioningly. "Just say the word and I'll pepper the battlefield with my kunai." he told her, raising said kunais in question with a calm, easygoing smile.

Audrey quirked an eyebrow at that as she looked at the kunai in question; they were small, and had three pointed edges on it, similar to a trident. The handle was made of wood and had a fuinjutsu formula on it, with a ring at the end. While perplexed at the request she nevertheless nodded.

"Alright." she looked ahead for a moment, before looking back to Naruto again. "You, uh, may want to do that now then."

"Alright," with a grin Naruto tossed the tri-pronged kunai into the air, towards the horde and formed several rapid hand seals while muttering under his breath, "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Before their everyone's eyes, the twelve kunai suddenly became twelve-hundred and while many of them harmlessly struck the ground, a lot managed to find itself lethally stabbing many a youma.

Then, as the horde drew closer, two of the ANBU erected an earth wall behind it, cutting off the only route of escape, while Chronos,, Lars and Gwyn transformed. The two parties then started sniping the flying youma out of the air. Now more frenzied at the realization of what these insects were doing, the horde stampeded forth. Some tried going up the hills, but they were too steep for a handful to scale at a time and they were promptly cut down. The bulk, however, were now bullrushing the trainees and warriors before them.

"Just give the word," Naruto reminded Audrey. Once she does he can 'flash' to the twelve-hundred tri-pronged kunai and take care of business.

The former Number Three smiled at him, before giving the orders. "Alright, ladies, prepared your spears and chanel chakra into your blows rather than yoki. Any full-fledged warriors are to serve as support!"

"Shields up and brace for the charge!" Henriette shouted. Those who had the shields did as they were ordered and braced themselves.

"Send a constant flow of chakra to your feet to make sure you don't move," Naruto advised the trainees, "It'll help in making sure you don't get pushed back.."

"Right," the girls all replied in unison. Then, when the wave hit, several youma died almost instantly - impaled upon the spears, only to be decapitated by the claymores. The girls' weapons then became a blur of motion stabbing and chopping their way through the waves of youma. Any who tried extending their claws only had them chopped off. In the center of the formation, Ava was butchering the youma like cattle,

"Alright, Naruto," Audrey called out, "you mind thinning the herd to make them more manageable?"

"Not at all," the blond replied.

He was gone in a yellow flash; the next thing that happened was pure chaos. Youma's began to fall enmass as Naruto flickered around the battlefield in several rapid yellow flashes, a rasengan in hand that was driven into the backs, heads or fronts of any youma that was unlucky enough to be in range. He never appearing in one place twice and made his reappearance unpredictable, let alone hard to track. It seemed like he was in many places at once!

"W-woah…" Charlotte whispered in amazement, carefully taking a moment to actually watch the carnage Naruto was wrecking on the youma. Unfortunately, her ogling was cut short as she evaded a cheeky youma and lopped his head off, but still… it was quite the spectacle.

Up on the hills flanking the horde, the Awakened Beings and ANBU followed suit in butchering the youma, bombarding them with ranged techniques and shuriken. Though they had to be careful in where they attacked since Naruto was right in the thick of youmas. The ANBU and Awakened Beings saw many of the remaining winged ones take to the sky, most likely to try and preform hit and run attacks.

The muscular male humanoid with thick, tube-like tentacles for hair that was Chronos wasn't having any of that, however. He hasn't had much of an opportunity to train using chakra in his awakened form, for obvious reasons.

But he has been testing out a few things.

This was a good time to see if it's good or not.

Chronos opened his mouth wide, looking as if he had almost dislocated his jaw and suddenly lightning began to crackle in the back of his throat. He took aim at one of the youmas and lobbed it out of his mouth. The lightning took on the shape of a large formless mass of blue coloured energy that had lightning crackling off it. When it struck the unlucky youma that was slow to not get out of its trajectory, the energy enveloped the youma, shocking him in place and frying his nerves and organs… before it shot out and latched onto several hundred youmas in rapid succession before they could even react and suffered the same fate.

They all died before hitting the ground.

Gwyn, who was now a black and brown, titan-sized minotaur with red glowing eyes and three horns, tended to be a little more practicable. He had his three-fingered hands enveloped with blue fire that seemed to never go out, as he was throwing sizable fireballs into the horde that was on the ground. Though he was aiming at the ones towards the back. They were incinerated the second the fireballs exploded.

Lars, meanwhile, was playing more of a support role, knocking any cheeky youma that tried scaling the hills back into the killzone where they belonged with a whip of water. The technique provided some frightening reach, as it allowed him to knock over youma on the other side of the narrow valley.

The trainees, meanwhile were holding their own quite nicely. The advice Naruto had given them to send chakra to their feet had helped out immensely in holding their ground, and the energy itself was surprisingly easy to channel into their attacks. It wasn't quite as potent, due to being less… thick, but it was much easier to control. The poor girls could do without Tanya's maniacal cackling, though, as their 'evil' comrade clearly enjoyed herself just a bit more than she frankly should have. At least she was focusing on the youma…

Naruto took a moment to stop and see how the hybrids were doing, and was legitimately impressed by how they were holding out, despite their lack of experience. Though the trainees were mostly just wounding them so they could be picked off by the actual warriors, they were almost shockingly effective. Naruto smiled brightly. Every now and then, Ava and Eva - bless those twins - would switch places and roles while everyone else carried on, butchering the youma in front of them into oblivion. All in all, it took only about 30 minutes to achieve such a feat.

Of course, Naruto was forced to 'flash' to another spot when a youma tried to take advantage of his brief distraction. He gave the youma at that spot - a female with long, straight, blonde hair - a rasengan to the stomach the second he reappeared. He vanished in another yellow flash and drove two rasengans into the front of another youma blasting him back when the spheres of chakra exploded. Then he vanished and reappeared above the head of another youma, and drove yet another rasengan right into the middle of his scalp turning his brain to mushy goo right then and there when the sphere grinded through skin, muscle and bone when gravity took hold.

Erica smiled at him both shyly and thankfully, that last one having nearly speared her leg when he killed it. He smiled back, drawing a deep blush from her. The blond couldn't help but chuckle at that.

Clearing his throat, Naruto surveyed the pile of bodies stacked so high the last waves of youma had started using it as a ramp. The slaughter was nothing if not morbidly impressive. "Good job, everyone," he praised. "That's one less threat to the people of this continent."

But to make sure they didn't miss any…

Naruto bent his knees and chakra leapt very high into the sky. The blond then formed many Kage Bunshin, who proceeded to make very, very large rasengan between them. This was a very similar to the attack he had used against Kurama all those years ago, back when the war was still kicking off. These ones were weaker, but still packed enough carve away an entire mountain when they exploded.

As gravity took hold and they started dropping to the ground, the ANBU, Awakened Beings, Hybrids and any youma who may have been playing possum all heard Naruto and his clones exclaim, "Chōōdama Rasen Tarengan!"

The ANBU knowing just how dangerous the original rasengan was thanks to the exploits of both Minato and Jiraiya, got the hell out of dodge. They made clones of various elements and started carrying the protesting trainees and warriors before the clones and the original Naruto managed to do what they wanted.

And when they all struck the mass of corpses rasengan first, it felt as if the earth itself was shaking! The pile of bodies vanished the second the massive rasengans collided with them, and soon after that the ground began to crack, and collapse in on itself shortly after. Then everything went up in a massive explosion of blue.

Naruto, the real one, landed a ways away from the blast, with the twelve tri-pronged kunai in hand. Of course, the blast would not have hurt the warriors and trainees; at worst, it would have knocked a few of them down, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The young women stared in amazement at the destruction left in Naruto's wake, several of them feeling an urge to… do something unmentionable to the strong, manly blond as he approached.

He exhaled, "I think that's enough excitement for one day, don't you? Let's head back to the village and tell the mayer the situation's been taken care of. After that, we can head to Dabi to rest up before continuing our little training trip."

"Wouldn't it be better to rest at the village?" Kuma pointed out.

"Would you rather stay in a fortified location - aka, Dabi - or a village that has little to no defenses apart from a small militia?" Naruto asked with a pointed look. "I'll leave my clones there to make sure everything's okay over there, though… just in case." Not to mention there was still that barrier-ninjutsu his clones had to take down. The blond quickly made a clone, who promptly dispelled himself to take care of that. The other six he left behind should be taking down the Six Burning Barrier Formation right about now.

The four ANBU nodded in understanding at that.

Then Naruto turned to the Awakened Beings, who were now in their human forms and still clothed. They must've stripped down before they transformed, pretty damn smart thinking.

"What about you three?" the blond asked.

"We set out to warn you of these youma," Chronos answered.

"We'll be heading back to Westvale Keep now," Gwyn added with a shrug. "Have a safe trip, Lord, Naruto," the man concluded with a respectful bow.

"You too," Naruto replied with a respectful nod. After that the awakened beings dashed off back to Westvale Keep and Naruto turned to the rest. "Alright, now let's get going!"

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