Chapter 29: Life goes on (Part II)

“Targets are 750m North, North-East.”

Riku nodded at the information that Hinata gave him. The two of them along with Shino and Ino were on a mission to the Land of woods. A small archipelago of islands very close to the Land of Fire and right between the Land of Forest and The Land of Water. Their mission was to meet with an informant in Cedar about the country’s activities. Six years after the Kyubi attacked the village, Konoha had tried to make an alliance with the country even though they knew that the chances were high they would be betrayed. Something that happened but Konoha walked out of it victorious. Of course it wasn’t public knowledge though it wasn’t that much of a secret among the shinobi population. The mission’s objective wasn’t even related to the Land of Woods itself but to the Land of water which has been in a civil war for more than a decade. Surprisingly, no information had leaked from that country and everyone in the Elemental Nations was in the dark about the happenings there. When an informant contacted Konoha, they said they might know some things about it and that the Land of Woods was somewhat involved. Tsunade wanted to send an Anbu Team but decided against it. What was happening in Kiri and its country wasn’t affecting Konoha directly but she couldn’t just ignore it either. In consequence she sent Riku and gave him the option of picking up anyone he wanted of the chunin rank. He had chosen Hinata for her tracking and capture abilities, Shino also for his tracking abilities and ambush skills with his bugs and Ino… He didn’t choose her. At least not at first. It was Hinata who advised him to take her in the team for her spying and interrogation technique and changed his mind. He had no problem being professional during a mission but if he could not be teamed up with people he didn’t like he would do so.

It’s been almost three years since his promotion to chunin. And six months since his promotion to Jonin. Between his prowess in taijutsu, fuinjutsu and nature manipulation he had proven himself by taking on Kakashi in a fight. He lost but he had pushed the best jonin in the village to use his sharingan and to really try a bit for victory and thus earned his promotion. Hinata, Shino and Ino all became chunin a month ago during the chunin exam hosted by Suna. They weren’t the only ones who got a promotion. In fact the only ones who didn’t among the genins he knew the names of were Kiba and Lee. They weren’t quite there yet, too hot headed but they definitely had the strength. It has been a close call and ultimately failed.

“How do we approach the situation?” inquired Ino.

The situation was a team of Kiri-nins. When their own team arrived in Cedar, they found out that the informant had been killed. And not long ago since his blood was still warm. Hinata didn’t see anything with her Byakugan but Shino’s had picked hup a blood trail. They followed it for three hours and landed them right where they currently were.

“Hm… If Hinata is comfortable with it, mind transfer into her then use her byakugan to mind transfer into one of them. Try to get as much info as you can then create discord. Incapacitate your host then jump to another if you can or simply come back into your body, Hinata will watch over it. Shino be ready to ambush them if something goes south.”

“What about you?” asked the Aburame.

“Hinata will keep me apprised of what’s going on. Should things turn ugly I’ll shushin right in the middle of them and take out the ones that hadn’t been drained yet. Preferably we want at least one of them alive for interrogation. More and it’s a bonus. The question is… Hinata do you mind-”

“Not at all.” the bluenette answered on the spot, not even letting him finish his question.

“I never thought about possessing a Hyuga to use the Byakugan.” commented Ino.

“I’m not surprised. Your clan is so close to the Akimichi and the Nara and so effective together that they never bothered to think about other possibilities.”

“Like my clan with the byakugan.” said Hinata in a sad tone.

Her clan was so full of itself that it refused to even contemplate the idea of using the byakugan for something else than Taijutsu. It was the best of tools for a medic but that was beneath them. Saving lives was beneath the Hyuga. That knowledge enraged him. That wasn’t the worst though. The whole clan, because of tradition and because at one point in time did very well with their gentle fist, refused to diversify their skills. No nature manipulation of any kind, no ninjutsu, no genjutsu, no nothing. Just taijutsu. Taijutsu that hasn’t evolved in… ever. They were the embodiment of ‘don’t fix what ain’t broke’. In other words, they were stagnating and stagnation was in fact a decline. With the Uchiha gone and the Senju almost extinct because Tsunade was too old to have children, the Hyuga believe themselves the kings of Konoha. As such their arrogance who already went through the roof shot up even higher. For all the insults they levied at Hinata, openly or not, the Hyuga elders were both stupid and blind. Considering they all have the ‘all-seeing-eye’ it says a lot about how moronic all the Hyuga were. Except Hinata. She saw her clan declining, she saw the schism between the main and side branch and she saw bit by bit the clan getting weaker. Riku knew she was training in secret in other things than the Juken, she had subtly admitted as much but he didn’t know what. He just hoped that it would work out well for her.

“Unfortunately, yes. Tradition is just peer pressure from the old and the dead in my opinion. If it stops your clan from getting stronger then you should either adapt it for the modern times or abandon it altogether. Then again I’m not from a clan, what do I know?”

“Your logic is sound. There is no point in the perseverance of upholding tradition if it leads to your destruction. As shinobi we must adapt to survive after all.” Shino agreed.

The plan ready, they closed the distance to their targets who had set camp but no closer than a 100m. Shino was the first to act, dispersing his insects around the enemy camp. The sun had set an hour ago, it was summer and they were in a very dense forest. A perfect recipe for insects to be everywhere. Shino’s bugs couldn’t hope for a better cover.

“I’m in position.” he signed and Riku turned to Ino who nodded. She did a series of hand seals while targeting Hinata who had her byakugan active and mind jumped into her. Riku caught her body and laid it against a tree trunk.

“Wow. That’s weird.” she whispered. “But also very beautiful. You’re lucky, Hinata, to be able to see all that whenever you want. And those…” under Shino and Riku’s eyes, Ino-Hinata, grabbed firmly her breasts with her hands and began to knead them. “They are even bigger than before!”

Riku did everything he could to not facepalm or hit Ino to stop behaving stupidly. She was in Hinata’s body after all. Instead he whispered.

“Ino, focus.”

“Right, Right.” she said, apparently remembering that she was on a mission. “Okay, so… It needs a little getting used to but it’s fine. Hmm. That blonde guy. The one with his headband against his mouth. I’ll dive into him in 3, 2 , 1.”

Hinata’s posture suddenly changed and a slight scowl appeared on her face. Clearly, ino had jumped and Hinata got possession of her body back.

“Ri-kun, could you.. No nevermind, we’re on a mission.” she began to ask but changed her mind while glaring at Ino’s body.

“How is Ino doing?”

“She’s listening to them talking.”

They waited for a good fifteen minutes until things started happening.

“Nasty. Ino just severed the spine of two of them at their lower back. Then she jumped into the third.”

“Her first body is being drained.”

“And now she sectioned the ligament and tendons on her own body. And…”

“I’m back!” said the sitting blonde.

“The blonde one is making a run for… ah no, Shino completely drained his chakra.”

“I’m going in.”

With that said. Riku shushined into the camp and acted fast. He knocked them all out then created clones, to heal their wounds. Once done he checked them for any information they may have taken from their informant, then sealed them into his BoS after putting them inside his special crates. The rest of the team joined him as he was administering treatment.

“Good job, everyone. Now let’s bail out. I’d like to reach the Land of Forests before the sun rises. We’ll set camp there.”

Everyone nodded and followed his lead. It took them one hour to reach the coast of the Land of Woods, three more to run across the sea to reach their destination and one more to go deeper in the land to set camp. Ino had been quite vocal in her praises towards Riku for setting it in a matter of minutes thanks to having everything at the ready on seals. Shino and Hinata agreed. For the first time they were able to take a hot bath while in the wild during a mission and for that alone he had their eternal respect. Had Hinata not shut up Ino on the spot when he revealed the rudimentary bathtub, Riku was sure she would have proposed.

It had taken him some time but Riku had noticed that Ino was infatuated with him. Every time they met, she was flirty and really touchy when she could. The realization had nearly made him barf on the spot. He couldn’t get his head around the bend on how that could have happened and if he had to be honest, didn’t really care. Sure, Ino was turning into a very alluring woman but the memories of their years at the academy were making it impossible for him to answer her flirty attitude in any way. That was not to say that his mind went unchanged. No, he… liked the teenage Ino. The not-a-fangirl Ino but then again, memories…

Not like what Ino felt really mattered, anyway. His heart belonged to someone else. She may not have been as beautiful as Tsunade or Yugao but he loved every second spent with Karin. He didn’t know why but her red hair was even more beautiful than Yugao’s (and in some measure Anko’s) in his opinion. He didn’t know where that came from.

After that night, Riku learned to take guard duty right after Ino because when he woke up in the morning she was spooning him tightly. Something that shouldn’t have happened because he was sharing a tent with Shino and she was sharing a tent with Hinata. Hinata had been amused and he sent her a murderous glare for that.

Their journey back lasted a week. Avoiding Ino has been more tiring than the actual mission itself. Mainly because she was with him on the team making things very difficult. So when he saw Konoha’s gate, it was the third most beautiful sight in his life (the first being Tsunade’s breasts and the second Yuagao’s ass).

“Home, sweet home.” he said happily.

“Finally. That mission was boring.”

“I’m fine with it. Why? Because a boring mission is not a dangerous mission.”

“Shino got a point, Ino.”

“I’ll make a verbal report to sensei, you’re all free to go home and get some rest. And once again, good job everyone.” Riku said and shushined away. Ino grumbled, not happy with the development.

“There, there.” Hinata patted her shoulders in comfort. She has been doing that a lot these past few months. She didn’t mind but she wished her best friend would have chosen another boy to have a crush on. Not the one who had a crush on her other dense and clueless of his feelings, best friend. She found that little love triangle amusing. Ino liked Riku who liked Karin who liked… well she wasn’t sure about that. Karin’s eyes settled on many people. First and foremost Ino and Hinata herself, and also Riku, and Tsunade and Shizune, and that nurse guy at the hospital… And she was pretty sure she was eyeing Yugao and Anko too. And…

‘Many, many other people. What the hell, Karin?!’

Shaking her head, she wished a best of luck to Ino but also Riku who had just entered the Hokage’s office. Tsunade’s face immediately lit up and in a flash had him in a bear hug. She couldn’t tease him by smothering him in her bosom anymore though. Riku had begun his growth spurt and was now a good 10cm taller than she was.

“Good to see you too, sensei.” he smiled softly, returning the hug.

“How was the mission?” she asked, disengaging herself from their shared embrace and making her way back to her office chair.

“The informant is dead, we arrived a tad too late. His body was still warm so Shino used his bugs to track the culprits down in case they had the information since the whole place was ransacked. They were camping three hours away from Cedar, those idiots. A four man team wearing Kiri headbands. All captured ready for interrogation. Three of them needed healing which I provided though I only stopped the bleeding and mended the wounds, they will never walk again though. Ino had been quite vicious.”

“Oh?” she asked in curiosity with an eyebrow raised.

“I had her possess Hinata and use her byakugan to take possession of one of the enemies. From there after spying a bit she sectioned the spinal nerve at the lower back of two of them then she cut off the ligaments and tendons of her vessel’s knees.”

Tsunade whistled when she heard that, clearly surprised and impressed.

“Since no walking abilities isn’t detrimental to them spilling secrets but forbid them to ever escape I left that damage alone. At least for now.” he finished his report and she nodded. “I’ll pay a visit to T&I to drop them off.”

Tsunade dismissed him and he left for his destination. He was lucky Anko was busy having fun with a guest. He could hear the scream from two floors above. Instead he encountered Ibiki who was on his way back from a late lunch. After a bit of small talk, Riku told him about his prisoners and handed him the page containing them. 

“I don’t know if I should love you or hate you, kid. On one hand we have more prisoners than ever to have fun with but on the other we have more prisoners than ever.” the head of T&I said, referring to the massive increase in work for his department.

“Blame Anbu. They’re the ones having fun bringing back people when they don’t necessarily have to. I’m just a drop in the ocean. Besides, it keeps Anko busy and that’s always a good thing for everyone involved with her. Well… except her victims.”

“True.” the scared man replied with a nasty grin.

Afterwards he left for home and summoned Katsuyu to just spend time together. The first one to get back home was Shizune. Ever since that very first full naked body massage he gave her she had been hooked. Not because he was good, which he was, but because he had kept his words and completely molested the shameless closet pervert while she had been in his hands. It had taken time but he had given her an orgasm that had been very welcomed after an awful nightshift. Just before she fell asleep, because of how tired, relaxed and good she felt, she gave him one hell of a kiss in a dazed state. That had been his very first. First out of many. Since then she wouldn’t settle for a ‘lesser type of massage’. Riku didn’t mind, he was free to explore and learn a woman’s body in a sexual manner. There was no actual sex involved however, except maybe oral sex from him. Shizune had been surprised but didn’t mind one bit his sudden attack on her pussy with his tongue. Rick had joked that she was borderlining on pedophilia afterwards and she argued that he was an adult because of being a shinobi and that even if he had been a civilian the legal age for sex was fourteen. She also was vehement in saying that she didn’t really have a preference for younger boys or preferences in general but that she drew a line at the legal age. With how busy she was with her job and teaching Karin, she had no free time for joining the dating pool and if Riku was offering her his services then she certainly wouldn't and didn’t turn him away.

“Welcome home, Shizune-senpai!” He greeted her.

“Ri-kun!”

She was on him immediately. Her hands grabbed his cheeks and she pulled him down for a very hot french kiss that he didn’t fight. When she had had enough she broke it.

“I needed this. You’ve been away for three weeks! That’s way too long.” she chastised with a hint of whine in her voice.

“Missions are missions, senpai.”

“You’re lucky I just came home to pick up something, otherwise…”

“Bad idea. Sensei was almost as happy with my return as you are. She’d probably be home early.”

“Dang it!”

Their fun time was a secret to anyone but them. It only happened when she got back from a night shift. With Karin being a heavy sleeper, and the mute barrier he had invented especially for the occasion, their bases were well covered. Not like Shizune particularly cared about being found out, she was shameless after all but Riku did if that person was Karin.

Shizune left quickly and Riku began to work on dinner himself instead of using clones. He drew a bubble bath while the duck meat marinated and began to work on seals. The past year he had achieved a lot in that subject. He had been successful in creating his chakra paper expansion jutsu. He had quickly given up on the idea of a seal, since it could enter in conflict with the seal he would write on the paper, so instead he went for ninjutsu and boy that has been a bitch and a half. Without the knowledge of the Akimichi on how they did it, he had to do it from scratch. That was way harder than recreating the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. With this one he had the Nidaime notes for the Kage Bunshin so he had a base to start with and build upon. Here he had nothing but ideas. Most notably regarding how the expansion could happen. He found the answer in the fact that expansion or growth was possible both for humans but also for plants. The Akimichi and the mokuton proved that. Mokuton could grow a single seed into a mighty tree. The only link between the two was that both were probably using yang chakra. In fact he turned out to be right when he asked Tsunade and the Sandaime about the mokuton in detail. From there, creating the jutsu had not been difficult, just complex and time consuming even with ten shadow clones involved. Nevertheless he had succeeded. He shared his findings and the jutsu with them but asked to keep quiet about it which they did without a second thought.

His success had given him an idea about how to tackle his space expansion seals. By using a box made of wood. He had written a good seal to semi-separate the inside of it into a different dimension with an always open gate allowing the coming and going through it. Now he just had to combine it with his expansion jutsu that he would apply on the wood. That was the difficult part. In the end he believed that creating one seal doing everything in one would work and had been trying for the past two months. He knew he was close from the results he got.

“I’m home!”

Hearing his sensei’s voice, Riku stood up from his seat and went to welcome her.

“Welcome home, sensei. Dinner will be ready in one hour. In the meantime I made you a bubble bath.”

“Thank you.” she answered with a smile and made a beeline for the bathroom ‘Best apprentice ever.’ she mused.

“I left things for you on the edge of the bathtub to enjoy the time!” she heard as she reached her destination.

Closing the door behind her, she undressed quickly and went into the shower to quickly wash herself. Once done, she entered the bubble bath.

“Hmmm. Perfect.” she moaned, the hot water making her feel good. “The only thing missing is-oh?!”

Right in the corner of the thub she saw many things. Including a bottle of alcohol and a glass next to a pile of books. Crawling on all four there because she didn’t want to feel the cold of the air, she picked the bottle and served herself a drink as she took a sitting position.

“Oh, yeah… This is the life.” she mused in bliss. “Taking Riku as an apprentice was the best decision ever. Great student, efficient chores boy, excellent masseur and good cuddler.”

After her first full body massage, the Godaime Hokage had been hooked too. Unlike with Shizune, nothing lecherous happened with Tsunade. At first she was uncomfortable with being naked but thinking back to the dynamics of every morning and the event of what happened the morning after his fourteenth birthday, she just went with it. Riku had seen her body plenty of times and had even played with it a bit. In fact after her first experience, she took him on his word for cuddling. She always felt refreshed after a good night of suffocating him to death. She didn’t even mind that he got his perverted paws on her breasts.

“Hmm? What’s this?” she asked as she eyed the books near the bottle. They were sporting seals so the humidity or the water would damage them. There was a medical book about the use of prosthetics, one on history and one was a trashy romance novel. Her focus shifted on the black thing next to them. “And that?”

She picked the thing up and immediately felt the varnish and the wood it was made of. The object was 15 cm in length and 6 cm wide with one rounded edge.

“‘Channel chakra into it.’” were the words carved on the flat edge. Curious, Tsunade did as instructed and the thing began to vibrate violently. It surprised her so much that she dropped it into the water. Unfortunately for her, the object landed right between her closed legs and touched the most sensitive part of her body. The yell she let out was heard all over the manor. In a flash, Riku came bursting through the bathroom’s door, kunai in hand.

“Sen-”

He couldn’t even finish what he was saying because of a long vibrating black object impacting his forehead so hard that he flew back outside and lost consciousness. The object fell to the ground, still vibrating.

Back into the room Tsunade had perhaps the reddest face she ever had in her entire life, hand up in the air in an ending throwing position.

“I have the worst apprentice ever. Stupid, moron!  Creating… creating…”

She blushed even redder and sank into the water until it reached just below her eye level.