Naruto Shippuden - part 21

Naruto opened his eyes, feeling at moment of confused surprise that he seemed to be still alive. He was sure that his last memory was of passing out after yet another enemy came out of the woodwork just when he thought it was finally over.

The sensation of clawed fingers gently being run across his scalp and through his hair served to relax him. He noted that his head was laying comfortably on someone's lap. A glance to the side revealed a dusky skinned and very naked abdomen.

This was nice.

Apparently aware that he had awoken, his head was pushed upwards until he was more upright and a large glass of water was placed into his hands. Becoming aware of just how terribly thirsty he was, he gulped down the water without delay, the cool liquid soothing his parched throat.

Not at all interested in getting up, Naruto placed his head back in Xanna's lap, feeling far too mellow from the feel of her fingers to even consider a change of position.

"Maybe I did die and went to heaven?" The blond said, seemingly to himself.

"If you were in heaven, then your head wouldn't be in the lap of a demon." His lover refuted dryly.

"I don't think I would like heaven much in that case, it doesn't sound like my kind of place." Naruto said back with a small grin.

"You're speaking as if they would let you in there after the way I've corrupted you. No doubt the heavens tremble at the thought of you dying and bringing your perversions with you." Xanna countered, her tone even dryer than before.

"I preffer to think of it as you 'improving' rather than corrupting me." He answered with a relaxed smile. The gentle scalp massage was seriously mellowing him out.

The two lovers lapsed into silence for a little while longer, just enjoying the peace and each other's closeness.

"You scared me you know? Saying that you were dead like that." The demoness said softly, still running her clawed digits through his hair, with the other one resting on his chest.

"I'm sorry." He said with complete honesty, truly regretful about the worry he had caused her. "I never expected that whoever was behind this would resort to using Orochimaru or that they would sell me out to Akatsuki for that matter, though at least Itachi and Kisame are dead."

"Are you certain that Itachi and Kisame are both dead? Jiraiya found Kisame's body, but made no mention of Itachi." Xanna asked with a frown. Despite everyone attempting to talk about it in hushed tones while the healers worked on Naruto, she had easily overheard mention of him being attacked by Orochimaru. Though the fact that the snake Sannin's body hadn't been found while Kisame's had could only mean that more than just that had happened.

"Yeah, he's definitely dead. He was sick and dying long before the battle started and the strain killed him. That weird black and white guy with green hair and the venus flytrap around his head must have taken his body, probably for the Mangenkyo Sharingan." Naruto reasoned.

"Jiraiya made no mention of any such creature." Xanna stated.

"Must have sensed the old pervert coming and decided to cut his loses by just taking Itachi. Good thing too, because there was no way I could have fought him off in the condition I was." The blond said with some relief. Talk about a close shave.

"If this odd dual toned entity took Itachi's dead body over the 'Kyuubi Jinchuuriki', then that can only mean that Akatsuki considers the Mangenkyo more immediately important than your capture."

"Strange, I was under the impression that Obito was the one who was actually in charge of Akatsuki. The only thing that I can think of that they would need the Mangenkyo for that desperately was their crazy plan to enslave the world in an eternal illusion."

"Another must have taken over leadership and is continuing the plan."

"Meddling assholes." Naruto muttered to himself. "They'll never win, not to mention that they must be running out of members."

Saying that, the blond put his hand over the one she had on his chest, noting that he still had claws. Those shouldn't be there, since he had distinctly felt himself dropping out of Sage Mode. Frowning he focused inwards, to his surprise finding that the large amount of natural energy in his seal was gone. His frown deepened, because he still felt sort of as if he was in Sage Mode. His claws were still there, his sense of smell was still as powerful as before and he was almost certain that the slitted gold-orange eyes and facial markings would also be there if he looked. He noted that he didn't have even the limited sensing ability of his personal Sage Mode though, nor did he feel as physically strong. All very odd.

"Xanna has anything...strange been going on with me while I've been unconscious and how long was I out anyway?" Naruto asked.

"It's been almost a week." She informed him, making the blond's eyes widen in shock. For him to be down for even a few hours(excluding sleep) was almost unheard of.

"That long?" He asked in a shocked whisper.

"I feared you would not awaken." She answered him with only a slight tremor in her voice. Despite her attempts to hide it, he could feel the fear, worry and relief radiating from her when she spoke.

"That bad huh?"

"Your chakra network was barely holding together and your chakra itself was almost completely depleted. Additionally, your body was running a high fever due to how badly you strained it by constantly healing at that level. A strong breeze could have killed you."

Naruto rubbed his hand over his face, relieved that he was even still alive. That had been far too close for comfort.

"You didn't answer my other question though." He pointed out.

Xanna sighed and began explaining what had happened. She had no doubt that he had already sensed something or otherwise he would not have known to ask. "Everything seemed as if you would die. The healers in the hospital couldn't do anything for you because of the damage to your chakra network, so I brought you here where I could watch over you. I could do nothing but watch as your body slowly failed. You could not replenish your chakra because of the damage to your coils, you were too weak to fight off whatever was causing your fever and I could do nothing to help you."

Naruto gave his lover's hand a squeeze at hearing the frustration in her voice. It must have been maddening, being forced to just watch helplessly as he slowly deteriorated. He felt bad that his condition had caused her so much distress, but he knew that she wouldn't want him apologising for the actions of others.

"Two days ago though, something changed. Your Sage Mode seemed to just activate all by itself. I had no idea what was happening, but you started improving after that, your coils began repairing themselves and the fever died down. Your chakra began to replenish itself and you pulled through, though I can sense something different in you now. Your life force is stronger and more resilient in a way that I haven't encountered before."

Naruto frowned and considered what could have happened. It seemed fairly obvious that he had somehow absorbed the natural energy inside of him and used it to heal himself instead of just adapting it to himself. He had a suspicion that this was the real reason that Fukasaku had been so angry over what he'd done, or at least part of the reason, though he still didn't understand why that made him so angry.

He shelved that thought for later, he'd need to do some experimenting to figure out if that was what had really happened and what that meant for the future. "So you've been taking care of me all this time all by yourself?"

"Indeed." The demoness said with a sardonic tone. "Do you have any idea how much of a mess of yourself you made in the past week?"

"Ummm...no?" He said/asked in confusion. He had been unconscious, how much of a mess could he have possibly made?

"I never even imagined that you humans are still capable of that much bowel movement after falling unconscious. I had to spend the first few days playing nursemaid and cleaning up after you every time you soiled yourself." She said with a tone as dry as the deserts in wind country.

Naruto felt the heat creeping up his face at hearing that. There was practically nothing that could embarrass him, but hearing that the proud demoness had needed to do something like that made him distinctly uncomfortable. Despite his embarrassment though, he was still going to banter with her instead of apologising for it. It wasn't as if there was much he could have done about it after all.

"I think I'd like to see you dressed as a sexy nurse one day."

"Hmmm, maybe you will." She answered noncommittally.

"Are you sure you're a demon? Because you honestly seem more like an angel to me."

She yanked on his hair, making him yelp slightly at the minor pain. It wasn't like it hurt all that bad, but he hadn't been expecting it.

"Your flattery is still as corny as ever beloved, but I am most certainly not an angel and I expect you to repay me for services rendered." Xanna said with her face stretching into a smirk.

"I would be more than happy to repay you in any way you want." He answered with a smile, eyes closed again and enjoying the fact that she was once more running her fingers through his hair.

She shifted and his head was lowered to the bed, causing him to open his eyes. All he could see were her sexy thighs, firm backside and glistening nether lips, causing his nostrils to flare as he inhaled the enticing smell.

"Oh, I'm sure I could think of something." The redhead said conversationally even as she lowered herself over his face, her hand reaching out to grasp his already rock hard member.

Naruto couldn't answer at the moment, but the growl that rumbled out of his throat and sent pleasant vibrations through her core was more than enough of an answer. When he felt her mouth closing over his shaft, he groaned into her again.

There was no way that he was going to last very long with the taste of her on his tongue and her mouth applying that kind of incredible suction, but that was alright, because they could just do it again right after.

Best woman ever! He thought to himself gleefully, unknowingly causing Xanna to smile around his member.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Regrettably, the fact that Naruto hadn't eaten anything in nearly a week soon cut their fun short.

For the life of him, Naruto couldn't figure out why Xanna's lips twitched into a smile every so often while he ate.

Xanna was just wondering how long it would take him to notice. Usually he would have already, but he seemed preoccupied, not to mention that the majority of his focus was on sating his ravenous hunger.

After he finished eating, he went to the bathroom, once again ignoring the poorly hidden amusement on his lover's face. When he exited the bathroom and moved past a window, he suddenly stopped and took a step back to stare outside for a few seconds, blinking owlishly and wondering how he had not noticed this before.

"Xanna dearest?" He called out in a perfectly normal tone of voice.

"Yes beloved?" She answered, not bothering to hide her amusement.

"Why is the emergency Four Red Yang Formation Fuinjutsu array I placed around the building in a fit of paranoia active?"

"Because I activated it."

"Why did you activate it?"

"Because I needed to."

"Why did you need to?"

"Because there was a lynch mob made up of many Konoha shinobi coming with the intent of burning down the building, with us inside it of course."

Naruto stared at his lover, unable to figure out just what the hell had had been going on while he'd been unconscious.

"I think you need to start at the beginning and explain the current situation to me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So let me get this straight...somehow, someone learned that you were the Kyuubi and the information got out."

Xanna hummed in agreement.

"Only, instead of a controlled release of information, it went around in the form of a rumor and caused widespread panic, inevitably causing the sheep to do something stupid and decide that they needed to set the building on fire to prevent you from 'regaining your power'." Naruto said, making air quotes at the last part.

"Yes, it appears that the village is somehow under the impression that I've lost most of my power, which you are helping me regain and that we are plotting to destroy them all in retaliation for my sealing, therefore leading them to think that it would be best to kill us before we can complete our 'evil plans'." Xanna confirmed, also making air quotes. "The barrier has been driving them mad with anger and worry from what I could see and sense by the way."

She could have either wiped out the village or fled with her lover in tow, but had decided against it. For one thing, she didn't know if anyone else knew how to use the Reaper Death Seal and she wasn't willing to risk it. For another, Naruto had people that he cared about in Konoha, few though they were. Lastly, escaping would be much simpler through the use of Naruto's Hiraishin, the idiots in the village would never even notice they were gone.

Additionally, she really wanted to see what Naruto would make of it all. It promised to be interesting.

Naruto facepalmed while he thought about the situation they were currently in. It was, in a word...ridiculous.

He'd always known that if Xanna's true nature came out, people would freak out and drop about a hundred IQ points, but this was way beyond his expectations. Most of the village had clearly gone deep into the negative as far as IQ points were concerned, no doubt because of the fact that they were using a rumor as a source of information.

The village was currently in a state of martial law, which Tsunade had instated after things had gotten out of hand. The whole thing must have happened too fast for the busty Hokage to control, because Naruto was quite sure that Tsunade would never have condoned that kind of behavior, especially not based on a rumor. There was now a constant, visible ANBU presence in the village to enforce a curfew and prevent any large groups from forming. It was a temporary solution at best, as Tsunade could only keep it up for so long before the tension boiled over.

Naruto suddenly realised that his stalking about in Sage Mode and menacing the population(which he had admittedly sometimes done just for shits and giggles) had probably not improved the situation. To the ignorant masses, his Sage Mode would no doubt look demonic and make them think that the aforementioned 'evil plans' were nearing completion. Talk about bad timing.

Looking at it from the perspective of someone who knew everything about the situation, it was basically just a misunderstanding on a truly massive scale, stretching all the way back to his birth. Not that Naruto had any particular hope of resolving this by talking about it and explaining things, he didn't have that much faith in the intelligence and reasoning skills of Konoha's people.

He was going to need to leave, there were simply no if's and's or but's about it. While he was sure that Tsunade and most of the people that actually ran the village could be convinced that they weren't in any danger, that wouldn't be enough in this case. If he tried to stay after this, Tsunade would have a rebellion on her hands and there was simply no way that could end well. She wasn't a ruthless tyrant that could make examples of people with a few brutal public executions to enforce obedience and talking definitely wasn't going to work. And that wasn't even taking into account how annoying it would be for him personally. He just knew that when the village idiots(Konoha had a disturbingly large percentage of them) got comfortable again, they would start with the insults and Naruto knew himself well enough to know that he would fly off the handle if they started targeting Xanna with that shit, even though she didn't need his protection.

Then there was the inevitable attempts by Danzo to take control of the situation. The paranoid old man wouldn't be able to help himself and that could only end in blood...not that the mummy wasn't on Naruto's shit list already for that idiotic kidnapping attempt.

Yeah...there was just no way that he would be able to stay in Konoha.

If he stayed then he would be causing nothing but trouble for his chesty friend and it wasn't as if he had never considered the possibility of becoming a missing-nin, he had just hoped it wouldn't be quite so soon.

He had wanted to be there for Ayame when she gave birth.

He had wanted to continue teaching Tenten Fuinjutsu, she was an eager student and it was always amusing to tease her.

He had finished breaking down the Caged Bird Seal a short time ago and had been intending to tell Hinata and Neji about it soon.

He didn't have any particular plans for Sakura, but she had come far since her fangirl days and he knew how much their team meant to her. She probably wasn't taking this situation too well.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Having put aside his troubled thoughts for the moment, Naruto focused on meditating and drawing in some natural energy to see if he could duplicate his absorption stunt.

Konoha and it's surrounding area was nowhere close to being as abundant with the stuff as Myobokuzan had been, but there was some. The large forest that extended in all directions provided quite a bit, though it felt a bit off.

He attributed this to the fact that the Shodai Hokage was said to have created the forest with his Mokuton. It was a real forest by any definition of the word, but it hadn't been created naturally. Most of the trees were creations of chakra and therefore not exactly regular trees. The decades since their creation had made certain that they were fully integrated with the environment, but for a sage the difference was noticeable.

Still that was unimportant as Naruto drew in the natural energy and once more placed it into the Reaper Death Seal. He didn't take in anywhere close to the amount that he had taken from Myobokuzan, instead taking only enough to see if he could figure out what had happened while he was unconscious.

This time, the process of adapting the natural energy was much simpler and faster. For one thing, he didn't have to do it to anywhere close to the same amount. Another thing was that the natural energy around Konoha didn't carry the same toad imprint as the one in Myobokuzan did.

Lastly and most intriguing, it seemed that with his own life force being stronger, he could exert a greater pressure on the natural energy, making imbuing it with his own signature imprint easier.

Now that he once more had some natural energy captive in the seal, he tried to duplicate what his body had done automatically to save his life and fully absorb it. Since he had no idea what he was doing, his success was non-existent at first. Melding it with his own chakra was second nature at this point, but absorbing it was a whole other kettle of fish.

After about an hour of trying to figure it out, he finally managed it. As long as the natural energy kept circulating through his coils, it couldn't get absorbed, but if he stilled it, then it could be made part of his body. Remarkably enough, it appeared to use the Eight Gates to do so, which made sense once he thought about it. The gates were the primary connections between the body and chakra network after all, that's why they were called 'gates'. Something like this would have been impossible unless it was adapted to him, as it would have been incompatible otherwise. It would have resisted the absorption instead of going along with it.

He was willing to bet that even the toads couldn't do this, despite Myobokuzan having toad imprinted natural energy. It had to be perfectly suited to the individual for something like this to happen. Though it did explain why the toad elders were so freaking old. Constantly using Senjutsu on Myobokuzan would have extended their life far beyond the norm even if they couldn't truly absorb it.

It was pretty much the same thing as what would have happened to him with his personal Senjutsu style. His aging would have been slowed down massively, but not stopped. By truly absorbing the natural energy and adding it to his own life force though... He could supplement his own life span and delay aging for as long as there was natural energy to be had.

It wasn't true immortality, he could still die(though it would probably require decapitation to put him down for good, considering his healing ability, but it could be done), he just wouldn't get old.

His eyes would never be blue again, he would always have the black facial markings and his hands would always be clawed, the absorbtion having permanently mutated his body, but Naruto felt that it was a negligible price to pay. It would perhaps make it somewhat difficult to talk to people looking that intimidating all the time, but his teeth had made that a problem even before now anyway. Besides, that was what the Transformation Technique was good for.

Considering that both he and Xanna happened to like the mutation, he wasn't all that broken up over the slight inconvenience it would cause if he didn't want to be intimidating. It wasn't the same as being in Sage Mode, since he didn't have the same level of strength or the limited sensing, but he could get that easily by going into Sage Mode.

"Your life force has strengthened again." Xanna noted, seeing that he had come out of his meditative trance. Despite her neutral tone, the demoness was sure that Naruto could feel the hope and happiness welling up in her. The stronger the life force, the longer the life span, this was the ironclad rule that determined longevity for all mortal species. If Naruto had discovered a way to bolster his own life force, then he had also increased his life span. It was her greatest hope that this was something that would allow her to keep him forever.

Deep inside, hidden where Naruto couldn't feel it, she also felt a bit guilty. Despite what most people seemed to think, immortality was a more of a curse than a blessing. Humans especially were never meant to live beyond their time. Their spirits tired with the passing of years and they became weary of the world. Many could barely tolerate living even the full extent of their mortal life spans. Often it was only fear of the unknown that kept them clinging to life.

Even she, who had never been mortal, had tired of her endless existence. Boredom was the worst enemy of any immortal, no matter how inane it sounded.

In the beginning, she had been too proud to even consider interacting with the weak humans around her, but her pride had eventually been worn down by the sheer mind numbing boredom of being the only Bijuu with sentience. For that reason she had spent decades learning how to create a human body with her chakra, just so that she would be able to interact with someone even if they were just pitiful mortals that she had always felt were beneath her. It had actually required forcing her chakra into a human woman whose appearance she had taken a liking to so that she got a feel for a human body and then remaking it, after that it had simply been a matter of tweaking the appearance until she was satisfied. It would have been a terribly painful way to die if the woman had been conscious.

Of course, at first she hadn't settled for anything short of ruling over the humans, but that too had quickly lost it's attraction. By setting herself up as a ruler over the human masses, she had been nearly as isolated as if she had done it as a giant nine tailed fox instead of as a beautiful redhead.

There had been times when she had cursed at the Sage of Six Paths, the closest thing she had to a father, for screwing up so badly. The man had lived his whole life with mostly good intentions, but there were times that his own power had made him arrogantly certain that he was doing the right thing. The Elemental Nations had been at peace during his life, but that was only because people were in too much awe and fear of the man to start any wars, especially since they knew of his stance on them.

The old man had just assumed that the Bijuu would be able to act as sources of guidance and wisdom for humanity, but he had blundered in their creation and in his estimation of humanity in general and his sons in particular.

The only reason she had even bothered checking up on the Uchiha was because she'd been bored and it had been something to do. She didn't regret it even though it had led to her sealing however. Naruto had turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to her and she didn't want to let it go.

For this reason, she wanted him to become immortal and stay with her forever. If they were together, then immortality could be made enjoyable instead of onerous.

Aside from that, if what she suspected about Naruto was true, then he wouldn't be stopped in his pursuit of immortality even if she tried to tell him that it was a bad idea.

"I think I've just discovered a way to keep myself young forever." Naruto said with an exultant grin. He was almost there, only the final piece of the puzzle remained...finding out how to regenerate even if his body was completely destroyed. He wasn't going to risk some idiot blowing his head off and taking him away from Xanna, so he couldn't be satisfied with just the ability to extend his life indefinitely.

Instead of answering, the demoness straddled his lap and gave him a lengthy kiss, which he was more than happy to return.

"Will you marry me now?" He asked once they broke apart.

Xanna couldn't help breaking into a genuine smile, instead of the amused smirks or grins he so often evoked from her. This smile showed nothing but honest happiness.

"You are so persistent that I might as well. You seem to be breaking down any obstacles in your way as it is." She said, the smile still on her face.

"So does that mean...?" He asked just to be sure. After all these years it was hard to believe that she finally seemed to be accepting.

"Yes Naruto, I will marry you." She confirmed for him and immediately found herself hugged with such strength that a mortal woman would have been broken in half. The intense happiness radiating from him made it clear that he was simply too overjoyed to think of restraint at the moment.

When he started trembling with the force of his own emotion and she felt a few tears dropping onto her breasts(which was where he had buried his head), she became all the more certain that her suspicions about Naruto were correct.

Instead of saying anything she simply placed her arms around his head, holding it closer and reached around him with her tails, enveloping him in a cocoon of red-orange fur and waited for him to compose himself.

They still needed to do something about the situation in Konoha, but that wasn't going to go anywhere. The barrier protecting them was virtually impenetrable, so they had plenty of time. Simply teleporting out would have been the easiest thing to do, but she knew that Naruto still had some unfinished business in the village.

She did too as a matter of fact. She had some unfinished business with several old people who thought that they could try to get her Naruto killed without consequences.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tsunade was sitting at her desk, holding her head in her hands and trying to stave off a migraine. The very same migraine that had steadily been getting worse for the past week in fact.

When Asuma and his team had reported encountering Orochimaru, along with the fact that someone in the village had clearly informed her traitorous teammate of Naruto's location, she had been both furious and worried. The fact that they had also reported that the snake apparently had full use of Senjutsu hadn't helped.

Jiraiya had immediately ran off to back Naruto up as fast as he was able to go, just as worried as her. Orochimaru had been dangerous enough without Senjutsu, so hearing that he had apparently mastered it fully hadn't been a comforting thought.

When Jiraiya had returned with Naruto, she had been relieved, though the relief had been short lived once she saw the condition he was in. She had been in disbelief that he was even alive considering the ruined state of his clothes and chakra network. Clearly he had completely exhausted himself from healing that kind of damage to his body.

Team Asuma had been waiting in the hospital for Naruto's recovery, knowing that he was the only reason they were even alive. The debt they felt they owed him was only made heavier by the fact that Asuma already owed his life to Naruto's seals.

Xanna had also been there and she had clearly been agitated. She had spent all her time glaring poisonously at the medic-nin trying to save her lover and occasionally tapping her claws against her arm threateningly. The fact that there had been a wall between them didn't seem to bother her in the slightest, nor did it reduce the menace radiating from her. After several hours of the medic-nin uselessly trying to do something for him and being unable to due to his badly damaged chakra network, she simply lost her patience and carried Naruto home.

The other healers had protested and probably come dangerously close to provoking the redhead into violence. Tsunade herself hadn't protested and just allowed the woman to carry her lover home, there wasn't anything more that they had been able to do for him anyway. They could only hope that he would somehow pull through.

Tsunade had been planning to tell Xanna about what had happened despite her not being a shinobi, but got the distinct impression that she had already picked the truth apart from listening to the hushed conversations in the waiting room.

That was a whole other mess that she didn't have the patience to deal with. An interrogation of the elders revealed that they hadn't known anything about a plot to get Naruto killed, but it did turn up the fact that Danzo had been the one to subtly suggest this stupid observation idea in the first place. Despite their seeming innocence, she still had the two fossils under house arrest for the time being.

She had sent ANBU to apprehend Danzo, but the old warmonger had gone to ground and hidden somewhere. Tsunade was fairly sure that he was still in the village, but didn't know where exactly.

She had been in the middle of organising a search for the man when suddenly the knowledge of Xanna being the Kyuubi had exploded through the village. The panic that this event had caused was unreal and there had been a lynch mob heading for Naruto's home before she had been able to get a proper handle on things.

The unbreakable barrier that had sprung around the building hadn't settled any nerves, nor had the sight of Xanna looking disdainfully down on the village from the roof with her tails on full display.

There had been so many different rumors going about that nobody was able to discern what the truth was, but as was inevitable when large groups of people were panicking, they decided that the worst possible one must be the truth.

There had been plenty of variations of the rumors going around, but pretty much all of them painted the picture of the Kyuubi intending to destroy the village with Naruto's willing or unwilling help. The fact that the terrible demon that they were so afraid off had apparently been free for a long while and hadn't destroyed anything yet was explained away with the excuse that she had been weakened by the sealing and was working to regain her power.

That had been another reason why the lynch mob had been in such a hurry to burn down the building, because they had freaked out at the thought that the aforementioned regaining of power was almost done.

Tsunade, Jiraiya along with several more level headed people who had met Xanna before hadn't really bought into that. Though it was now pretty undeniable that the redhead was indeed the Kyuubi, she didn't seem interested in wiping out the village. In fact both Naruto and Xanna appeared more interested in each other than anything going on around them.

Tsunade was certain that the devotion to the redhead that Naruto had shown was real and Xanna had likewise been genuinely concerned for him when he had been injured. Knowing this, she tentatively concluded that there was no real danger of Konoha being wiped out.

Though she was definitely worried about what the two of them were going to do in response to all the shit that was going on lately. Naruto had never been particularly forgiving about things like this and she didn't expect that he was just going to passively ignore it.

Either way something about this situation had to give soon. The ANBU and a large portion of the regular shinobi force was still listening to her, but there had been a great deal of dissatisfied muttering. Trying to calm people down by telling them that they weren't in any danger of being attacked by a rampaging demon of myth had been entirely useless, quite possibly due to the fact that Xanna had openly shown her true nature. There was also the fact that the intelligence of a group was inversely proportional to its size...at least when you were dealing with scared and near panicky people.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once more composed, Naruto was holding onto Xanna as they cuddled on the couch, a big smile refusing to leave his face.

It was starting to get dark outside and both of them knew that they would have to leave the village soon. The problem was that neither one of them wanted to leave the situation as it was. Leaving without retaliating for the attempt on Naruto's life rubbed both of them the wrong way and they had no intention of doing so.

Besides, they didn't feel that they had anything much to fear aside from the possibility of someone knowing the Reaper Death Seal. Naruto was fairly sure that of all the shinobi in Konoha, only Jiraiya would have the skill needed to use that seal.

"I have an idea." Xanna said suddenly, having been thinking over the situation for quite a while longer than her lover, who had been busy doing an internal happy dance over her agreement to marry him.

"What kind of idea?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Seal me back inside of yourself, but place no restrictions on me. That way, we could share your body and watch out for each other and there would be no danger of us getting separated somehow." She suggested. She was well aware that all of Konoha combined couldn't match her in raw destructive power, but that wasn't what was needed here. If she blew everything up, then she'd also be killing those few people that Naruto cared about and she didn't want to hurt him like that. They were only targeting a select few people.

Her power was too restricted in human form and her fox form was unsuitable due to its size. Sharing Naruto's body would eliminate both of those problems.

Naruto held her even tighter, knowing that for her to ask such a thing was a sign of complete trust. She didn't know much about Fuinjutsu, so he could have done anything and she wouldn't be able to tell the difference until it was too late.

"If you wanted my body, all you needed to do was ask." He teased.

"I do want it and I'll be taking it later. I have a special place in mind that I want to show you once we are out of this village." She answered suggestively.

"Now that sounds like an offer I can't refuse."

An hour later, Naruto had finished making the necessary alterations to the Reaper Death Seal that would allow Xanna complete freedom over his body. Whoever had the stronger will would take control of the body if they fought for it, but their intention was to share it between them.

The blond was happy with this arrangement, as it would allow him to protect her from any attempts to seal her and she would be with him the whole time. He would release her as soon as they were out of the village of course, but for the moment it was the most sensible option. He was eager to feel the heat of her powerful chakra inside him again, which was what he missed the most about being her Jinchuuriki.

Storing natural energy into the seal would be out of the question as long as she was in there, but that was a minor issue considering that their combined power would be far greater than what Sage Mode would give anyway. Destruction oriented and less versatile perhaps, but more powerful. He could probably still access Sage Mode by drawing it from the environment anyway, it would just be less convenient.

The sealing was somewhat unusual, as it progressed rather slowly in comparison to a normal Bijuu sealing. Xanna simply sat in his lap and didn't resist the gentle pull of her chakra into the seal. His coils were far more robust than they had been when he had freed her years ago, so the process was quite quick and did only minimal damage, with even that healing quickly.

Once it was done, Naruto stood up, but his eyes glowed a deep crimson instead of their now normal gold-orange.

"Oh my, I didn't expect that having a body of true flesh would feel so good, or it is perhaps due to it having such a powerful life force? Maybe I should keep it?" Xanna asked herself musingly, running her hands over the body she was now controlling. The very female sounding voice coming from the throat of the huge male body making for an odd dichtonomy.

It would certainly put a new spin on being married. Naruto's voice echoed dryly in her mind, not at all concerned over the fact that he was now an observer to the actions of his own body. Though feeling as she groped their shared body curiously was somewhat disconcerting.

"I wonder how it would feel if I used this body to have some fun with a few of the women around the village before we left?" The demoness continued with her monologue, deliberately ignoring her lover as she rubbed one hand over 'her' crotch.

Oi! You can play with it later if you want, right now we have things to do. Naruto protested and exerted a slight mental pressure to let her know that he wanted to take control.

He did not want to see if she was going to get curious about how masturbation felt from a male perspective.

With a delighted laugh echoing through their connected minds, the demoness released control and retreated within. As soon as Naruto was back at the helm, his eyes changed to their gold-orange hue, indicating that the flow of demonic chakra was no longer prevalent.

"Now it's time to tie up some loose ends and leave this place." He muttered to himself, feeling approval emanating from his soon to be wife.