Chapter 151 – Stalemate and Status Update
Tsunade glowers at the Uzumakis. Fugaku and Hizashi both cringe. Orochimaru impassively smiles.
Out of everyone present, Hizashi is the one who least wants his niece to have sex with Naruto. After that shout, he is fairly confident that Naruto is the reason they are in this mess. Even if Naruto is not directly responsible, he is likely taking advantage of the situation to prey on Hinata in some fashion.
Hizashi is the sort of person who has always had a strict personal sense of right and wrong, but lacks any desire to change the world or even his clan. He merely wants himself and those he cares about not to be wronged. His brother, Hiashi Hyuga, the family head, focuses all his attention on politics, business, and improving the clan’s status using the name of Hizashi as a big stick. Hizashi never complained about this, since it was not really harming anyone he cared about.
His opinion of Hinata, his niece, is that she is a sweet and caring girl, who his brother has unfortunately treated as a disappointment due to her kind nature and timidity towards fighting. Hizashi understands the need for powerhouse shinobi, especially considering all the death he has seen at the hands of the tailed beasts, but in his book, sweet and caring girls ought to be protected. As Hinata’s doting uncle, he tried to show her kindness whenever he came across her. Now though, some unknown factor has corrupted the minds of the townspeople and his niece is being regarded as a sexual plaything!
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm down. For those who are familiar with him, they would know that this is when he is at his deadliest. Once his eyes open, both his Byakugan and Sharingan are activated. He calmly asks the spokeswoman elder, “Or else what?”
The elderly spokeswoman is likely either at peace with staring death in the face or suffering from some form of dementia, because she impressively stands steadfast while everyone around her takes a step back upon seeing Hizashi’s eyes activated. She croaks out, “This is a democracy! We will call a strike and grind this town’s economy to a halt until Lady Hokage sees reason, steps down, or is impeached!”
Tsunade pales. She can handle fighting, but a strike or a recession? She’ll have so much work that she’ll either want to kill herself or quit! These old foxes are still so cunning even while brainwashed!
Fugaku chuckles a bit at Hizashi awkwardly deactivating his eyes and winding down from his combat mode. There’s a tight camaraderie between the two of them since they both have one Byakugan and one Sharingan, albeit on opposite eyes. They don’t see eye to eye on morals or how to raise their sons, but they’ve fought together for decades and have near perfect synergy so it's impossible for them not to be like brothers. Hizashi lightly punches Fugaku on the arm while chuckling himself and says, “Come on, be serious. What do we do?” Fugaku shrugs and the stalemate continues.
Tsunade sees a white mop of hair pop up in one of the shops in her field of view. She spots Jiraiya poke his head out while eating a chicken wing, scope out the unfavorability of the situation, and sink back down behind the shop counter, abandoning them to the angry mob without hesitation. Veins begin to protrude on Tsunade’s forehead.
She honestly doubts she had reached this level of rage when facing Gyuki. Even though it had killed her lover, it's a wild beast at the end of the day. These are her townspeople! Tsunade feels desperation. She can imagine from what she’s seen so far that the vast majority of the townspeople will oppose them on this topic and join the strike. She might even be impeached by the day’s end!
Orochimaru finally chimes in, “I have an idea.” The other three shinobi look at him with hope. He strokes his chin and suggests, “Do as they say and let the two have sex.”
The others immediately frown. Tsunade spits on the ground and Hizashi shakes his head. Fugaku takes the idea seriously though, because he notices Naruto tense up when Orochimaru makes that suggestion. He requests clarification from Orochimaru, “Right here, out in the open like Naruto had said?”
Orochimaru smiles and replies, “Exactly like he said.” And before Tsunade and Hizashi can argue or attack him, he offers chakra strings from his Throat Chakra to each of them.
Once connected privately, he says, “Isn’t it strange that Naruto is always talking about sex with Hinata when his penis is clearly injured? Isn’t it strange that those who are brainwashed also aren’t bothering about addressing the fact that he cannot have sex even if he wants to? It’s almost like they are unreasonably following the ‘Naruto and Hinata can have sex whenever they want’ law to the letter.. Isssn’t it?”
The lightbulb turns on in Fugaku’s mind. “You’re saying..! Naruto is only able to pit them against us because of that imaginary law! As long as we work within the confines of that law, there will be no trouble..”
Orochimaru transmits, “We don’t know what else he has up his sleeve, but judging by his nervousness, that should be the case.”
Unsure whether to feel relief from how simple the solution is or dismay from how ridiculous this day is, Tsunade just stands in place speechlessly.
Hizashi feels similar, but he argues, “What about Hinata? We cannot let that happen to her.”
“No other option but to test it out.” says Orochimaru. He does a short set of hand signs and a raised earthen platform at approximately the height of a lab table rises in the middle of the square. Naruto struggles while he is placed on the table and says, “STOP! I WANFFmmph--!” Orochimaru seals his test subject’s lips with chakra strings. He is pleased to see that no one reacts, other than Kushina, who says, “Hey! Easy on the kid.”
Tsunade is ready to get this over with, so she lowers Hinata onto the table as well. As long as no virginities are being lost, she is fine with whatever happens. Naruto is still trying to scream, but he is unintelligible with his lips sealed together by chakra string.
Orochimaru lays the hand of the unconscious Hinata on Naruto’s injured crotch and notes that all the tension drains out of the shinobis surrounding them. Most of them leave right then and there! Fugaku transmits, “Haha! So an attempted handjob by an unconscious woman on a veritable hostage counts as acceptable sex!”
Orochimaru raises Hinata’s hand, watches the remaining townspeople tense up again, and places it back down to drain their tension. He repeats this for fun, almost causing the veneer of casual calm to drop and reveal his maniacal excitement.
“Stop it!” Tsunade orders. “That’s creepy as fuck. Just leave her hand there so we can have some semblance of normalcy.”
Fugaku coughs to stop his own chuckling. Orochimaru brews in thought while most of the townspeople leave, including the Uzumakis, except for Kushina. Tsunade narrows her eyes at Orochimaru and says, “Tell us more of what you are thinking, Orochi. Why do you think everyone is ignoring how we are treating Naruto when they were keen on enforcing that law before?”
Orochimaru reluctantly reveals a portion of his findings, knowing that Tsunade will call him out if he is blatantly uncooperative. “I am not sure. Have you tried to use mental jutsu on him? He is ssshielded in some way.”
Hizashi looks into Naruto’s eyes and confirms Orochimaru’s findings. “I too am unable to read his memories. They are shrouded in a fog.” They are still speaking privately, so Naruto is still panicking, otherwise he might get unnecessarily cocky.
By now, Orochimaru already suspects Naruto has run into some extremely powerful item far beyond the current technological prowess of Konoha. There are rumors of ancient artifacts said to contain incredible power beyond the limit of recorded history. Historians agree that at some point, around 10,000 years ago, the records of previous civilizations had been intentionally destroyed. So even though the Shinobi World’s power structure is much more developed in comparison to the subsidiary worlds like Fire World, there have always been attempts to unearth the past.
Since the item does not utilize chakra, he suspects that Naruto’s item has something to do with Dao. The Dao of Law specifically, and that Naruto's current power level means he could only create one law with it. This would explain why the entire town accepted it instantly and why Naruto had become helpless after they found the loophole.
Orochimaru maintains his poker face. He figures Naruto either has the item on him, at his house, or somewhere secret. Judging from how much he is lacking in composure, it is most likely on his person. Orochimaru restrains himself from checking Naruto’s body though.
He is sure that if he removes something suspicious from Naruto, then he will be attacked there and then by all three of his peers. Even with the element of surprise, he would not be able to escape. There are others that would come to reinforce them as well. It all comes down to whether he can get his hands on the item without the others noticing.
After hearing about the commotion involving his daughter, Hiashi Hyuga leisurely arrives from the nearby Hyuga clan compound. Age has not treated him as well as Hizashi, so while Hizashi and Fugaku look like middle-aged men in good health, Hiashi has crows feet and sporadic wrinkles. He looks at his unconscious daughter and says, “What’s going on, Hizashi? Why is Hinata unconscious and not doing her duty properly?”
Before Hizashi can reply, Orochimaru untethered his private connections and asks, “The Uzumakis had no problem with the job Hinata is doing.. Why is it that you have a problem, Hiashi?”
Hiashi is momentarily taken aback, before he says, “If you ever become a father, Orochimaru” addressing the shinobi scientist with mild disdain, “Then you’ll know that we parents hold our own children to high standards of excellence. Naruto may be having sex with Hinata, but she’s not actively contributing!”
Orochimaru counters, “Is that so? But Naruto said that he wanted to have sex with Hinata while she was unconscious, so that’s why we haven’t bothered to wake her.”
Somewhat embarrassed for butting in when there had been no need, Hiashi tries to defend himself, “Oh, was that the case? If that’s how he wants it, then there’s no other choice. And you can’t blame me for not knowing that. The girl has middling talent. She has to make it up with hard work. He’s spoiling her with his treatment! Urm, well carry on then.”
Hiashi starts to walk away and Hizashi mutters, “Yeah.. see you bro.” The latter cannot stop his eye from twitching at how his brainwashed brother behaves as usual even in the current ridiculous situation.
Tsunade cracks her knuckles and looks at Orochimaru again. She has no patience for puzzle-solving, but her intuition tells her that Orochimaru knows much more than he’s letting on. She is convinced that it would be easier to find out what she needs to know from Naruto with his mouth shut than pulling information from her peer. Kushina approaches them and says, “My son looks like he’s in pain. I need to heal him.”
Fugaku looks at her oddly and retorts, “You know he’s having sex, right? Wouldn’t it be strange for a mother to care for her son while he’s having sex?”
Kushina shuffles with unease, but eventually says, “Yes, but I really cannot stand watching him in pain. I won’t get in the way of him having sex, I promise. I’ll start with his hand.”
“Alright.” replies Tsunade, “But the chakra strings closing his mouth stay.”
Naruto lets out muffled screams from his nose trying to get his mom to come to her senses, but Kushina just smiles with relief at being allowed to heal him. With noticeable discomfort, she sits on the edge of the table, looks at her son with worry, keeps a distance from where the supposed act of sex is taking place, and starts to remove the bandages from his hand so that she can heal it properly.
Unfortunately, when she removes the bandages around his fingers, the angle in which she is holding his hand causes gravity to dislodge a certain trinket from his finger. Said trinket bounces several times off the table, letting out dull thwacks as it hits the ground, and rolls to a stop about 3m (10 ft) away.
During the second in which the Ring completes its journey, several things happen simultaneously.
Orochimaru’s slit pupils shrink and he is unable to hide the visceral joy on his face. At the same time, he does not have a full grasp on the powers of the Ring, so he hesitates on making a grab for it. However much he would do anything for knowledge, as someone who has lived in Konoha his entire life, he is also reluctant to be regarded as a traitor to his home.
His actions cause Tsunade, who had thought the Ring was a mere trinket, to immediately refocus her attention on Orochimaru and ball her fists to enter combat mode. Her instincts tell her anything that makes Orochimaru happy to that extent is not good news.
Hizashi and Fugaku are both a step behind Tsunade in noticing Orochimaru’s shift in demeanor. In fact, they had both seen the Ring with their Byakugan, but it looked like a typical rusty old iron ring to them. Neither had made the connection that it could be something special.
Kushina blinks and her muted reaction to Naruto’s injuries, capture, and screaming is replaced with genuine concern and confusion! Naruto’s actions are no longer always ‘normal’, so she does not understand why she is sitting in front of her son without bothering to undo the chakra strings binding him, or yell at Tsunade, her distant relative, for abusing her son! “What the fuck, Tsunade?!”
Orochimaru’s hesitation ends as quickly as it comes. His tongue extends comically outward the entire 3m to pick up the Ring and begins to retract as he activates his Gates and ducks a punch from Tsunade that lets out a sonic boom and destroys a third of a nearby wooden shop with its air pressure alone.
~ ~ ~
Current Power Structure (Soul Tier) of Konoha among those already introduced or mentioned:
Peak-t2: Tsunade, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Hizashi, Fugaku, Might Duy
High-t2: Lo, Li, Minato, Danzo
Mid-t2: Kushina, Hiashi
Early-t2: Azula, Kakashi
~ ~ ~
Status update on Hades Record prior to the 9th chamber. Megaera always occupies the 15th chamber.
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Name: Zagreus
AKA: Prince of Hell, Son of Hades, Boy, Child, Lad, Big Bro Zag, Dearest
Race: Half-Chthonic, Half-Olympian Godling (term for the child of two t4 Gods)
Age: 28 years
Soul: early tier-3
Health: 30%
Dao:
None (+5 Dao Strings of Sex functioning as bandaids)
Temporary Items and Boons:
1x Centaur Heart: +15% Max Vitality
Ares - Curse of Agony: Normal Attacks inflict the Doom curse. The Doom curse lasts for 1 second, after which enemies take an additional burst of damage. Does not stack.
Athena - Divine Dash: Dash deals damage and can Deflect projectiles.
Zeus - Electric Shot: Cast becomes a chain-lightning attack that bounces up to 4 times to nearby enemies.
Artemis - Support Fire: After any attack lands, fire a homing arrow at an enemy.
Dionysus - After Party: If health is low after a chamber, restore to 30% threshold.
Aphrodite - Dying Lament: When enemies are slain, they damage nearby enemies and inflict the Weak curse. A 5x stackable status effect that lasts for 5 seconds and lowers enemy damage output by 4% each.
Innate Abilities:
[Stygian Immortality] - All members of the House of Hades will revive in the House’s indoor pool of the River Styx upon death.
[Underworld Authority] - Stolen from big daddy. Lets Zagreus open passages in the Underworld when there are no enemies around. Lets him receive messages from Olympus. More importantly, makes it impossible for Hades to imprison him in the House.
[Dash] - Invulnerability frames! Acquired after training hard with Achilles.
Soulbound Tools:
[Mirror of Night] - Extremely luxurious t4 artifact crafted by Nyx that has been sealed down to t3 to allow Zagreus to use it. Provides him a slew of unlockable upgrades to his strength, mobility, defence, magic, attack range, and support abilities.
[Underworld Princely Robes] - Self-repairing t3 robes crafted by Daedelus, master artisan and architect. Hades allows the craftsman a place in Elysium in return for becoming his subordinate who provides accessories and furniture for the House of Hades.
[Bloodstone] x1 - It comes from one of Zagreus’ Mirror upgrades. Floats on top of his shoulder. Zagreus uses this to Cast magic. Its normal magical power is tied to the strength of his soul. His Casts are only slightly stronger than normal attacks unless they are empowered by Boons.
Permanent Storage:
Darkness (for upgrades from the Mirror of Night): 11,025
Gems (for contracting repairs to the lounge from worker shades): 7,011
Chthonic Keys (for unlocking formations, such as those that were around the artifact weapons in training room): 623
Nectar of the Gods (even Gods need to get drunk somehow, Warning: This is rare and valuable Contraband): 1
Pierced Butterfly: Gift from Thanatos. Simple t3 artifact that increases damage by 1% for every chamber that the wearer does not take damage. Will not disappear on death, but is not soulbound either.
Records:
Hades (Supergiant Games)
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Name: Nuwa
Formerly: Nuwa Quest, Ty Lee Pea, Heza, Stella
AKA: Princess, Child, Lass, Sis, Babygirl, Deathwalker, Dearie
Race: Chthonian Gorgon Queen
Age: 18 y/o body, 211 y/o mind
Soul Tier: early tier-2, *sealed*
[System]: ded
Wielding: Coronacht, Heart-Seeking Bow
Health: 90%
Dao:
[Dao Core of Sex]
Comprehension: 5%
Ripples: 69,696,969 daons
Strings: 16 total ~ 10 free to use. 5 lodged in Zagreus. 1 activated for holding his authority-infused LEE so she can side-along dash.
Dao Ripple Normal Arrows: Deals low damage. Pierces enemies. Inflicts Charmed status effect which weakens and induces arousal in foes.
Dao String Casting Arrows: Deals high single-target damage and inflicts that enemy with the Charmed status effect. Charmed enemies at very low health become Enslaved if they house at least one Dao String of Sex. The Enslaved status effect turns enemies into SIMPs. All necessary precautions when handling SIMPs should be taken, for example, maintain sufficient distance. The flow of the Dao will not allow this Cast attack to deal fatal damage.
Secondary Dao:
[Dao Seed of Deception]
Comprehension: 20%
Ripples: 1100 daons
Innate Abilities:
[Stygian Immortality] - All members of the House of Hades will revive in the House’s indoor pool of the River Styx upon death.
[Induced Good Impression]
[Acting]
Storage:
[Order] - 2956 daon ripples
Soulbound Tools:
Iron-tier -
[Hidden Blade +2]
[Wakandan Extendable Arm Shield]
[Sex Therapist Business Cards]
[Strap-on Dildo]
[Clit Re-sizer]
[Shaver]
[Milk Maid]
[Smartphone]
Earth-tier -
[E-Vibe]
[Underworld Princess Snakeskins] - Self-repairing and fashionable set of t2 robes and jewelry crafted by Daedelus. Adjusts to the wearer’s preferences. It used to look like a modest sundress. It even included panties. That is ancient history now.
Records:
Earth-0
Avatar, The Last Airbender / Naruto
Hades (Supergiant Games)
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