Naruto's next plan of action was to give Shikamaru the Dominion Mark. Once the process was concluded, he sent his advisor back to the Nara clan home with a clone to let his son take care of him. He felt fortunate that the seal didn't manifest on any visible part of Shikamaru's face and instead manifested inside his brain. Similar to how Hinata got the seal in her heart, Shikamaru's seal manifested in his brain, enhancing his already large cranial capacity.
Finally, it was time for the meeting that had been delayed because of the operation of Kawaki's retrieval. Karin was the first to arrive at his at around nine.
"Good evening, Hokage-sama," she greeted respectfully and bowed to him.
"Evening, Karin. Take a seat. The others should be here soon." Naruto gestured to his couch. "And you don't need to be too stressed about the situation. It's just a casual meeting about the future of the Research Center."
"That's not what I'm stressed about. It's Hinata-sama. How did she react after meeting me? I didn't want to offend her, but I'm sure she hates my guts."
"Nah. The only guts she hates are mine." Naruto waved her concerns off. "She doesn't have any issues with you. Hell, when I told her that I would be a little late because of this meeting, she outright told me to be fair to you."
"If you don't mind me asking … what is going on? I didn't know how to ask you about it telepathically. Are you two going to separate?"
"That's a definite no," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "But it will take some time for our relationship to heal."
"I've heard how the Hokage is trying to revitalize the love in his marriage," Karin said. "It's become the talk of the village recently. You two have been seen together in public on three separate occasions this week. It's wild."
"It would've been four, but Hinata refused to go out yesterday. Saying that she wanted to stay in with the kids. I, of course, obliged and made dinner for everyone."
"To think that the guy who roughly shoved his cock down my throat after healing me would turn into a whipped man when his wife got mad at him."
"My love for her goes beyond what you can ever imagine, Karin," Naruto said with a slightly sad smile. "It may not have seemed that way for a hot minute, but that's always been true. Whipped or not, I would do anything to earn her trust back."
"Must be hard …" Karin said with a hint of envy in her tone. "I wish —" A knock on the door interrupted her subsequent words.
"Come on in, Ino," Naruto said, giving Karin a look that said, 'We'll talk later.'
"Evening, Naruto." Ino walked in casually, closing the door behind her. "What a hectic day."
"Meet Karin," Naruto pointed at the woman sitting on the couch.
"Good evening." Karin waved politely.
"Hello," Ino greeted back. "I guess we'll be working together from now on, huh?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly when she noticed the Uzumaki clan crest on Karin's neck.
"Is that the seal?" She asked Naruto. "I thought it was a simple tattoo."
"She knows about it?" Karin asked.
"Yes. She has one, too," Naruto said. "Same with Sakura, who will be here in a few minutes. She's running late."
"You agreed to it after all it entails?" Karin asked, surprised. "Aren't you the Yamanaka clan head?"
"He made a compelling argument," Ino sighed. "I'm more surprised that Sakura agreed."
"It just took a little convincing," Naruto said.
"Where's your seal?" Karin asked. "I thought that Hokage-sama would place it on your neck as well."
"I prefer letting it manifest naturally at the most opportune location. That way, the induced mutation is most beneficial," Naruto clarified for Karin.
"It's back here." Ino turned around and moved her hair aside to reveal her nape and the circular seal on the back of her neck. "You see it? Thank god it's not somewhere like that. I would have a ton of trouble concealing it otherwise. With this, I just need to keep my hair down, and it is somewhat concealed most of the time."
"I guess I'm a little lucky then," Karin said. "People just assume that this is a tattoo that I got to honor my heritage."
"True. I thought as much at first," she said before turning to Naruto. "What about Sakura? Where did she get her seal?"
"Take a guess," Naruto said with an amused smile.
"No way!" Ino's eyes widened. "Really? I don't know whether to feel bad for her or to laugh at her misery."
"What?" Karin was confused.
"What's her most prominent technique, Karin?" Naruto asked.
"The Strength of Hundred … seal," Karin realized, and her eyes widened. "It's on her forehead?"
"Yep," Naruto nodded.
"But I haven't seen her trying to hide it. She isn't as experienced as Tsunade-sama to be able to use the Transformation Jutsu permanently. I just met her yesterday, and she seemed completely normal," Ino said.
"You can ask her yourself." With his words, the last member of their meeting knocked on the door.
"Come on in."
"Sorry, I'm late. I was with Sarada and didn't notice the time," she spoke as she hurriedly entered the room and took a deep breath.
"No problem," Karin said politely.
"What she said," Ino said while intently looking at Sakura's face, specifically her forehead. "It doesn't seem like a genjutsu, and I have my doubts about it being a transformation. What's the deal? How'd you hide it, huh?"
"W-what are you talking about?"
"The … seal. Whatever it's called. It should've manifested in place of your Strength of Hundred Seal, right?"
"I-I …" Sakura blushed in embarrassment. "You told them?" She looked at Naruto with blame in her eyes.
"They have it as well, Sakura," Naruto said. "Karin's is on her nape; Ino has hers on the back of her neck. It's only fair that they know about yours."
"Yeah, see." Ino showed Sakura her mark with a smug look in her eyes. "I just need to let down my hair, and it is easily hidden."
"I don't mind my mark. I like displaying it," Karin said.
"Karin, you belong to the Uzumaki Clan," Sakura said with a sigh. "Wearing their crest as a tattoo is not a big deal to you. I represent the Uchiha clan. I can't go around with the Uzumaki crest on my forehead."
"How'd you hide it?" Ino was still curious.
"Why do you want to know so badly? You got lucky. You barely need any effort to hide your mark," Sakura snapped.
"Because I prefer bunching my hair in a ponytail. If I have the option to hide the mark, I would like to have it available."
"It's not that simple," Sakura sighed in defeat and shook her head. "I can't control the transformation. Nor is it innately possible to camouflage it." She looked at Naruto to explain further.
Both Ino and Karin looked at him curiously.
Naruto took a deep breath and thought for a few seconds. "That seal," he said, "is not really a seal per se." He tapped on his desk and activated the anti-surveillance measures of the Hokate office to their maximum capacity. "It is called the Dominion Mark. It is a soul-based brand that transcends all concepts and marks your existence. The physical manifestation that you see is actually just the tip of the iceberg that is the Dominion Mark. I hold the authority over each of your marks, and I can command it to transform its physical manifestation according to my will. Of course, that transformation is not permanent, and the true manifestation of the Dominion Mark will always be the Uzumaki crest.
Naruto gestured toward Sakura, and Ino and Karin both observed the green seal on her forehead getting a little larger as it took up a circular form and became the Uzumaki crest. Moments later, it transformed into Sakura's green rhomboid seal again.
"Man, it's so funny to see your forehead being branded by the Uzumaki crest."
"Bite me," Sakura snapped at Ino before turning to Naruto and posing her question. "I thought that inducing this transformation requires that elaborate process from before…" She blushed as she recalled the night she accepted the Dominion Mark. "How are you able to do it so easily now?"
"Think of the Dominion Mark as a sheet of paper with certain rules inscribed on it. Those rules are its abilities. I had to modify that sheet of paper and add a new rule to it that allowed the mark's physical manifestation to transform. Once that rule is added, it is a permanent ability."
"That sounds like cheating." Ino frowned. "Can you add any ability you desire?"
Naruto could tell that she was concerned about him modifying the mark and doing something to take away her free will.
"Of course not," he shook his head and clarified. "I need to have a reference point if I want to add another rule. For the transformation ability, one of the mark holders awakened the ability to camouflage the physical manifestation of the mark when their mutation was induced. I referenced that when I embedded it into the codex of Sakura's Dominion Mark as a new ability."
"Codex?" Karin asked.
"My sheet of paper analogy. It is the codex of the mark that holds its abilities."
"You have more people marked …" Ino said thoughtfully. "Hinata is definitely one of them, am I correct?"
"Yes. So is Shikamaru. And Boruto. And a few others that you are best not knowing about for the time being."
***
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