78: Moving Forward by Standing Still: Part V (2)

The Hyuuga stood and approached the young woman before smiling kindly at her as she said, "It is because I have accepted the truth of this world. This world is rotten and it is only through our Holy Mother's return that it can be fixed. Sadly, my daughter is positioning herself to be a force working against us so must be dealt with. I can only do this knowing I will be reunited with both my children in the paradise we seek to create."

"Really," Jade replied sounding somewhat skeptical, "Do you think she would just accept you in paradise after you allow her to be murdered?"

"I imagine so, once she gets to experience it first hand," Hanami said tilting the young woman's face towards hers. She then sealed her lips to Jade's who resisted only for a moment before accepting her affection. Hanami caused her to moan as she teased her nipples before separating causing Jade to moan in frustration. Having experienced similarly herself she knew what she was going through so said, "I know it is hard, but believe me it will all be worthwhile when the belt finally comes off. But, enough about such unpleasant matters. Tell me, do you think our Mother's Vessel is here?"

Jade nodded as she fought against trying to force her hand past the device so she could get some relief. "It is," she reported as she focused on the task that brought them out to the fly infested place. "Or at least a place beneath the water exists which would make an ideal place to hide it." Nodding her head in the direction of the lake by which the hut resided she said, "Those with talents in Earth Jutsu confirm there is a cavern deeply below us. Sadly, it is at a depth where we cannot access it from the water, although that may be a plus."

"Explain" Hanami said with a note of curiosity.

Jade was glad for the distraction from her growing lust so leapt at the chance to do exactly that. "If those that took the vessel can access the cave entrance beneath the water then they also likely left an abundance of traps to those who seek to enter the same way."

"True, but then they may also have created a means to prevent us from digging our way in," Hanami replied. "They at the very least have been able to block my Byakugan and in a way that doesn't stand out like a privacy barrier."

Jade inclined her head at the point but countered, "That is likely due to their being able to mirage the cavern which with all the earth you would need to look through is easier than you think. Later it might prove beneficial for you and our Earth Elemental types to work together. If you know exactly where you need to concentrate your gaze, then it will likely allow you to pierce the veil they've shrouded it with."

Hanami sighed since it looked like they would be spending far more time there. Focusing on Jade, she asked, "So it looks like we'll need to dig down to this cavern. Could they not have placed a barrier to prevent us from just digging our way in?"

"They might have some which we may trigger if we aren't careful," Jade informed the Hyuuga. "But, if they were active then your vision would have no trouble spotting them. They are relying on the remoteness of the area and the difficulty in reaching it to protect the vessel. But, a digging operation might attract the wrong kind of attention precisely because of how remote we are. Any unusual activity will likely make them aware we believe that we have found the location."

Hanami nodded while thinking for a moment before loudly announcing, "Ladies, it is time."

Jade looked confused for a moment before the man who had allowed them to stay there stopped moaning to ask in confusion as well, "What is she talking abo... urk" Hanami easily pictured what happened as one of the Acolytes grabbed the man by the back of his head while he was still buried inside one of them and then ran a knife across his throat. She doubted he had much time to even wonder what had happened before his spirit was received by their Holy Mother.

Jade quickly realized what had happened as well so looked at her in shock causing her to explain, "Do not be troubled by his death. He got to enjoy a period of indulgence few but our most ardent believers get to. A period that is now extended indefinitely as his spirit is received by our great benefactor."

"But..."

"You said it yourself Jade," Hanami interrupted, hoping to get the woman to understand their actions in this world didn't matter so long as the Moon Goddess was restored, "Any strange activity could possibly attract our unseen adversary's attention. We'll use this hut as a blind while we dig our way down to our Holy Mother's Vessel. But, we couldn't hold him here indefinitely and as it was his loose lips which led you to him. I couldn't trust that he wouldn't inform others of our interests through his bragging. I know it is harsh, but it is the sad truth of this world. However, if we can get our hands on our Holy Mother's Vessel then it may save me from having to make an equally harsh choice in regards to my daughter."

Jade did seem somewhat mollified by her explanation, especially as it seemed to be rooted in a desire to not force her to act in a similarly coldblooded manner against her daughter. Both their gazes turned towards the master bedroom as the other women emerged with several covered in blood. Hanami ignored the gruesome sight as she dispassionately said, "Clean yourselves up and then dispose of the body. Then tonight head back to the temple and inform the High Priestess to send our most talented earth users here." The women nodded as they moved to enter the modest bathroom to clean themselves. She focused on Jade and favoring her with a soft smile added, "I know it is still hard for you my dear. But please do not be troubled, it will all be proven to be for the greater good when our Mother's light returns to the world." She pulled her close and slid her hand over Jade's hip before reaching around slid a finger inside her still exposed anus. Jade stiffened and let out a moan since she had only been allowed to experience pleasure from her rear passage since the belt had been placed on her. "Now let us retire so I can show you my appreciation for your efforts in helping to make it happen."

Jade nodded and allowed herself to be guided away to the guest room that she shared with the Hyuuga. They passed by the open door of the main bedroom where she saw the nude man hunched forward with his blood dripping from the stained red sheets onto the floor. Yet, strangely didn't find the sight as unsettling as she would have expected since she now understood it was a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. She said a quick prayer which Hanami had taught her as she wished his soul the contentment they would in time bring to the world.

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Shiho yawned as she made her way to the Cryptanalyst Department due to the early morning hour. Although in the past she would have easily felt at home in the building, there was still a sense of uneasy as she made her way to the large office area where she worked. She attributed to how new everything still appeared as a result of the repairs that were needed in the wake of Furofuki's attack on the village.

She still felt some shame as a result of the attack, since Naruto had needed to rescue her, which she attributed to his not being able to save Tsunade. Yet, she knew it was a feeling that she was heaping upon herself since none of her fellow Family members had ever given her the sense that was the case. Still, she had used it as a motivational tool as she had approached Konan to teach her in the hopes the woman could help her grow stronger. The Blue Haired Daimyo had gladly agreed and so much of her free time was dedicated to training.

Sadly, she didn't have as much as she hoped to dedicate to her desire to grow stronger. There were a couple reasons for this, the first of which was her frustrating inability to decode the rubbing Nel had made from the Tablet of Hyuuga before it had been destroyed. She attributed some of the difficulty to being her not having a clear idea of when or where the tablet had been made. This was due to the tablet having been destroyed to such an extent she couldn't carbon date it to determine a time period. Since most of the Clans had been nomadic before the founding of the Shinobi Villages this meant that without a clear idea of when the tablet had been created she wouldn't even know what languages to look at. She had after all recognized some of the characteristics right off that back since she had assumed the name of the tablet had been referencing a person more than the Clan. She had recalled the discussion of how the Uchiha had previously been known as Indra Clan until it had nearly been wiped out due to the tyrannical actions of the First Uchiha. As a result, she had believed the tablet may detail something about the man who had been the cause or savior of the Hamura Clan which had caused them to adopt his given name as their Clan's. Yet, despite her best efforts using the languages that were dominate at the locations where the Clan had been based during the time period, all she had been left with was indecipherable gibberish.

It was a disheartening setback, especially since she was proving to be a failure at the reason Naruto had sought her out in the first place. Yet, the other reason that she didn't have as much time as she wanted for training, and more romantic pursuits was even more disheartening for her. It was also the reason that she was heading in so early, despite also having stayed late as she tried a less known dialect in her effort to decode the tablet. That being she was trying to cover for Yurika as the woman hadn't recovered from the ordeal Furofuki had subjected her too.

That wasn't to say Yurika wasn't acting as if she was fine. But, Shiho felt that there was something off about her. It wasn't exactly apparent since on the outside she appeared to be much as she always had, which was rather exuberant and easy to get along with. Yet, now it seemed to be taken to a new extreme as she almost always wanted to seek out a good time. It had seemed harmless at first, but as time progressed it became apparent that her pursuit of an active night life was affecting her performance in the department. She often came in late, and at times smelling almost as if she was just leaving a bar or more than likely the home of some random man or woman that she had met the night before.

All in all, while Yurika had been something of a partier even before Furofuki attacked her, it seemed as if she was taking it to the extreme. Shiho had talked to Taji about what she had endured to get a better understanding of what her friend was going through. But, the Anbu medic hadn't been able to provide much in the way of details as her memories of the attack itself were still hazy. Yet, she had explained that both in herself and in other women that had been attacked, they had what was termed hypersexuality at least for a period of time.

Naturally, Taji hadn't experienced it fully as a result of her entering the Family. But, many of Furofuki's other victims had to one degree or another. She had theorized that although the memories of the attack were hard to discern or remember, their bodies still recalled the incredible sexual highs they had experienced, and were hoping for repeat performances.

Taji had tried to put her at ease stating that it would likely fade in time, but still Shiho wasn't quite so sure. She had considered recommending that they induct Yurika in the family, but what stopped her was that she wasn't entirely sure she could trust her friend with the secret of her love life at the moment. This was primarily because she felt as if Yurika was acting rather like a drug addict, with sex now being her drug of choice. So while including her in the Family might get her what she needed in the short term, she was convinced that she needed to be weaned off of it first. She had tried to convince her friend to take it easy for a while only to be politely, but firmly told not to worry. Yet that made Shiho worry all the more since like with many addicts, she felt that when Yurika realized how badly she was being controlled by her addiction it would have already destroyed her life.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed that despite the early hour she wasn't the first to arrive. Shiho felt some hope that Yurika having checked out early despite being given an assignment that she had been told needed to be completed, was now prompting her early arrival, and had just gone home to make an early start of it.

Yet, that hoped was dashed as she stepped into the office to find Department Head Mitoku sitting at his desk. He focused on her giving a somewhat smug look as he said, "I figured I would be seeing you early this morning."

Shiho tried not to look guilty, and wasn't exactly sure if she succeeded or not. But, tried to plead ignorant of what he meant, "What do you mean? I often stay late or come in early."

"You're being rather defensive for it to be just one of those times, no?" He didn't wait for an answer as he continued, "It couldn't be that despite my giving Yurika the assignment to decode the documents we received from the Leaf Maximum Security Prison yesterday, and asked her not to leave until they were done. She decided to ignore my directive."

Despite her intention having been to do them for Yurika, she said, "I'm here to work on a project that I've been spending my free time on."

Mitoku frowned as Shiho made her way to her desk, but made it clear that he knew she was absorbing some of Yurika's workload as he stated, "A word to the wise, if you're going to try and fooll someone it would do you good to put more effort into trying to mimic them. Lately I've been receiving two types of complete assignments from Yurika, perfectly proofread and detailed ones, or error filled barely coherent messes. I'd advise you to let her fail or succeed under her own merits. Or else your work could begin to suffer."

"Yes sir," she replied before sitting down.

With his piece said, Mitoku went back to reading the report he had been reading before she arrived. Shiho, was still rather surprised by his early arrival considering he rarely ever put in extra effort, and not wanting to work on her tablet translation in front of him began working on the day's assignments. At one point she got up and sent a sidelong glance at Yurika's desk expecting to see the packet of documents from the Leaf Maximum Security Prison that needed to be decoded, and that she had intended to work on. Yet, to her surprise she found it sitting in Yurika's outbox. While looking through a book about Iwa's past ciphers, she frowned since she knew it had been sitting in the middle of Yurika's desk before she left. She wondered if Mitoku had done it, and if so, she felt rather annoyed that he would chastise her for wanting to do the same thing. Yet, she suspected what had bothered the Department Head had been her trying to cover up a problem within his group, not the well-meaning intentions behind it.

She returned to her desk, but wasn't sure why the packet being completed was gnawing at her. She considered asking if he had done it, but felt doing so would confirm it had been why she had wanted to come in early. So, instead focused on her work until the other members arrived. Yurika as was expected came in late, and was properly chastised by Mitoku, who made no mention of the work he had wanted her to do the night before. Yurika accepted the rebuke about her tardiness and moved to her desk giving her a wink as she passed. Shiho felt a great deal of concern from the simple gesture since it showed her that the brown-haired woman wasn't taking any of the warnings that she was receiving to heart, It was also that lack of gravity about her behavior that made it so that she couldn't trust Yurika with the secret of the Family.

Returning to her work, she just hoped Yurika's behavior was simply a side effect of Furofuki's attack which needed to run its course and not a weakness which had been exposed because of it.

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Sakura smiled softly as Hanare leapt into Kakashi's arms after they stepped through Konoha's gate. It seemed a rather over-exuberant welcome considering the official mission they had been on was to simply protect Koyuki while she had toured Demon Country for her latest movie. But, she figured that by now she knew the true reason had been made clear to her, which was to give Naruto some plausible deniability about being involved in Yugito's defection. As such, she likely had begun to worry that if the Raikage decided to retaliate immediately then Kakashi could be caught in the crosshairs. Still, she doubted even Naruto would be in any danger yet since for the moment he was still officially acting as a bodyguard for Koyuki. Even the Raikage wouldn't risk the safety of a Daimyo to settle a score if he chose to blame Naruto despite what the evidence presented to him was saying.

Sakura waved in return as her team's leader sent one her way while ushering his girlfriend away. She felt a little pang of regret in having to leave Naruto due to its meaning that she couldn't enjoy the pleasure the other women around him currently were basking in. But, she had been summoned back to Konoha due to a medical emergency developing in a border village in the Land of Frost. Recently, a small town had begun to develop symptoms that at appeared to be an acute case of food poisoning. However, the local doctors had yet to find a common source for the poisoning, and worse still more and more people were getting sick. Coupled with how despite those affected were getting worse, and not better, Tsunade was forming the opinion that it might be chakra poisoning from a Bijuu.

This had led to the belief that the culprit might be Kabuto, although if so, it would seem to indicate that he extracted the Black Kyuubi from Sora and was hoping to create more Bijuu. But, since Kazuma was still on the loose having escaped somehow just before Kushina had rescued her son, and he was the man who originally conceived of the method for creating new Bijuu, they couldn't discount the possibility that he was behind it. Admittedly, it was difficult to believe that the former member of the Twelve Ninja Guardians was involved. Primarily, since even by storing items in a scroll it would only delay the eventually break down of the chakra for so long. Goods stored that way for example would still spoil, even though it would take several times longer to do so. Which considering how quickly the Bijuu Chakra required for the creation method did, meant perhaps storing it in a scroll might buy months. Still, there were other factors at play such as the skill of the person who created the storage seal and the complexity of the formula used. Not to mention, if the item was released and sustained in some way. But, it was difficult to imagine a way to sustain the Bijuu Chakra outside of finding a suitable host for it.

Which was easier said than done as Kazuma had killed hundreds with tainted Bijuu chakra that he had mixed into various food sources before discovering Sora, whom had been unharmed by the tainted food that he ingested. He had then sealed the rest of the gatherrf chakra flesh inside the young man, whom he claimed as a son and waited for a new beast to form from the pieces using Sora as a focal point for the chakra to gather. But, with all the sources of Bijuu chakra currently known and now bound to human forms in most cases, it was unlikely that Kazuma could get his hands on more, unless he was working with Kabuto, who it was believed had made off with Sora since he had sent the events in Vegetable in motion.

Sakura knew they could be getting ahead of themselves, since the town was a mining one by nature so may have unearthed something which was making everyone sick. Or, some other local source which had yet to be identified could be the cause. But, she still couldn't shake the feeling that there was some unseen hand at play. For one, although the first cases of those afflicted had been reported weeks before Yugito's defection. The town's location would have made investigating it a tricky affair for political reasons. Primarily as the Land of Frost had been a particularly strong client of Kumo almost since the shinobi village's founding. So, if Konoha had tried to get involved it might have ruffled the Raikage's feathers since Tsunade probably not only would have wanted to send medical personnel, but military forces capable of matching Kabuto. The latter of which she would probably have to send discretely since she didn't want to give the impression that she had information that she wasn't sharing. With the defection though, it took an already tricky situation and made it far more dangerous. Just the type of situation someone like Kabuto would create so he could study the results of his experiment undisturbed, while the two villages tried not to come to blows over the matter.

Fortunately, the Daimyo of Frost though had reached out to Tsunade personally since very few people would deny that she wasn't the greatest medical mind of her generation. The Hokage had seized on the opportunity to send shinobi to investigate, but that didn't exactly mean that she could handle it as she desired. More than aware that sending a strong shinobi force into Frost could be construed as preparations for war under the current political realities. She was instead assigning Sakura to head up a small medical squad with only a few Chunin for protection to investigate the cause of the medical emergency. Naturally, if Kabuto was involved then she wanted to believe it was more likely that she would be protecting everyone.

But, for the moment her first order of business was to determine if the current affliction infecting the people of the town was manmade or natural. From there she imagined Tsunade would be able to make a case for sending in more personnel. She yawned tired since both Kakashi and she had pushed themselves to reach the village almost a day faster than normal. This way she would be able to relax a little and clean off the grim of travel before needing to meet the team that Tsunade had already assembled and set out again. Granted, she could have just had Naruto teleport her back, but felt it wouldn't be a smart idea to remind people how easily he could infiltrate a village with his jutsu so had opted to travel the old fashion way.

With her lover still entertaining both Koyuki and Shion, she tried to come up with something fun she could do to relax. But, paused as she noticed a line of women and men standing outside a book store. She felt a slight vein of annoyance appear by her temple as she saw that it was so they could get a book signed by an author. An author that she knew personally considering it was Naruko, who had remained behind to enjoy Naruto longer and apparently had one of her toads just summon her to the village. She considered laying into the Toad Sage about it, since she could have just let her hitch a ride and gotten to enjoy Naruto more as well. But, she quickly realized that would have been no different than just asking Naruto to teleport her since it hadn't exactly been advertised that Naruko had been in Demon Country playing the part of their shared lover.

But, before she began heading home she paused as she saw that her mother was one of the people standing in line. Although, she knew that Naruko's book had been found to be popular not just with fans of Jiraiya's old works, but with a new group of readers namely housewives as well. She would admit to being surprised that her mother was one of them. She hadn't read the book herself, since she got to enjoy the man that was central to the story in reality. Still considering how the book didn't pull any punches in the sex department, she imagined she could have some fun teasing her mother. As such, hoping to make her a little uncomfortable like when her parents would embarrass here sometimes, she approached the line.

Making sure that her mother didn't see her, she managed to get up right behind her. But had her surprise ruined as a woman called from behind, "Hey! No cuts!"

Sakura was about to tell the woman that she wasn't there to jump in line, but her mother turned to see what the commotion was. Sakura, almost felt like thanking the woman as her mother's gaze went from barely there interest, to growing to be the size of saucers as she said, "Sakura! What are you doing here?"

Sakura smiled as she responded, while also assuring the woman that she was just there to talk, "I have a mission to get ready for tomorrow so wanted a little time to relax before heading right back out. But, what are you doing here?" She made a point to look at the sign announcing the event and read it aloud, "One day only special guest signing by author Naruko Uzumaki creator of The Lover's Paradise series." She could see her mother looked a little mortified at being spotted by someone she knew so decided to take it easy on her by stating, "You know she is close to Naruto, right? Why don't I just introduce her to you?" Her mother was a little surprised by her suggestion, and the pair of them were suddenly the target of a bunch of jealous looks so she suggested, "Why don't we go get something to eat, and discuss a good time for when we can arrange a meeting?"

"Sure," Mebuki said allowing her daughter to pull her out of line. After agreeing on a restaurant the two began to talk with Sakura learning her father had been called out of town on business. She felt some concern since he would be traveling to the Land of Rice Paddies, but with his upbeat and likeable personality he made a great living helping companies restructure their debts in order to pursue new ventures. With a new Daimyo, who had already instituted several reforms both people and companies were looking to have their debts restructured to try and take advantage of the new opportunities there were to be had. But, this meant convincing the lenders to let the terms be changed. Something her father excelled at as he easily made friends even with people he was trying to convince to accept less money. But her mother eventually steered the conversation back to their meeting as she said, "The way you snuck up on me. I get the funny idea you were planning to embarrass me back there."

Sakura gave her a look of mock hurt, but it melted into a smile before admitting, "That was my original plan. But, it began to feel a little silly especially since you were hardly alone in wanting to meet the author of those raunchy books."

Mebuki surprised her daughter as she quickly said, "They aren't raunchy at all. Sure, they describe things in detail, but it talks about so much more. You should give it a try; it was just so heartwarming to read how this lonely village council woman rediscovered herself through the love that she began to feel for this wanderer that she hired as an assistant because he reminded her of lost loved ones."

Having heard about how the love scene was based on Tsunade's first time with Naruto, and having heard the story from the Sannin herself teasingly said, "Plus, the sex scene must have been really hot."

Her mother's cheeks colored before focusing on her to ask, "And how would you know young lady? Perhaps I'm already speaking to a fan." Sakura smiled and couldn't deny that she was since, she was with the man that other women were only reading about.

Mebuki was taken aback a little by her daughter's smile, since it radiated contentment in ways she couldn't really imagine her daughter having experienced. But, she didn't pursue the matter since she was used to her daughter avoiding any questions related to her love life, which from her perspective was nonexistent. Instead the blonde Haruno focused on the book they were discussing, "Still, I'm not quite sure how they can call it a series. It ended with the Councilor and her assistant falling in love. I'm not sure where they can take it from there."

Sakura nodded, and knew Naruko was having similar difficulties since originally she had planned for the main character to form a harem and based it off of various women within it. But, with Tsunade having been the inspiration for the first and being less then pleased about it, the female Uzumaki was now experiencing some writer's block on how to proceed. Having heard Naruko spitball some ideas while in Demon, she said, "Well, just because they love each other doesn't mean he might not find himself helping some other woman forget her troubles."

Her mother seemed rather scandalized at the idea while she asked, "You mean he'll just have loved her and left."

"No," Sakura said quickly, "But, maybe this Council Woman doesn't begrudge him helping someone else in a similar manner. If he opens his heart to someone else, it doesn't exactly mean what they had was any less special."

"That's not how love works," Mebuki said definitively. "I hope that isn't how they plan to continue since he'll just be some wandering lothario then."

Sakura shrugged, understanding why it was her mother would feel as she did. But, nonetheless replied, "Well, I like to believe that love can't be so easily defined. So long as he is up front and honest with her, she can't get upset if he makes another woman feel like she does. In fact, it is usually because the guy or woman is sneaking around that the trust is broken and the relationship falls apart."

Mebuki felt amused by her daughter's response which she attributed to a lack of actual experience in the matter. Stating as much, she said, "Maybe someday you'll understand when you have a man of your own."

Sakura normally would have been annoyed by her mother's words, but instead just shrugged in response while she mentally retorted, "Oh mom, if only you knew. That could be my sex life you are standing in line to read about someday." Her mother was probably surprised by her lack of reaction to having her point of view so quickly dismissed. It grew more so as Sakura smiled due to her deciding to let her mother get a glimpse of her happiness via Naruko's talented pen.

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