68: Night Terrors

Taji was breathing hard as she leapt through the trees located on the ANBU Black Op exam course. The sun had long since set, and most of the other hopefuls that had been getting in some last minute training had gone home in order to rest before the exam that was scheduled to last two days due to the number of hopefuls, and was being held over the weekend. She however was continuing to push herself since her group's timeslot to take the exam was rather late in the afternoon. She saw the final section of the course and prepared her kunai to hit the targets spread about the area. Despite the darkness, she let them fly having done the course so many times that she almost didn't need to see the targets anymore, but would do her little good tomorrow as the targets would be changed and booby traps added.

She didn't spend time to look if she hit them since she was confident that during the day it wouldn't be an issue, and because she had only a handful of moments left before the time she needed to complete the course in would end. The timer on her watch went off causing her to curse under her breath since until she finished the points she had already accrued would be subtracted. She put on a final burst of speed finding that her tank was just about empty considering the number of attempts she had already made.

She cleared her mind to ignore the burning feeling in her legs, but despite her success in disregarding her physical pain. She couldn't stop herself from fearing that much like had been the case since awakening from the coma that she had been in since being attacked by Tobi. She would fall just short of succeeding in the ANBU exams as she had in every exam since awakening as a result of the Chakra Pulse that had appeared. In her first attempt, she had fallen well short as she had refused to wait to take the test, and while in the second she had improved quite a bit, the subsequent attempts failed to yield much better results, but were close enough to passing to keep her motivated.

Taji heard the second beep of her watch which told her that based on her score in the previous run-through she would have failed. She didn't let it get her down too much, aware that even an ANBU in peak condition should have had difficulty completing the course in time not to be penalized on one attempt. Being on her third, she felt a bad time could be excused.

She knew she probably shouldn't be pushing herself so hard the day before, but couldn't help it as it had become the one goal that she almost needed to attain. As while she had easily regained her rank as a Jounin, it hadn't been enough to fill the emptiness she had felt since coming out of her coma. For Taji, becoming ANBU again was important because it was the one thing from her life before her coma that she could actually reclaim. Before that horrible day, she had been a young woman of twenty-three with a finance that she was madly in love with and her whole life ahead of her. Then in the course of a second everything went dark and she awoke sixteen years later with nothing. The man she had loved naturally had moved on with his life and had married Taji's best friend. They had said what had happened to her was what brought them together, yet sometimes she couldn't help but wonder was if it had just cleared the way for them. She knew it was wrong to suspect as much since she had no proof. But she couldn't help feeling bitter, since she had checked the visitor logs of the coma ward that she had been kept in and found that within a few months both had stopped visiting. She had never brought it up; mainly as she was sure they would already have some sort of excuse ready. Besides which, it was abundantly clear to her that her presence made them both uncomfortable. Whether it was guilt or just a difficultly to reconnect, Taji wasn't able to say as shortly after awakening she had stopped visiting something which both her former fiancé and friend seemed fine with as they made no effort to contact her.

That was why she needed to regain the title of ANBU. It was the only thing left that she could have back from her youth that had made her content. Although, if she was honest with herself she doubted that even that would fill the empty feeling she had been left with since finding out the love of her life had waited a few months before moving on. Still, she figured it was better than living as a forty-one year old woman who had missed her peak.

Landing on the branch of the last tree before the goal line, she wobbled a little as her foot hit what felt like some kind of vine. She frowned, not remembering such a thing from her numerous times running the course. She didn't even have time to ponder what it could be before it wrapped around her ankle pulling her back. Before she fell to the ground though more vines wrapped around her wrists and remaining ankles. Being held suspended in the air, she tried to catch sight of what the vines were attached to. She looked over her shoulder as she felt it was behind her, but all she could see was the vines leading into the darkness. She saw a fifth appear and began to struggle against the thick plant like tendrils wrapped around her wrists and ankles, yet suspended as she was couldn't gain enough leverage to pull free of one.

She began to panic and looked back to see the progress of the new vine-like tendril, but could simply see that it had reached her having lost sight of the tip. She then felt it slid between her legs causing her to try and close them but the vines easily held her open. She looked down and saw the tip of the dark green tendril appear between her legs. It then angled up almost like a snake would while climbing up her body as it slipped beneath her shirt. She could feel the plant like texture of it as it moved over her skin leaving her with a sense of revulsion, especially as it passed between the valley of her breasts by slipping under her sports bra.

She felt the tip touch the bottom of her chin as it appeared through the high collar of the Jounin Uniform that she wore, but then it pulled away from her body. The vine ripped open her vest, shirt, and bra leaving her naked front exposed to the night sky. Out of instinct she fought against the other vines' grip to cover herself, but they easily held her in place as the fifth angled towards her face. She focused on it wearily like it was a viper that was about to strike and could see a slit on the tip making the end of the vine appear almost like the end of a man's phallus. She then saw a clear liquid begin to appear at the tip like some pre-ejaculate causing her eyes to go wide as she felt a sense of horror at what she suspected was about to happen.

"No!" she shouted in revulsion, "Someone…gak…"

Her cry was silenced as the tendril buried itself in her mouth and without any sense of consideration halfway down her throat. She gagged as the vine roughly abused her throat working itself back and forth. She tried to bite down but couldn't due to its girth. The breath burned in her lungs as she couldn't breathe due to the assault until the vine began to pull back. When it exited her throat, she gasped in air but began sputtering as it released some fluid inside her mouth. She spit out the fluid as best she could as the head of it was still buried past her lips, as a result she did end up swallowing some of it.

To Taji's shock as her brain began to process the flavor it quickly concluded that she had never tasted anything as good, as whatever the vine had released had an extremely sweet flavor to it. It also she found caused her to feel a sense of euphoria as it created a powerful sense of desire in her. Her medical training immediately informed her that she had been slipped a powerful aphrodisiac as the vines release caused her body to display signs of arousal. She tried to fight it telling herself that it was being medically induced, but despite that she couldn't help desiring to taste more of the sweet nectar.

The Vine remained motionless in her mouth almost as if it could sense her dilemma. She prepared to bite down on it aware that doing so might release more of the nectar, but she wanted to hurt the creature that had already violated her. But before she could act, she suddenly moaned as the body of the vine still between her legs pressed firmly into her pubic mound. The tentacle slipped free of her lips as it then retracted. It slid down her body and then hooked the front of her pants as it retreated ripping them away as well.

Taji began moving in earnest as she knew what to expect next, and began yelling for someone to help. She stiffened as she felt the head of the vine press against her pussy which despite her feelings on what was happening to her, was wet and inviting for the invasion of the plant like phallus. She yelled out which ended in a strangled sounding moan as the vine penetrated her. Just as before it paid little heed to her comfort as it violated her pumping itself inside roughly.

Taji's screams were silenced as a new vine appeared in front of her face from overhead and buried itself down her throat. Her world exploded into another sense of euphoria as the vine attacking her womb released more nectar inside of her. Her body betrayed her wishes as it exploded into a powerful orgasm which grew stronger as the vine roughly fucking her mouth exploded as well. Taji swallowed it down getting carried away on a liquid high that she could only equate to a powerful opium. In order to experience more, if only to escape the reality of her situation her tongue began to circle around the vine that had ceased abusing her throat as it felt her pink muscles running around.

She felt a third vine press against her anus, but lost to the world as she was she barely tensed as it pushed inside and began pumping in tandem with the one working her pussy. No longer fighting, she moaned around the plant-like tentacle in her mouth as her womb received more of the nectar even as her ass also received an injection of it. The vine in her mouth retracted before spraying her face as she wailed from the powerful explosion of pleasure that was being forced upon her over and over again. It quickly retook its place in her mouth as it joined its fellows in violating the woman.

Taji, despite having never known such heights of pleasure and retreating from the world as a part of her simply prayed it was all a bad dream brought about from watching too many horror movies, showed her emotional pain as a continuous stream of tears that leaked from her eyes. The vines that had been holding her arms and wrists sensing her lack of resistance let go and instead began to further have their way with her as they squeezed her breasts or switched with the ones that had already enjoyed one of her orifices. She hung in the air limply as the assault went on for ages as far as Taji knew, not that she was truly aware.

The vines eventually set her down in the grass almost gently like a lover would. Not that she could tell the difference as she shivered while covered in the nectar and her own essence like a junkie going through withdrawal. Taji barely aware watched the vines hover over her, but sensing the creature they were connected to was approaching, she turned her head towards where they extended from the darkness.

The monster didn't live up to what her imagination had conjured as a naked woman walked towards her. Taji could see the vines all joined together upon reaching the woman as their point of origin which was the woman's quim. The vines began retracting inside of her as she slowly stepped closer to reveal a face that everyone in the village would recognize as it bore an almost identical appearance to the Hokage. Her skin though was a pale white with a green tinge that was also seen in her blonde hair.

Taji could tell from the woman's dark eyes though that it wasn't the woman that most people claimed was the most powerful kunoichi to ever take up the profession. The ones watching her now held none of the genuine care that were often reflected in the Hokage's honey brown eyes as she worked diligently in the hospital even while performing her duties as Hokage. It was further reflected as the woman said coldly, "Now that you've experienced some release my dear. Perhaps you can help me to feel the same?"

After what she had just suffered through and witnessed, Taji couldn't imagine things becoming much worse. However, her eyes were pulled to the woman's groin as a slight movement caused her gaze to focus there. She couldn't understand why at first, but then she noticed how the woman's clit seemed to be pulsing as if growing. It then suddenly shot forth growing until she had a large erection standing proudly from her body. The woman moaned as she reached down to give her engorged cock a light stroking as she approached.

Taji tried to force her legs closed as the woman knelt between them, but she was still too weak to move. The woman sensing her desire to resist said in a soothing voice that was no reflected in her eyes, "Just relax. I'm going to give you a gift, and all you need to do is accept me into you."

"N…no…ahhhh" Taji moaned before the woman pushed her phallus inside of her regardless.

Still overly sensitive, and under the effects of the nectar that was already inside her, Taji couldn't stop herself from moaning as the woman slid her appendage within her. She tried to push her off, but the former Anbu couldn't muster the strength as she also had to fight her bodies desire to clutch onto her as she continued to feel pleasure from the woman's actions. Taji could see her attacker was enjoying her act of violation as she continued to force-feed her cock into the medic's passage.

Taji's cries mixed with the pleasure filled ones of her attackers. This left her with a sense of disgust in her body's reaction to what was happening which she knew a consoler would tell her she didn't deserve. The woman placed her hands on Taji's breasts to push her torso away in order to try and push her appendage deeper against the entrance of the medic's womb. Taji felt the woman swell inside her, but no longer could muster the strength to resist.

She let out a weak sounding, "no…" moments before she felt her core get pumped full of a warm liquid. It forced Taji to experience another orgasm against her will causing her to shiver and sob as the woman pulled out of her.

"Shh, it's alright," the woman said the soothing tone being far more insulting then if she had openly mocked her. "You'll be thanking me soon enough. But, you've gone and dirtied my little addition so why don't you use your mouth to clean it."

To Taji's surprise she climbed up to her knees almost immediately. She placed her mouth against the tip of the phallus that had violated her and then swallowed it in order to fulfil the command she had been given. The woman tried to understand what was happening to her as she began to eagerly take to her task feeling a sense of pleasure that she believed was stemming from the woman she was servicing. The woman buried her hands into Taji's hair bunching it up roughly as she began to forcibly fuck her mouth.

Taji, despite the pleasure coursing through her and the appearances to the contrary, only wished for the horror that had befallen her to end. She felt the woman swell in her mouth, and then was forced to swallow her release. It didn't taste anywhere near as flavorful as the nectar that she had been forced to swallow earlier. After Taji had swallowed her load the woman let go of her head causing Taji to turn away and begin coughing it up, but she tensed as she heard the woman say, "Now, I think I will help myself to that cute little asshole." To Taji's shock, she simply presented her ass to the woman who then crouched behind her. She felt the woman begin pressing the head of her phallus against her rosebud and tensed as she felt it begin to part in order to allow her back inside…

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Taji sat up in her bed with her skin covered in a cold sweat. She felt a sense of confusion as she began to wonder if everything had just been a dream. She frowned as it had felt extremely real, but she didn't feel any of the telltale signs that she had been attacked, nor used against her will. In fact, Taji felt much better than she had in a long while. She did find it strange that she had gone to sleep in the nude, but figured that perhaps she had just been too tired to bother with getting redressed as she could tell she had recently showered.

Looking at the clock she saw that she was up before even the extremely early time that she had set for her alarm and couldn't remember the last time she had done so. In fact, most days it was a struggle for her to bother getting out of bed. Having a good feeling about the day's exam, she stood to get ready. She headed for the bathroom and began brushing her teeth. But as she looked in the mirror, she saw that despite how good she felt something was amiss as her eyes still appeared red and bloodshot as if she had been crying. She again wondered if her dream had been more than it had seemed, but found that the details were fading as one would normal expect.

She shrugged confident it was just her nerves getting the best of her, but by the time she finished the gesture she couldn't recall what had been bothering her. Instead, she simply felt excited and confident the proctors would be surprised at how well she performed in the ANBU exam.

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Mai walked down the stairs from her room to the living room of the villa. Despite having heard the sounds that let her know that she would once more be coming upon the sight of Naruto in the midst of making love, she pressed on. This time though she felt a sense of curiosity about who it was moaning contently due to what she had learned about how the blond man had relationships with a considerable number of women who were spread throughout the Shinobi World. Still, that had hardly been the most shocking revelation that Konan had revealed to her. That honor belonged to it being Bora that had murdered her grandfather who had been the previous village leader.

Mai had quickly dismissed the accusation, finding it easy to believe that Konan had made it up in order to cause her to turn against her village leader. But, due to how the blue haired woman had simply shrugged before moving on, it had forced the brunette to consider the idea further rather than dig in her heels in and argue against the idea. She therefore admitted to herself that just as she could see it clearly that Bora would cut her loose to protect himself and his information gathering operation, she could see him removing obstacles to his rise in power by any means necessary. Her grandfather had refused to accept the idea that had been floating around prior to his death that they abandon their shinobi heritage to take advantage of how people wanted to visit their village in droves. Naturally, Mai had been suspicious about the details of his death, particularly as shortly after it, Bora had announced that they would be opening their village up to tourists. However, she had come to accept that she might have been wrong as her grandfather and his advisors had been killed on his way to visit the Daimyo, a person that had been a good friend. That suspicion had returned when the Daimyo had stepped down in favor of Bora, but by then Yugakure's economy had been booming so the Daimyo claiming he believed Yugakure's leader could do the same for the country was easy to believe. Not to mention the immediate reaction by the neighboring countries that had nearly resulted in a war made it easy for Bora to distract people from the truth.

For Mai, although she had heard the rumors that Bora had likely blackmailed his predecessor, she had not wanted to believe them since her grandfather had seen the man almost as family so didn't want to believe he could have secrets which could be exploited. But hearing Konan explain how she had overheard Bora admitting to killing her grandfather, had again forced her to accept the idea that her grandfather's friend has likely been blackmailed into luring him and those opposed to Bora out of the village in order to eliminate them.

Mai had wondered why it was that everything appeared so clear to her now, which was when Konan had explained that was the power of people who were good at corrupting those around them. She had explained her own history in regards to Akatsuki's slow decent into darkness, and how before she knew it they had lost their way. How it had been like a shinobi who would sit in darkness to let their eyes adjust to it, but in time they had lost their perspective of that darkness. She had then told her how it had been Naruto that had been the light that had illuminated the darkness surrounding her, and thus exposing it to her gaze again.

Konan having said her piece stood and had handed over the recorder. Mai immediately had opened it to destroy the tape, but found it empty. She had then demanded that they honor their bargain which had caused the woman to smile as she had informed her that there never had been a tape. Konan had explained that Naruto never intended to blackmail her. He had just wanted to expose her to the feeling of helplessness that the victims of her village also likely felt while being under Bora's thumb.

Konan had then left the room, and Mai imagined that she had likely joined Naruto and Chun-li in the room downstairs. Mai hadn't budged from where she had sat after finding Konan in her room as she reflected on her having slowly abandoned the principles that her grandfather had instilled in her. She reached up to the necklace that she had worn and had been one of the lavish gifts that Bora had favored her with. She ripped it free of her chest as the gold felt like it was burning her skin now, and tossed it into a corner. That was when the tears began to fall as she was hit with the realization that she had sold something far more valuable than her body to Bora's ambition, her warrior's soul. Eventually, she had slumped on her bed as the sense of guilt and revulsion she held for herself had drained her. She had just awoken with the time being close to noon and felt no better than when she had fallen asleep and so had decided to join the other occupants of the house.

Stepping into the living room her eyes had grown wide despite having expected the sight that had greeted her. This was because the normally reserved Chun-li was riding Naruto's cock as they sat in the center of a large couch. Chun-li was wearing a robe, with her long hair out of her typically buns. She was clutching to him tightly as she rolled her hips back and forth quickly as she moaned softly into his ear which she kissed and nibbled on. Naruto's hands were gripping Chun-li's butt as she glided over his lap.

The scene seemed even more unreal as Konan was siting calmly drinking a cup of tea dressed only in a robe as well, while Ayame was humming contently as she cooked lunch dressed only in an apron. Konan noticing Mai's presence looked away from the attached couple to smile softly while she said, "Good afternoon Mai. Although, I don't imagine you enjoyed a restful night."

Mai tried to ignore the fact that her fellow Yugakure kunoichi was riding a man like her life depended on it just a few feet away as she replied, "That's putting it mildly."

"Cumming!!!"

Mai looked over surprised by the sudden outburst as Chun-li leaned back as far as the arms wrapped around Naruto's neck would let her as she climaxed. Naruto's face mirrored the ecstasy on his newest lover's face making it apparent that he was pumping her full of the seed which Konan had informed her had bound her friend to the man. Chun-li pulled herself back against him as she began smothering his face in quick and light kisses. She then placed one on his lips that quickly deepened to the point where Mai suspected that they would start up again.

Konan apparently thought the same as she cleared her throat before suggesting, "Now that we've been joined by Mai perhaps it would be best if we discuss how to proceed from here."

Chun-li let out a disappointed sigh, but rather than remove herself from her lover, she simply spun on his lap. She then leaned back while draping her arm around Naruto's neck. Mai blushed as although her fellow Yugakure kunoichi's robe was preventing her from seeing where they were connected, the kunoichi's top was hanging open showing off her glistening sweat covered breasts and hardened nipples. Chun-li made no move to cover them while Mai took a seat in the remaining chair.

Ayame continued to cook while as the remaining occupants of the room sat in an awkward silence as they searched for a way to begin. Konan was the first as she stated to Mai, "I suggest we start with you airing any questions or doubts you might have about what I explained last night."

Mai's gaze drifted to two the connected lovers and having a hard time picturing her friend acting in such an unreserved manner, although she wasn't sure if Chun-li still thought of her in such terms, asked with a note of concern for her fellow kunoichi, "How can I know that Chun-li wasn't already under your sway before she returned? You've proven that you're rather adapt at creating scenes to make people act as you wish."

Naruto smiled as he heard the concern for Chun-li's wellbeing before asking, "I'm not sure why that matters."

Chun-li smirked as she asked, "She was spying on us as I gave myself to you. She likely thinks it might be a ploy to make her consider the same."

Mai blushed as among some of the dreams that she had experienced the night before. The few that were pleasant did feature her enjoying the cock her fellow Yugakure kunoichi had. Her cheeks colored further as Naruto gave her an appraising look as if he was wondering if she was some kind of voyeur. Deciding it didn't matter he replied, "You don't have any assurances. As Konan has explained to you, the Binding gives me the ability to control her. But, if I was going to go such a route wouldn't it be better for me to make you believe we haven't formed such a bond. That way when we entrapped you, you very likely would have turned to her unaware that she was already under my sway. Of course, I would like to point out that this avenue is one that requires a lot of effort on my part when I could have just continued to hold out on giving you information until Bora suggested you give me a happy ending. I could have then tried to seduce you into sleeping with me and bound you to me that way."

Mai inclined her head stating, "Point taken." Looking down from the shame she now felt, she asked, "So then why not let me bind myself to you? It would have been a fate of my own making."

She kept her gaze averted as he answered, "Well because I don't really know you. I can't say I would be willing to share my life and ambition with a person that I don't know. Furthermore, if I bind you to me against your will, then I would be no different than Kanji. All he did was bind women to him against their wills. He also gave me just enough information to hang myself with. He wanted me to become just like him. The women that are with me are my partners, not just items I've collected to expedite my ambition along."

Mai looked up to see similar looks of contentment adorning the faces of the women connected to Naruto, due to his words. She could easily understand why such a man would attract Chun-li's devotion as she knew most shinobi while they might be attracted to the strengths of the kunoichi they were interested in. Most simply saw that strength as something that would be passed onto their children, which was why most kunoichi were pressured to retire after starting a family. She could hear the sincerity in Naruto's voice as he described his lovers as being equal partners, which she imagined was why they wholeheartedly supported him in his ambition.

"Aren't you afraid that without binding me. that I might at some point betray you?"

"No," Naruto said quickly.

"Why not?"

"Mainly because how Bora went about recruiting you to his side," Naruto answered. He paused as his face scrunched up for a moment, which coupled with the pleased look of the woman sitting on his lap made Mai suspect her friend was giving him a massage of her own. She began to squirm a little in his lap, prompting Naruto to put his hands on her thighs to make her settle down. He then explained, "If you were in it simply for money or power then Bora wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to hide the truth from you. Also, you seemed rather hesitant when you gave me that… happy ending. It felt more like something you had convinced yourself needed to be done for the good of your village, rather than for personal enrichment." Mai's gaze focused on Naruto's blue eyes which shown only with kindness as he continued, "Lots of good people have been led astray of their beliefs through committing actions they might find personally detestable, but convinced themselves that they are necessary for some greater good. Bora used that while pointing to all the good that his way of doing things have brought about. Our trick with the recorder was just to remind you of the reasons why you were against it originally. Yugakure might be benefitting now, but your actions are creating fear and hatred that might eventually consume the village."

"Not to mention the personal costs to our pride as shinobi of the village," Chun-li added with a slightly breathless voice.

"I've sold my pride," Mai said bitterly ashamed of herself.

"No," Naruto said quickly, "Your pride in your village is what he used to trick you into doing his bidding. Without it, he would simply have brought you over to his side. You ask me why I can trust you with my secrets without binding you, well it is simple. I know you are a good person. Your first question for me was to ascertain whether your friend was truly herself. Even now I can see the disappointment that you are feeling in yourself for being roped into Bora's scheme. That pride which he relied on to trick you is going to be the thing that causes him to lose his grip on this village."

"What makes you so sure?"

Naruto chuckled before letting out a small groan as Chun-li's inner muscles massaged his pole buried inside her. He smirked up at his newest lover before answering, "Because I think of Bora as being a bit like a magician. Now that you see the illusion he cast he is powerless. Moreover, he has no idea that it has been dispelled leaving you in a position to be the kunai pressed against his neck."

"To what benefit of yours?" Mai asked skeptically, and was surprised when the blond man smiled at her. It prompted her to ask, "What's so amusing?"

Naruto shook his head as he replied, "Nothing, it's just that I'm glad to see you've grown. It would be rather easy I imagine accepting any deal that hurt Bora considering what you've learned. Yet, you now realize that just because someone presents you with what appears to be a good deal it doesn't mean there aren't ulterior motives behind it."

Mai wasn't sure why Naruto's words made her happy in the same way she would have felt had it come from her grandfather. Yet, she quickly put a lid on those feelings as she said, "You didn't answer my question though."

"I suppose I didn't," Naruto said his voice sounding strained. She noticed that Chun-li's brow was also furrowed as if she was in deep concentration, but Mai suspected it was to stop from moaning as she doubted she was as idle as she appeared, and was still massaging Naruto's cock using her inner muscles. "The most obvious benefit would be to remove a threat to my Family's ambition. I'm sure Konan explained what those are to you." Mai nodded, but she doubted Naruto noticed as his attention was quickly growing divided. "Well… it should be fairly obvious how a village that is blackmailing people into acting against their better character could pose a problem for our goals to move forward. For example, what if agents tied to my ambition are negotiating a treaty we believe will bring people closer together with a person Bora is blackmailing. And let's say Bora offers up to a group that opposes the treaty a means to ensure it fails. Well even if the person being blackmailed wants to sign the treaty more often than not they are probably going to succumb to the blackmail."

"You can't know that," Mai said quickly. "If what you are offering is such a better deal this fictional example might choose what is for the good of all concerned, not just for him or herself."

"Very true," Naruto said now eyeing Chun-li's exposed breasts like he wanted to fondle them. But he tore his gaze away to counter, "There are after all many factors we would have to consider. The example I gave only contained one possible outcome. Let's just say for arguments sake that our blackmail victim does decide to go along with the treaty regardless of personal cost. Then all Bora would need to do is reveal what he has on the person to call his character into question. People will begin to question whether the treaty he signed is really for their wellbeing or not. In that scenario everything the person being blackmailed touches is called into question. Not to mention, for my example I would be willing to bet that before Bora even offered to step in he would have insured that the person he was going to lean on had already buckled before. Perhaps by giving them a task that might on the surface seems rather benign, but can have larger consequences down the road. For instance, an executive of a powerful food supplier being blackmailed into giving Hot Spring Country sweetheart deals on the food Yugakure uses to make some of the extravagant meals it serves its guests."

A look of surprise appeared on Mai's face as she wondered how Naruto knew of her involvement in that particular instance. But, she quickly realized he hadn't as he noticed her look of guilt despite the pussy massage he was receiving from her fellow Yugakure kunoichi. Her gaze had shifted to Konan to see that she had noticed it as well. She expected them to call her out on it, but to her surprise neither did. "I'm sure the idea of targeting him was presented as a way to improve the lives of Hot Spring Country's citizens. It has also likely done exactly that as I've heard how many of the newest and most talented chefs call Hot Spring home. But in this case it has also made life harder for other countries as they have to pay more for normal goods to offset the costs of the discounted items this country receives."

Mai aware of that fact nevertheless countered, "So what are you saying that we should suffer so others can live better lives in our place?"

"No, but did Hot Spring truly earn its right to this deal?" Mai frowned from Naruto's words as she was quite aware of the methods that had been used to gain the advantage her home was currently enjoying. "I heard about this particular case as a person close to me has been stepping into the various trade markets. She noticed how in certain markets food prices were being gouged, particularly nations similar to Hot Spring Country. The Land of Water for example has to import most of its food stuffs. For a bushel of rice they tend to have to pay three times as much as Hot Springs when in the past the price your two lands would have paid were similar. Hot Spring's still paid slightly less, but that was mainly due to the transportation costs. We were able to trace the sudden dramatic price shift to just after a particular CEO visited here. It didn't take a huge stretch of the imagination for us to figure out why."

Mai look downcast as she asked, "If it was so easy for you, then why has no one else issued such a charge against us?"

"Well for one," Naruto said leaning back in the couch as he resisted the urge to start pumping his hips into the woman still wrapped around his dick, "They don't have the knowledge of the Enticement touch that we do. While more than one slip up can be contributed to people staying here, I doubt anyone realizes just how effective that jutsu would be at extracting information. Plus, I doubt Bora blackmails every high level person he has gained dirt on. It's probably sitting in a file somewhere waiting for the right moment to use it. As for more tactical information, well he probably disseminates that through various sources that are difficult to trace back to him. Certain high powered groups might know he is the spider at the center of this information web, but they are likely using him as a source of information for their own purposes so would not wish to see him removed."

Naruto couldn't resist so flexed his cock inside his newest lover causing her to moan. Mai looked away as her cheeks colored from the sound as the man said, "But, the other reason is because a lot of companies followed this CEO's example. They saw he was getting that higher rate so they raised their prices on the Land of Water and similar countries as well. As such the other reason people might not have noticed this CEO's strange actions was because it appeared he was just leading the charge. However, it is becoming apparent as now his company is being hurt by this marketing strategy."

What do you mean?" Mai asked as she noticed Chun-li squirming on Naruto's lap with the blond no longer stopping her. Figuring that Naruto hadn't heard her as he was getting lost in the feeling of his lover's subtle movements, she rephrased it her question, "If other companies were following his examples why would it be hurt now?"

"Well…um…" Naruto said trying to remember his place as Chun-li began sliding back and forth on his lap.

Luckily Konan stepped in stating, "Recently, in an effort to move our ambition into the Land of Water we've progressed to the point where we are competing against some of these companies. We were coming in with pricing much closer to and less than what they were original paying. As you can imagine, this has steered quite a bit of business to us. It forced a lot of our competition to drop their prices as well, but one company stubbornly refuses to do so. Thus they are losing market share there and in similar markets. I don't think I need to explain to you which company."

Mai shook her head so asked, "Still, how can we compete against Bora? All those of us that would stand against him have to offer is returning Yugakure to being a poor minor shinobi village. There are very few people that would willingly trade in the riches that they've amassed under him to return to that."

Naruto groaned in pleasure, but focused his full attention on Mai to state, "That's something you'll have to determine. Bora took the easy path and lined people's pockets while stating that his path was benefiting Yugakure. It's up to you to try and show your people that this path is a destructive one and not just from a moral perspective."

"How so?"

It was Chun-li that answered in a pleasure filled breathless tone as she stated, "T…think about it…Mai. One day Bora might blackmail the wrong person, or learn a secret that someone would destroy the village rather than chance it getting out. Who would… mmm… we be able to turn to in such a situation if we alienate all our neighbors? How many people are plotting against us now to get from under….oh…Bora's thumb?"

Mai bit her lips as she did realize that in a lot of cases eventually the Blackmailer ended up being dealt with as the fear that kept a person in line turned to anger and desperation. "But honestly what can we do? Even if we get a majority of the village behind us do you really think Bora will just hand over control? It's probably going to come down to a fight one way or the other so why not just settle it now?"

Naruto responded as he said, "Because what is at stake is more than about who is calling the shots. It's about changing people's minds so they want to follow you. With the power of my lovers at my side, I have little doubt we could seize control of this village. But all that would do is create hatred and resentment. They would view it as us imposing our standards onto Yugakure. They might act as we dictate that they should, but they would use the first chance they had to remove us. If you want to change the village then you and your allies need to inspire them to want to follow. That is the only true way to return your home to a right and proper path."

"B…but where do we begin?"

Naruto smiled before replying, "That I don't know. However, for now since today is my last day here. Let's just use it to relax and enjoy ourselves. Yugakure didn't lose sight of itself in a single day and we aren't going to solve the problem in one either."

Mai stood as she said, "I don't imagine you'll be needing my services then. Would you mind if I spent the time alone?"

Naruto frowned as he said, "Actually I would. I don't intend for you to face the task before you alone. You can count my Family and I as your allies. We'll definitely find a way to remind your village of the pride they felt as shinobi. J…just give me…a minute and…"

Chun-li raised her legs and put her feet on the couch as she began rising and lowering her pussy over the cock buried inside her. "It'll take much longer than a minute I hope," she moaned.

Konan smiled at the display as Naruto reached up to begin fondling the woman's breasts as he began pumping his rod inside her to meet her movements. Focusing on Mai, who was blushing madly now she said, "What Naruto was trying to say is that, you are not alone so we should spend the day getting to know each other better. Our lives are now in each other hands. Perhaps, while Naruto and Chun-li continue to express their feelings for each other you and I can help Ayame finish preparing lunch."

Mai looked at the woman cooking and nodded. She followed Konan to the kitchen area walking in front of the couch where her friend and her lover were fucking wildly. She paused for a moment feeling her pussy begin to moisten as she watched his long shaft repeatedly slam into Chun-li to her fellow brunette's delight. Getting ahold of herself, she quickly joined the other two women in preparing lunch while trying to ignore the contented moans coming from a few feet away. It was difficult to do especially as Chun-li screamed in release before sagging against her lover just before they finished setting the table. Mai watched as after being called to eat, her friend stood and approached with her robe in disarray and with an extremely pleased smile on her lips. The only unbound woman also had a difficult time ignoring the semen leaking from her freshly fuck snatch as her friend walked almost drunkenly to the table. She sat with them letting out a gratified sigh before stating, "I'm starving."

Mai began laughing along with the other two women as Naruto on the other hand spent a few moments adjusting his robe before joining them at the table. When he did, he smiled warmly at all present while he waited for the laughter to die down. It did eventually, but after filling up their plates there was more to be had causing the burden Mai felt at trying to take back Yugakure's soul to lessen as she recalled how the friendly atmosphere she was currently enjoying was similar to how she used to remember the village. From that feeling, and much like how a taste of a particular food could bring back strong memories, she was confident that if she could make her fellow villagers remember those warm feelings of her grandfather's era. It would help remind them that although they had been poorer back then, their existence hadn't seemed as meaningless as they currently did.

She watched Naruto interact with his three lovers and could begin to see what it was that had drawn them to him. Recalling Konan stating how Naruto had served to illuminate the darkness that had surrounded her, she also likened his presence as being that of a warm fire on a cold night as she felt drawn to warm herself with the same fire that Chun-li had. She felt her body flush as she pictured herself entangled with the man in a similar manner, but quickly got ahold of herself. But as the day progressed and her troubles began to fade for the time being, she found that the fire of desire that had been lit for the blond simply grew hotter.

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

Kushina landed on the ground after leaping from the tree branch she had landed on moments before. She rolled forward so as not to lose any forward moment and was smoothly back on her feet seconds later. She frowned seeing the backs of several men in front of her so began to push herself harder to catch up. Her eyes caught the glint of a wire seconds before the leader of the pack that she was chasing stepped on it. Moments later the area was peppered with senbon that most of the men managed to avoid, but several took hits and almost immediately began to move as if they were drugged.

She slowed down as the sight was a reminder that the Anbu exam wasn't just meant to be finished quickly, but required a shinobi's full attention to even complete it. Being careful not to step on any of the senbon now imbedded in the ground, she leapt to the trees as soon as the foliage permitted her to.

She smiled as she saw one of the men look back and his eyes widened as he saw her gaining ground. She let her smile take on a slightly more menacing air as the ANBU hopeful had made the mistake of suggesting that she was too old to be participating, since as he put it, the ANBU division only accepted the best of the best. Kushina had refrained from beating the man into a bloody pulp as she would have done in her youth, but only because she wanted to have the privilege of seeing his face when she beat him to the finish. In fact, she had deliberately kept pace with him just so she could pour it on at the last moment as she barely felt winded. Then she might just beat him to a pulp for good measure.

In truth though, Kushina had no plans to accept an ANBU position as she had come around to the idea of joining Akatsuki. She had just wanted to take the exams to prove that she could have joined if she wanted. She reached an area where targets where scattered around so reaching into the pouch that she had been given to take the test and let the kunai she had fly. They were marked with the number that she had been assigned so she was sure that after they passed through the ANBU proctors scattered throughout the area would collect them and mark down her score. They also had the added duty of resetting the traps for the other groups that would be passing through the area after hers.

Kushina frowned as the person she had marked as her rival for the test didn't look like he would be finishing at all as a tree branch sprung out and hit him across the midsection. He was knocked from the tree, but before he hit the ground a blur flew out to catch him. The proctor would likely ascertain that he was okay, but she doubted that he would be in any condition to finish the exam in the time required. With her temporary rival removed Kushina decided there was no reason to hold back any longer. She began pushing her legs harder and avoided the other traps spread throughout the area. She saw several other hopefuls get eliminated by them with one deciding the treetops were too risky so dropped to the ground only to fall into a pit filled with water. Since in most cases the bottom would have been filled with spikes she figured the person was as good as eliminated as well.

She caught up to the man that had been leading the group, but as they approached the last branch she purposefully aimed her jump lower than it. The man she had been neck and neck with didn't and as she caught the bottom of the branch to spin forward and land on the ground, he triggered a trap that caused a ram to spring out from the trunk of the tree, and would have taken her out along with him as she had been the closer to it.

Kushina landed effortlessly with a few of the group leaping over her due to their using the sprung trap as a jumping point. Kushina could see the finish line so began running at a flat out pace to reach the end easily outpacing the supposedly best of the best hopefuls due to her stamina. Still the course wasn't done with them yet as walls of earth began to spring out all over the place as the earth jutsu were cast by proctors. She heard an explosion behind her and figured one of the test takers had used an exploding tag to blow a hole in a dome of earth that had begun to appear as well.

Kushina easily avoid most of the obstacles but one proctor appeared to single her out as he got her timing down causing a wall to appear in front of her with almost no time to avoid it. She knew she could begin to race up it at which point she imagined the man casting it would continue to grow it in order to delay her, so instead she simply leapt straight at it. Her chakra chains appeared from her back and the sharp ends came to a point before her, she then spun similar to how an Inuzuka would causing the makeshift drill to burrow through the rock. The rock gave way effortlessly against the diamond-like hardness of her chains so that she landed on the other side.

She then skidded the final few feet as she crossed the finish line. Standing up right, she smirked triumphantly as she saw that she was the first of her group to finish the course. Yuugao stepped up to her stating, "Not bad for an old woman. You didn't happen to catch up to the moron that called you that at some point and show him why people called you the bloody habanero did you?"

Kushina sighed vowing to get even with Mikoto for sharing her old nickname with the Family. "It turns out I didn't need to," Kushina said amused.

Yuugao smiled as she said, "Well I'm sure he got off lucky then. It's a shame you don't wish to join. Something tells me you could have done much better if you had wanted to."

Kushina smiled before asking, "What makes you say that?"

Yuugao looked towards some of the other groups that had already run the course and passed. Kushina followed her gaze and could tell that most of them were exhausted unlike her. As if to add to the image, another group of would be ANBU crossed the finish line with one of the contenders falling to his knees as he panted for air. Commenting on her lack of exhaustion, Kushina said, "Well you know about us Uzumaki and our stamina."

"So I've heard," the ANBU captain replied. The amusement drained from her face as she asked, "But I wonder what her story is."

Kushina's gaze tracked where her fellow Family member was looking before landing on a woman that had crossed the finish line along with the last group. Although, she had finished around the middle of the pack, much like she figured Yuugao had seen in her, it was apparent that she could have likely done better. It took Kushina a moment to place the woman due to her appearing older than when she had last seen her, not to mention having been in the middle of giving birth to Naruto. "Taji," she said happily, "you're alive. I'm so happy to see you."

Taji looked over at the red-head and smiled as she said politely, "I could say the same. I'm honored that you remember me."

"How could I not?" the Uzumaki said a little taken aback by the distant tone the woman was using. "You helped bring my son into the world."

Taji nodded replying, "Despite all that I lost on that night. Knowing the good that he has done does make the sacrifice easier."

"W… what do you mean?" Kushina said taken aback. Having looked back on the records kept of the night she had read that all the members of the ANBU squad that had been tasked with protecting her as she gave birth had perished, as did Biwako Sarutobi. She had therefore assumed that Taji had simply been an oversight upon seeing her, and had figured that she was simply taking the test for fun like she was, as a lot of ex-ANBU often took part in the exams to see if they still had the skills.

Yuugao filled her in stating, "Taji survived the attack by Tobi and the explosion that he set off to lure the Fourth Hokage away from you. But she spent the following sixteen years in the coma ward. She was awakened during the first Chakra Wave that passed through the village."

Taji smiled softly as she said, "It was quite jarring to wake up and find I had spent so much time bedridden. The world after all had moved on without me so there wasn't much remaining of the life I had before. That's why I've been training so hard to at least regain my ANBU position."

"I'm so sorry for all that…"

"It is fine Lady Kushina," Taji stated, "None of us could foresee the danger lurking in the shadows. It must have been equally hard on you to find out you had missed out on raising your son."

"Yes…" Kushina admitted, but couldn't help feeling sad for the woman since unlike her, the ANBU hopeful didn't appear to have the same joy that she did due to the relationship she did have with Naruto as both a mother and a lover.

Yuugao stepped in stating, "Well, it is still too early to say since we still have a day of exam takers tomorrow to get through. But based on past experience I would say that based on your time alone you stand an excellent chance of making the cut. The test results will be posted in the usual place by Monday afternoon"

Taji did seem to take a small measure in satisfaction from Yuugao's words before replying, "I hope you are right. If you'll excuse me now I think I'll freshen up."

Kushina watched the woman and noticed the frown on Yuugao's face deepen so asked, "What's wrong? You don't appear happy for her."

The purple-haired woman watched the retreating medic for several more moments before answering, "She has taken the exam at every opportunity since first awakening from her coma. There was some marked improvement naturally in the beginning. But the last several times her score has been rather consistent with her just missing the cut. Either she would pass on the time required, but fail because she rushed through missing key targets. Or, she'd take her time and loss points from taking too long."

"Well perhaps she just found the happy medium," Kushina said. "Her time was about middle of the pack as you said, and we don't know how well she did with the other skill assessments encountered on the course."

Yuugao nodded, but still said feeling uneasy, "That could be the case, but every time she finished in the past you could see the exhaustion that she was feeling. This time… it almost feels like she deliberately finished where she did."

Kushina frowned asking, "What are you suggesting?"

"Nothing at the moment," Yuugao said, "The before and after blood samples will tell us if she took something along the lines of a food pill. If she did then she'd be disqualified. I guess I'm just worried that with regaining her ANBU position being so important to her, she might have decided to attain it by any means necessary."

Kushina could see why Yuugao was concerned since being caught cheating in such a way would not only destroy Taji's dream, but would also disqualify her from any future attempts at making it a reality. "She is a medic so would know that using such methods would be exposed."

"Or how to cover up the signs," Yuugao countered, "But people using such methods often are exposed rather quickly. It sadly also tends to lead to the rest of a squad's demise when it happens. I think Taji would know this, which makes me wonder if perhaps she isn't hoping to use becoming ANBU as another means to commit suicide."

Kushina wanted to deny it, but couldn't help trusting that whatever was making Yuugao uneasy was something worth paying attention to. Unsure of how to help the woman, she nevertheless felt that it was something that she owed her; particularly as she was sure she could show the woman that the present had just as much to offer to her as the past.

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

Yuugao walked down a hall of an apartment building as she thought about how her work week was off to a horrible start. She could see various ANBU investigators asking questions of the victim's neighbors who were standing in their doorways as she approached the room that was the cause of the commotion. She nodded to her men standing at attention on either side of the door before entering the apartment. She saw a young woman looking pale and distraught as she answered questions being asked of her by Komachi. Her lieutenant and fellow Family member upon noticing her presence turned the task over to the man that had been recording the woman's responses.

When Komachi approached she answered the question Yuugao had been about to ask, "Her name is Inaho. She worked with the victim in the Intelligence Division. When he failed to show up after the weekend she volunteered to go rouse him and found him in the bedroom."

Yuugao's gaze turned from the brown-haired woman to the place she had been informed the corpse resided. She could see Ibiki watching as the crime scene investigators gathered evidence from the mummified remains of Tanzo. Approaching the man she said, "How are you holding up?"

Ibiki didn't let the sadness she was sure the man felt at losing a subordinate show as he said sending a concerned look towards the woman that had found Tanzo, "Better than Inaho, I imagine. Rumor had it they were sweet on each other."

Yuugao's gaze returned to the woman as she began to analyze her in a different light, but this time as a potential suspect. However, judging the distress and sadness the woman was giving off as being genuine she figured they would quickly be dismissing her from that list after only a cursory glance. Looking over her shoulder at Komachi she asked, "Do we have a time of death?"

Oyone a female medic-nin with short black hair looked up from her examination of the corpse stating, "A least a few days based on liver temperature. I'm afraid the method used to kill him will make nailing it down further than that impossible without a more thorough autopsy."

"Then do we at least know when the last time he was seen alive was?"

"It was on Friday," Inaho stated.

Ibiki nodded as he said, "I took everyone out to celebrate Tanzo's promotion. I left rather early so I'm afraid I can't offer much more than that." He focused on Inaho as he said with a slight tone of admonishment, "However, we can't be sure that was the last time he was seen alive."

With a tone filled with jealousy Inaho said, "It was that woman that he was talking to. I'm sure of it."

Yuugao and Komachi shared a look as the Anbu Captain asked, "What makes you so sure?"

Inaho seemed to wilt as she admitted, "I…I guess I can be mistaken. I left shortly after he began ignoring me in favor of her." Yuugao could see that Inaho appeared rather self-conscious as she added, "I guess I can't blame him for desiring that woman… her body alone was rather stunning."

"Can you describe her?" Komachi asked.

"Not really," Inaho stated with a frown, "Tanzo had gone up to the bar to refresh his drink. From where I was sitting all I could see of her face was her hair, but her clothes didn't leave much to the imagination and she was quite voluptuous. I could also see quite a few other men were taken with her. When it became apparent Tanzou had forgotten about me…us… I just left."

"What bar did you all visit?"

Ibiki answered Komachi's question stating, "Seventh Heaven in the entertainment district."

Yuugao nodded as she looked towards Komachi who again seemed to know what she was going to say, "I'll swing by there tonight to ask the staff if they can identify her. If she is the culprit though, I doubt she'll be a regular."

"Right now I'll be happy with a description," Yuugao said feeling nervous although she didn't let it show. Recalling Fuka's comments how the murderer was likely building up to something big; Yuugao was forced to agree that might be the case as it appeared she was becoming bolder in selecting her targets. Not sure what she gained from killing her targets, she nonetheless feared the woman was going to stop striking from the shadows to step into the light soon enough, and with no idea as to what her goal or objective was Yuugao couldn't be sure if they would be able to stop her.

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