Chapter 159 - Dignity

The team returns to Konoha late in the evening. Kakashi goes to report a successful mission and to drop off the wanted poster at a mission center. The trio of teenagers are tired, so they head home. However nonchalant they have been trained and indoctrinated to kill traitors mercilessly, their nerves are still frayed.

Azula heads over to the Namikaze household to grab dinner. Upon entering, however, she senses a tense and heavy atmosphere. Quite uncharacteristic of the typically boisterous family. Wondering if something terrible had occurred since she allowed Naruto to go home with Hinata without a chaperone, she hesitantly asks, "What happened?"

Kushina blankly says, "Azula. Come and eat."

Minato looks over and offers a wry smile before also gesturing to her to sit and eat. Azula is not really hungry, but she obliges. Over the course of dinner, Minato explains what had occurred in the town square according to Fugaku, namely the existence of the powerful Ring in Naruto's possession that affects what is Normal for everyone below a certain level of power.

Kushina shouts, "It was all Lo and Li's fault! They gave that accursed Ring back to Naruto and sent him away from our protection." She says with a shudder, "Thankfully, he took it off or I would still think it's normal for him to fly into the sky and be stranded far from home."

Minato slaps the table, "Hold on.. that reminds me of something. That snakey guy had to set a new rule to be able to take it off."

Kushina and Azula ask, "What snakey guy?"

Minato cringes. The existence of Orochimaru is shaky in his own head, so of course these two definitely do not recall his existence. That blasted Ring! He clarifies, "The invisible enemy who had stolen the Ring from Naruto initially."

"Oh. So Naruto set a new rule already? Besides the one that allows him to have sex with Hinata whenever he wants?" asks Kushina. Minata had to spend a significant amount of time convincing Kushina that the engagement and subsequently nonexistent law was all a result of the Ring messing with the heads of the entire town. She was much more amenable to that idea after knowing how nonplussed she was when Naruto was in danger, which was entirely against her motherly values.

Minato nods and says with a grave expression, "He must have set a new rule if you believe his situation is abnormal."

Meanwhile, Azula is utterly confused. Then, she remembers that feeling in the back of her head that something was weird during her time around Naruto earlier today! Recalling those earlier events, she feels cold sweat coming down her back. She had been perfectly fine watching Naruto swing his dick around in front of her. Suppressing her gag reflex when she pulls up her memory of the sight of his gorey and partially disintegrated penis, she is honestly glad that he is gone. Who knows what that bloody pervert will do!

Azula says with panic, "Can you explain what a rule is?! I'm not quite following."

Minato explains patiently, "Fugaku believes the Ring has two functions. When worn, it makes everything the wearer does appear 'normal'. On the other hand, the second function is much more dangerous, because it takes effect even when the Ring is not worn. It allows whoever charges the Ring with all their chakra to arbitrarily 'set a new normal'."

Minato looks ashamed for a moment and says, "That perverted kid confessed that he set a rule that he is allowed to have sex with Hinata whenever he wants. After that, most of the city believes in a nonexistent backstory behind why he is allowed to do so. In fact, they still believe that Naruto and Hinata are engaged even after we explained that this is imaginary due to the Ring's effects."

Azula frowns, "They're not engaged?"

Minato shakes his head. Azula shivers. She too would allow Naruto to have sex with Hinata whenever he wants to, but why? She has no real reason to exclude them from her own rule or even follow that law, it just feels.. 'normal' to do so. Feeling fearful and distrustful of her own mind, she starts pumping chakra into her brain.

Taking note of her actions, Minato sighs and states, "It's useless, Azula. The Ring does not utilize genjutsu. We believe it is some form of ancient Dao artifact."

Kushina balls her fists and shouts, "The only way to overcome the influence is to get stronger!"

The pressure of this new Ring variable weighs heavily on Azula, even more than the prospect of a moral disagreement with the Konoha upper brass. She could no longer trust her own mind's interpretation of reality!

Azula targets Minato with an intense goggle-bound gaze and asks, "Minato, are you entirely unaffected?" Her reasoning is that as long as she can beat Minato in a fight, she might be fine.

Releasing a frustrated chuckle, Minato grits his teeth and says, "No. Every time I think about that fucking Ring's effects.. I am at war with my own mind. Half of it is clear-headed and the other half is influenced. I can usually tell which is the correct interpretation of reality, but it is incredibly annoying."

Kushina holds Minato's hand comfortingly in the tense silence that follows. Azula feels the frustration set in. 'I have to become as strong as Tsunade to not have to worry about this?! That will take years!'

Soon, they hear shouting coming from outside and not the pleasant kind. Kushina and Minato each utilize eavesdropping jutsus, while Azula simply redirects some chakra to her ears. She has yet to bother memorizing all the supplementary jutsus.

~ ~ ~

An unidentified old woman shouts, "So what if I didn't cum? Did I hurt your flimsy ego, old man?"

An unidentified old man shouts back, "BITCH! You were faking it for years!"

The elderly woman shouts, "You old coot! I take your shit for 50 years and this is the sort of treatment I get? Half my friends fake theirs too! Not all of us are blessed with good lovers!"

The old man shouts back practically in tears, "You can spank me; you can spit on me; you can make me lick your toes; you can even peg me, but you've gone one step too far this time Margie! This is a man's dignity! You've trampled upon it!"

The old woman replies with slight regret, "Hang on now, Frankie. Aren't you overreacting? Where are you going? Don't leave! Frankie!"

After a moment of silence, a young lady's sweet voice comes next, "Mrs. Dommel, are you alright? What happened?"

Sensing the kind intentions of the good samaritan and the crowd of other neighbors peeking at the drama, the old lady by the name of Margie Dommel revels in the attention and tells the whole story straight despite her slightly depressed tone.

"The old fogey and I.. hahh.. we go so far back. It all went wrong today. Now young lady, hear me out. You may find this topic uncomfortable, but keep it in mind for the sake of your own happiness! Do not repeat the mistakes of your predecessors. Today.. I forgot to use a stealthy water jutsu while pretending to have an orgasm!"

The young lady lets out a gasp.

Margie Dommel continues with a sorrowful tone, "My husband found out today that I'd been faking my orgasms for decades. What can I say? I'm old. He's old. Our joints don't move like they used to. Sex just isn't as exciting anymore. Most of the time I want it to be over sooner so I can go to sleep."

Her tone picks up a hint of hope as she declares, "I haven't cum in more than 18 years. I'm unashamed to say it too, because it is proof of my loyalty to this marriage! Would you mind putting in a good word with Frankie for me, dearie?"

~ ~ ~

Minato scratches his head and mutters, "I think I found Naruto's rule.."

The heads of Kushina and Azula snap to Minato, who has an awkward smile on due to his son's antics. Minato says, "He made it normal for women to squirt when they orgasm. I know that was definitely not the case yesterday."

Being more knowledgeable of the ramifications of such a rule than his naive son, Minato rubs his head and says, "I should go report to Tsunade. She might not know yet. This is bound to ruin more than a few marriages."

Azula thinks back to sex with Nuwa and the orgies she participated in. None of the women had to fake an orgasm and all of them squirted when they came. All women squirt when they orgasm! She remembers squirting during the few times she had female orgasms too. She feels inner conflict, 'But if Minato says that this is due to the Ring..'

Azula stands up and says, "Good idea. I'll head home myself. Today was.. a lot to process."

They exchange goodbyes and Azula returns directly to her apartment where she reconstructs her Smartphone. When she pulls up her sex scenes with Nuwa, she is appalled to find that Nuwa, in fact, only squirts on her more intense orgasms. At first, Azula is assailed with self-doubt. 'Did Nuwa fake her orgasms?' But she quickly recovers, 'No, impossible. Her Dao is Sex. That would be an insult to her own Dao. I must have misremembered it because of the Ring.'

She checks the orgy scenes only to find that most of the women had not squirted upon orgasm at all, unlike her memories. 'Naruto changed it. He changed all women to squirt upon orgasm, when it was uncommon before. This is insane! If I unsummoned my futanari tool and jilled off, I'd squirt right now too. Thankfully, he didn't do anything worse, but still, he has too much power! I cannot accept my life being rewritten by a dumb kid! My dignity is at stake! I need to get stronger..'

Suddenly, Azula pulls her goggles off and widens her lantern-like eyes. 'That Ring. I should be able to destroy it.. right?'

She mulls over that possibility for a moment while absentmindedly checking her notifications. What she sees makes her do a double take, though. First of all, Zagreus cums way too much, but she has to admit, it makes Nuwa look great. She'll be masturbating to that soon.

More importantly though, Nuwa had received a prophecy about Zina being gangbanged in public! "Bastards!" Azula's light beam vision burns the Smartphone nearly to nothingness before she can stop herself. She knows why such a thing would happen to Zina without her showing any resistance. It has to do with that damned Ring!

The only good news is that, if that powerful being is to be trusted, then it won't happen for another two years. The bad news is that Nuwa believes no matter what Azula or anyone else do, they cannot prevent this from occurring without Nuwa 'invading'. The implication that Nuwa makes there is that this event might be fated.

Azula's heart sinks. Her education this past year included the basics of how World's Wills utilize fate, so she understands the full ramifications of Nuwa's implication.

'Even if I or a heavy hitter like Tsunade are able to destroy the Ring, fate won't allow us to do so. The moment we make our goal the destruction of the Ring, it will engineer events to protect it and put us in danger. The Shinobi World's Will.. has some plan for that Ring!'

(A/N: A man's dignity T^T)