What's up bitches! Overslept and had a few delays, but I'm here with the next update right on time! The next chapter of The Mirran will be out tomorrow, though. Sorry about that, lol.

Chapter Thirty-One: Retribution

For the rest of the day Naruto had been making preparations for the counterattack on The Organization in Sutare. His clones had helped immensely with the organizing; unfortunately, with the attack on Neo Konoha taken care of, some of the shinobi from the Elemental Nations had to be recalled; the ninja from Kumo, some from Suna, a few from the original Konoha and a couple of others were the ones who had been recalled.

Fortunately, Naruto still had a force of 'mages' behind him in the form of the Akatsuki, the remaining Suna-nin, and his students. They wanted to see this through, it certainly helped that Kaguya herself and her bodyguards were coming along, which was why most of the Akatsuki hadn't left for the Elemental Nations soon after the siege was finished.

"You're sure you don't want anyone else to go with? Like Riful…? Cassandra?" Sakura questioned; the pinkette wasn't happy upon learning Naruto was only taking a token force with him as part of his counter attack.

"I would love to bring as many people as I can with me, but that would leave Neo Konoha exposed," Naruto explained; he knew Sakura was only being protective of him. "The claymores we've taken in will be very helpful in defending our home, but there's still one more guy we have to be on the lookout for after the Organization is dealt with."

That surprised Sakura a bit. "Really? Who?" The pinkette struggled to think just who else would be able to cause them trouble after the Organization has been taken care of. But no matter how hard she tried Sakura just couldn't think of anybody.

"The White Silver King, Isley; the Abyssal One of the North." Naruto answered.

"Ah, him…" groaned out the pinkette as she nodded in confirmation. "I can't believe I forgot that there was another Abyssal One with everything going on. And he's... stronger than Riful, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, he is. And if Dauf's words are anything to go by, Isley's Awakened form is incredibly strong and fast, and he can make any type of weapon he needs for any situation."

"I see…" Sakura muttered thoughtfully as she brought her sole hand up to rub her chin. Given that description, that would mean this Isley fellow would have all his bases covered. A long ranged weapon, like a crossbow; a medium-ranged weapon, like a lance; and a short-ranged weapon like a sword she saw those women wield. "I take it you have a plan in mind for him?"

"Yeah…" Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

Sakura stared at her friend for a moment, before saying in an utter deadpan, "You have no idea what that plan is, do you..."

Without pause Naruto shook his head, and flashed a bright grin the pinkette was all too familiar with. "Nope! I have no idea!" (1)

Sakura exhaled in exasperation; that was rather typical of him… Then again, they had Riful on their side; out of everyone here, sans Kurako and Kaguya, that not-so-little girl was the oldest and wisest. So she would be able to come up with some kind of strategy to fight Isley if he was to venture out of the frozen North to try and take advantage of the power vacuum the dismantling of the Organization would inevitably cause.

They still didn't know if he would for sure, though. Not even Elenda was certain as he undoubtedly knew of Naruto's natural ability to sway the warriors to his side. And there were a hell of a lot more of them now than before.

The pinkette sighed in amused exasperation. "I am not surprised."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Sakura gave him an amused look, before giggling. "Nothing," she said. "Just… be careful. I don't want to lose you a second time."

For some reason, Naruto couldn't help but blush as he averted his gaze. "You've got nothing to worry about," he assured. (2)

A little while later, Naruto, Kurako, Kaguya, and her personal bodyguards were in the great hall, surrounded by the ninja they intended to bring with. Team Konohamaru, Kemushi, Maki, Temari, Kankurou, and the seven Akatsuki were all present. Sylvia, Neideen, and Riful were also present, as were Phae and Akki, but they weren't coming with.

"So," Naruto began. "I take it everyone's ready, then?"

"Now more than ever," Kaguya assured, her tone low, dark, and threatening.

"Right…" Naruto looked a bit nervous upon hearing that. "Just... be sure to focus that unbridled fury on the right people."

"I have no objections, of course… the 'right people' are the men who are wearing black, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then you have no need to worry about me targeting the wrong people."

"We'll evacuate the girls as quickly as we can," Konohamaru assured.

"So will we," Kankurou added.

"Focus on the younger ones," Naruto ordered. "Akatsuki will deal with the older trainees and any warriors present. You know the rules of engagement regarding them don't you?"

"Disarming and subduing," one of the Akatsuki responded. "After that, leave them for the clones."

"Alright, just making sure we're all on the same page is all." the blond said with a satisfied nod and smile.

"Be safe," Sylvia called out.

"We will," Naruto called back reassuringly. "If all goes to plan, we'll be back by dinnertime." Kaguya could open portals willy-nilly, so that wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Naruto looked to the woman in question and gestured for her to do her thing. (3)

And that was precisely what she did; without a word, or even a flick of her wrist, a man sized rift opened up behind her. One by one the shinobi and Kurako stepped through Kaguya's rift, until only Naruto himself remained. He turned and gave them a two-fingered farewell salute, before stepping through himself.

Then the rift closed.

The instant Naruto passed through, his eyes narrowed at the feel of several youma in the area, despite the 20 warriors stationed here... and those were just the ones he could see scrambling about like headless chickens as they and the men prepared for battle. How strange…

"The youma here are the least of our worries," Kurako pointed out. "There are no less than 100 other youki signatures throughout the base, clearly both trainees and warriors, though it's hard to say which one the majority is at this point."

A daunting number to be sure.

He could tell that their sudden appearance elicited quite the reaction from the Organization. "Stick to the plan!" Naruto ordered. "I'll have some clones deal with the youma." With that, he cast Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and created no less than 3,000 clones to assist in their efforts.

Needless to say, the sudden appearance of Naruto's group and 3,000 clones in the middle of Staff had startled the living daylights out of any of the Organization's forces in the area; by the time they got themselves together, they were already beset upon by the clones and ninja.

The men were the first to drop, cut down without mercy, while the five warriors in the immediate area were disarmed, pinned down and hogtied for the clones to bring back to Kaguya. She opened a portal for them and they were brought back to Zakol Castle before the poor girls even realized what was happening. It didn't take long for them to clear out the barracks soon after, and kill off any of the men standing guard on the nearby ramparts as well. Within three minutes, the immediate area was cleared up and secured.

While they fanned out to take out the stragglers and collect the other trainees, Kurako and Kaguya accompanied Naruto himself; since they knew he was the Organization's main target, the both of them figured it would be best if they stay with him as extra protection.

Despite being able to take care of himself, Naruto didn't mind it. After the near death encounter with Cassandra, the blond knew not to leave anything to chance. If the Organization was so damn determined to take him out, he will make those bastards bloody work for it. (4)

"They're in a state of panic," Kurako said. And the moment she did, all three of them sensed multiple youki signatures spike, only for the many, many dozens of them to be snuffed out, "the youma are transforming en masse to fight off your clones. They're being killed mid-transformation, though."

"Did any of the youma transform in front of the trainees and claymores?"

"Yes." Kurako answered.

"Quite a few, in fact," Kaguya chimed in, her all-seeing eyes catching a glimpse of their expressions.

"Alright, then." Naruto couldn't help but smile; with the youma transforming in front of the trainees and the remnants of the warriors, it would help make the girls second guess the Organization… if they didn't already know that is.

If he was in their place and he saw several dozen people they were taking orders from suddenly transform into the very thing he was meant to kill, he would start demanding some damn good answers.

"Strange that the youma are here with them, don't you think?" Kurako asked.

"Yeah. It is," Naruto muttered; he frowned thoughtfully.

"Very strange, indeed," Kaguya agreed; it was almost as if these monsters were secretly working with the claymores in secret.

"You don't think the Organization put them here, do you?" Naruto questioned the God-Empress.

"They were here from the start of the siege, if not sooner," Kaguya replied darkly. "I recognize some of their faces from when I was peeking on them with the Eye of Gelel." Then her eyes narrowed and stared down at the ground; Kaguya cocked her head to the side and frowned. "There's something strange in the lower levels… I can sense it from here; it's barely clinging onto life, but I have a feeling it has something to do with them."

She then activated her all-seeing eyes and her expression twisted into a concerned and very offput scowl.

"What's wrong? What do you see?" Naruto asked her once he saw the look on the woman's face.

"A...giant...something… it looks like a dragon's head?" Kaguya sounded very uncertain. "There's also a large humanoid figure of some kind with it. They're both hooked up to medical equipment of some kind. It's far too advanced for this world's technology…" at least, from what she's seen, "...and it seems to be keeping them both alive, if barely. We may wish to bring Sakura here so she can examine them."

"Right…" Naruto trailed off and tried his best not to show his worry; if something has Kaguya of all people worried, then they have to be bad news.

"Or we could blow this place sky high?" Kurako offered her input.

"We should still try and get Sakura's input first," Naruto told the vixen.

"We should also take a look at their records, if they have any," Kaguya chimed in. "I can't help but feel this Organization is hiding something and my gut tells me that it somehow involves those beings downstairs."

"Sounds like a plan" Kurako said before absolutely beaming when she felt Naruto scratch her between the ears.

"Now, then…" the blond added after a moment of thought. "Let's get this over with."

"The evacuation is nearly done," Kurako pointed out, "There's only a few left. After we round them up, all that's needed is to kill the personnel here. I still say we should blow this place sky high, though..."

"We'll do that after Sakura does her assessment." Naruto promised.

"I'll assist with that," Kaguya chimed in, leering at the fox. "You're not the only one who needs to vent, I assure you."

"Boss, we've got a problem, here" Konohamaru called out on the radio. "This girl's too slippery! Even the Akatsuki are having issues trying to pin her down!"

That… didn't sound good.

Naruto, Kurako, and Kaguya exchanged a glance and nodded.

"We'll be right there," the blond responded.

True to the young chuunin's words, the girl in question was a zippy, little one; she stood only three feet tall and used that and her speed to their fullest.

"I WON'T LET YOU TAKE ME ALIVE!" The frenzied girl hollered as she slipped between the legs of a man in funny-looking robes and whacked the back of his knee with the broken chair leg she brandished as her weapon.

"Son of a bitch!" The poor guy cried out, grasping his very broken leg. Then, when a piece of cloth tried to snatch her up, she appeared to pass right through it.

The girl in question was only about seven or so, garbed in a hospital gown. Her hair still retained original color, making it look like a brunette who had been bleaching her hair, since the girl was still in the process of being converted. Her wild, dull-green eyes bore slit pupils and darted around to keep an eye on everyone she could.

The little hellion was quite fittingly named Hysteria and she was quite proud of herself after having busted up three legs and four arms at this point.

"Fuck!"

...Make that five arms.

Hysteria bolted again as one of the women tried to tackle her, literally bouncing off the wall and ceiling to evade the redhead and going after the woman who was now healing one of the injured men.

Moegi yelped and, with a single hand seal, she erected a stone wall in the girl's way.

Hysteria clicked her tongue in annoyance, rebounding off the new wall and onto the floor, before bouncing back up to the ceiling and around the obstacle, only to… stop. As if held in place by an invisible hand, she floated in midair.

"Never underestimate the power of speed," she heard someone comment and looked up to see that the Demon Lord, himself had made an appearance, along with two other women of terrifying power.

Hysteria did the only thing she could in this situation and squealed in horror, squirming with all her might, even as the cloth-wielding woman bundled her up and restrained her.

"She is utterly terrified of you," Kurako pointed out, looking to her mate with a frown.

Naruto sighed in exasperation, before giving the kyuubi a flat look. "Ya think?" Then, he turned his attention to the girl and said, "Look, no one's gonna hurt you. We just want to take you to a safe place, so you don't get hurt while we... hurt the men who tried to hurt me."

Of course, the girl didn't listen as she kept squirming.

"It appears she hasn't been fully converted yet," Kurako observed, noticing the bleached brown hair and her still green eyes that were still in the process of turning silver. "Considering the amount of chaos she's been causing here, that's pretty damn impressive."

"Really now?" Upon looking around to see the damage she'd done, Naruto let out an impressed whistle, "Damn… this one must have some serious potential then." If she managed to injure several highly trained elite shinobi while her conversion was incomplete, that just told him she would be incredibly powerful once it was finished… she might be stronger than Cassandra!

"I wholeheartedly agree," Kurako said, knowing full well what Naruto was thinking. "She has the potential to be Number One, from the look of it."

Naruto nodded and looked to a battered Maki. "You think you can handle her from here?"

"I—uh... yeah, I can," the woman nodded with a tired groan. She then grabbed the girl and gently slung her over one shoulder like a sack of wheat.

"Careful!" Kurako barked, "she's still converting into a claymore!"

"I'm being gentle," Maki assured. "I'll be careful."

"Just so you know, it's very likely that girl is in serious pain," Naruto pointed out. "I'm told the conversion from human to half-youma is worse than childbirth and being skinned alive, combined."

"I'll check her out in that case," Moegi chimed in. "Managing pain is a pretty basic medical technique; I can do it in my sleep by now." (5)

Naruto gave her a nod in approval at that. "Sounds good." Then he turned to Kaguya. "Is she the last one?"

"There's at least a few dozen more in the next rooms down the hall," she replied. All children; they haven't started the conversion process, yet… presumably because they're too young. That's it though."

"Good to know," Naruto chirped. "Let's deal with them, then."

Not even ten full minutes later, the elders and remaining handlers were in a panicked frenzy, having locked themselves in the most secure room of their base, their last remaining guards having formed a small shield wall before the only way in or out with three men ready to strike on either flank, positioned between them and the entrance. The doorway itself lead to a narrow, spiral staircase and the room was in the highest tower of the base. On the other side, they could hear the banging. Someone was trying to come in.

Unbeknownst to them, they had been herded here by Naruto's forces and the ones banging at the door were just some leftover clones he'd put there to harass them as a distraction. The room itself was in a high tower, perfect for Kaguya and Kurako to… have some fun without damaging anything they still needed to investigate or collect.

Then, the pounding suddenly stopped and there was a loud rumble. The whole room shook violently.

"...What the hell was that?"

Then, before anyone could throw in their two cents, all the men found themselves pinned to the ground, as if pushed down by an unseen force. Unknown to them, that force was momentum.

Outside, floating in the air above Staff, Kaguya ripped the top right off of that tower and tore a wall off with a wave of her hand. Just beneath, Kurako sat in her full-beast form, staring up at the men with a sadistic grin on her face.

"Ya done goofed,"Kurako told them with a sickly sweet tone. Then, Kaguya ripped a portion off the side of the room and started shaking, letting several men in black fall and Kurako gleefully took a snap at them, savoring the meal for a moment and licking her chops. She looked up at Kaguya and giggled. "Looks like we got lucky. The head honcho is in there. We should leave him alive and… kindly ask him for information, I think~!"

"Let me know when you spot him," Kaguya called out. "We'll kill the rest. Do be a dear and make it painful."

Kurako's grin grew even wider at that, "Oh, I intend to~!"

While that horror show was going down, Naruto was in the vault, having discovered their records and looking rather… displeased with what he had found.

"Those bastards…" he muttered under his breath. Naruto was pissed to say the least.

There were so many records, too many in fact, but what he was reading went back at least 5 decades; what he read in this file detailed them liberating a young girl from a town that had been attacked by an unusually large force of youma after the town in question had refused to pay the Organization for their service. It outright stated that the Organization's Elder at the time had sent that large group of youma to attack that town until there was hardly anyone left. Then they sent a small group of Single Digit warriors to wipe out the youma.

To make matters worse, this was the hundredth recorded instance of that happening!

The ones that managed to survive these ordeals were always few in number; the girls were taken in by the ones who sent the youma there in the first place and they became warriors of the Organization.

The boys on the other hand, they were sent North. They were never heard from again. And the reason for that was very simple: the Organization took the boys to some sort of facility and turned them into youma and sometimes, even Awakened Beings, away from prying eyes.

What was even more fucked up was that the carcasses of the youma they sent out to wipe the town was collected by the Organization and their flesh was used to make more warriors!

Naruto was not a happy person after reading that to say the least. The mere idea of Sylvia, Cassandra, Miranda and so many of his mistresses going through all this made his blood boil. Setting the document down, the blond put his hands into the cross seal and several puffs of smoke suddenly appeared around him.

"Collect the documents," Naruto commanded his clones as the smoke dispersed into the air, "We're going to need them."

The clones nodded and started to do just that with every document they could get their hands on before sealing them away.

Moments later, in the lower chamber of the Organization, Haruno Sakura looked rather troubled.

With gloves, eye protection, and a breathing mask on for good measure, she cast an examination technique upon the giant head. It was enormous, almost as big as that of a Bijuu, in fact, and very alien to her.

The damn thing had three full rows of teeth and appeared genderless; genetically speaking, it was somehow literally neither male nor female, like a damn slug or a bacteria! Its brain was also three times her size and the creature's genetic makeup was eerily similar to Riful in particular.

It certainly didn't help that there was another being; smaller, humanoid in appearance, but equally genderless. And genetically speaking, the smaller creature and the huge giant head were the same species… and from what she could tell, these creatures were incredibly similar to youma, and by extension, warriors and awakened beings.

Scarily so in fact.

Both of these creatures were hooked up to some sort of machine that was keeping them both alive. Sakura was certain that if those cables weren't hooked up to them, then they would die. Both of them were missing large chunks, too—the pieces having clearly been surgically removed.

The implication of that did not bode well.

Of course, Kaguya was examining the machinery, probably wondering if her empire could make use of this technology. Naruto and Kurako were there as well.

"I don't think you want to hear this," Sakura began, turning to look at Naruto with a worried frown, "but I… suspect that the Organization has been using these creatures to create youma. The genetic similarities are simply too close for it to be coincidental. This one's DNA is terrifyingly similar to Riful in particular… they could be cousins, in fact."

"Really, now…" Naruto mused aloud; he looked up at the giant 'dragon head' and pursed his lips. "What about Dauf's?" he asked looking to his friend with a curious frown.

"His genetics seem to come from the other one… and a little bit of this one," Sakura admitted with some hesitation, "whatever has been done here, it involves both of these things."

"...and the warriors are also related to these things." Even Naruto was quickly able to connect the dots despite his relative lack of knowledge in the realm of genetics... and other shortcomings. He looked to the more 'human' looking one for a quick moment, gave it a quick look over before doing the same thing to the massive head beside it. "Warriors turn into awakened beings when they release too much of their youki…"

"Yeah, I recall that much, what exactly are you getting at?" Sakura asked.

The corners of Naruto's mouth curved down, before he gestured to the smaller being and the bigger one, "Humor me for a moment, but what if the smaller one is like a warrior and the bigger one is like an awakened being? If warriors are made from the flesh of youma, who are somehow made from the flesh of these two…"

"You're not too far off," Kurako chimed in. "From what I learned from this Organization's Elder, awakened beings are just an artificial mockery of these creatures, an attempt to recreate them, essentially. The older they are the stronger they become. And like awakened beings, once they transform they are unable to revert back; this big head is what they would look like after their transformation."

Naruto frowned deeply before letting loose a heavy sigh. "Well, at least that means the youma we kill won't be replacing themselves."

Kurako frowned as well, sensing her mate's inner turmoil and took his hand. He smiled and laced his fingers with hers in response.

Kaguya, meanwhile, let loose a thoughtful hum as she examined the creatures more closely with her all-seeing eyes.

"They also… don't quite seem to be of this world," the God-Empress added. That had gotten looks from Naruto, Kurako and Sakura, resulting in Kaguya shrugging helplessly. "Don't give me that look. I have no clue as to where they came from… but for some reason this big headed creature looks familiar. I cannot recall where I had seen it, though." She had been imprisoned inside that damned butter churn for ten millennia, and lived for thousands more so of course she had forgotten many things over the course of her lifetime.

Kaguya hummed thoughtfully. "Being imprisoned within a moon for ten millennia and having a large portion of my very being torn out did a number on my memories; add the fact that my empire had once spanned a thousand entire realms on top of that, and you will find it is very difficult to recall past events." Kaguya paused for a moment and pursed her lips in deep thought, "...I do recall, despite my memory failing me, that the being these two distantly resemble had the ability to traverse dimensions like myself. What were they called again…?"

"I'm sure it'll come to you in time, mother," Kurako said with a toothy grin; Kaguya sent the vixen a flat stare, unamused at being called her mother. Granted, Kurako was made from some of her essence… which also meant the fox girl was her daughter in a way…yeah...she ain't opening that can of worms.

"...Whatever." Kaguya looked to Naruto, which made Kurako pout adorably at failing to get a rise out of the God-Empress, "what do you intend to do with these things?"

"Put them out of their misery." Naruto answered with a heavy sigh.

"My sense of humor aside," Kurako spoke up, bringing their attention back to her, "they're called Asarakam, according to the Elder."

Kaguya perked up at that. "...Asarak! That's where I recognize them! They're the descendants of a dimension-hopping half-dragon named Asarak!" She gave them a second look and nodded, noting that they bore a strong resemblance to him. "Yes, they must be!" (6)

"You know him?" Naruto asked.

"...I know of him," Kaguya replied hesitantly. "He's visited one of my realms or another from time to time..." and with a shrug she added, "I don't know what happened to him since, though…for obvious reasons. He could be dead now, for all I know."

"Ah, okay, then," Naruto replied.

"The faction the Organization is working for is at war with another faction who are allied with the Asarakam," Kurako chimed in. "The Organization has been using this continent as a testing ground for creating a controllable Awakened Being as a countermeasure." She gave her mate a sad look upon seeing the horrified expression; Kurako knew Naruto had connected the dots but continued, if only to get her thoughts out and to let Kaguya and Sakura know just in case they're still in the dark, "The hybrids are nothing more than experiments to the Organization—a means to an end."

Sakura scowled in disgust, before giving Naruto a concerned look.

"Hmm… a means to an end…" Kaguya mused aloud, "if these warriors are experiments of the Organization, then it's not hard to say the Awakened Beings are the failures."

Naruto scowled at that. It was just so... cruel to think about it like that, but it made the most sense. And any warriors who were too much trouble for the Organization would simply be disposed of.

"Good thing we're putting a stop to them, then," he snarled.

"The ones here are only part of the Organization," Kurako pointed out. "There's also the personnel on the mainland."

"And I'll deal with them too, as soon as I can," Naruto replied.

Then the blond turned to the Asarakam, then to Kurako, and gestured for her to take care of them. The vixen did so and with a blur of motion, the cables they were hooked up to were severed. Almost immediately the Asarakam began to decompose now that there was nothing keeping them alive, and within a matter of minutes, nothing was left of them.

Kurako landed beside them and straightened herself.

Naruto nodded at her before turning on his heels, "Let's go." he called out before making his way out of the chamber. He wanted to blow this place sky high... and Kurako was more than happy to aid him in that when they left.

Though not before Kaguya snatched up the medical technology and stashed it away somewhere through a portal, of course...

1: I mean, Naruto is still Naruto; even in this setting, with everything he's been through, Spy and I are doing our best to keep him in character, and he strikes me in particular as the type who thinks best on his feet. He's bad at planning ahead, or rather, relatively so when it comes to military tactics specifically, but capable enough and adaptable. That's my headcanon, at least, and I don't appear to be alone in that.

2: Given that she was his first crush, I can't help but imagine her still affecting him on occasion. Of course, it wouldn't be nearly as potent as it would before he met Sylvia, but still.

3: Seriously, that ability alone is broken as fuck. Why did she not separate them all in canon? She was more than capable of chucking every last one of her opponents into separate universe... or dimensions... or whatever the fuck you wanna call them.

4: It's always so jarring to see how dumb Naruto is in canon, especially given that he clearly had a brain during the whole Tsunade retrieval arc.

5: Sounds far more believable than reviving a dead fish if you ask me.

6: As far as I'm aware, the Asarakam have no real backstory aside from being draconic in appearance, genederless, and at war with the Organization. So, making them descendants of a domonic half-dragon who can traverse the realms of existence like Kaguya just... kinda fits at least in this story.

And that's about it for now. Again, I'll be back tomorrow with another chapter of The Mirran.